I’ve been seeing all these posts about Linux lately, and looking at them, I can honestly see the appeal. I’d love having so much autonomy over the OS I use, and customize it however I like, even having so many options to choose from when it comes to distros. The only thing holding me back, however, is incompatibility issues. A lot of programs I work with very often are Windows-exclusive, and alternatives supporting Linux are rare. So I guess I’m stuck with Windows, since I deem those particular programs really important.
Any advice from Linux nerds here? All constructive replies are very appreciated.
Well you can’t really use something not useful to you. Yes Linux is very nice but at the end of the day you gotta use the thing that gets the job done.
Agree.
Take this from someone who has spent entirely too long fighting to make certain software and games work on Linux…seriously way too much time.
Just dual boot. It’s the best of both worlds. You can spend your time in Linux but when you want to play that game or need to use your special software you can just switch into it.
It also gives you the flexibility to try alternative software but you always know you have the real deal on your windows partition if you get stuck.
I hate rebooting to play games (or even just closing my other software, for that matter), so I choose to reject games I’d have to reboot for.
I chose to reject Linux for this same reason. I was rebooting 4-5 times daily to be able to play games, so I just reset the default to windows
Depends on the game and version of windows…old games with new windows 99% of time won´t work.
It always depends on the game and the software. Sometimes even games and software that should run well on Linux have issues. At some point you’ll realize you’re spending more time troubleshooting thab enjoying the game or using the software.
I’ve had that realization with Apex. It works fine 80% flawlessly on PopOS. But over the last year there has been a bug or something that throws an error. It’s always after updates. A file fails to update all the way so I have to manually revalidate game files and download the ones that are inevitably broken.
I was spending 5-10-15minutes fighting this issue each time I wanted to play and I have a finite amount of time these days. So as soon as the error happens, I restart into windows and play.
It’s unfortunate since it’s been flawless until recently, but at the end of the day I want to play apex not troubleshoot proton,respawn,steam, and PopOS.
Since many years i do not play because have no time for that, including the fixing the issues. Used to play and like to fix issues because that is a good learning technique.
If they are Windows exclusive then your best bet is to simply run Windows in a virtual machine inside Linux and run the applications from there.
deleted by creator
How did you manage with video performance? I don’t game and have had a lot of experience with both vbox and kvm. Kvm performance for video is excruciatingly slow. It got to a point I said “that does it” and went back to vbox.
Yea KVM is great but it’s not so easy to pass device’s through. Whereas in Virtualbox you go to the menu, select devices, the type of device (eg usb) and then select the device (eg printer) to have it show up on Windows.
Is there a good KVM GUI client like Virtual Box?
Libre Office completely takes care of my Office needs.
You’re no more stuck with Windows than a Mac user is stuck on a Mac.
Can you give us specific examples of the programs you use, and what you use them for?
Certified Linux answer
I mean, it took me awhile to learn the names of all the software I currently use. And in some fields, it’s still “Yeah there’s not a good substitute.”
I switched to Linux from Windows 3.11 because Microsoft software didn’t do what it was supposed to.
My method is that I don’t even know what’s available for Windows, so I don’t miss it at all. The opposite isn’t true though, and time spent in a Microsoft environment can quickly become painful.
My only regular contact with Windows is the Steam partition which hasn’t been used for quite some time. I have a laptop that has a small win11 partition that I boot every now and then to see what they’re up to these days.
However, in the end, the only real answer is that if you really need a piece of software, you just run whatever system that supports it. It’s not a religion, you use whatever is convenient for you at a given time.
It would be easier if you told us specifically what programs you need that aren’t supported.
Any company that doesn’t support Linux doesn’t deserve my patronage.
The same thing I’ve always done - booted another OS that works with that software. No need to artificially limit yourself.
Once upon a time I remember running Dos, windows, os2 warp, and linux on one hard drive. Those were the days…. Ya ya, I’m going back to my retirement home bedroom…
My approach has been to slowly learn how to play to the strengths of Linux and not pine after anything on Windows because ultimately I’ve gained a lot more than I’ve lost.
The one piece of software I haven’t been able to avoid keeping around is Sigma Studio, so I have a 10 year old shit top for running it, but it also runs in a VM if I need it. Thankfully I only need to use it once or twice a year.
If you rely on multiple pieces of software for important everyday activities and they aren’t usable in wine or a VM, you probably have no choice but to use the operating system that is the best vehicle for those tools. Doesn’t stop you from also using linux for other stuff, but I can understand how that’s not the same as going all in.
If you must and you have the hardware maybe run Windows in a VM just for those applications. You can even suspend the vm state to resume from where you were.
Without knowing the exact programs, you can only get general answers.
If there is no direct alternative program, you can change your workflow to use other programs. Or you can try to run those important programs in wine. Or i can run those in a terminal server, or via a windows vm. Or more lately many programs come in web versions that works for everyone.
I have used linux exclusivly on my daily driver for about 23ish years.i mostly work with the linux side of things. And the few windows things the company require i use web versions, or a windows vm.
I generally just avoid it, otherwise I use it on windows, I still use dual boot with windows and Linux, will probably stop after w10 stops getting security updates since I don’t really care all that much about windows specific stuff
I already used open source programs on Windows. The programs I’m using to do all my work with are Krita, Blender 3D, Gimp, and Libre Office.
They either started out on Linux or support Linux natively, so switching to Linux didn’t really change any of the programs I use. The biggest change is playing games, but Valve has made it very pain free.
Oh hey, same here! I’ve always been pretty poor so open source programs were the easiest way to do a lot of things
And can I just say, GIMP opens way faster in linux it really took me by supprise the first time
I’d say make a wholehearted attempt to try open alternatives even if you stay on Windows for the time being. I had been doing so for a few years before I even considered Linux and by the time I finally did switch the transition was a lot smoother.
That being said I’ve been surprised by how much stuff actually does run under WINE!
