Will my ability to play games be significantly affected compared to Windows?

Most if not all single player games will work without an issue on steam thanks to its integration with proton, if you use something else you can use lutris to fill in the gaps there.

Can I mod games as freely and as easily as I do on Windows?

I see no reason why you can’t. Hopefully someone else can elaborate on that as I haven’t done that in forever.

If a program has no Linux version, is it unusable, or are there workarounds?

It can be unusable. There could be workarounds but that would depend on how dirty you want your hands to get. You can install windows on a docker container and use that to fill in the blanks if needed. There would also be some linux alternatives of some apps which would be worth investigating and learning.

Can Linux run programs that rely on frameworks like .NET or other Windows-specific libraries?

I think dot net has been open sourced but you can get dot net apps using Mono.

How do OS updates work in Linux? Is there a “Linux Update” program like what Windows has?

You use the package manager, which varies based on linux distro/flavor. It’s your best friend and you’ll get 90% of your apps that way too. Upgrading depends on whether you are using a stable distro which is like say windows 7 and you’ll have to upgrade to windows 8 (omg lol) you’ll have to follow the procedure of your distro, It’s usually well documented and should be fairly easy if your sticking to the flavor of Linux you’re using. If you’re using a rolling distro/flavor then you’ll just keep your packages up to date regularly via the package manager. Be warned sometimes you’ll have 300+ packages to upgrade so if internet is spotty may not be your thing. But it’s a great way to ensure you’re getting the most out of your new exotic hardware.

How does digital security work on Linux? Is it more vulnerable due to being open source? Is there integrated antivirus software, or will I have to source that myself?

Use clamav, make it watch the home directory /home as that’s where you as the user have the privilege to write data to. Never run as root unless you’re going to be extra careful. Also don’t run scripts you don’t understand or aren’t well maintained in a public repo (at that point you as a newbie would be relying on community to determine if something is good or bad think of it as the upvote and downvote system but with more transparency)

Are GPU drivers reliable on Linux?

Yes, even the nvidia drivers are reliable. Just a pain as you’ll have to reinstall the kernel module, the component that integrates the driver into your new kernel, after you upgrade kernel versions. Kernel is the thing that does all the low level handling of your devices.

Can Linux (in the case of a misconfiguration or serious failure) potentially damage hardware?

Most hardwares/processors now are designed with failsafes to throttle when there’s not enough cooling. Please elaborate a little on this. You can break software but I think hardware should not be. Hopefully someone can elaborate as well.

And also, what distro might be best for me?

Linux mint, it is well documented, doesn’t have the snaps that Ubuntu is pushing, its user friendly. Similarly fedora. You can try one of those immutable distros which may give you a more stable experience as it rolls back to a stable state on an update failure.

Generals gathered in their masses

Like a Phoenix foundation that mainly works on firefox stuff and mozilla uses that to make tye firefox browser like how Google does with chrome

I just wish mozilla got their shit together is all.

Hot take here: community browsers shouldn’t be based on chromium due to googles monopoly, manifest v3 being a big sign.

I mean a majority of chromium PRs are from Google. So yes, but youd think it would be easier for whoever bought it or OpenAI to do that with their money printing machines

Chromium is an open source project just fork it ffs… Also why wouldn’t Google just throw gemma into it? This is so dumb, proving that you don’t have to be smart to be a CEO just a cult leader

Edit: The article more talks about how Google is being forced to sell off chrome. But then why would they maintain chromium? Wouldn’t that just mean the end of that project? Also I’m not saying Google should not be forced to sell it off. I think it’d be good overall

The hope is they put the thing on auto pilot and then it replaces the CEO without them knowing due to their own hubris.

Is that the Anna from Anna’s archive?

/s

They had to add all the safeguards that also nerfed it.

So it will shut down in a week as well?

Hahahaha right! Like there’s so much depth in the original version, the ending is (to me) a little hopeful, a broken man who is going to find a way to keep himself and find a way, to paraphrase the song 🤣

I’m not trying to say we need to responsible with energy use. But this problem is not a tech problem its a political problem, we have figured out green energy for decades at this point but have failed to transition to it. That problem is not cause green tech doesn’t work, its political.

(I’m using green energy to mean energy production that doesn’t create any pollution, unlike the great renewable corn ethanol)

This is also my hill

Hey man, drugs have nothing to do with his mind. It was that way before drugs were involved

The soundtrack from Risk of Rain 2 and Hades are my favorites atm.

Yes they are but also the general attitude and politics at play just don’t allow for anyone but a well established name to publish negative results and still be taken as a serious researcher.

I agree a 100% about how valuable it is in reducing the search space.

I just removed the content filter and gave the kids account to my parents. Free account!!

Yeah but then you get branded as the person that publishes negative results and that complicates things, and the politics around that. Its something only well established people in the field have the luxury of doing, unfortunately.

Elaborate?