Unfortunately some old tech does just start becoming obsolete at some point. sure you can force old software on to it but unless its designed to just interact on its own or with some other equipment thats stuck in time, it usually ends up not being worth the trouble or time, especially when you can get pretty powerful (comparison wise) equipment for cheap. chrome books for example are dirt ass cheap and some times a better solution than trying to get a super old system running again.

only potential issue I see trying to stress that 430watt psu with whatever that gpu is.

I would say pop is for new users, arch is for users that know what they want and willing to put in the time, i wouldnt say its “for hackers”.

picking an arch based distros thats already built for you though is the easy way to go if you want a linux system for gaming. I tried using pop for a while. it was ok but ultimately a rolling release system was better.

Imma be real… Arch has been the most consistent system I’ve used to date.

I’ve been using linux off and on since like 2008. I jumped around from ubuntu, fedora, opensus, popOS, centOS, etc… I’ve had manjaro and now arch as my daily driver for probably 4 or more years now and Arch updates have only ever broke one thing, one time, and it was more of a audio pipewire issue than it was really archs fault.

arch updates do not deserve this slander, its been very reliable for me, more than probably any system i’ve ever used.

Unfortunately, 100% parity will likely never happen, especially if people wont just use it regardless of less than perfect compatibility. Devs keep making games with functions that refuse to work on linux and/or refusing to support it or provided compatibility layers, and windows keeps breaking shit that old games rely on to work making linux compatibility with old titles better than windows.

just depends on what you’re trying to playing. personally I almost never play any multiplayer games any more and I dont feel like im missing out on anything. i’ve been daily driving linux for a few years now and leaving my reliace on windows in the past has been very nice.

just comes down to your priority, I suppose. my priority is my system first, games seconds. If your system is games first, system second, then linux may not be for you yet… but I would still recommend learning to use it, be familiar with it should the time come that microsoft does something that is an absolute deal breaker for you.

Doesn’t matter. You can rape children and murder an entire bus of puppies. If you’re releasing a new version of everyone’s favorite thing, you’re immediately forgiven.

That’s the society we live in. “my entertainment and desires above all else!”

Gnu Linux does have an actual lengthy license agreement.

It’s that license agreement that keeps it free and open and also ensures that people can’t just steal it, claim it as their own, and then open legal disputes against anyone who who tries to use it them selves (among other legal things in sure).

Thing is, I use Linux cuz it allows to have simplicity and convenience where those things are of value to me.

Not having an online always connected local user account is simplicity to me.

Having file permissions changeable with a simple command rather than having to fuck about a ui and registry is simplicity to me.

Having an os that’s under my control is convenient for me.

Having a user interface that suits my wants/needs and has ample options for customization is convenient for me.

I use Yuzu.

its pretty good, depends on the game of course.

I recently loaded Fire Emblem Engage, super mario oddosy, donkey kong tropical freeze, and both zelda BOTW and TOTK. I was running them on my steam deck so performance was so-so, some games better than others, all of them definitely playable though (except super mario sunshine, but that was one I tried probably almost a year ago, yuzu is better now)

emulation still proves to be the best way to play.