The Issue Between Linux and Windows and How I currently Feel about Things.
- Thread starter LinuxUserSince2013
- Start date
From what I heard the new Nvidia beta driver has the fix for it, the other components have updated their code and is currently being tested. Once that is done, it it has to get implemented into Proton.
I don't get anymore where all the hate for Nvidia is coming from, they've made big strides in the past couple of years and Wayland works well on new Nvidia gpu's. Also it's not like AMD gpu's are perfect on Linux, plenty of people with bad experiences on those as well so AMD have issues as well. Everyone's treating AMD gpu's as if they are perfect and never have issues...
Work items · drm / amd · GitLab
amd (amdgpu, amdkfd, radeon) drm project, currently for issues only.
gitlab.freedesktop.org
The nvidia control panel on linux (nvidia settings) is far from what it is on windows. It is pretty much useless on linux (not much settings to adjust) if you come from windows, most things you would adjust there you do through environment variables when launching games on linux. Not really any point installing it from my use and point of view.@The Duck :-
Mm.....that's kinda subjective.
From what I understand, with most distros - where you install the drivers from their repos - the 'Nvidia Control Panel' is offered as a separate option. In other words, the user has to make the conscious decision as to whether they want to have the Control Panel or not.
For us in Puppyland, apart from the newest Debian-based Puppies - which now use 'apt-get', Synaptic & all the rest of it - older Puppies mostly tend to install via the official .run files. When these are run through our Puppy-native Nvidia installer GUI, the Control Panel is automatically installed as part of the compile / build process.
You'll still end up with the same components.....but you obtain them in a slightly different way.
As for the other items (DX12? 'ShadowPlay'?).....no idea! Don't ask me, 'cos I'm no 'gamer'.....and what little bit of gaming I DO occasionally indulge in is all Linux-native 'indie' stuff anyway.
(shrug...)
Mike.
And it doesn't have Wayland support only X, although I'm not really missing it as I never used it much on Windows back in the day.
Wayland Support · Issue #69 · NVIDIA/nvidia-settings
nvidia-settings is an essential tool for linux users to tweak their graphics card under a linux system, not a 'nice-to-have' program, until this tool gets ported to Wayland I won't be able to use m...
github.com
kibasnowpaw
Well-Known Member
I’m honestly in the same place as you on this. I don’t really get where all the blanket hate for Nvidia comes from anymore either, at least not in the way it’s often presented today.I don't get anymore where all the hate for Nvidia is coming from, they've made big strides in the past couple of years and Wayland works well on new Nvidia gpu's. Also it's not like AMD gpu's are perfect on Linux, plenty of people with bad experiences on those as well so AMD have issues as well. Everyone's treating AMD gpu's as if they are perfect and never have issues...
Work items · drm / amd · GitLab
amd (amdgpu, amdkfd, radeon) drm project, currently for issues only.
Historically, a lot of the criticism was justified. Nvidia dragged its feet on Wayland support, relied heavily on EGLStreams instead of GBM, and for a long time their Linux stack didn’t integrate cleanly with what the rest of the ecosystem was doing. That left a bad taste, especially among developers and early Wayland adopters. But that context often gets frozen in time, as if nothing has changed since 2018.
In the last couple of years, Nvidia has made real, measurable progress. GBM support is there, Wayland works well on newer drivers and GPUs, and on modern setups the experience is no longer the disaster people like to pretend it is. Is it perfect? No. But neither is anyone else’s stack.
I’ve been using Nvidia GPUs most of my life, including on Linux, and my experience has been largely stable. I currently have three Nvidia cards:
a 1050 Ti running in my router/firewall/Pi-hole server, a GTX 1080 that’s idle for now (and I may repurpose it for a dedicated streaming PC later if I solve audio routing cleanly), and a 2070 Super in my main system. Across all of those, I’ve never really had major issues with games not under OpenGL, Wine, DXVK, VKD3D, or Vulkan. For my use cases, Nvidia has simply worked.
That’s also why I find the “AMD is perfect on Linux” narrative a bit misleading. AMD does a lot of things right, especially with open drivers and kernel integration, and they deserve credit for that. But pretending AMD GPUs never have issues isn’t honest either. You can find plenty of reports about firmware problems, power management bugs, suspend/resume failures, or specific games misbehaving on certain generations. Different problems, sure but problems nonetheless.
I think what’s really going on is that people conflate ideological preference with practical experience. AMD aligns better with open-source ideals, so it gets treated as the “good guy,” while Nvidia gets treated as the villain even when the technical situation has improved. That doesn’t help users who are just trying to decide what actually works for them.
At this point, especially with modern hardware, the question shouldn’t be “Nvidia bad or AMD good,” but “does this setup work for my workflow?” For gaming, streaming, and general desktop use, Nvidia on Linux is no longer the nightmare people like to repeat particularly if you’re on newer GPUs and drivers.
So yeah, I agree with you: both vendors have issues, neither is perfect, and treating AMD as flawless while ignoring Nvidia’s progress doesn’t reflect reality anymore.
here is me using 3 difference layers with Nvidia.
kibasnowpaw
Well-Known Member
And it doesn't have Wayland support only X, although I'm not really missing it as I never used it much on Windows back in the day.
Wayland Support · Issue #69 · NVIDIA/nvidia-settings
nvidia-settings is an essential tool for linux users to tweak their graphics card under a linux system, not a 'nice-to-have' program, until this tool gets ported to Wayland I won't be able to use m...
i never used Nvidia control panel on windows the only time i ever did was to make OBS not eat 100% of my GPU when streaming.
I myself don't understand where the hate comes from, my experience with nvidia has been pretty good i must say, this also on linux. They seem to have done a lot for linux so far, some things might be a bit delayed but haven't been a major problem for myself, just the waiting hehe.From what I heard the new Nvidia beta driver has the fix for it, the other components have updated their code and is currently being tested. Once that is done, it it has to get implemented into Proton.
I don't get anymore where all the hate for Nvidia is coming from, they've made big strides in the past couple of years and Wayland works well on new Nvidia gpu's. Also it's not like AMD gpu's are perfect on Linux, plenty of people with bad experiences on those as well so AMD have issues as well. Everyone's treating AMD gpu's as if they are perfect and never have issues...
Work items · drm / amd · GitLab
amd (amdgpu, amdkfd, radeon) drm project, currently for issues only.
As for the dx12 performance i do not think nvidia is entierly to be blamed, there was some issues in vulkan if i am not wrong.
The efforts of all parties is a major reason i am on linux today and not on microslop windows.
NVENC to the rescue
I used it for a handfull of settings on windows, but on linux those are just environment variables or options integrated into system settings.
kibasnowpaw
Well-Known Member
In my case it actually wasn’t an encoding issue. OBS was already using NVENC. The 100% GPU usage came from Nvidia power/performance scheduling, not the encoder itself. Once I fixed the Nvidia application profile and power management settings, GPU usage dropped back to normal.NVENC to the rescue
NVENC helps a lot, but it doesn’t prevent GPU saturation if the driver is mismanaging clocks or scheduling that was the real issue for me.
Oh i don't know about that stuff, i just know NVENC good no noticeable performance impact. Not had any issue like that even if gpu pushed to max.
Manufacturer or OS developer drops hardware driver support I draw the line and no longer support them monetarily by purchasing their products.
Basically they go on my POS list I'm old school.
Take care of those who have supported the products just don't dump them and the old products like a turd in the toilet.
I understand that's the modern way of today's generation of business.
I understand fat cat corporations such as Nvida doesn't care I get that.
Corporations nowadays have zero values other than filling fat cat Ceos pockets full of cash and don't care about consumer product support.
I get it it's today's new way of thinking and lack of business ethics.
So it ain't hard to figure where the hate and dislike comes from imo.
Basically they go on my POS list I'm old school.
Take care of those who have supported the products just don't dump them and the old products like a turd in the toilet.
I understand that's the modern way of today's generation of business.
I understand fat cat corporations such as Nvida doesn't care I get that.
Corporations nowadays have zero values other than filling fat cat Ceos pockets full of cash and don't care about consumer product support.
I get it it's today's new way of thinking and lack of business ethics.
So it ain't hard to figure where the hate and dislike comes from imo.
kibasnowpaw
Well-Known Member
I understand the emotional reaction behind this, and I don’t think you’re wrong for withdrawing support when a company drops hardware or breaks trust. That response is human and reasonable. Where I disagree is with the broader principle implied here that companies or projects should primarily listen to and be guided by those who currently pay them.
That mindset is exactly how large parts of the software and gaming industry ended up where they are today. If you want a concrete example, look at Ubisoft and much of the modern AAA space. When decision-making becomes dominated by the interests of investors, short-term monetization, or the loudest paying segment, you don’t get better products you get alienated communities. People who genuinely loved the product, stuck with it through rough patches, and cared about its identity eventually walk away. Not because they hate it, but because they no longer recognize it.
Psychologically, there’s a difference between support based on values and support based on leverage. When money becomes the primary signal a project listens to, everything else long-term trust, community goodwill, institutional memory gets deprioritized. That’s when you start seeing decisions optimized for quarterly gains instead of sustainability. We’ve seen how badly that model scales once goodwill is exhausted.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to stop supporting something you no longer believe in. That’s a personal boundary, and it matters. But treating monetary support as the only legitimate form of voice is dangerous. The people who care enough to stay engaged, criticize constructively, and stick around even when things go wrong are often the ones keeping a project culturally and technically alive even if they aren’t currently paying customers.
Ironically, many of today’s “fat cat corporations” didn’t start that way. They became what they are by slowly disconnecting from the very users who believed in them early on. The moment a company stops listening to people who love the product and only listens to those who fund it it starts trading loyalty for compliance. And that always collapses eventually.
So yes, draw your line where you need to. But I don’t think the lesson should be “only support and listen to those who pay.” The healthier model is balance: respect the people who fund you and the people who care enough to stay when things aren’t perfect. That’s the difference between long-term survival and slow decline.
Depends on how fast that is dropped and if you could reasonably expect it to begin with. I wouldn't expect 10 year old hardware to be actively receiving updates anymore. If there was a major security flaw there would of course be more expectations involved unless there is something that would be considered obsolete.
I cleaned up the topic. It was an interesting side-discussion. Back to the original topic of OP. Thanks everyone who participated in the side discussion and sorry for those who had put a lot of effort in their replies! 
Bongripper666
New Member
I like being independent and i am capable of using a lot of different operating systems. Linux, Windows, BSD, macOS, younameit. I currently own 5 machines (all laptops) at home, running 8 different OS (dualboot) and all are working fine.
Personally have 1 computer setup for win11 and tried it a couple of times and haven't used it since. Currently on Linux Mint on a Thinkpad (which has been installed 2 years) and upgraded thru the update manager. No issues with it. It is definitely more fun to use. Windows when I really have to use it but for every thing else Linux.
kibasnowpaw
Well-Known Member
I’m running three PCs, but I actively use two of them right now. The third one I plan to use as a dedicated game capture / streaming machine, though I’m still figuring out the best way to do that without turning it into a workflow nightmare.
One system runs Ubuntu Server 25.10 and acts as my server, router, Pi-hole, firewall, and Kodi box. That machine handles all the network-level stuff and media duties. My main PC has two separate drives: one with Ubuntu Server 25.10 set up manually exactly the way I want it, and one with Windows 10.
My original plan was to go 100% Linux, and for everything except video editing, I already am. The only reason Windows is still there is because I don’t like the video editing options on Linux. I use CyberLink PowerDirector 25, and nothing on Linux really replaces it for my use case. Because of that, I’ve stripped Windows down to the bare minimum and only boot into it when I need to edit video. Everything else I do is on Linux.
So it’s not about ideology for me it’s about using the right tool for the job while keeping the rest of my setup clean and under my control.
One system runs Ubuntu Server 25.10 and acts as my server, router, Pi-hole, firewall, and Kodi box. That machine handles all the network-level stuff and media duties. My main PC has two separate drives: one with Ubuntu Server 25.10 set up manually exactly the way I want it, and one with Windows 10.
My original plan was to go 100% Linux, and for everything except video editing, I already am. The only reason Windows is still there is because I don’t like the video editing options on Linux. I use CyberLink PowerDirector 25, and nothing on Linux really replaces it for my use case. Because of that, I’ve stripped Windows down to the bare minimum and only boot into it when I need to edit video. Everything else I do is on Linux.
So it’s not about ideology for me it’s about using the right tool for the job while keeping the rest of my setup clean and under my control.
There DaVinci Resolve, but you need the paid version for certain video codec support.
DaVinci Resolve | Blackmagic Design
Professional video editing, color correction, visual effects and audio post production all in a single application. Free and paid versions for Mac, Windows and Linux.
www.blackmagicdesign.com
kibasnowpaw
Well-Known Member
I’m aware of DaVinci Resolve, and I’ve looked at it more than once. It’s a powerful tool, no question especially for color work. The issue for me isn’t whether Resolve is “better” in a general sense, it’s whether it fits my workflow.There DaVinci Resolve, but you need the paid version for certain video codec support.
DaVinci Resolve | Blackmagic Design
Professional video editing, color correction, visual effects and audio post production all in a single application. Free and paid versions for Mac, Windows and Linux.www.blackmagicdesign.com
What matters most to me is editing speed and turnaround, not cinematic grading or complex post-production. PowerDirector lets me move fast: cut gameplay into parts, drop in an intro, an outro, and a logo, upscale from whatever the source is (usually 1080p) to 4K, and render. For a one-hour video, the entire process editing and rendering has to stay about 30 minutes. If it doesn’t, the workflow breaks.
The tools I need have to be right there, easy to access, and intuitive. I don’t want to preprocess footage, transcode codecs, or fight the software before I even start. PowerDirector does exactly what I need with minimal friction: hardware acceleration works out of the box, render times are predictable, and I can get content out the door quickly and cleanly.
The Resolve free version being limited on H.264/H.265 decoding is a non-starter for how I work, and while the paid version removes those limits, it still doesn’t match the speed-to-result I get from PowerDirector for this specific use case. I’m not doing film-grade color pipelines I’m producing regular content where turnaround time matters more than having the deepest feature set.
From what I’ve seen online, DaVinci Resolve’s render speed on Linux is often close to 1:1, largely because it doesn’t use NVIDIA’s NVENC in the same way it does on Windows. If anyone here is running the paid version on Linux and can share real numbers for example, how long it takes to render a one-hour 4K video with a workflow like mine I’d genuinely be interested.
Right now, with PowerDirector 25 on Windows, I can do that same job end-to-end in about 30 minutes. Until I can match that on Linux without adding friction, Windows stays installed for this one specific task and nothing else. Everything else I do is already on Linux.
I know I edited my reply afterwards from the Nobara wiki link that I shared.
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