I'm still toying with the idea of replacing my OS with linux, in spite of knowing it's a Bad Idea (because of software compatibility). Wouldn't it be nice if companies you pay money to were a little open to the idea of creating flatpaks?

[–] Dave 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been running linux on my laptop for the past 18 months or so. I have a headless desktop machine running windows that I still connect to regularly because it's just easier. But over time I have managed to do more and more on linux as I learn more or find different programs.

What are your must haves that don't have linux versions available?

[–] sortofblue 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Adobe suite for work and the Affinity suite for myself. I use scrivener too but I'm sure I've seen open source alternatives for that and it keeps everything buried in rtf if I get stuck.

I know there are open source graphics programs available but affinity is the best I've used (much better than Adobe) and the forum posts Ive seen about Wine aren't encouraging.

[–] Dave 2 points 1 year ago

While there are alternatives to many of the suites, I don't think they are comparable.

An option is to dual boot or run windows in a VM. Or like I do, have a separate windows machine that I remote into when I need to do windows stuff.

[–] d3Xt3r 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You don't have to replace it completely. Dual-booting is a fine compromise, so is running Windows inside a VM.

I've been running Linux as my main OS for ~15 years now, but still run Windows in some form (and macOS).

Why settle for a single OS? Just use whatever tools are best for the job.

[–] sortofblue 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Windows in a VM is a good idea but the way I distro-hop I should probably start with it the other way around. What is your main distro of choice?

[–] d3Xt3r 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I used to use Arch (still do on some systems), but my main these days is Nobara, a gaming and multimedia optimized distro, based on Fedora.

[–] sortofblue 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would try different things to see what I liked but I always came back to Fedora. I haven't heard of Nobara but I like the sound of it; it looks like it bundles all the stuff I usually install the moment the DE is up and running.

[–] d3Xt3r 3 points 1 year ago

If you like trying different things then I'd also recommend checking out BlendOS. It's a unique Arch-based distro that allows you to install and run packages from other mainstream disreos (making use of containers). You can even instantly switch between different DEs with a single command, which is nice for trying out various environments without polluting your system with tons of dependencies.

[–] chrizbie 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've always dual booted windows and Linux, I generally boot into Linux unless I know there's something I need windows for, there's a lot of hardcore Linux enthusiasts on Lemmy that will tell you why you're sub human for using windows but frankly there isn't always a way around it

[–] sortofblue 1 points 1 year ago

Honestly, I think being on Lemmy is what put the idea back into my head in the first place. I have a permanent case of grass-is-always-greener so whatever I'm using, I want to be using something else.

[–] TagMeInSkipIGotThis 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Software compatibility really comes down to what tools you use & why. If you have flexibility the same outcomes can be achieved with other (typically) open source alternatives a lot of the time. Gaming used to be a major challenge but has been improving rapidly over the last couple of years.

I have a macbook air for portable computing, a windows desktop for gaming, and another half a dozen linux machines for various other bits & pieces I muck about with - and really other than some games I could use any machine for anything.

[–] sortofblue 1 points 1 year ago

Tinkering with alternative software used to be my main hobby but these days I just want stuff that works so have drifted away from it a bit.