Now is the time to spread your wings and try linux as a replacement for windows!
I’ve occasionally tried using Linux in the past as my main desktop, because I think Windows as an OS is inferior, and lately because Linux’s UI actually seems superior, but I always got suckered back into Windows because I wanted to play certain games.
I tried again last month, and this time, it’s different. The games that I want to play work well enough in Linux. Some of them have native Linux builds. Others work well enough in Proton, which is Valve’s version of Wine, a Windows emulation layer that can run Windows games in Linux.
I don’t see any reason that I’d ever go back to Windows again.
People who haven’t tried Linux in a couple of years need to read this.
The amount of progress that has been made with respect to Linux gaming over the past few years has been astonishing.
Now if only big software developers understood this and released business software for Linux…
Depends on what you’re looking for, for some fields there are fantastic options already.
The others… Well considering the trajectory I’m seeing now (as a multiple decade Linux user), I think a lot more will start building for it. Maybe one flavor to start, but I do think it will be much more common.
I’m seeing it with some of my clients already.
CAD/CAM, PLC IDEs
For me: Solidworks, TwinCAT (lol @ plc software built on top of windows…and it’s one of the more open ones)
Yeah the TwinCAT situation is absurd, pretty much like with SCADAs, wtf why would you use Windows when you need a reliable OS? Luckily Beckhoff is working on a BSD based TwinCAT IIRC, and on the SCADA side Ignition works on Linux
Much of the businesses in media already do. EG: Maya was released for Linux. Its predecessor ‘ALIAS power animator’ was a Unix based program and ran on SGI.
You’d be hard pressed to find a studio involved in fx or 3D or any function of post production not running on Linux.
Most of the progress in gaming has been due to Valve’s efforts with Proton. Running Windows versions of games in Proton is often better than the Linux native version.
They would need some kind of third party with some kind of financial interest in creating a similarly robust translation layer for business software. Like people dedicated to making wine really good for business applications.
We’ve got some tools, but my understanding is that the compatibility is very spotty… I can’t really conceive of something analogous to Valve, but for business apps, that would have a financial stake in greatly improving compatibility.
My understanding is that a lot of it has to do with the Steam Deck, which is Valve’s handheld gaming platform. Valve wanted it to run most of their catalog, but they also decided to use Windows emulation rather than Windows, so they forked Wine and put some money and effort into improving it.
But some games are harder to run than others.
If you use Steam, it might be as easy as installing it from Steam, because sometimes the games are multi-platform. FTL is an example of this that I currently have installed. But it seems like more and more game developers want their games to run on the Steam Deck, so they release native Linux versions. (Ironically, I think FTL doesn’t run well on the Steam Deck.)
Some games run simply by telling the Steam launcher to use Proton as a compatibility tool. So, the only hard part is choosing which version of Proton to run, which involves picking it from a list inside of Steam, which then downloads that version of Proton, and then trying the game. And if it doesn’t run well, then try a different version of Proton and iterate. IIRC Rocket League is a game like this. On my computer, it seems to run best with the latest Proton beta. For me and my 5 year old computer, it doesn’t run as perfectly as well as it did in Windows, as it can stutter a bit when there are explosions on screen, but for me, it doesn’t seem to impact my play. And it takes longer to load, but I don’t think it’s possible for an emulated game to load faster on the same hardware.
And some games require you to look up how to install them, and you end up having to install some Windows things into your Proton runtime using something called Protontricks. Skyrim is an example. It took a lot of fiddling to get it set up and the audio working correctly. But now I can’t really tell the difference between how it runs in Windows vs. Linux, except that it takes longer to load in Linux.
Yeah I’m familiar with all that… Though one correction, Proton is a “translation layer,” not an emulator. Same with wine (it’s right in the name).
My experience has been that, often, the Windows version with Proton works better than the native Linux version. And most of the time, it just works with “Proton Experimental” or the most recent GE-Proton release.
ProtonDB is a better resource than Steam’s own compatibility rating. I’ve been able to install and play several “unsupported” games on my Linux laptop (like Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition with DSFix).
The majority of games will play. It’s kind of crazy how well it works.
They also give a lot of money to Codeweavers, the developers of WINE, so that WINE can have enough developers to support it.
What’s really wild is that not only are games good enough on Windows, but tests lately are showing a consistent trend where the two are often indistinguishable in performance, and where they’re not, Windows isn’t consistently winning.
If you’re not into the genre of competitive multiplayer games that have kernel anticheat, Windows isn’t really better for gaming anymore, outside of being more familiar for many people. Today we’ve reached the point where it’s a few fps either way, and people should use whatever they want, but if Microsoft keeps bloating Windows, it might soon be that the “Windows tax” also refers to the performance penalty you pay for using the familiar OS instead of learning something new.
And what’s even crazier about that is that Microsoft will literally make it the slowest god damn shitty OS on the planet before they even think about removing all the telemetry and bloatware.
I truly believe they would let it hit 50/50 people who use linux over Windows over not removing like two features that spy on you.
They just flat ass wouldn’t do it. They know they won’t die completely in our lifetimes so they would absolutely let it crumble into a shell of what it used to be before they ever start being user friendly and privacy respecting. I actually think it will eventually destroy them but might take like another 80 years
I think what you posted is great and should be read by people on the fence.
But conversly, I quit windows when XP came out becausei wanted to stop playing Microsoft’s games. There were enshittifying back then and it only has got worse.
I even admin Microsoft systems for a living, have access to nearly every product that make for free, and I still will never use windows at home. Even managing azure or SQL databases or having to use products that are windows only I do it through a Linux machine. Sometimes by pushing commands, sometimes with remote desktop. But I do it because Linux just works, I can count on it. Not so much windows or Microsoft.
No shade against you, but WINE stands for “WINE is not an emulator”
But what does the WINE that is represented by the W in WINE stand for? 🤔
WINE is not an emulator
For the new guys, you’ll notice a lot of this kind of thing because developers think recursion is clever.
For example, GNU stands for “GNU’s Not Unix”
Exactly. I tired SuSE back around 2001 and Ubuntu around 2006. It was not a better experience so I never stuck with them. I started using Mint last year and it just stuck. There are some quirks and learning curves, but it’s a good experience. Linux has changed a crap ton.
Yup same. Was all worried I can’t play my games but then discovered the fedora everything install and the online tutorials were well written to get wine and proton going and the drivers and was like holy shit this has come a long way.
I can live with this.
I’m a Linux user since it was distributed in diskette images.
I use both Windows and Linux, mainly Linux, but I dual boot or use a VM sometimes because I need to use some programs which are not practical or just don’t work with wine.
I don’t see Linux as an alternative, I see Linux as different tool.
I mainly use cruciform (pozidrive if possible) screws and screwdrivers, but sometimes I have use flat.
No drama, no religious zealotery.
Linux was 100% an alternative to me, not sure why it isn’t? Why isn’t linux an alternative to any operating system?
I’m not saying it can’t be an alternative for a lot of people.
I’m just stating my personal position, for my use case.
Just curious, which software do you have to run on windows? I used to think alternatives for photography weren’t good enough but I changed my mind recently. Alternatives exist, but just like switching from windows, it requires the willingness to relearn how to do things I was used to in adobe lightroom and photoshop.
The Affinity suite, Designer, Photo, and Publisher. I have used Inkscape, Gimp, and Scribus, but Affinity is very intuitive, easy to work with, professional, inexpensive one-time payment (per major version), very well integrated between apps, and follows the same paradigms. I’ve never been a fan of Adobe.
Running Affinity in Wine is a hack, and a lot less responsive in a VM.
Makes sense.
I wanted to try the Affinity suite but found it doesn’t work on Linux. I also tried running it via wine but had massive issues. I’d gladly pay if they release it for Linux. Until then, I’ll use free alternatives.
I looked into the wine installation in Linux, and it seems that there is a custom wine setup that generally works, but I do professional graphic design, and page setting/layout as a side gig. I don’t need the hassle, or risking losing work, even with auto saves.
I started a thread about Affinity in Linux in 2022. It’s still quite lively.
The main idea was that considering the growth of Linux, they could get ahead of Adobe in that space and tap into a market space that is pretty in crowded.
It’s still a fairly active thread.
Affinity still says that they have no intention of doing a Linux port.
That’s a complicated way of saying that Microsoft recommends switching to Linux. /j
You joke but As of this last weekend I just did and it was pretty damned free…
What distro?
Fedora for the beast. Family media station is on Ubuntu
i wanted to try out Nobara when switching having only experienced Debian before (not such a great desktop experience then). Now, since i’m already hooked on a Fedora-Spinoff, if the installation ever dies, i will go pure Fedora too, it’s just a great experience :-)
Yup so far so good. Though there are one or two games I realized I have to say goodbye to but overall they weren’t going to be a big miss from my life.
Just a good excuse to start digging into some of the new games from steam sales that I never got around to.
Hmmm I’ve had more luck and haven’t encountered any game that wouldn’t run except for the anti heat titles. I have quite the collection over a wide field of platforms and decades, if you wouldn’t mind to tell me what didn’t work?
Oh sure. Destiny 2. Not that it’s a big loss really as i only casually play. It looks like it was intentionally meant to only play on windows though and bungie are doing what they can to keep it that way https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/263741503?page=0
Currently finding r6 as a bit high maintenance to get working too.
They both use battleeye so that’s probably the reason
So far that’s about it tho. All my main favourites seem to be installing without a hitch.(so far that is)
I’m running with GE latest.
No it doesn’t.
Hmm, neat!
Huh, and I thought that was only for the os activation, but no. ESU support is right there, under the TSForge activation method.
The LSTC IoT editions also have it built right in, and come without the ancillary Windows bloatware (except Edge, which you’re stuck with) for niche applications that require running Windows-only software that can’t be avoided. Even on lower end hardware.
Its even more support than what MS is offering LMAO
Came here to make sure someone dropped this link.
Also: Linux btw
From these mass graves we learn to sing.
“Linux can’t run my cock and ball squeezing app!”
Actually, I been much happier not being able to play League anymore.
Yeah I realised the only games I cant play on linux are the ones that really don’t respect my privacy/time/wallet so it ended up a net benefit
I had my first issue since switching just yesterday (I’ve been switched for a couple of months).
I wanted to run some mod installers for the old Kotor games but they’re .exe files.
Only stuff I could get working was manual file-replacements and steam workshop mods.
You should be able to use those mod installers by running them with wine within the wine prefix Kotor is installed in surely?
Not sure about wine. Haven’t used it since like 2016.
I’m running all my games in steam with proton. Not sure if that’s connected at all.
Proton is just wine with some extra stuff added, if you install protontricks this explains what to do.
protontricks-launch --appid <APPID> <EXE>Should get you what you want, you can find app id by looking at the url of the game in the steam store or using
protontricks -s <GAME NAME>
all “AAA” games, you say
Never been a better time to try dota 😈
No. I’m clean man. I can’t. Not again.
Just a little match. For old time’s sake
I went though this with Mike, I must not repeat the sins of the past.
Stay strong! MOBAs are like rage-inducing crack!
They also destroy friendships.
Good thing that Linux can run pretty much everything I want to play. Ckb-new and and Streamdeck-gui still need some finishing touches so that E:D and DCS are identical to old Windows setup, but everything else seems to run without a hitch.
Luckily Linux Mint still allows local accounts. In fact there is not other option besides just a local account.
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Installed Bazzite on my main gaming rig two weeks ago. Haven’t booted win10 since, fantastic distro.
Totally agree. Which variant? KDE or GNOME?
KDE
gnome makes it easy to login to onedrive and see it from nemo/nautilius etc. microsoft lowkey made it easier to switch away by forcing everyone to use onedrive by default
This just in, convicted monopoly Microsoft will fuck you over at every conceivable opportunity. Film at 11.
convicted monopoly
Well that’s a blast from the past. That was neat-o how Mr Boies nailed a conviction and the remedy was … An apology? Was it even that much?
Glad to see Microsoft is successfully building on that crushing no-remedy defeat by doing the same and more. #winning
It was actually significant, and changed them quite a lot for 2 decades. Now they don’t give a shit anymore. But there was an impact.
Woukd have been more significant if Bush admin hadn’t overridden the original judgment to break MS into 3 companies.
So use anything but Windows? Got it.
Microsoft is no longer permitted on my PC
Coincidentally I no longer support windows machines in my home.
Just finished building a new PC last night, 64GB RAM, 8GB vRAM, 2TB m.2, 8x8TB HDD, and windows will never goddamn touch it. It feels weird, but so far so good.
8x8TB HDD
64 terabytes of HDD storage?! What in the RAID will you do with all of that? And more importantly, how much did it cost?
Jellyfin. The HDDs were only ~$110 each. Seagate 5400s but w/e it’s mass storage. No raid, drives will just be filled, cloned, and the clone dropped into a second system, also with no windows 🤬
Look at ZFS, it’s a bit more intelligent about using the space. They’ll be part of a pool of drives that you create ‘datasets’(basically virtual drives) from and you can choose your level of redundancy (including none at all if you want to roll the dice there).
I have a 20TB array, 16TB available. It’s already saved me from a lost disk. Using Seagate 5x 4TB 5400s also, with a NVME drive for the ZIL (speeds up writes). I have a 32GB ARC (a ZFS cache in RAM) so, even though the drives are slow the RAM and NVME drives ensure that it always feels snappy.
You can use zfs-send to clone the data to a new system without them having to have an exact copy of your original setup (like they would if you’re using drive images). It is also a copy on write filesystem so it supports snapshotting (creating backups of the block level diffs, so it is very space efficient as it only stores the block-level changes to the file).
I don’t believe you! (that it is coincidential)
:)
shakes fist
Family members have PCs that can’t support Windows 11 (not that I’d want them to get it anyway) and I’m not yet in the position to migrate them to Linux.
This type of behaviour makes me glad I’m most of the way to ditching MS entirely on my own systems.
I’m most of the way to ditching MS entirely on my own systems.
You can do it, Aussie. Bite his freaking head off.
Frustratingly I have just a few applications that are Windows-only and don’t work under WINE. I’ve filed bug reports but haven’t had the time to learn how to debug it myself, so am somewhat stuck dual-booting on one device for the near future (everything else is now Linux).
I’ve switched a few of my family members to Linux Mint, they like it
Yes, I am likely to shift them to that as well.
Don’t worry, you can only get it for a single year. Next year it’s new or Linux.
I know, but that year will be valuable for a certain family member who is stubborn and needs time to be eased into a new system. The problem is that now I have to set up a MS account for them just to get the extension!
At this point, I’m starting not to feel bad for people who put themselves through this shit. Using windows nowadays is like staying in an abusive relationship while you have an actual chance to get out, then complaining about it. Linux works no problem. And if a software/hardware vendor refuses to bring it to Linux, then you vote with your wallet. We need to let go of a bit of our love for “convenience” and try to be uncomfortable a tiny bit. Be a tiny bit inconvenienced.
And the thing of it is, back in the good old days you actually had to learn how to use your computer. This took effort, comprehension, and skill. And probably reading some manuals. Like, actual words printed on dead trees, bound up into a book. This was normal and expected, and you would build up your skillset to operate the machine you probably paid thousands of dollars for. No one had a problem with this then.
Learning to use Linux is no different, but nowadays everyone just wants everything handed to them and they’ll steadfastly refuse to put forth any effort while simultaneously failing to realize that figuring out whatever the next workaround is to get around something that Microsoft broke for them in the last update is basically exactly the same thing. Think back when you were learning to use DOS or trying to install your VESA local bus video card drivers in Windows 3.1, or desperately fiddling around with EMM386 in your config.sys file to try to get enough conventional memory freed up at startup to run Doom. If you had the amount of online resources we have now to just get the answer and not have to call tech support (and probably pay for it), or paw through a manual, or just be fucked and have to figure out by trial and error on your own, we would have all been stoked.
Entitlement breeds complacency, and complacency leads to the Dark Side. If you go out of your way to teach yourself to be helpless, you will be helpless.
Back then you owned your computer. By and large outside of some specific special purpose fuckery with licensing dongles you physically possessed the software you ran. Like, on a disk. You controlled what you ran, not some outside source. With all of the commercial operating systems (this includes OSX and iOS, Android, and Windows all to various degrees) this is now actively being taken away from you. The only way to claim it back is to run one of the open source platforms.
There are families with 4 children with a full time job that need to also maintain cars, a house, do taxes, estates, bikes, computers laptops iPads tvs, routers, electrical wiring, heating, water, aircon and cel phones among all the other equipment in the house for every day living like coffee machines, fridges, dishwashers, washer dryer, ovens and stove tops sinks and toilets … I can understand and respect that they don’t have the time to know how to build or troubleshoot all these things from the ground up and commit all their time to doing all of it just cuz they bought a slice of convenience. Cuz any one of these things they use daily could be used against them for not knowing how to do the basics of.
And any parent with stretched time I would not call that helpless. Parenting seems pretty hard. The feeding alone. And they don’t go out to hunt or gather like in the old days. If they picked only one thing out of that to commit their time and it’s to their family I’d say their priorities are correct.
It’s a computer. It’s a tool for some and for others: it’s a hobby. Your decision. you do you and whatever blows your hair back.
If you’re that eager to be crunchy and ‘purist’ about doing all the legwork of everyday existence go back to pissing in an outhouse, maintaining that just for ‘simplicity’ and take your own garbage to the dump, i think there are even communes you could join to experience that raw life but i still don’t understand this fear of progression.
Anyways point is: Gatekeeping is so cringe. And I’m saying this to you as a fellow Linux user.
We can be better than this. Be better than this.
Who’s gatekeeping? You’re putting an awful lot of words in my mouth. I’m pointing out that a lot of people are effectively gatekeeping themselves.
I think you rather missed the point.
Everyone has fantastic resources available to them through the internet that didn’t exist in the early 1980s, or whenever. And yet, people with four kids and cars and mortgages and taxes managed back then. It’s even easier now. The only obstacle to anyone is apathy.
Speaking of missing the point : you’re doing a perfect example of apathy.
You should have sympathy for people in abusive relationships. Your judgmental attitude is ridiculous in both respects.
Honestly I firmly agree with this. If it doesn’t work with wine nowadays unless it’s a big thing i just don’t involve myself with it.
the main difference is that Microsoft builds features quickly and for profit. that means the focus isn’t always on what the user wants, so they make tradeoffs that are good enough to not disturb the user base. recently with the AI craze basically showing how little they really care for the user.
Linux on the other hand is FOSS, anyone who wants a feature can build it. this is slower to deliver because the profit incentive (if there even is one) isn’t as big but that also means there don’t have to be compromises to delivered features.
looking at both these operating models i would rather be in the group building the future for users rather than shareholders. if it means waiting a few months for a few things to work as smoothly as I want I’m ok with that because it only keeps getting better and it’s literally free.
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OSChromeOS wannabe.
The fact that the extended coverage is locked behind the windows account paywall is known for a pretty good time already…
They initially said you could get the account, and like 300 good boy points
OR Pay $30.
🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧
