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The end of Windows 10 is approaching, so it's time to consider Linux and LibreOffice

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    I'm likely going to because windows update is embarrassingly bad if you have 32gb as your goddamn boot drive.

  • Im seeing these posts twice a day at this point. So someone like myself who is totally ignorant on Linux, I have some questions if anyone can lend advice?

    I’ve been on PC windows for over twenty years now. And I use it mostly for video software like davinci resolve. Adobe software workflow. Unreal engine. I use clients harddrives and often times my own for working off of. And often times will send those harddrives to other people and their computers to finish the work. I also occasional play games on steam and Xbox App.

    With that said, is it even possible for me to switch over to Linux and keep using all the same software and workflow I have for high end video production workflow?

    • Davinci? Yup
    • Adobe? Not even remotely.
    • Unreal....yes? I'm pretty sure th development tools still run on Linux at least.
    • Crossplatform work? As long as it's in the same format from the same application, you should be fine. Just format the drive in something Windows can understand.
    • Steam? Works flawlessly as do most games now. You will need to change one option in settings, because Steam will by default only show games that are verified by valve to work (most games do though). Your biggest hurdle will be the developers that specifically block Linux.
    • Non-Steam games? You'll need to do some work, but you can get them running just as well as steam games
    • Xbox App/Xbox GamePass? Nope.
  • Does it have separate audio channels and input/output controls with volume sliders and hotkeys? That would still leave a few other issues, but progress is progress and I do like to keep myself aware of the options so that I'll know when it finally ticks all the boxes.

    I use pipewire with Ardour and Neural DSP VSTs (over wine) with zero issues on EndeavourOS. I really hadn't expected that. Now, I generally just use this stuff to not have to buy many physical pedals so I rarely do recording, but that has worked as well.

    You seem to be way more advanced than me in that regard, so I can't say if it would work for you, but it was so much easier and better than when I tried the same thing years ago. I'd suspect that GuitarRig works as well, though I haven't tried. I may just do so this weekend, but can't promise.

    I have GuitarPro running with wine as well.

  • Linux Mint would like a word. Best choice tech wise I ever made. Shit just works and it's dead simple, polished, easy to learn and read programs. Fuck Windows. I will never go back. Make the jump!

    That's good to know. Mint was going to be my distro of choice

  • Yeah, sure. But I don't run a shop anymore and just picked up an off the shelf machine from a retailer.

    Turned it on, connected it to wifi, then it took forever to try and update itself, which failed, required another reboot, then made me sign in, which also failed, needed a reboot

    I dont want a fucking ms account, I don't want to wait for every update, just ask my name and take me to the desktop

    Sounds like a personal skill issue. Especially if you bought some crappy off the shelf laptop.

    Also you dont need any of that to use windows so again pushing false narrative since you can use windows with an offline account perfectly fine. Since I use mine for school and dont sign into Microsoft.

  • OK, really good article and I like Libreoffice (although I prefer Only office) and Linux. I browse on it, game, watch videos, do pretty much everything. I am also a technical person, who can create a VM in 10 mins, add a required boot parameter, etc.

    Now. I want to send this article to my colleague/friend who's not technical at all. In the blog post I read

    Start by testing Linux and LibreOffice on a second partition of your PC (for individuals)

    "Second partition" literally means nothing to most people. I know: just learn, just read. But most people will not bother, or they will simply not understand the tutorials. That's the unfortunate reality.

    I think Linux and Libreoffice can become mainstream if a regular Joe/Jane can buy a laptop from Walmart with a distro and office apps pre-installed and use them like Microsoft Office. Before that time all this Linux and FLOSS stuff is limited to technical, or at least curious people willing to put some effort.

    P.S. My relatives are on Linux and Onlyoffice, because I installed it for them. And it's so much easier and more rare for me to manage and troubleshoot than Windows. But I cannot see them installing it by themselves.

    Yeah I’ve been considering switching to Linux but I’m not a tech person. I know enough to play some games and install some Minecraft mods and that’s it. Since I was thinking about getting a new lightweight laptop I was gonna get one with Linux instead of windows to give it a try but every time I found one that said Linux I’d look at the specs and it says the operating system is actually windows. I’d be willing to learn how to get Linux myself but I’m worried about ruining my computer because I don’t understand even half of the technical stuff. If anyone has any up to date very beginner friendly guides, I’d appreciate the recommendation

  • Im seeing these posts twice a day at this point. So someone like myself who is totally ignorant on Linux, I have some questions if anyone can lend advice?

    I’ve been on PC windows for over twenty years now. And I use it mostly for video software like davinci resolve. Adobe software workflow. Unreal engine. I use clients harddrives and often times my own for working off of. And often times will send those harddrives to other people and their computers to finish the work. I also occasional play games on steam and Xbox App.

    With that said, is it even possible for me to switch over to Linux and keep using all the same software and workflow I have for high end video production workflow?

    It doesn't have to be one or the other. You can do most of your work in linux and boot windows as a 'secondary' OS for stuff like adobe? I do this, and share NTFS SSDs/hard drives between them.

    You are hitting weak points of linux though. I do all media work on linux (a lot through vapoursynth or 'lower level' frameworks than resolve I suppose), but TBH do most of my gaming on Windows, not just for convenience but for performance reasons too.

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    these articles offer ms office alternatives acting like most people write their shopping lists in excel or something. i remember my friend asking for a cheap key for office, and i asked him when was the last time he opened a file in office. after a few seconds of waiting he told me that he opened up an rtf manual for an ancient tomb raider game...told him that almost anything can open an rtf. he lives an officeless life since.

    • Davinci? Yup
    • Adobe? Not even remotely.
    • Unreal....yes? I'm pretty sure th development tools still run on Linux at least.
    • Crossplatform work? As long as it's in the same format from the same application, you should be fine. Just format the drive in something Windows can understand.
    • Steam? Works flawlessly as do most games now. You will need to change one option in settings, because Steam will by default only show games that are verified by valve to work (most games do though). Your biggest hurdle will be the developers that specifically block Linux.
    • Non-Steam games? You'll need to do some work, but you can get them running just as well as steam games
    • Xbox App/Xbox GamePass? Nope.

    While I'm pretty sure you're correct on majority of cases, there's still some stuff, like non-steam games, which just won't work no matter what you do. So, on paper these things work but your mileage may vary.

  • What can't you do on Linux that keeps you on Windows or Mac?

    photoshop, multiplayer games, excel specific macros, 99% of the accounting programs, drivers wificard soundcards, multimonitor support that doesnt shits itself within 10 seconds...2 years ago i tried mint, ubuntu, manjaro, they all failed.

  • Yeah I’ve been considering switching to Linux but I’m not a tech person. I know enough to play some games and install some Minecraft mods and that’s it. Since I was thinking about getting a new lightweight laptop I was gonna get one with Linux instead of windows to give it a try but every time I found one that said Linux I’d look at the specs and it says the operating system is actually windows. I’d be willing to learn how to get Linux myself but I’m worried about ruining my computer because I don’t understand even half of the technical stuff. If anyone has any up to date very beginner friendly guides, I’d appreciate the recommendation

    If you are willing to learn, then you can check Linux laptops from Framework, Tuxedo and Entroware. Linux preinstalled, and hardware is compatible.

  • photoshop, multiplayer games, excel specific macros, 99% of the accounting programs, drivers wificard soundcards, multimonitor support that doesnt shits itself within 10 seconds...2 years ago i tried mint, ubuntu, manjaro, they all failed.

    2 years is a long time. Driver issues are few and far between these days. Multi monitor support has greatly improved as well. I can't help you with your software requirements if you're stuck using proprietary programs like Photoshop. I can tell you that as a professional graphic designer and illustrator the alternatives to "industry standard" software are powerful and arguably better (Inkscape) on the Linux side. It does take time and effort to retrain years of shortcuts and workflow experience, but it's definitely doable.

    Maybe one day when you're feeling adventurous give Linux another shot. I know for a lot of people the ethics of open source vs closed aren't really important, but it's still fun to see what else is out there.

  • If you are willing to learn, then you can check Linux laptops from Framework, Tuxedo and Entroware. Linux preinstalled, and hardware is compatible.

    Thanks! I’ll check those out!

  • It’s possible to pass thru a single GPU. I followed this guide on my Fedora desktop

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eTWf5D092VY

    It is possible, but I have problems with it. Number one, my current GPU is one affected by the AMD reset bug, so it would take even more tinkering than that tutorial to get working. Number two, I'd prefer to not have to choose between windows or linux having the GPU - having to shut down the VM to get back to my normal desktop and programs is not ideal.

    Also, I just wish FreeCAD made more sense to me, as I don't trust Autodesk long-term to not take away the "free for personal use" license. They've already taken several anti-consumer steps already. 😞

  • 2 years is a long time. Driver issues are few and far between these days. Multi monitor support has greatly improved as well. I can't help you with your software requirements if you're stuck using proprietary programs like Photoshop. I can tell you that as a professional graphic designer and illustrator the alternatives to "industry standard" software are powerful and arguably better (Inkscape) on the Linux side. It does take time and effort to retrain years of shortcuts and workflow experience, but it's definitely doable.

    Maybe one day when you're feeling adventurous give Linux another shot. I know for a lot of people the ethics of open source vs closed aren't really important, but it's still fun to see what else is out there.

    i see now. you just love to be downvoted.

  • i see now. you just love to be downvoted.

    Why? I thought it was a pretty reasonable reply.

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    I'm specifically talking about toil when it comes to my job as a software developer. I already know I need an if statement and a for loop all wrapped in a try catch. Rather then spending a couple minutes coding that I have cursor do it for me instantly then fill out the actual code. Or, ive written something in python and it needs to be converted to JavaScript. I can ask Claude to convert it one to one for me and test it, which comes back with either no errors or a very simple error I need to fix. It takes a minute. Instead I could have taken 15min to rewrite it myself and maybe make more mistakes that take longer.
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    Forgive me for not explaining better. Here are the terms potentially needing explanation. Provisioning in this case is initial system setup, the kind of stuff you would do manually after a fresh install, but usually implies a regimented and repeatable process. Virtual Machine (VM) snapshots are like a save state in a game, and are often used to reset a virtual machine to a particular known-working condition. Preboot Execution Environment (PXE, aka ‘network boot’) is a network adapter feature that lets you boot a physical machine from a hosted network image rather than the usual installation on locally attached storage. It’s probably tucked away in your BIOS settings, but many computers have the feature since it’s a common requirement in commercial deployments. As with the VM snapshot described above, a PXE image is typically a known-working state that resets on each boot. Non-virtualized means not using hardware virtualization, and I meant specifically not running inside a virtual machine. Local-only means without a network or just not booting from a network-hosted image. Telemetry refers to data collecting functionality. Most software has it. Windows has a lot. Telemetry isn’t necessarily bad since it can, for example, help reveal and resolve bugs and usability problems, but it is easily (and has often been) abused by data-hungry corporations like MS, so disabling it is an advisable precaution. MS = Microsoft OSS = Open Source Software Group policies are administrative settings in Windows that control standards (for stuff like security, power management, licensing, file system and settings access, etc.) for user groups on a machine or network. Most users stick with the defaults but you can edit these yourself for a greater degree of control. Docker lets you run software inside “containers” to isolate them from the rest of the environment, exposing and/or virtualizing just the resources they need to run, and Compose is a related tool for defining one or more of these containers, how they interact, etc. To my knowledge there is no one-to-one equivalent for Windows. Obviously, many of these concepts relate to IT work, as are the use-cases I had in mind, but the software is simple enough for the average user if you just pick one of the premade playbooks. (The Atlas playbook is popular among gamers, for example.) Edit: added explanations for docker and telemetry
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