SimHog

Windows will remain the dominant OS for the foreseeable future. However there is also the "fact" there has been a consistent shift towards of Linux for gaming month on month for some time now. As you pointed out about the STEAM survey from Sep 2025, yes the results show Windows at 95%, but you can't discount Linux's market share has steadily grown. Windows 11 has now over taken Windows 10, but "Windows" as a gaming OS has been in decline. Yes its averaging a less than 0.5% decline, but that is equating to approx 640k PCs / month - that's not a small number. The primary driver of the Linux uptake has been from Steam's own investment and development of SteamOS, and it's roll out of the SteamDeck using SteamOS. And while SteamOS isn't officially supported for desktop PCs ( I'd say because they don't want a war with MS game titles ) you can customise a Linux distro like Bazzite to operate just like a steam deck on your PC. https://bazzite.gg/ https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/valves-steamos-is-slowly-but-surely-replacing-windows-11-for-gaming-as-more-users-make-the-big-shift https://www.tweaktown.com/news/106795/steam-data-reveals-pc-gamers-shifting-from-windows-to-linux/index.html https://windowsforum.com/threads/pc-gaming-os-shifts-in-2025-windows-decline-linux-rise-what-it-means.368883/ As it is, I haven't had any issues running my steam games on Linux, so far, and I have been able to get DCS to run, and I've just started working through VR and HOTAS support, for which there have been some advancements. https://forum.falcon-bms.com/topic/26403/solved-winwing-orion-2-on-linux-only-80-buttons-detected/10

Microsoft has made Windows a data mining OS rather than an OS for the user. The litany of under the hood (and under handed imo) functions that make up the OS clearly demonstrates they're more interested in making money off their users data than making the OS actually better, and the kicker is we pay for the "privilege". I mean going to the audio settings you literally have go 2 or 3 menus deep to actually get the settings you want, but they shoe horn Copilot seamlessly into task bar. While you can turn off and disable many of these invasive spying features, as a user of an OS I paid for I shouldn't have to. Its ridiculous that I need to use registry hacks and/or third party software to get the OS to function the way I want. I've been experimenting with Linux for the past 2 months and have had success in getting DCS to run. The quest now is to get Pimax and Winwing to work. Its funny because I came into the forums today looking for more Linux info because the latest windows update screwed up my audio set-up and killed the UEFI dual boot loader. Yeah I'm done with Windows.

https://www.pgrid.app/au/gpus/geforce-rtx-5090

If anyone is hesitant on Win 11, you can still run Windows 10 until 2032 with official security updates by using Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-10-iot-enterprise-ltsc-2021 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/download-windows-10-enterprise

A general rule I follow is when ever I "upgrade", whether it's the OS or hardware, I always do a fresh install of Windows.

With regards to getting DCS and peripherals like TrackIR and VR to run under Linux etc has anyone tried WinBoat? Unfortunately I don't know enough about Docker which WinBoat uses, and so far I haven't been able to get it to work. https://www.winboat.app/ Yes, I know it kind of defeats the purpose, as WinBoat creates a virtual instance of windows, but I'd be interested to see if anyone uses this or gets to work so we can ditch Windows completely which includes no longer needing a dual boot setup.

I too was hesitant at first after reading about the quality issues, but I haven't had any issue to date and Pimax are very open and active in the VR community (Reddit / Discord etc). The positives: Much bigger sweet spot and sharper image than the G2. Can quite easily wear my SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro headphones without having to remove the attached earphones. There is enough room where I can wear my glasses. CL is much more comfortable and better fitting headset than the G2. The negatives: PimaxPlay software isn't as refined or user-friendly as STEAM or WIndowsMR, but it is getting better. When in VR desktop mode, I wish I could move mouse pointer using my mouse instead of having to move my whole head because it's locked to the centre of the headset - very annoying. There might be a solution for this but I haven't found one yet. The weight, it is heavier, and takes some getting used to.

So after a couple of days experimenting I've landed on the settings that provide me with smooth SP flight on all maps, even on low level flights with a decent amount of AI assets. I don't fly MP at the moment so I can't comment on that. Hope this helps. https://imgur.com/a/y0oOXKb

How did you go with your setup? Just curious as I've just bought 7900XTX and have a Crystal Light. I'm having hard time getting a stable match between the VR headset and DCS.

I'm curious, I've only just started needing reading glasses ( getting old ), are these needed for both long or short sighted issues?

I suspect you wouldn't want frame-gen on when in VR anyway, it would just add to latency of the the real frames. Pure ratsterization performance is what is needed for VR.

With that card, and the Super's native resolution, you may struggle.

Yup - such a dumb move by nvidia IMO.

While everyone's circumstances, wants and needs are different, I feel the new 50XX series isn't a worthwhile upgrade if you still have a 4090 / 4080, just based on pure performance numbers that are coming out, and that DLSS 4 is set to be made available on previous RTX generation cards. Personally I skip generations, and l'm still on a 3090, so I’m looking to upgrade both GPU and to a new VR headset - thanks MS for removing MR support from windows - NAWT. The 5090 is the GPU I'm aiming for, from what I've seen, it should be able run 8k+ VR quite comfortably. As side from that, there's no 4090's available from my local retailers I buy from, and the asking price for used 4090's / 4080's is just as crazy at the moment.

Well, that's way more than I was expecting. I can afford it, but I don't think I can justify it, not at that price.