So im a noob as some say, theirs certain games and software i use on windows that wont work on linux. ive tried linux but i found myself switching back to windows. I really do want to stay with linux but im not sure how or if i should duel boot or something? also what flavor of line do you enjoy or would suggest?
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I think you need a good baseline amount of spite and resentment for windows and/or mac.
if you don’t need those windows only programs to earn a living, just install linux, don’t fuck around with dual booting. accept that you’re gonna have to learn new things. you’ll adapt.
if you do need windows for something, i guess dual boot, but make a pact with yourself to only use it for that one program, and switch back when you’re done, and keep looking for replacements so you can cut that last chain lashing you to m$. i highly recommend alternativeto for that.
This is the move. When I installed CachyOS (a year ago today actually), I set up a dual boot - figured it’d be good to have the “backup plan” instead of jumping right into it. I found myself going back a few times for various odds and ends. Over time I found I’d been flipping back to it less and less, I think the last time I actually used it was for a stupid gacha game that I finally put down for good.
Finally got to the point where I just nuked the windows partition to free up some space. and looking back I really only kept it around in the early days because I didn’t feel confident yet. (Though I do wish I had the forethought to arrange the partitions in a logical way because I couldn’t actually extend my cachyos partition to the left, so I just opted to add it to the btrfs pool instead, it works I guess).
I like having a Windows 11 VM for stuff I need Windows for (Visual Studio, pretty much, for one project), though I realise having enough system resources to do this is a bit of a privilege (especcially now…)
I keep a win10 VM around that I fire up on the rare instance I need to do something in windows. I agree with forgetting about dual boot.
Can you name the programs to get a better idea of the context?
If you have the luxury of access to multiple computers, or the expertise to dual boot, those are what worked for me.
I ran Linux and Windows side by side for years.
Over time, returning to the Windows shifted from “Ah, nice and familiar” to “oh, not this bullshit, again”.
Once I was comfortable with both, all the corporate bullshit became very noticable on Windows.
I’ve been running only Linux for 25 years. Any software you think you need that you only can get on Windows you don’t. Drop windows, say goodbye to your apps, and explore the alternatives. Try to have fun. A growth mindset helps
I use and love Linux Mint. I actually just deleted my windows partition. I have used it off and on for years. This is the first permanent switch.
I don’t game and have pretty basic needs, so not for everyone.
I did find that on this most recent migration, i never need windows for anything. So much has moved to in browser or open source alternatives are good enough that i am fine.
I have one machine in Linux and another in Windows. I’ve also made bootable persistent thumb drives to save myself any accidents creating a dual boot. That way I can run Linux for daily stuff, and Windows when I’m too incompetent to figure out a workaround for a game or whatever.
Windows needs to be rebooted all the time anyway, so it’s not really that big of a deal to boot into something else now and then. Plus it gives you a little change of pace.
I think I’m pretty knowledgeable with Linux and I still have to dual boot win10 for Cyberpunk 2077, not because it’s can’t run on Linux but I lose more than half of my fps on Linux because I have nvdia GPU… There’s nothing I can do about it until either nvdia fix their driver or nvk driver become as good or better than the proprietary driver.
I’ve always had dgpu issues on Linux. Every single one. Red. Green. Don’t matter. You’ve just made me realise that since I installed my 6600xt about a year ago, I’ve not had to touch or think about it since.
I’d say. Try and figure out if the softwares you use have Linux alternatives, most do. Learn how to use those and you won’t depend on windows.
As for games. Some just won’t run on Linux and there is nothing you can do about it. If that’s a dealbreaker then you are unfortunately stuck with windows. That being said, many games work!
I don’t recommend dual booting. Sure it’s nice on the surface but in reality you’ll just be on what ever OS is most convenient, which by the sound of it will probably be windows and you won’t find a reason to boot into Linux.
To further discourage you from dual booting: there’s a long tradition by this point about your windows OS swallowing your Linux OS or taking over your bootloader and not giving it back. This has only gotten worse with time and there’s basically no surefire solution.
Another approach is always a VM but for graphically intense applications or things like music production, you’ll spend lots of time making passthrough of your audio or devices work. That said, it is a great solution for these oddball apps that you just can’t get to work in Linux.
So I started by dual booting; it’s not a bad way of doing things although Windows likes to mess with bootloaders.
Optimal way is have physically separate hard drives/NVME cards, Windows on one, Linux on the other. The Linux bootloader should detect windows and point to it’s bootloader as a menu option without issue.
Make Linux the default OS and only switch to Windows when you really have to. I haven’t used my Windows install in like 1 year? I kept it for gaming but everything I want works in Linux. I even have a Windows VM in Linux for using Office if I need to for work (used it a few times in a year and beat having to restart into windows)
I’d wipe the windows drive but I just can’t be bothered right now.
I recommend a KDE distro to start as it’s very flexible - it can mimic windows and also be wildly different if you want. I use OpenSUSE Tumbleweed but I’d recommend OpenSUSE Leap as a stabler point release distro when starting out. I know longer recommend Mint as I find Cinnamon tired and there is so much old and bad advice on tweaking or fixing issues on Mint that it is actually potentially detrimental to being secure and safe.
First step is to figure out if you have hard requirements i.e. specific software that you rely on your studies or work and cannot be replaced.
If there is no such requirements, or your requirements have Linux versions, best thing to do is do the jump and accept the struggle until you figure out the new way of working. A lot of games run fantastic. Heroic Launcher for GoG and Epic games, Steam for Steam.
You need to edit a video, just search for “Linux video editor”, same for whatever task you want to achieve.
The ideal thing to me is if you have your last pc. You throw linux on that (I recommend zorin) and you have it available alonw with your newer windows machine. In most cases I believe the linux machine will perform better. Move as much as you can to it until you have whatever little things you still need windows for. Ideally you realize you need windows for so little that you flip the script and change your newer machine to linux and windows as your backup or you put linux on your next machine and the older windows machine sticks around.
I’d say dual booting would be best, as much as Windows will try to break it. Then you can stay in Linux as much as you can, only switching to Windows when you need to. And then, if you’re like me, you get annoyed at Windows lacking features and find alternatives that work under Linux.
For distro selection, I’d recommend Linux Mint. It just works well out of the box and most instructions online that apply to Ubuntu should work with it.
Download, install, use
In the 90s, QBasic (IDE) and Edit didn’t work on Slackware. So, I tried Pico, Vim, and Emacs. Now, I still use Emacs.
