Yeah I agree with all of this. It sounds like maybe you're trying to learn too many different things at once. I'd pick one thing and stick with it until you're comfortable.

What games are you trying to play? 99% of the time I’m able to just install a game in Steam and use Proton and be done with it. For any non-Steam games I just use Heroic Games Launcher.

Bazzite is a pretty good distro for gaming since it comes with some of these things pre installed or as an option to install them.

Yeah absolutely I need to find the right pathway in, im not entirely tech illiterate but I have zero code knowledge or anything. I can understand highlevel stuff but the weeds are particularly weedy.

Im trying to see if Linux gaming is a possible alternative to ps5 and switch so I went with emulators and repacks to run some games I already have and it just opened a can of worms I was not prepared for.

You might want to check out Bazzite. It aims to smooth out the gaming experience significantly.

I don't even play on Linux these days but I use Bazzite (Developer Experience) because the immutable base gives me peace of mind and all the gaming support helps when I have to use something like bottles.

Depending on what you want to do, it may require you to get comfortable with docker (or podman, but practically the same), but because this is part of the OS's paradigm they give you all the tools to make it easy.

Read into BASH, you may know it as the “Terminal” or “Console” people may also call it the “Shell” it’s essentially the heart of all modern Linux distribution’s and once you wrap your head around the command structure it’s pretty straight forward!

Key commands:

• cd == Change Directory
• sudo == Root privileges
• mkdir == Make directory
• rm -f == Remove file/directory with force
• touch == Make a new file
• nano == Text/File editor
• cat == Read file contents and print to shell

Commands don’t need to be complicated! For example nano /home/SomeUser/Downloads/SomeRandom.txt will open the text editor to SomeRandom.txt in the /Downloads directory of SomeUser

Each Linux distribution will come with a package manager, Debian based distributions like Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Kali Linux have dpkg and APT as their package managers and Arch-based systems have Pacman,Fedora-based systems use DNF.

If you really can’t handle the complexity perhaps trying an immutable distro like Bazzite which is more locked down, less easy to break and geared towards folks like yourself.

Pacman command in Arch Linux

Pacman is a package manager for the arch Linux and arch-based Linux distributions. If you have used Debian-based OS like ubuntu, then the  Pacman is similar to the apt command of Debian-based operating systems.

^{GeeksforGeeks}

Have you tried using emulators? They're a great start and can show you how to easily get some usage out of your computer.

If you have a controller, I recommend giving it a shot. There are plenty of emulators out there. Just pick a console you like and you can get games for free at vimm.net

Why do you want to run emulators through Heroic? Most emulators run natively on Linux, most of them are available as flatpaks or native packages.

I feel like you're trying to do too much at once. Installing Linux for the first time and immediately trying to use and understand containers and virtualization is like trying to fly a fighter jet after getting your first drivers license lesson. For example, Docker is useful in server contexts when you want independent, isolated servers running next to each other on the same physical machine, much less in desktop environments.

Take the time to understand the concepts first. Proton/Wine are translation layers that let you run Windows applications/games on Linux almost as native applications, Steam and Heroic are storefronts to download and install paid games, Docker/Podman are used to run containers, virtual machines are fake computers inside your real computer that can be easily managed with Gnome Boxes for example, etc.

My take:

For gaming:
- run emulators as native Linux executables
- use Steam + Proton to install and run most windows games (even non-steam ones)
- use Heroic exclusively to install games from Epic and GOG. Run them through Steam if you want.
- use Lutris as la last resort as it's the least plug-and-play option out there
- avoid plain Wine

For Windows applications:
- install a windows virtual machine in Gnome Boxes, install and run those programs as usual in the VM. Performance will suck.
- only use Wine/Bottles when you understand how they work.

I would suggest not using AI for answering your Linux questions, it provides a bunch of bad advice.

If no one teaches you, why would anyone expect you to know anything?

So it is ok to ask people questions but I do suggest finding a local Linux Users Group (or a local solarpunk group as they usually have a person or two who can help)

Reading wikis (like Arch or Gentoo) will help you solve your common problems and they also have forums where you can get great help as long as you are polite, kind and understand that they will ask clarifying questions and you should do the same but be respectful of them and their time

In contrast, and I say this as someone who has used various types of Unix and Linux for a long time, I think this is an excellent use for AI, just be sure to use it to teach you things not just to solve your problems for you.

What I mean by this is I have found (mostly Claude) to be great at explaining concepts, especially if you use it to make analogies to something you know. It is absolutely not right every single time but I have had great luck with questions like “explain to me how to X in Y tool, I know how to have the same outcome by doing A in B tool” or “explain to me how docker works using a rocket as a metaphor” or things like that. Also I use it a lot for new subjects where I don’t know what to search for quite yet and I can just give it a long rambling explanation and example and ask it for 3 suggestions to research further or things to check. It is kind of useful as an expensive search engine but if you use it like a research engineer to get you started it can be really helpful in my experience.

As others have said though, I have been doing it forever both personally and professionally and I am definitely still learning. Linux knowledge is more of a skill to develop over time not something that is easy to master because it continually changes. Learning how to find or figure out the answers is the most valuable skill though, it’s impossible to remember everything. That and often there is no single right or correct answer for every situation but there are a lot of options and opinions and often more of the latter than the former. That said though usually the best answer is the one that I forget about because it functions forever and doesn’t blow up in my face hah.

Anyway, hope at least some of that is helpful, best of luck!

:wq

Mortal Kombat Fitgirl repack.

I'd use Lutris for that, it's a rather automated process, you create a new entry, it asks for the installer, and usually recognises the correct executable for the game.

Literally just setting up docker to then install HA.

Personally, I prefer to run HA in a VM rather than Docker, especially if you're experimenting, IIRC with docker installation it doesn't support backup and restore of components and their settings. Virt-manager makes running VMs easy enough.

I am young and have a computer science degree, and I still struggle at times. I get it.

For games, I'd try to install steam and run them through steam if thats how you'd normally do it on windows. Then for me the main setting to play with (on a game by game basis) is setting the game to use proton (in the compatibility settings of the game) and whether or not to use steam input for controller support.

If you are trying to install a non steam game, maybe look into lutris. Though I'm on the techy side, and I hear a lot of people like heroic game launcher on the less techy side.

Good luck. I think it's fair to run out of energy while trying get the right combo, but if ya stick to it I'm confident you'll find the set up that works for you.

I actually did get lutris perfect last time for what I wanted it, this time is different.

I had steam told to use proton in general compatibility settings but I just copped that on a per program basis it was off for some reason so I selected it and it progressed to install which is great. Unfortunately it did stall in the same place as bottles, by claiming there was only 8GB free of a necessary 60 so I have to figure out why that keeps cropping up. My only drives are 300gb free ssd and 1tb free hdd.

Thanks for the confidence though, much appreciated.