should i download on my gaming pc Gaming On Linux: All You Need To Know. This is one of the most frequently asked questions by users who are thinking about switching to Linux. After all, gaming on Linux is often termed as a distant possibility. At least, by some hardcore gamers using another platform to play games. In fact, some people even wonder if they can listen to music or watch movies on Linux. Considering that, the question about playing games on Linux seem genuine. In this article, I am going to answer most of the questions that a beginner may have. Some of the potential questions that I’m going to address here are: Is it possible to play games on Linux? What are the Linux games available? Where can you download Linux games ? How do you get more information about gaming on Linux? But before I do that, let me make a confession. I am not a PC gamer or rather I should say, I am not a desktop Linux gamer. I prefer to play games on my PS4 and I haven’t dived into the PC games available or even mobile games (no candy crush request sent to anyone in my friend list). This is the reason you only see a few articles in the Linux games section of It’s FOSS. So why am I covering this topic then? Because I have been asked questions about playing games on Linux several times and I wanted to come up with a Linux gaming guide that could answer all those questions. And remember, it’s not just gaming on I am talking about here. I am talking about Linux in general. Can you play games on Linux? Yes, you can play games on Linux and no, you cannot play ‘all the games’ in Linux. Confused? Don’t be. What I meant here is that you can get plenty of popular games on Linux such as Counter Strike, Shadow Of Mordor , etc. However, you should not expect a native Linux support for the latest and greatest games – which are typically available for Windows. The reason, in my opinion, is that Linux has less than 2% of desktop market share and the numbers are demotivating enough for most game developers to avoid working on the Linux version of their games. Not just limited to the userbase, but not all games work perfectly on Linux. But, there are workarounds (ways) to play a huge list of games and I’ll be mentioning how to do that. If I have to categorize, I’ll divide the games on Linux into four categories: Native Linux Games (games officially available for Linux) Windows games in Linux (Windows games played in Linux with or other software) Browser Games (games that you can play online using your web browse) Terminal Games (games you can play in the Linux terminal) Let’s start with the most important one, native Linux games, first. 1. Where to find native Linux games? Native Linux games refer to those games which are officially supported on Linux. You just have to download it and hit it to play it without any potential troubleshooting. Of course, there are a lot of games that support Linux officially – but where do you find them? Hence, I am going to list some of the resources which you can utilize to download Linux games. . Steam is a very popular digital video game store which offers incredible deals on games for Linux (including free games as well). So, it is an obvious source of PC games. You can explore it to find tons of games ranging from AAA titles to Indie games. Usually, you can easily find Steam listed in your app center or package manager. But, if you have no clue how to install and use it, refer to my guide below on installing and using Steam on Ubuntu Linux to get an idea. GOG.com. GOG.com is yet another platform similar to Steam. Like Steam, you can browse and find hundreds of native Linux games on GOG.com, purchase the games and install them. If the games support several platforms, you can download and use them across various operating systems. Your purchased games are available for you all the time in your account. You can download them anytime you wish. One main difference between the two is that GOG.com offers only DRM free games. Also, GOG.com is entirely web-based. Unlike Steam, you don’t get a native desktop client on Linux for GOG.com. Portable Linux Games. Portable Linux Games is a website that offers a good collection of Linux games for 32-bit systems. You can’t run the games on a purely 64-bit system by default – however, you can try following a troubleshooting guide to make it happen. The downloaded files have all the dependencies (at times Wine and Perl installation) and these are also platform-independent. All you need to do is to download the files and double click to install them. It’s a great source for gamers who aren’t into the games made by big studios but just want to have a good time playing some games on Linux. Itch.io. Looking for native Linux Indie games? if that’s the case, Itch.io is a fantastic source to find interesting games. You can find a lot of Indie games for free and can also opt to choose a paid game. Interestingly, you do not need to create an account to download free games. You can simply head to its page and download the file meant for Linux. Software Repositories. You can also look into the software repositories of your own . There will always be some games on it. If you are using Ubuntu, the Software Center itself has an entire section for games. The same is true for other Linux distributions such as Linux Mint etc. 2. How to play Windows games in Linux? There’s a bunch of native Linux games out there. However, most of the popular games available aren’t available on Linux directly. In other words, the latest and greatest games do not support Linux (for the most) and are available for Windows only. In that case, do we have a workaround to play those games on Linux? Yes, we do! With the help of tools like Wine, Phoenicis (formerly known as PlayOnLinux), Lutris, CrossOver, and GameHub, you can play a number of popular Windows games on Linux. Steam Play. If you’re fond of using Steam as your only source of games on Linux, you can easily try the Windows-only games using Steam Play. Steam utilizes a to directly run a Windows-specific game on Linux. We do have a detailed guide on using Steam Play on Linux – I’d recommend you to explore that to get started with it. Wine is a compatibility layer that is capable of running Windows applications in systems like Linux, BSD and OS X. With the help of Wine, you can install and use a number of Windows applications in Linux. Installing Wine in Ubuntu or any other Linux is easy as it is available in most Linux distributions’ repository. There is a huge database of applications and games supported by Wine that you can browse. CrossOver. CrossOver is an improved version of Wine that brings professional and technical support to Wine. But unlike Wine, CrossOver is not free. You’ll have to purchase the yearly license for it. The good thing about CrossOver is that every purchase contributes to Wine developers and that in fact boosts the development of Wine to support more Windows games and applications. If you can afford about $10 a year, you should buy CrossOver for the support they provide. GameHub. We already have a separate article on how to use GameHub on Linux. But, to give you a heads up, GameHub lets you manage and play games from multiple sources that include Steam, GOG, and Humble Bundle. Lutris Gaming. Lutris is something similar to GameHub but supports a wide range of sources that include Origin, Uplay, Epic Games Launcher, and several others. It makes it easy for you to play Windows-only games on Linux. And, it is a quite popular tool used by many users. You can also check the official list of games it potentially supports before trying it out. Phoenicis PlayOnLinux. PlayOnLinux too is based on Wine but implemented differently. It has a different interface and slightly easier to use than Wine. Like Wine, PlayOnLinux too is free to use. It may not be the best choice among the others mentioned but you can browse the applications and games supported by PlayOnLinux on its database to decide for yourself. 3. Browser Games. Needless to say that there are tons of browser-based games that are available to play in any operating system, be it Windows or Linux or Mac OS X. Most of the addictive mobile games, such as GoodGame Empire, also have their web browser counterparts. Apart from that, thanks to Google Chrome Web Store, you can play some more games in Linux. These Chrome games are installed like a standalone app and they can be accessed from the application menu of your Linux OS. Some of these Chrome games are playable offline as well. 4. Terminal Games. The added advantage of using Linux is that you can use the command line terminal to play games as well. I know that it’s not the best way to play games but at times, it’s fun to play games like Snake or 2048 in the terminal. To help you out, we have two separate lists of top command-line games and best ASCII games which are pretty easy to install. How to stay updated about Linux games? Now that you know where to find the games and how to use them on Linux, the next question is – how to stay updated about new games on Linux? Of course, we will try to cover major game releases for Linux – however, we at It’s FOSS aren’t completely focused on gaming (as of yet). And for that, I advise you to follow these blogs that provide you with the latest happenings of the Linux gaming world: : I won’t be wrong if I call it the best Linux gaming news portal. You get all the latest rumblings and news about Linux games. Frequently updated, Gaming on Linux has dedicated fan following which makes it a nice community of Linux game lovers. : A blog focusing on free and open source games. : A blog that updates on various Linux games. Wrapping Up. I think that’s pretty much what you need to know to get started with gaming on Linux. There are plenty of free Linux games that you can try at the moment. There’s also a very useful migration guide by the subreddit r/linux_gaming that can help you kickstart your gaming journey on Linux. It’s time for you to add your inputs. Do you play games on your Linux desktop? What are your favorites? What blogs do you follow to stay updated on the latest Linux games? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. How to Install a Linux OS in Your USB Flash Drive and Turn It Into a Portable App Suite. Introduction: How to Install a Linux OS in Your USB Flash Drive and Turn It Into a Portable App Suite. Do you want to add more functionality to your flash drive? Did you ever wish you could do more than just put in files for printing or copying? Did you know you can install a Linux operating system in your USB and bring it wherever you want? Also, did you know you can install "portable" editions of your favorite apps in your USB? So whenever you borrow someone's computer and they don't have your favorite browser installed, you can just plug in your flash drive and all your settings and preferences are automatically set just the way you want it! With this instructable, you can do just that! Step 1: What We Will Need! So these are the basic requirements for this tutorial: 1. A USB flash drive, at least 4GB in capacity. 8GB or greater is recommended though. The bigger, the better. 2. An internet connection. 3. A computer running Windows. 4. A resolve to continue knowing the risks involved, which aren't really that drastic as long as you follow the instructions. Now once you've acquired the above, let's get started! Step 2: Downloading the Ubuntu OS and the USB Installer. You've probably heard of the term Linux, it's a kind of operating system, similar to Windows. Linux comes in many different forms or flavors if you will, called distributions. The most common of which is Ubuntu. And Ubuntu is what we'll be installing in our flash drive. Now head on down to the following link to download the OS: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download. Click on the big orange "Start Download" button to, well, start the download. Depending on your internet connection, it may or may not be finished in a few minutes. If not, go and make yourself a cup of coffee or something then watch some TV. Once it's done, make sure of it's location in your computer. It's probably either in your "Downloads" folder or your Desktop. Afterwards, click on this link to go to the download page of the USB Installer for Ubuntu, then click on the "Download" after scrolling down a bit: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/downloads/Universal-USB-Installer/ It would be best if you save it on the same location as the Ubuntu ISO, and even better if they're on the Desktop. Step 3: Installing the OS Into Your USB. Now that we've prepared everything for the OS installation, it's a good time to plug in your flash drive. Before starting, make a backup of its contents to your computer just to be on the safe side. Take note of its drive letter, in our example, it's drive G:/, and its capacity is 8GB. Now double-click on the USB Installer we downloaded in the previous step, click yes if the User Account Control prompts you to allow the program. Now, let's do this step-by-step: 1. On the first screen, click on "I Agree". 2. After that, it'll let you select a Linux distribution from a drop-down list, click on that and select "Ubuntu 11.04". 3. Disregard the "Download the iso" option as we have already done that. 4. Now click on the "Browse. " button and go to where you saved the Ubuntu ISO file then double-click it. 5. Next, and be careful on this step, because you may get confused if you have any other flash drives plugged in. Click on the drop-down list where you will select the drive letter of your flash drive. In this example, we will select G:/, but it may be different in your computer. 6. Take note of the "Format X:\ Drive" option(with X being the drive letter of your flash drive). It's NOT really necessary, but you may want to have a fresh look on your drive after installation, if yes, then select this option, it'll format it to FAT32, which is normal. You can copy everything from your backup afterwards. 7. After that, click "Create" to start the installation. A dialogue box will pop up, stating what it will do to your flash drive, this is normal, after reading it through, click "Yes". 8. Relax and let the installer do its thing. After it's done, click "Close". When you check your flash drive, it probably has less space remaining than before, obviously because we installed the OS, but don't fret, it's probably only 1.5-ishGB. Also, you may be surprised of the funky sounding files and folders inside, like "casper", "pool", and "md5sum", but it's all part of Ubuntu, so don't worry and don't delete anything. Step 4: Testing Out Ubuntu. Now that we have Ubuntu installed in our flash drive, why don't we take it for a spin? Do know this part gets kinda tricky. So, remove your flash drive and Shut Down your computer. When it's off, plug in your flash drive again then turn on your computer. As soon as you press the power-on button , keep pressing F10(or F12, it depends on your computer) to access the BIOS. The BIOS(or Basic Input Output System) may look rather strange because of all the text and complete lack of graphics, and the fact that you have to use your keyboard to navigate around the menus. A WORD OF CAUTION, MESSING WITH THE WRONG SETTINGS IN THE BIOS CAN LEAD TO PROBLEMS. BE EXTRA CAREFUL IN THIS PART. Let's do this step-by-step again. 1. Once you've gotten in, navigate to the "System Configuration" menu. 2. Look for the "Boot Options" or something similar to that. It'll take you to another menu. 3. Then go to "Boot Order" or "Boot Priority" (BIOS'es are all built different depending on your computer's motherboard). 4. Once you've found it, change the order of the system boot with "USB Flash Drive" or "USB Disk Key" or something similar on the very top of the list, meaning it should be the first in terms of boot priority. Check the BIOS's instructions on how to do so. 5. Afterwards, save your changes and restart your computer(take note some BIOS'es boot straight into Windows after exiting, but don't worry, you don't have to go through it again, just restart from Windows). You will then be greeted by the Ubuntu Installer boot menu, wherein you should select the first option, "Run Ubuntu from this USB". After a few loading screens(and some matrix-style messages popping up) you'll be greeted by the Ubuntu desktop, and voila, you have successfully installed and ran Ubuntu from your very very awesome flash drive. You may now pat yourself at the back and gain a few bragging rights. Once you're done tripping around Ubuntu click the I/O button on the upper right corner to see a menu from which you can shut down the computer. Then remove your flash drive afterwards. Now we're done with the first part of the tutorial! Congratulations! Now, on to the part where we install portable apps on your flash drive! Note: The portable apps we're talking about here are different from the apps you may have seen in Ubuntu, meaning these portable apps are actually programs you run in Windows, not Ubuntu. So if you're thinking "Wait, so I gotta go through all that BIOS matrix stuff just so I can run a portable app?" think again. Ubuntu is just there for the purpose of say, your Windows OS borked on you and won't start. Using your flash drive, you can boot into Ubuntu instead of Windows and may have a chance to copy all your important files on a separate drive before completely re- installing Windows or still be able to catch the girl you like online on Facebook through the Firefox app within Ubuntu. Step 5: Downloading and Installing the App Suite Pack. This part won't be as hard as the first one, you can probably tell because we're downloading and installing in the same step, so chill. Portable app suites, somewhat like Linux, come in different forms. But probably the most common and handiest one is from PortableApps.com. So head on to the following link, scroll down a bit, and click on which suite edition you want (the "Suite Standard" is recommended): http://portableapps.com/suite. If you're worried about the amount of space you'll be sacrificing, you can pick the other editions which are more merciful in terms of install size. Also, if you think your flash drive looks cluttered from all the Ubuntu files, you can hide them by opening your flash drive, pressing CTRL+A on your keyboard, right-click any item then click on "Properties". Check the "Hidden" option near the bottom then click "Apply". All clean! Doing this won't affect Ubuntu. Once the download is finished, double-click the installer. It's pretty straight-forward. But to be on the safe side, let's do it step-by-step: 1. On the first screen, click "Next". 2. On the second, click the "I accept. agreement" option to agree then "Next". 3. It get's a little teensy bit tricky here, but nothing to be worried about. Click on the "Browse" button and from the window that pops up, click on your flash drive(the flash drive's name itself, not the little arrow beside it), which is probably named "PENDRIVE" because of Ubuntu. 4. Click "OK" then "Install". 5. It might take a little while, so you can take a break in the meantime. If it looks like it stopped, it didn't, it's just extracting the apps from the installer. Once it's finally done, click on "Finish" the portable app suite will start up for the first time. It looks very similar to the Windows Start Menu, so navigating shouldn't be so hard. Step 6: Installing/Adding New Portable Apps. If you installed the "Suite Standard" edition, then you already have a plethora of apps to enjoy time with. But if you went "Gasp! My favorite browser of all time, Google Chrome, was not pre-installed! Oh woe is me! Fare thee well good internets. " Do not fret Chrome user! Installing new portable apps is as easy as pie! Whatever that means. There are two possibilities in this situation, the portable app is available in the PortableApps.com site or the portable app is not available in the site but available elsewhere. 1. Use the search bar on the upper right to look for the app you want. 2. Once you've found it, click the "Download " button. 3. It'll save as a ".paf.exe" format. Double-click it to install. 4. Follow the very straight-forward instructions. It'll automatically detect your flash drive. 5. Done! Enjoy the beauty that is your new portable app! Situation 2: Not available at the site. but available somewhere else. Make sure the app is in a portable form, usually just a single .exe file. 1. Download the portable app from wherever you got it. 2. Make a folder inside the "PortableApps" folder in your flash drive. For example let's say, "MyApp" 3. Copy the portable app you downloaded into the newly created folder. 4. Start the PortableApps launcher or click on the "Options" menu then "Refresh App Icons". 5. Voila! You've just manually installed your portable app which wasn't available at the site! Well, that concludes our instructable on turning your ugly old flash drive into a feature-filled, ultra cool, very very handy peripheral that blow everyone's minds. Thanks for reading! How to Install a Linux OS in Your USB Flash Drive and Turn It Into a Portable App Suite. Introduction: How to Install a Linux OS in Your USB Flash Drive and Turn It Into a Portable App Suite. Do you want to add more functionality to your flash drive? Did you ever wish you could do more than just put in files for printing or copying? Did you know you can install a Linux operating system in your USB and bring it wherever you want? Also, did you know you can install "portable" editions of your favorite apps in your USB? So whenever you borrow someone's computer and they don't have your favorite browser installed, you can just plug in your flash drive and all your settings and preferences are automatically set just the way you want it! With this instructable, you can do just that! Step 1: What We Will Need! So these are the basic requirements for this tutorial: 1. A USB flash drive, at least 4GB in capacity. 8GB or greater is recommended though. The bigger, the better. 2. An internet connection. 3. A computer running Windows. 4. A resolve to continue knowing the risks involved, which aren't really that drastic as long as you follow the instructions. Now once you've acquired the above, let's get started! Step 2: Downloading the Ubuntu OS and the USB Installer. You've probably heard of the term Linux, it's a kind of operating system, similar to Windows. Linux comes in many different forms or flavors if you will, called distributions. The most common of which is Ubuntu. And Ubuntu is what we'll be installing in our flash drive. Now head on down to the following link to download the OS: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download. Click on the big orange "Start Download" button to, well, start the download. Depending on your internet connection, it may or may not be finished in a few minutes. If not, go and make yourself a cup of coffee or something then watch some TV. Once it's done, make sure of it's location in your computer. It's probably either in your "Downloads" folder or your Desktop. Afterwards, click on this link to go to the download page of the USB Installer for Ubuntu, then click on the "Download" after scrolling down a bit: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/downloads/Universal-USB-Installer/ It would be best if you save it on the same location as the Ubuntu ISO, and even better if they're on the Desktop. Step 3: Installing the OS Into Your USB. Now that we've prepared everything for the OS installation, it's a good time to plug in your flash drive. Before starting, make a backup of its contents to your computer just to be on the safe side. Take note of its drive letter, in our example, it's drive G:/, and its capacity is 8GB. Now double-click on the USB Installer we downloaded in the previous step, click yes if the User Account Control prompts you to allow the program. Now, let's do this step-by-step: 1. On the first screen, click on "I Agree". 2. After that, it'll let you select a Linux distribution from a drop-down list, click on that and select "Ubuntu 11.04". 3. Disregard the "Download the iso" option as we have already done that. 4. Now click on the "Browse. " button and go to where you saved the Ubuntu ISO file then double-click it. 5. Next, and be careful on this step, because you may get confused if you have any other flash drives plugged in. Click on the drop-down list where you will select the drive letter of your flash drive. In this example, we will select G:/, but it may be different in your computer. 6. Take note of the "Format X:\ Drive" option(with X being the drive letter of your flash drive). It's NOT really necessary, but you may want to have a fresh look on your drive after installation, if yes, then select this option, it'll format it to FAT32, which is normal. You can copy everything from your backup afterwards. 7. After that, click "Create" to start the installation. A dialogue box will pop up, stating what it will do to your flash drive, this is normal, after reading it through, click "Yes". 8. Relax and let the installer do its thing. After it's done, click "Close". When you check your flash drive, it probably has less space remaining than before, obviously because we installed the OS, but don't fret, it's probably only 1.5-ishGB. Also, you may be surprised of the funky sounding files and folders inside, like "casper", "pool", and "md5sum", but it's all part of Ubuntu, so don't worry and don't delete anything. Step 4: Testing Out Ubuntu. Now that we have Ubuntu installed in our flash drive, why don't we take it for a spin? Do know this part gets kinda tricky. So, remove your flash drive and Shut Down your computer. When it's off, plug in your flash drive again then turn on your computer. As soon as you press the power-on button , keep pressing F10(or F12, it depends on your computer) to access the BIOS. The BIOS(or Basic Input Output System) may look rather strange because of all the text and complete lack of graphics, and the fact that you have to use your keyboard to navigate around the menus. A WORD OF CAUTION, MESSING WITH THE WRONG SETTINGS IN THE BIOS CAN LEAD TO PROBLEMS. BE EXTRA CAREFUL IN THIS PART. Let's do this step-by-step again. 1. Once you've gotten in, navigate to the "System Configuration" menu. 2. Look for the "Boot Options" or something similar to that. It'll take you to another menu. 3. Then go to "Boot Order" or "Boot Priority" (BIOS'es are all built different depending on your computer's motherboard). 4. Once you've found it, change the order of the system boot with "USB Flash Drive" or "USB Disk Key" or something similar on the very top of the list, meaning it should be the first in terms of boot priority. Check the BIOS's instructions on how to do so. 5. Afterwards, save your changes and restart your computer(take note some BIOS'es boot straight into Windows after exiting, but don't worry, you don't have to go through it again, just restart from Windows). You will then be greeted by the Ubuntu Installer boot menu, wherein you should select the first option, "Run Ubuntu from this USB". After a few loading screens(and some matrix-style messages popping up) you'll be greeted by the Ubuntu desktop, and voila, you have successfully installed and ran Ubuntu from your very very awesome flash drive. You may now pat yourself at the back and gain a few bragging rights. Once you're done tripping around Ubuntu click the I/O button on the upper right corner to see a menu from which you can shut down the computer. Then remove your flash drive afterwards. Now we're done with the first part of the tutorial! Congratulations! Now, on to the part where we install portable apps on your flash drive! Note: The portable apps we're talking about here are different from the apps you may have seen in Ubuntu, meaning these portable apps are actually programs you run in Windows, not Ubuntu. So if you're thinking "Wait, so I gotta go through all that BIOS matrix stuff just so I can run a portable app?" think again. Ubuntu is just there for the purpose of say, your Windows OS borked on you and won't start. Using your flash drive, you can boot into Ubuntu instead of Windows and may have a chance to copy all your important files on a separate drive before completely re- installing Windows or still be able to catch the girl you like online on Facebook through the Firefox app within Ubuntu. Step 5: Downloading and Installing the App Suite Pack. This part won't be as hard as the first one, you can probably tell because we're downloading and installing in the same step, so chill. Portable app suites, somewhat like Linux, come in different forms. But probably the most common and handiest one is from PortableApps.com. So head on to the following link, scroll down a bit, and click on which suite edition you want (the "Suite Standard" is recommended): http://portableapps.com/suite. If you're worried about the amount of space you'll be sacrificing, you can pick the other editions which are more merciful in terms of install size. Also, if you think your flash drive looks cluttered from all the Ubuntu files, you can hide them by opening your flash drive, pressing CTRL+A on your keyboard, right-click any item then click on "Properties". Check the "Hidden" option near the bottom then click "Apply". All clean! Doing this won't affect Ubuntu. Once the download is finished, double-click the installer. It's pretty straight-forward. But to be on the safe side, let's do it step-by-step: 1. On the first screen, click "Next". 2. On the second, click the "I accept. agreement" option to agree then "Next". 3. It get's a little teensy bit tricky here, but nothing to be worried about. Click on the "Browse" button and from the window that pops up, click on your flash drive(the flash drive's name itself, not the little arrow beside it), which is probably named "PENDRIVE" because of Ubuntu. 4. Click "OK" then "Install". 5. It might take a little while, so you can take a break in the meantime. If it looks like it stopped, it didn't, it's just extracting the apps from the installer. Once it's finally done, click on "Finish" the portable app suite will start up for the first time. It looks very similar to the Windows Start Menu, so navigating shouldn't be so hard. Step 6: Installing/Adding New Portable Apps. If you installed the "Suite Standard" edition, then you already have a plethora of apps to enjoy time with. But if you went "Gasp! My favorite browser of all time, Google Chrome, was not pre-installed! Oh woe is me! Fare thee well good internets. " Do not fret Chrome user! Installing new portable apps is as easy as pie! Whatever that means. There are two possibilities in this situation, the portable app is available in the PortableApps.com site or the portable app is not available in the site but available elsewhere. 1. Use the search bar on the upper right to look for the app you want. 2. Once you've found it, click the "Download " button. 3. It'll save as a ".paf.exe" format. Double-click it to install. 4. Follow the very straight-forward instructions. It'll automatically detect your flash drive. 5. Done! Enjoy the beauty that is your new portable app! Situation 2: Not available at the site. but available somewhere else. Make sure the app is in a portable form, usually just a single .exe file. 1. Download the portable app from wherever you got it. 2. Make a folder inside the "PortableApps" folder in your flash drive. For example let's say, "MyApp" 3. Copy the portable app you downloaded into the newly created folder. 4. Start the PortableApps launcher or click on the "Options" menu then "Refresh App Icons". 5. Voila! You've just manually installed your portable app which wasn't available at the site! Well, that concludes our instructable on turning your ugly old flash drive into a feature-filled, ultra cool, very very handy peripheral that blow everyone's minds. Thanks for reading! Running Linux on a Windows PC: Your getting started guide. So, you're finally considering giving Linux a try. It's about time! And it's really not as scary (or different) as you may think. The myth that you had to be some kind of computer guru to use Linux is utterly untrue. Today's top desktop Linux distributions, such as Mint, openSUSE, and Ubuntu are easier to use than Windows 8. Indeed, Mint's Cinnamon interface will be a heck of a lot more familiar to XP and Windows 7 users than Windows 8's "Metro" interface. And, while Linux power users may turn up their nose at Ubuntu's Unity desktop, pretty much anyone can sit down and start using Linux with Ubuntu. Don't believe me? Ask my 80+ year-old mother-in-law who uses Ubuntu every day. That said, while it's easy to use Linux, Windows 8's Secure Boot made it very difficult to boot and install Linux -- or any other operating system for that matter -- on a PC. (Ironically, Secure Boot itself has proven none-too-secure.) Linux developers have worked out multiple ways to get around the Secure Boot "feature." But since all of those methods, and the distributions that support them, require some jumping through hoops, we'll start with some easier ways to run Linux. First, and easiest by far, you can simply buy a computer with Linux pre-installed. Except for Chromebooks, which run Chrome OS, a Linux variation that uses Google's Chrome Web browser for its interface, you won't find these at your local Walmart or Best Buy. But you can easily order one on-line from one of several reputable computer vendors that specialize in Linux desktops and laptops. These include: Eight Virtues, which will sell you a variety of Linux distributions. EmperorLinux, which specializes in installing Linux on brand name systems from Dell and Lenovo. Los Alamos Computers, which offers Linux on high-end Lenovo systems. system76, which offers Ubuntu Linux on its own systems. ZaReason, which will sell you laptops or desktops running , Fedora, Kubuntu, Mint, or Ubuntu. The major vendors, such as HP, and Lenovo, will also support Linux on the desktop, but most of them make it difficult for an ordinary Joe or Jane to buy a Linux-equipped PC. The one exception is Dell, which still offers a high-end developer laptop, the Sputnik, which comes with Ubuntu. Unless you're already sold on Linux, or cost isn't a concern, buying a PC with pre-installed Linux probably isn't for you. In that case, the easiest way to try Linux is to find a pre-Windows 8 PC and use it for your testbed. Once you have one of those in hand you have three main options. These are, in order of ease of installation, WUBI, Live CD/DVD, and Live USB Key. WUBI. WUBI (Windows-based Ubuntu Installer) is a Windows program that enables you to install Ubuntu Linux 12.04 on any Windows 7 or earlier computer. You simply download WUBI, run it, select a user name and password, ta-da, you have Ubuntu Linux running in Windows as just another application. No fuss, no muss. WUBI is not, I repeat not , compatible with any PCs using Windows 8 or higher or any PC with a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). (A quick rule of thumb is that if your PC is of 2012 or newer vintage it probably uses UEFI.) Live CD/DVD. Almost all Linux distributions offer a live CD or DVD version. You can use these to get a feel for a specific Linux distribution to see if it meets your needs. The one thing you can't do with these is use them to judge performance. Linux running from a CD or DVD will run more slowly than your PC would ordinarily run it because they can't use your hard drive. To try this you must download a live CD distribution. You can find a comprehensive list of these distributions on the LiveCD List. Once you select a distribution and download it, you'll have an ISO file. This is a special file type that you must burn to a CD or DVD. If you try to simply copy it to a blank disk, you'll end up with an unusable disc. To burn an ISO, you need a CD/DVD-burner program that can handle ISOs. Many programs can do this, but if you don't already one you use, I recommend the freeware program, ImgBurn or PowerISO 5.7, a full-featured commercial program costing $29.95. Once you have a burning program in hand, you use it to burn the ISO image to your disc. After that's done, use the software to check your newly burned disc for errors. Over the years, I've found that more problems with running Linux from live CDs come from bad media than all other causes combined. Then place your disc into your PC and reboot. Your machine should then shortly start running Linux. If you like what you see, you can then install it on your PC. Installing Linux does not mean that you kill off your existing Windows installation. All desktop Linux distributions can live perfectly nicely alongside Windows. If you follow this path, whenever you boot your PC, you'll get a choice of which operating system to use. If you do install Linux, you'll be asked if you want to allow the installation program to partition your hard drive or do it manually. Since you're just getting to know Linux at this point, go ahead and let the program partition your hard drive for you. The art of setting up a hard disk "just so" comes later. If Linux doesn't start up, you will almost certainly need to reset your PC's BIOS. To do this, keep a close eye on your computer as it starts up. Your PC will display a brief message about which key to press to enter system setup or to rearrange the computer's boot drive order. By pressing the correct key, you'll end up in a menu interface and you can then tell your system that you want it to boot from your optical drive. Live USB Stick. Playing with Linux from a USB stick works mostly the same way as it does from a CD or DVD, but with two real advantages. The first advantage is that Linux will run orders of magnitude faster from a USB stick. The second is that you can also save files and data to the drive. This means that, for all practical purposes, you also get a complete, customized desktop that you can carry with you and use on any up-to- date PC that supports booting from USB drives. Indeed, some people actually keep their Linux desktops on a USB stick, and just run it from any PC at hand. To try Linux with a USB stick, you first download an ISO. Instead of using a disc-burning program, you must use a specialized program to "burn" the ISO to a USB stick. How to Play PC Games on Linux. If you’re fed up with Windows but don’t want to give up your PC games, don’t worry. These days, gaming on Linux is a lot easier than it used to be thanks to Steam Play and compatibility layers like Proton and WINE. If you’re new to Linux, check out our switcher’s guide before reading this, as it helps to know the basics. There’s no one distro that’s “best” for gaming, but Ubuntu-based distros like Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Pop!_OS are good options for their widespread support and helpful communities. If you have a different Linux environment on your system, you may have to research the best way to install the right packages and drivers. However, you can almost certainly get games working. Before trying anything, you should make sure your distro comes with the requisite graphics drivers. If not, Nvidia users should grab the company’s official proprietary drivers, and AMD users should install the open-source Mesa drivers. The procedure for installing drivers may vary from system to system, so we won’t get into it too deeply here, but I used these instructions for Linux Mint for the drivers and these instructions for some extra Vulkan packages, which produced good results. Now, before we continue, temper your expectations just a tad. While Linux gaming is easier than ever, it still isn’t on par with Windows. Some games won’t run at all, and others may have small graphical quirks, or decreased performance. Others may require some Googling and command- line tweaking to get playable. The experience isn’t exactly smooth as butter yet—it’s still very Linux-y—but once you have the basics down, you might be surprised at how many games you’re able to run. Here are your options. Find Linux-Compatible Games. Linux has gained a bit of ground in the gaming world, and a number of worthwhile titles are natively playable on the platform. As you shop for games, try filtering your digital store by Linux-friendly titles. In Steam, for example, head to the Store tab, click the Games drop-down, and choose SteamOS + Linux to see all of Steam’s Linux-native games. You can also search for a title you want and look at the compatible platforms. If you see a little Steam logo next to the Windows logo, that means it’s compatible with SteamOS and Linux. You’ll find a lot of indie games alongside some big-name titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Civilization VI, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Other stores have similar filters. On GOG.com. Head to Store > Browse All Games > All Games for Linux . Any game with a little penguin icon should be compatible. The same goes for The Humble Store, where you can go to Browse > All and then filter the Platform to Linux—look for that penguin icon. You might be surprised how many games are developed specifically for your favorite open-source OS. But don’t stop there—it gets better. Play Windows Games With Proton/Steam Play. Thanks to a new tool from Valve called Proton, which leverages the WINE compatibility layer, many Windows-based games are completely playable on Linux through Steam Play. The jargon here is a little confusing—Proton, WINE, Steam Play—but don’t worry, using it is dead simple. When you open Steam on Linux, look through your library. Some games have a blue, clickable Install button even if they aren’t listed as Linux- compatible in the store. Those games are cleared to run under Proton, and playing them should be as easy as clicking Install. In my case, both NieR: Automata and Doom were Proton-ready out of the box. If you’re shopping for Proton-compatible games, you’ll have a hard time because the Steam Store doesn’t show which games are compatible. Instead, you will have to look at your existing game library to see which titles are installable. What makes things even less clear is that many games will work with Proton, even if Steam hasn’t officially cleared them for duty yet. This is where ProtonDB comes in handy. It’s a community-curated list of games that work under Steam Play with Proton, along with details on what hardware, which version of Proton, and any tweaks are required for optimal performance. For example, Dishonored doesn’t have that blue Install button, but is reported as “Gold” by ProtonDB users, which means it should be very playable. To install unsupported games, open Steam’s settings, head to the Steam Play tab, and check the Enable Steam Play for All Other Titles box. You’ll then be able to install and play any game in your library. Keep in mind that many won’t work, but ProtonDB can tell you which titles will get the best results. If you have trouble, try sorting reports by your CPU or GPU to see notes from people with similar hardware. If a ProtonDB listing says that a game works with a specific version of Proton, you can right-click the game, head to Properties, and check Force the Use of a Specific Steam Play Compatibility Tool to choose the right one. You can also click the Set Launch Options button to include any extra flags mentioned in the ProtonDB listing. It may take a little trial and error to find what works, but I’ve been able to get quite a few games up and running with a bit of fiddling. Install Other Games With Lutris. Proton isn’t the only tool bringing Windows-only games to Linux. Lutris is a game management program designed to run games under WINE and other emulators or compatibility layers. It acts as a one-stop shop for all your games, with one-click install scripts that include all the necessary tweaks. That said, it may still require a bit of command line work to get up and running, so it helps to have a bit of Linux experience, as you’ll be rooting through some of its documentation to put all the pieces together. You can install Lutris using these instructions, though your favorite games may need some other packages before they’ll work properly. On first startup, Lutris told me that I needed certain 32-bit drivers, along with WINE and its dependencies, installed before a game would work. Then, on top of that, the game in question may need some extra packages—Overwatch, for example, requires a few prerequisites for Battle.net to run properly. Lutris should point you in the right direction when you go to install a given game, but the instructions aren’t always perfect. As a result, you may run into a few hiccups as you’re installing all the prerequisites, depending on your system and level of experience. Once you have all those packages installed, though, setting up a game should be fairly simple: search for it in Lutris, click the Install button, and Lutris will prepare the game with the optimal WINE settings. Note that some games may run very slowly until they finish compiling shaders, after which performance should be more playable—you have to wait a bit after opening the game for the first time before it runs smoothly. Every Game Is Different. These are far from the only ways to get a game running on Linux, but most of the modern, big-name titles you can get running should be available through one of these means. If you have a specific game you want to run that isn’t available through the above resources, do some Googling on that specific game. Some may require a bit more fiddling to get running, though you may be able to skip the legwork with similar WINE-based tools like PlayOnLinux. If you get the game working through one of the above methods but encounter problems, there may be specific settings you need to tweak, dependency packages to install, or patches to apply to the game—again, ProtonDB is a great resource. Don’t get discouraged, and don’t be afraid to ask for help in communities like /r/linux_gaming (after searching to see if your question has already been asked, of course). And hey, if all else fails, you can always stream the game from the cloud using Google Stadia, or from a Windows PC in your house using Steam’s Remote Play or Moonlight—check out our guide to in-house game streaming for more. Disclosure: Humble Bundle is owned by IGN, which is owned by PCMag parent company Ziff Davis.