Linux

In the last few years, Valve (company behind the popular Steam PC games store) has made huuuge efforts in making most games work well on Linux, because the Steam Deck console that they sell runs on Linux, and the compatibility layer they made is called Proton.

To check what games work well on Linux you should look in the ProtonDB.

If there are games that only work on Windows, you could do dual booting.

The games you listed all work on Linux.

Roblox sometimes has problems but currently works. You need Sober to launch Roblox.

With Minecraft it depends on the edition. Java Edition works great. Bedrock Edition is rocky. The Windows version doesn't work at all but the Android version does through the Bedrock Launcher. You'd have to buy it on Google Play. But if he plays Java Edition he's golden.

Linux gaming is at a point where the only games that don't work are the ones being actively blocked by the developers, mostly through anti-cheat systems. Just install a stable distro like Ubuntu or Fedora, and use Steam, Lutris and/or Heroic to manage the games and compatibility layers needed for them.

There you go https://www.protondb.com/

Also consider that you can just try and if you don't like it, remove it. It can be a weekend fun exploration together.

From my experience, Cities Skylines works great through proton on steam (it's a compatibility layer for windows games) and Minecraft has it's own native launcher (which is downloadable from their site here, you need to use the debian installer for ubuntu). As far as ubuntu native, I haven't used it a lot. Linux mint is a distro recommended for people who are used to windows most often, you can take a look around.

As far as the other games go, only slime rancher is one that I know doesn't work through steam. For most games you can take a look at protondb, where you can just search for the game.

Roblox will not work. The developers are actively preventing it from working in Linux.

Those other games should. If you don’t mind to tinker a bit to make sure they’re set up properly, then your son should be able to just launch them from Bottles or Lutris or whatever you set up as a games launcher.

I don’t know about Sims. I have a pirated copy of Sims 3 working just fine though.

I don't know if you happen to have any other machines available to you, but I do recommend you consider giving it a go on a machine you don't share with another person, or at least dual-booting on that machine. It could be pretty jarring to be dumped onto another operating system so quickly, especially as one works out how to use the programs they had been running just fine before.

I recently made the swap to Linux myself, and a dedicated laptop for that transition has made my life a lot easier. I still have my old laptop on Windows, heavens forbid I absolutely need it, but I do find some issues with compatibility. As another person has mentioned, Roblox does not offer native Linux support, which means you have to run a program that more or less tricks Roblox into thinking you're playing on a smartphone. You can do the same for Bedrock Minecraft if you want to play cross-platform.

For a lot of things there are alternatives that tend to work even better in some ways. For others, there are workarounds. And for others yet, you just can't use some applications you might have been using before.

I've barely scratched the surface of Linux gaming (started using Linux as my main OS for games) and the biggest issue I've run into is Nvidia drivers. They're technically supported on Linux but that doesn't mean it's equal to AMD or fully featured. Waydroid (Android emulator) doesn't work with Nvidia nor does Sunshine (game streaming server). These cases may not apply to you but if I started from scratch I wouldn't buy an Nvidia card. Hopefully this doesn't apply to you.

You might consider Linux Mint instead of Ubuntu. A lot of what you want is going to work (and be preinstalled) right out of the box. It's a great system to start with.

I play Stellaris and Minecraft on Linux Mint... Stellaris runs fine through Steam. Minecraft, just download the Linux launcher, it will do everything else for you.

Dual booting may be the way to go. Sure Steam, Proton, blah blah but there are so many other launchers and AAA games that are not going to be supported at all (or at least not without a bunch of fiddling). For my own kid, I gave up on Linux ages ago and they have a Wintendo now. I have been daily driving Linux since the mid 90s but I'm also practical when I need to be.

That machine is also isolated on its own VLAN to hopefully reduce the blast radius of whatever garbage it eventually detonates. I make regular backups of it and am ready to repave it at a moment's notice.

Check all the games on ProtonDB, but from what you listed that should all be pretty easy to get working on Linux. 95% of Steam games just work out of the box, with most exceptions being competitive MP games with aggressive anti-cheat. If it's not a steam game, it's still likely pretty easy to run, but you might have to use a third party launcher or something depending on what storefront it's from.

Try Linux in a VM (virtual machine) for a while.

• Low hassle compared to dual booting,
• no risk of Microsoft randomly doing something to windows that breaks your Linux install.
• low/No system downtime if you decide you don't like one distro or another and want to switch,
• no loss of game data for your son (I've lost so many saves because of games putting them in nonsensical places in windows; why is appdata still the default for minecraft saves!?)

You can check ProtonDB for specificerar games compatability. Most games from steam just install and run as usual. But other launchers and some games with anti-cheat can be a bit more wonky to get running or just dont work at all.

Hi. I’ve been thinking about trying out Linux for a while now (haven’t used it before).

Welcome :)

I have 1 PC which I share with my son. I mainly use it to browse the web, listen to music, watch movies and TV shows, Office for work, etc.

Depending your 'MS Office ' expectations, you should have no issue using LibreOffice. 100% compatibility doesn't exist, though, but for most users it should work more than fine. for the most it is only a few advanced features and tools that are lacking, and some layout stuff. I write books under Linux as easily as I wrote them under, well, not a Windows PC in my case: it's a Mac.

I am not a gamer. So, for that I can't help much, but you have the ability to dual boot your PC and chose between Windows and Linux when it starts. Maybe that would let you use Linux while keeping a small Windows partition for your son games?

Here is one guide among many others (I have not used it myself, it's just an example there are plenty more): https://opensource.com/article/18/5/dual-boot-linux

FYI, you can try Linux directly from a live CD (or a USB stick) without even have to install it on the computer. It's really cool.

As for the distro I was considering Ubuntu.

You can use whatever distro you fancy, you can easily try a few different ones either by using the live CD/USB I mentioned, or by running them in a virtual machine — something I have never done myself as it's a bit too intimidating and techy to old-and-not-much-of-a-geek me :p

I use Debian (on my desktop) and Mint (on my laptop). Ubuntu is based on Debian, and Mint is based on... Ubuntu (from which it has removed stuff I'm not happy with in Ubuntu and added a few others I like). There is no good and bad distro, only those that you like and those that you... like less ;)

Edit: to a beginner, probably more than Ubuntu I would suggest Mint, at least if I can judge on my own personal experience: everything worked out of the box, including my stubborn Apple Airpods.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I don't want to start a new one for a related question. I understand I will probably have to wipe or partition my primary drive, but will I be able to use my other drives as-is, and have access to all of my files and things?

Dual boot 100% no doubts. Don't unilaterally impose Linux on your Son, he will likely be cut off from many socialization on current and future popular multiplayer games that may or may not run smoothly on Linux.

Remember you can dual boot. You can keep the Windows install around on a separate partition for when you need to use it.

I play Stellaris, Stardew and Slime Rancer on Linux, and they seem to work last I've tried.

Others have already advised you on how to run Windows games, but in my experience with these games:

The Sims

I've been playing it just fine on Wine, check EA App on AppDB

Cities Skylines

The first game has a native Linux version, not sure how the second game runs on Proton

Stardew Valley

Native Linux

Minecraft

It's Java so cross-platform, including Linux

Generally you can check ProtonDB for Steam games, and AppDB for others.

I have persuaded The Sims to run on Linux; though if the game wasn't purchased through Steam it can take some doing. No experience with Cities Skylines. Stardew Valley runs very well, I think ConcernedApe releases Linux native versions. My understanding is Roblox deliberately prevents itself from running on Linux. Minecraft Java edition runs on Linux and you'll find launchers for it in most package managers. An open source alternative called Minetest or recently changed to Luanti exists, but I know it's not the one his friends play and that's mostly the point. Can't say for Stellaris or Slime Rancher.

By now all the games are supported pretty good on Linux

I recommend the Xubuntu flavor of Ubuntu.