Flatpak converted me to Linux: I am not looking back to Windows

At some point, I had four different versions of Steam installed on Ubuntu, and only one of them was working properly. Flatpak is amazing – it solves all the major frustrations I had with Linux.

Like some of my journalist colleagues, I also wiped Windows and switched to Linux completely this year.

I was somewhat familiar with Ubuntu. I used it for various experiments when I needed something to quickly break things, like running LLMs locally. I recall breaking Linux just by installing AMD ROCm – it was all it took to make the system unresponsive.

However, I have been a Windows user since Windows 95 – more than 20 years. This OS reached its peak with Windows XP SP2, which was simple, clean, minimalistic, had no unnecessary distractions, and featured a somewhat intuitive design.

Since then, it has felt like it was going downhill to the bloated spying monster that’s Windows 11 today. And I migrated gradually.

For work and travel, I switched to a MacBook over three years ago. The last bastion, where Windows seemed to be irreplaceable, was gaming.

Well, no more.

After experimenting with Ubuntu, I wiped all the partitions, including the Windows partition, and installed Fedora with KDE Plasma.

Initially, I feared that on Linux, I would have to embrace technical issues, including troubleshooting hardware support, a few features/devices not working, and only some games launching.

The reality: zero compatibility issues, all drivers ready after install. In no time, I was playing God of War, using Bluetooth headphones and an Xbox controller that connected on the first try.

Everything just works

Windows is supposed to have compatibility advantages, but it is not as one-sided as it was 10 or 20 years ago. For example, Windows had persistent issues recognizing my monitor, causing me to lose HDR support and cap the refresh rate at 60Hz instead of the supported 240Hz, regardless of the drivers I used. On Linux, I had no such problem.

I often have problems with audio playback and the microphone on Windows, as it sees many fake input output devices, from the GPU to the monitor, and sometimes defaults to them. Again, this never happened on Linux.

Nowadays, everything that the OS is supposed to handle, Linux handles nearly perfectly.

Every operating system comes with its own quirks and strengths, but ultimately, it’s just a frame for your applications, not the main picture. Web browsers are where we spend probably 90% of our time when using a computer, and browsers work boringly well everywhere.

The main disadvantage of Linux is that it is unfamiliar to new users. You have too many choices, beginning with various distributions and desktop environments, such as the simplistic GNOME or the highly customizable KDE Plasma. And the choices compound all the way to how you install your apps.

Before switching to Fedora, I was experimenting with Ubuntu to see how well Linux handles gaming. I always configure my computer with the app launcher (menu bar) on the left side, and GNOME in Ubuntu comes like this by default. However, I found its customization options to be too limited.

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Plasma is the opposite and is somewhat overwhelming, with a button or toggle for nearly everything. I even found a GUI option to swap the Control and Alt keys to match the layout of a Mac.

Overall, Linux has many clear advantages. No ads. No excessive telemetry. No online account needed. No, or at least less, bloat, depending on the distribution. It’s free. Less resource use. RAM is precious nowadays, and Windows wants a lot of it.

And it is a UNIX-like system that has a much wider adoption in every computing segment except desktops, from servers to smartphones. Every minute spent using Windows means that I am missing out on valuable lessons in Linux that could help me advance my career.

Linux gaining Steam: Flatpak makes managing apps a breeze

New users have multiple ways to install apps on Linux, and they should prefer one method over the others.

Flatpak. If there is an app option, I always choose to install it as Flatpak. It works the same on all Linux distributions and works especially well, as each app is installed with all the dependencies it needs, isolated from the rest of the system.

I found it the hard way.

I just wanted to try some Steam games on Ubuntu. So I went to its app store, found Steam, and clicked install. However, when I tried to launch it, the app itself never showed up. All I could see was an icon in the app launcher, but no GUI. I could launch it via terminal, play games, and they would work, but the console is not an experience that many users would enjoy for gaming.

While troubleshooting, I installed Steam again using the packet manager (APK). Now, I could launch it normally, but it had performance issues, and the games ran very slowly.

Going down the rabbit hole, on GitHub, I found an AppImage (a portable app format bundling required libraries) for Steam from a random dude. This didn’t work either.

Searching for information on how Steam works on Bazzite led to the answer.

Flatpak allows you to install apps as self-contained packages. It has a clear advantage over traditional native Linux packages, such as APK on Ubuntu or DNF on Fedora, which depend on system libraries and can break whenever versions change. Flatpaks stay isolated, contain everything they need in the app bundle, and run in the same way without compromising OS stability.

Ubuntu didn’t have Flatpak by default, so I had to install it. Then I installed all my apps as Flatpaks. They all just worked. Steam, Discord, Firefox, Signal, Heroic game launcher for other game stores. You can find many more on Flathub, the app store. But then I decided to switch to a distribution where Flatpak is native.

Over the years, whenever I experimented with Linux, I always ended up in a dependency hell. Flatpak solves this frustration nearly completely.

Multiplayer games that rely on kernel-level anti-cheat systems cannot be launched on Linux. This isn’t a limitation of Linux itself, but rather a decision made by the game developers. Ironically, I couldn’t play Battlefield on Windows either, as it couldn’t detect Safe Boot, despite it being enabled on my system. I accepted this sacrifice and said goodbye to those games.

What also might be confusing for first timers – there is no drive C, D, or others. Linux (as well as Mac and other Unix-like systems) has a single file hierarchy for everything, with “/” at the top of all the other folders (directories). All disk devices are mounted in the same tree.

Strange things start to happen when you install Linux

I am writing this while migrating from Proxmox 8 to Proxmox 9 on a separate mini computer, staring at a black console screen, and pondering why I’m doing this. Proxmox is a hypervisor for virtual machines that allows you to run multiple services at home.

Since I installed Linux (before switching to it completely), I built a macOS virtual machine inside it, installed a Windows virtual machine, experimented with TrueNAS, launched a Plex server, self-hosted Immich, Rust, and Minecraft (games) servers, and tried many other services.

Linux is like terra incognita. It stimulates my curiosity about what else is possible, and every day I discover something new.

I didn’t avoid the terminal. I embraced it as a challenge. It may start with a simple command “to see what happens.” Yet it sets you on a learning path.

Now, I genuinely believe that the terminal is a superpower enabling me to use the computer in ways I never thought possible.

While Windows is evolving into an “agentic” OS, removing the keyboard and mouse, I sit at a black screen and type. I use the operating system – the operating system doesn’t use me. I am the operator.

Linux is truly liberating.

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