Hi, I switched my desktop to Linux full time many months ago and I’m never going back. My kids want gaming PCs for Minecraft, Roblox, fortnight, etc. Kid games for now.

Hardware

I’ve been planning to show my kids how to build their own computers, and I think I can 2 for 1 this. My current PC is a prebuilt Ibuypower, and the last computer I assembled had an AGP slot. I know spinning metal is out generally. Other than picking an AMD graphics card what tips can you offer me?

Software

I want to give them the opportunity to learn and fail, so I don’t think I would go with an immutable distro. Thoughts? Assuming a separate /home I think having to reinstall once in a while is a good lesson.

Firefox with full add blocking of course.

Is there an application for managing screen time, and while they’re still little I’d be interested in some kind of blocking/filtering.

Thanks folks!

  • @[email protected]
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    722 hours ago

    I am under the impression that Roblox is not compatible with Linux due to anti cheat. I went Linux mint and installed the Linux versions of the top have stores. Steam provides compatibility for many games due to the Steam deck. No issues noted for Minecraft. Haven’t played Fortnite on Linux, but it’s available from the Epic launcher.

    • hallettj
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      620 hours ago

      Roblox on Linux has gone through some phases of working and not working. Currently it does work using Sober https://sober.vinegarhq.org/

      I haven’t tried Fortnite, but from what I’ve read I think that is a no-go.

    • Clay_pidginOP
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      221 hours ago

      I will add a Windows VM or something if necessary, but I want to discourage its use.

      So far most of my games have run fine in steam/proton or lutris. It’s really impressive how far that stuff has gotten!

      • @bisby
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        321 hours ago

        Some games can detect if they are running a VM and block that as part of their anticheat. You may not be able to get roblox or fortnite running in a windows VM.

        Some games just flat out require actual Windows, so your options are “Have an actual Windows drive/partition” or “Just don’t play those games”