Linux

Unfortunately you chose the wrong distro for your friend - Linux Mint isn't good for gaming - it uses an outdated kernel/drivers/other packages, which means you'll be missing out on all the performance improvements (and fixes) found in more up-to-date distros. Gaming on Linux is a very fast moving target, the landscape is changing at a rapid pace thanks to the development efforts of Valve and the community. So for gaming, you'd generally want to be on the latest kernel+mesa+wine stack.

Also, as you've experienced, on Mint you'd have to manually install things like Waydroid and other gaming software, which can be a PITA for newbies.

So instead, I'd highly recommend a gaming-oriented distro such as Nobara or Bazzite. Personally, I'm a big fan of Bazzite - it has everything you'd need for gaming out-of-the-box, and you can even get a console/Steam Deck-like experience, if you install the -deck variant. Also, because it's an immutable distro with atomic updates, it has a very low chance of breaking, and in the rare ocassion that an update has some issues - you can just select the previous image from the boot menu. So this would be pretty ideal for someone who's new to Linux, likes to game, and just wants stuff to work.

In saying that, getting games to run in Linux can be tricky sometimes, depending on the game. The general rule of thumb is: try running the game using Proton-GE, and if that fails, check Proton DB for any fixes/tweaks needed for that game - with this, you would never again have to spend hours on troubleshooting, unless you're playing some niche game that no one has tested before.

I have been using Linux for years, but I don't insist anyone to use it, because when they encounter a problem, they blame you.

Let them drown in their filth.

Your friend plays only the games that are a pain to make work on Linux, or straight up don't work. What else does he want to play, fortnite? Maybe some destiny? Lol Let them be. Windows is for them, Linux isn't, and that's ok.

You skipped a few steps. Before you install Linux for your friend, you should first ask him what he uses the PC for, and if he plays games, what games does he play.

He obviously wants to use only proprietary Windows Software.

There is little reason to force him to use Linux. Of course Linux may have less overall tracking, annoying behaviors, better performance etc.

Win10 will be EOL veeery soon. Win11 is really bad on old hardware.

I second uBlue Bazzite and ProtonDB, check what you run first.

Respect that you even came that far lol.

Maybe you should have considered the stuff he wanted to do before convincing him to use linux. I could have told you he'd have problems with that stuff. If he said he mainly plays steam games then sure, but not literally the most finicky, cumbersome games to get going in existence. Also out of curiosity because I haven't even thought about Roblox in like 8 years. I thought that was a browser game?

Well you get an a for effort. But if your friend wants to play windows games it’s better for them to just have windows on the machine. I give it to you and your friend for going all out on a new laptop and putting Linux on it right away.

A more convenient way for a new user to experience Linux is to do a live usb for them. That way they can boot into Linux easily but boot into windows just by removing the usb drive.

Let him go back to Windows. You already planted the idea of using Linux in his head. Next time he gets tired of windows for any reason, he knows there is an alternative and he'll consider switching to Linux on his own.

Do your friend a favor and install Windows back on his laptop for him.

You have a nice friendship :) That's more important than Linux.

Sounds like he doesn't want to spend his time tinkering, but playing.

Can't blame him.

If he wants Windows, why are you questioning what he wants to do with his computer? He's had enough of playing fuck-fuck with Linux. (Mind, I work with Linux all day, every day, it's the cat's meow for dedicated services like Proxmox, TrueNAS, containers, etc).

Go get Win10 LTSC. It gets updates 2x/year, has very minimal bloat.

Then get O&O Shutup to reduce bloat even more.

And you can permanently license it using Microsoft's own scripts.

Scripts on Gituub.

Roblox not runnimg is more like a feature. /s

Why were you trying to install the Android version of Roblox instead of using Vinegar?

With only 256GB it might be even hard for him to use windows, to be honest.

Don't tell him to dual boot. He wants Windows don't shove Linux down throat. Honestly he probably shouldn't of been using to begin with. I'm not sure why you would pressure him so hard.

You have to be doing something seriously wrong to make Minecraft run poorly. It has native support for Linux.

With Minecraft, it wasn't any better.

Minecraft runs natively on Linux, though. It's not FOSS so it's not available through apt, but you can install it from a .deb from their website

Download page
The installation file

I've had better performance with Minecraft on Linux Mint Cinnamon 21.3 (albeit with kernel 6.1) than on Windows 10 personally.

Sadly, I can't easily fix FIFA or Roblox for you

if hes willing try zorinos. If that does not work I know of nothing easier. It comes with play on linux pretty well configured.

There's a drm-free version of prism launcher called PollyMC (note the two l's)

If you want to game stick up with Windows, for everything else use Linux.

I've tried to switch to Linux as my primary OS several times over the years, and every time I've done it I've run into some bullshit where I need to install a kernel patch to make my mouse wheel work or find a custom driver on some obscure forum to have working sound. I'm a technically-competent person but it's been a huge hassle literally every time I've tried, and that's without getting into WINE or other cross-platform shenanigans. I want it to "just work" and my experience is that it just doesn't. That said, it's been a few years and Windows 11 appears to be insanely hot garbage, so maybe I'll give it another shot.

Just let him read the arch with wiki.

I swear it's always the same mistake each time someone has an issue trying linux. It should be a rule at this point : never switch to another OS without knowing what will work and what will not.

Going at it blindly is a quick way to get overwhelmed and discouraged.

(Not pointing fingers here, had a friend who wanted to try it out too, didn't listen to my warnings, didn't wanna check if everything would work out and then spent three month of pure hell, with me picking up the pieces and fixing their pc all the god damn time..)

You wouldn't expect to be able to run Windows software on a Mac, why expect to be able to run Windows software on Linux?

Having said that, it's true that you actually can run some windows software through Wine but it's a hack and it's not going to work as well as it would on the OS it was designed for.

But there are also things like Java and Electron applications that run natively on linux and just as well as on windows.
As for Minecraft Java edition, I just downloaded the Minecraft launcher .deb from minecraft.net and installed it, and it runs perfectly. You can't really complain that your pirated stuff isn't work right, lol.

edit to add: An easier way for your friend to try out Linux would be to either run it on a virtual machine within Windows, or boot from a live USB (that's slower though).

At least he tried it. Maybe he'll pick up a second drive and dualboot. Regardless I have mad respect for someone who doesn't just assume things but puts the effort into finding out for themselves.

I remember when I was testing the water. I accidentally nuked my drive and something about that felt so final. At least after I found the USB drive I kept my backed up files, that was a real nightmare. I thought I lost my receipts for tax sure but all those photos and videos.

Laptops often have open slots for hard drives. With his permission open the back and see if he has one. Bonus points for replacing his win10 hd with a 1tb. He'd probably appreciate it enough to give Linux another go

So why you convinced anyone to install a linux distro in the first place. But not asking him about whatever thing he will need later. Just install Windows.

(His SSD might be slightly damaged (by some unnecessary writings) because of you.) temporary removed without due date

You cannot kill windows and any other proprietary operating system by just switching their users to any currently "free" (as in no price to use and restrictive in modifications) linux distros. Don't try it again. Take off the tenses.

Better luck next time.