I decided to try gaming on Zorin instead of going back to Win to game .... so I opened a Steam account and now play 2 Pirate Games in off-line mode .... no problems ..... next I read some of Michel's old posts on using other means to play games ..... and signed up to ....
And Full Native Linux Game Downloads (no sign up here)
So far so good .... so I chose to buy a $4.00 game from Epic (just to try) and that went well even the download part but when I got to the install part all the nastiness began ..... it said I had to download Lutris ....
So I went to the Tutorials & Guides and under Michel's tutorial I found so much stuff it made my head hurt .... .... .... it seems I have to load Wine (which I'm leery of) and go through god knows how many steps to get Lutris loaded just to play a stupid game on Zorin .....
#1 .... do I have to use Wine to download and install Lytris
#2 .... do I have to do this every time I download a new game ....
#3 .... what about GOG is it easier to run games from there or does it also take Lytris ....
I got a feeling I'll be going back to Win to play games .....
I don't use either (vanilla) Wine (as I reckon Proton utilizes some Wine by itself?) or Lutris (or Bottles for the matter). I run everything via Proton through Steam. You can use "Add a game" -> "Add a Non-Steam game" and add from there. Mind you, I don't pirate, so I've no idea how that works, but with turning on both options in Steam Settings under Steam Play and then, just to make sure, force-turning it in the chosen game/files properties, I have everything running. The only issue I have ever had is some EACs which are anti-Linux, but that's only Valorant and Dead by Daylight with the latter having added Linux EAC files and the support being enabled is a matter of time.
I'm a long-time Steam-only gaming guy.
The rest (e.g. StarCraft 2 on BattleNet via Lutris+Wine) works, but is a bit more complicated to set-up and the results are not guaranteed...
Have you tried setting up Battlenet via Steam and Proton and then downloading SC2? I only did WoW via Steamed/Protond Battlenet and it worked. Much less hassle than Lutris/Wine.
for Linux gaming, if you want everything, like absolutely everything, you only really need Lutris and Steam, and maybe Heroic Games Launcher if Lutris doesn't work for Epic Games
Lutris : General purpose game launcher for various platforms (Epic Games, Humble Bunde, GOG, and more)
Steam : Valve's own game distribution platform
Heroic Games Launcher : Open source Epic Games Launcher alternative
all of the above programs can download Wine themselves, and due to Lutris being crowdsourced, that usually picks the right Wine version automatically for any game in Lutris's Library
You don't "use WINE" to download Lutris, Lutris is a standalone program written for Linux. The only reason why you need WINE is to ensure that all the little components get installed so as to ensure maximum game compatibility. Basically, it's a one and done process (as in install WINE, install Lutris, and you're good to go). For more info on how to install WINE, just look at winehq.org and you'll find it's as easy as copy/pasting a few commands into the terminal (btw, Zorin is considered an Ubuntu-type distro).
You don't need to download WINE every single time, nor Lutris. What you need to do is visit Lutris's website and click on "install game" anytime you want to install a new game in Lutris. The install process should open Lutris and walk you through the procedure. Do note that there are many different versions of WINE so it's possible you might need to install a specific version for your game (i.e. I use what's known as fshack patched WINE to play Guild Wars 2). But it's not voodoo or overly difficult, Lutris literally has a button you click and you can choose the version you need and that's it.
So GOG does a good job at bundling things together for Linux games, the problem though is that when the game isn't native to Linux then they only release the Windows installer (meaning you'll need to use Lutris to install the game manually anyway). For this very reason I try to stick to Steam as much as possible, because it's dead simple to buy a non-Linux game and have Steam run it through Proton.
Linux is different, but once you've got everything set up you'll be golden. Don't give up mate!
Thank you sir I'm off to see what I can do with your info and suggestions .... I'll be back later to let you know ....
Sorry for the delay I had written another post but for some reason I got flagged .... my post said I needed moderating .... so I waited for a little bit and then just decided to remove the post .... no problem
Sorry I had a whole lot'a fish to fry these last 3 days .... couldn't get my internet to work .... crashed another laptop making stupid changes .... haven't even launched my Pirate Gallon since last Sat .... and to make matters worse it has rained here solid for the past three days nonstop ....
I'm not sure if my WiFi card on this Asus Laptop (I think they call these things Notebooks now even though this one is 17in) .... sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't ..... really had me fooled yesterday as the WiFi suddenly went dead on Cinnamon and I couldn't find anyway to open it back up even in system settings .....
So I shut down and opened Zorin back up in Gnome .... and it worked .... so I closed it and tried Cinnamon again .... nope ... still no connection .... so I closed it and rebooted it back up in XFCE and it worked disconnected and started Cinnamon back up and everything worked ....
Awhile back I bought an external USB WiFi adapter that is supposed to work in Linux but the Win drivers work just fine as they are just in a click and install .... but the Linux one has no instructions and I don't know how to open the files even though I searched all over the net and now I can't remember the extension that I couldn't get to install I believe it is .sh but I won't swear to it ....
The reason for changing over to "notebooks" is that "laptop" implies it can be used on the lap or in close contact with the body. That usage has resulted in people getting bad burns, since the computer can get pretty hot- and some people fell asleep with their computer on their lap. Or belly.
Either way, it is a safety thing.
If you start a thread, we can try to help.
Many notebook computers have the cooling vents on the underside- so really, these computers should be used with the underside unobstructed. Not on bedding or skin, or other places that can block the airflow to cool the machine.
.... 
.... it seems I have to load Wine (which I'm leery of) and go through god knows how many steps to get Lutris loaded just to play a stupid game on Zorin .....