Could be small or big.
My answer has always been that, Linux can’t handle everything I’d ask out of it that I normally can with Windows. I know the games issue has been progressing far from the days when that used to have been an archaic flaw with Linux for the longest time. Games might not be the issue except for some concerns I have for some games.
I was taking some time a few moments ago, to check if a program called Firestorm Viewer would work on Linux Mint which could’ve been my distro of choice. And the description written on the linux page described exactly the kind of concerns I’d have for compatibility and usability from going Windows to Linux.
They said that their viewer was tested and designed to function mostly with Ubuntu and while it could work with other distros, it’s not to be expected to be smooth.
That’s the kind of sentiment and concern I have always had with Linux if I were to go from Windows to it. There are programs and tools on Windows that I have that are used for specific purposes and I know they will not function on Linux. Furthermore, incase anything breaks down, any and all solutions would only be applicable to that thing that would be far easier to solve than just being SOL if I was on Linux.
It is something as a user that I just can’t simply afford to deal with on a regular basis if I made the switch.
So while I may not have too much of an issue running games, I won’t have too much of an issue using alternatives, I won’t have to deal with the Windows ecosystem .etc I will just be running into other walls that would simply make me second guess my decision and make me regret switching to the point where I would dip back into Windows in a hurry.
Every couple years I decide to switch to Linux, spend few weeks trying to get everything to work right, then give up and go back to Windows.
I feel like I’m in a “Goldilocks zone” where I’m enough of a power user that doing what I want in Linux takes quite a bit of work to get set up, but not enough of a power user that I enjoy the technical challenge.
Most recently I was trying to play a couple modded video games, and run a headless HTPC. One thing would work on one distro, another would work on another, but I couldn’t get everything to work at once.
Not sure what to get considering I want something fully European.
Pirated games
You’ll find some things are broken and janky in Windows and Linux. Just different jank you’re not used to. I have friends who complain about how they have to do weird workarounds for Linux and then turnaround and fuck with RegEdit. You get used to either given enough time.
then turnaround and fuck with RegEdit.
LOL, forgot about this. And they say they ain’t tech savvy enough
I’m lazy and haven’t gotten around to it yet
+1
I did flip my peripheral electronics, it’s just my main computer I haven’t changed yet. I made an attempt a while back ago but ran into enough snags, after already having a rough day, that I gave up and I haven’t tried again since. I’m pretty sure I know what the problem is, I just haven’t found myself wanting to sit down and burn the time it would take to install the new OS and get everything installed and tweaked how I like it etc. The latter part being a most-of-the-day project.
I will do it eventually though. I am sick of Windows. Now I just need to get over my fatigue and get off my ass.
For me, the snag is that I haven’t sorted through my files yet to decide what to keep
If you’re definitely making the hop, copy the whole windows file system to an external NTFS-formatted drive and then mount that and sort the files later haha.
You won’t be able to boot it as a backup, but the files will be there. If you have drive encryption you have to turn it off
+1
Unfortunately I’m addicted to a game that requires kernel level anti cheat. So I dual boot Fedora and Windows, but pretty much the only thing I use the Windows partition for is the game and that rare application that just works ™️ on Windows
Same here, fellow Fedora and Windows dual boot. I have a seperate hard drive for kernel level anti-cheat games: Escape From Tarkov - some PVE maps do run under Linux but PVP and parts of the map require anti-cheat.
Battlefield games from 5 onwards
Call of Duty games Coldwar onwards - do not open a call of duty game under Linux, there have been posts where it is an instant ban.
Ghosts of Tabor
I do have hope that one day the anti-cheat situation will work out where it doesn’t matter what operating system you are running but for now if I want to play some of the above games with friends for now I dual boot.
I’m convinced it’s much less straightforward than people here say it is.
I hate Windows, but I only use my computer for OpenOffice, some liiiiight browsing, and old-school light pirating (light enough TPB fits all my needs), so meh.
My new neighbor is an old leftist techie though, and when my 9 year old laptop dies, I may ask him to convert me. Maybe.it is not, but for the simple use case you mention, it’s actually more intuitive.
you can try it out straight from the usb.
I’m a lazy bastard who keeps pushing it off
Isn’t mint based on Ubuntu? So that should work without a hitch for you. Worst case just boot into the live usb without installing it directly and just try it there.
As for me, I dual boot on separate drives because I have specific software that requires windows sometimes. Otherwise it’s primarily Linux on all machines in the house.
Yeah! Once you get into linux you discover that in reality there are like 3 maybe 4 linux distros. Ubuntu is based on Debian and Mint is based on Ubuntu. And if you are knowledgeable enough then you just compile everything from source and it doesn’t matter if you’re running Fedora or FreeBSD.
I may be a fool though, don’t listen to me.
The only thing a beginner needs to know is Linux Mint. I think any time anyone shows curiosity in trying Linux, it should be stressed that there’s a really simple and “safe” way to start, which would be through Linux Mint.
audio production in Linux is awful.
I’ve found a lot of success after biting the bullet and purchasing bitwig as my DAW.
Fusion360
I’ve found real solutions to pretty much everything but this. For Fusion, I still just have to run it in a windows VM under Linux.
Because my PC is an entertainment box. I don’t want to turn it into a problem to solve.
Also, Nvidia.
Also, Nvidia.
Was waiting for this to pop up LOL
If you are on a market for a Linux-first laptop, AMD is the way. I mean, yes, Nvidia is far better now than half a decade ago, but still, the hoops you have to jump? FUCK YOU NVIDIA
What hoops? Installing the NVIDIA drivers is pretty straight forward.
Yea, until you tryna upgrade that laptop 😂
- CAD
- Photo editing
Gave FreeCAD and darktable a solid try hoping to switch my main desktop, but they have significant usability problems
CAD was a big problem for me as well. I’ve been happy enough with OnShape (coming from Autodesk Inventor), but the extreme SaaS nature of it makes me worry.
I used to dual boot windows just for when I needed to run LR Classic or Photoshop but now I just use winboat which makes them usable in Linux in your desktop environment while under the hood its running through a VM. It works great except not having GPU acceleration hurts, but it was a compromise worth it to me to not have to reboot into and out of windows.
Have you tried RawTherapee instead of Darktable? They both do pretty much the same thing, but I find RawTherapee much easier to use :)
I want to be able to rely on all the things I want to do on my PC “just working” I don’t want to come home after a long day of bullshit looking forward to playing a game or working on a project and have to do a bunch of troubleshooting because something is fucked up. I’m not there yet with Linux. To be fair I’m not there yet with Win 11 either so I’m in a tight spot.
I did buy a laptop so I could try it out more aggressively but have ran into a lot of roadblocks and just have a lot of things that I haven’t had time to figure out yet.
What kind of projects are you creating?
I will say, Linux really is not all the way there for people who use Adobe products. I get the hesitation. But, I haven’t had issues with games since like 2022 - and that was because I was trying to mod anyway.
That said, I have to inquire what distribution you’re using on your laptop? Not that they’re perfect, but something a little more preconfigured for your needs like Pop!_OS or CachyOS may be the ticket to a smoother experience.
CAD for 3d printing/woodworking
Drawing
Managing my media server and putting together playlists/reading lists.
Various little coding things to help with workflows on different things.
I’ve been playing around with Bazzite which seems to be pretty good so far but I have a list of things still I need to figure out how to do on it. Also for the record I’ve been running a headless debian server for my media for years without much issue so I’m not clueless about Linux but that isn’t as involved as using it for a desktop.
Have you tried https://www.winboat.app/ ?
No, but it looks like it could be worth a try. Although I do see that it doesn’t currently support GPU passthrough.
CAD is the one thing that has no meaningful Linux alternative.
For drawing or painting, Krita or Gimp are your top options, though Gimp gives some of the worst user experience in all Linux. Inkscape if you do vector art.
Yeah, you’re a bit SOL for CAD and drawing. I mean, Krita is great, but if you use Adobe you’re fucked.
I hear so many complaints about FreeCAD… Maybe we’ll be there someday.
Yeah, I use Krita for drawing so I’m not so worried about (assuming my tablet works) I do have FreeCAD installed and have played with it a little but it was a pretty rocky start that left me not super confident that I’ll be able to rely on it.
Theres also the issue that working off just the laptop is annoying so I’m looking to see if theres a KVM switch/Dock that will let me use my periphreals with the laptop without having to unplug all my shit. Haven’t messed with hardware like that in a long time though so I’m not sure what’s what.
None, we only use linux.
At the house yeah its the family computers. Haven’t had to reimage for years. The windows 10 old lap had to get reimaged after the last windows update blue screened it haha.
