I’m considering on programming a structural analysis program in my free time just to escape the windows 10 EOL and use GNU/Linux full time
Just use a windows VM lol. Only problem I’ve encountered outside of that was a lockdown browser for school but I just put that on a burner laptop because there is no way I’m letting some rando have root access to my main pc
Come on that was half the plot of Skyfall after all.
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Most of the games I play don’t run on Linux sadly. Even Lethal Company, which is perfectly fine on Linux, couldn’t be captured by OBS, so I had to switch to Windows before I could stream.
Game compatibility is getting better but still not good
What about with the new… thing. Um. There was a thread about it recently. It did… a thing. A Wayland thing.
Somehow, my exhausted brain managed to turn that into a reasonable search string.
Gamescope. A Wayland compositor that lets you define virtual displays that run overtop of your regular desktop.
That’s what weekends are for. No windows on my PC. The worst thing with this windows stuff at work is that it is needed for running some antique software that still needs win7. At least the win98 machine has been retired.
Windows 7 is yolo for a business. Support ran out in January 2023. But I guess it’s some hardware it needs to support, right?
Had that for a few years in my life too. The enterprise ran on Windows Server, MS Dynamics, MS VPN, Exchange etc. and the Dynamics Server could not be upgraded for years because so much depended on it. It was a tremendous effort to do it at the end.
But I guess it’s some hardware it needs to support, right?
No, it is for some fickely software. There is a win10 version of the software, but it supports only a subset of the data that the win7 version supports for some reasons that make no sense to me.
🍷
Wait, that doesn’t solve your problems? Damn, that sucks. (Get your downvotes ready)
The problem is mostly a lack of competition in specific fields. And the companies that own the monopoly in their respective niches make it so that any form of competition is either…
- immediately acquired and killed
- handicapped by market dependencies on pantented features
- unable to generate business because customer processes are completely dependant on proprietary solutions
Most of these applications have codebases that are FUCKING ANCIENT. Let’s take a look at Solidworks for example, which is the industry standard for Computer Aided Design for the manufacturing industry. Under the hood, it’s still the same software from the 1990’s. And there is no incentive for Dassault Systemes to rewrite the codebase.
Lots of these giant monopolistic software products have turned into frankenstein-esque monstrosities over the years. I often tell people they are built like backyard playhouses that have been expanded over the years by building an extra story on top, adding a swingset, adding a slide, extending the roof and attaching a rope ladder to the side.
All of this makes for more functionality, but they haven’t really thought about the structural integrity of the original playhouse. In a direct parallel many of these programs have unmaintainable code that no one dares touch because “hey it works, and we need to keep it that way because if we break it we’re no longer getting payed”.
These companies unintentionally hold their businessmodel hostage by choosing profits over innovation and investment in an adaptable codebase.
Which is why it is near impossible for them to support technologies that are different from their original install base. And this is also why they have incentives to make sure they stay in the lead becuase they know damn well that open source movements that get some support and take flight are dangerous to their market share, and by extension their profits.
Blender is probably one of the best examples of what good open source software will do to an industry. The day someone develops a parametric CAD solution that’s platform agnostic and based on open standards we’ll see a lot of engineers ditch Windows for Linux.
And when KiCAD gains enough features to make it able to compete in the enterprise space.
Altium still just has a ton of features that people use every day.
Cloud libraries, multi-channel design, flexpcbs, some good high speed tools, output job files, better curved traces for RF (though kicad melting + teardrop is ahead of altium in my opinion, though more clunky).
I have hope for FreeCAD now that Ondsel is on board pushing the community/enterprise split that OnShape does. They are shooting for a 1.0 next year. Though I think it will take until 2.0 to get it professionally usable.
I haven’t dabbled that much in PCB design but I have seen some good things in KiCAD. All my electro engineer homies assure me Altium’s the way to go for now though. Most of them also happen to be big F(L)OSS nerds so I’m curious to see where KiCAD goes in the future.
FreeCAD is an awesome attempt at building a parametric CAD modeler, though it will need a lot of polish to be usable. Especially on the UX side of things the software could do with a lot of improvement. As far as I know the most difficult part to program for parametric modelers is the actual geometry kernel, which is why so many modelers are based on Parasolid, including the recent hybrid modeler Plasticity. For a F(L)OSS parametric CAD modeler to truly succeed some genius needs to build an open geometry kernel that performs at least close to on par with Parasolid. But that takes a special kind of autistic in order to achieve. Either that or the engineering world needs to collectively decide this needs to happen.
As much as I hope FreeCAD becomes the open source alternative everyone is looking for, it is trying to be everything at once and that might be too ambitious for the current state of the project. I’m secretly hoping we also get a new project sometime soon with a smaller scope.
I have a pretty good streak without Windows, I use macOS and Linux, and everything I need is available. If not, I can use Wine, and it works. And Proton is just amazing, the number of games you can play with it without ONE SINGLE PROBLEM is just insane.
sadly my count will stay at zero because my work laoptop has windows 10 on it
I wish I could wipe my windows drive, but I have to use adobe shit, maya, unity and unreal. those are either too hard to install on linux, too expensive to buy a linux version, or works far inferior or not at all on linux.
hopefully I can be forgiven because I game almost exclusively on linux now.
Same. I’d give anything for viable Linux native Adobe alternatives. I’m trying to force myself to use Inkscape but it just cripples my productivity. I need to find an emotional support group for people who can’t leave their abusive windows relationship.
should I spin up a matrix space? maybe we can support eachother /hj
honestly I just want to be able to use adobe programs on linux. I need to use substance painter the most, which does have a Linux version surprisingly but it isn’t part of the subscription and only comes in form of a steam program for that specific year of update, so like substance 2022 or whatever. and better yet, it costs like $250.
I’d subscribe to that!
Same. I’m a graphic designer and I use Adobe and Corel soft. Alternatives suck. Even if they wouldn’t suck, learning to use new software (that does same thing that older software does) after using old soft for 15+ years S U C K S.
The kinda funny thing about Corel is the fact that they once had their own Linux distro, but they don’t have Linux versions of their programs.
But think of all the programs that don’t even exist on Windows:)
WSL ;)
I quite like both OSs but mostly for different reasons.
Foliate is hands down the best ebook reader
Okular is good enough for me. It has at least 3 dark modes and I can hide all the UI in non-fullscreen mode.
Okular is the MPV of documents it seems. Regarding file-formats and UI. I only use it for PDF’s and I honestly had no clue it can read e-books and so much other formats. Even docx and odt with plugins. Also didn’t knew it has 3 dark-modes. Tyvm for your post.
Yeah it’s great. I use it for youtube and twitch and I don’t need more than the volume, mute, forward/backward and fullscreen keys to use it. Never touched Lua. Do you use it with MPV yourself?
Yes, for auto fullscreening, changing subtitles/audio, skipping some chapters etc.
Not quite a program but I fricking love KRunner. And Kate and Dolphin, though available in Windows, don’t work as well.
AFAIK the Same situation with KDE Connect which I couldn’t properly exist without. Also KRunner & Dolphin. Kate would be possible but hard AF.
Full on agree with KRunner. One of the MVP applications of KDE. So far none of the alternatives I tried on Windows 10 and MacOS come anywhere close to its power and elegance. Maybe Alfred which I tested years ago.
I could write 10 more paragraphs about why KRunner is one of the most advanced laucher/search/command application but I think everyone should experience it themselves. Best not to over-do it with the KRunner-plugins where an overwhelmingly long search result list could ruin your experience.
I like running windows in a vm it’s like having an animal in a cage you can poke with a stick. Not that I would do that. Hypothetically of course.
I’m currently testing my game library before I relegate windows to a cage, some teething issues as I expected but I’ll get through it.
I will absolutely poke windows with a stick, preferably a pointy, barbed wire wrapped one.
How else am I supposed to run Bonzi Buddy?
Awww man I miss that purple lil asshole, I used to make him swear all the time when I was a kid.
Plus now I can’t think of that Daisy, Daisy song without hearing his creepy little robotic voice.
It’s a pretty simple Visual Basic 6 app so I’d be surprised if it didn’t work using WINE.
I’m paying the tech debt of not switching sooner.
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Sometimes that’s reasonable. If the stuff you need doesn’t work, fighting it or pushing that boulder up hill is not worth it.
You may not realize certain things are deal breakers until they are stating you in the face.
I had used Linux before so I wasn’t too worried, but gaming for me was the reason. With Proton I had the desire to switch, but I needed something to just push me over the edge. I wasn’t taking the leap on my own. For one Windows update it put the search bar back on the Taskbar, which I had told it to remove. Microsoft, once again, ignoring what I had told it before to try to force me to use something is the thing that pushed me over. It’s such a small thing, but it’ll be different for everyone.
I don’t blame anyone for not switching. It’s a fairly large change (though not as large as some imagine). Most people will just stick with what they know until something comes along that makes them trip up, and then the thing they know is seen as a hindrance. That’s going to be different for everyone. We just need to inform people that, when that thing comes, there is an option for them that will handle pretty much whatever they need.
Just install Linux parallel (most installers recognize Windows) and switch entirelly after you’re fed up with the hassle.
Diablo 4 and 3. Thats my dealbreaker
https://www.protondb.com/app/2344520 - Platinum
And from what I can see Diablo 3 works fine with Lutris.
Diablo 4 works perfectly with proton experimental on my steam deck tho
Diablo 3 has worked with wine for a very long time.
Diablo 4 works on Linux, PlayStation and Xbox. Diablo 3 works on the same plus Mac and Switch.
I haven’t tried D4 but D3 works fine.
And the reason is going to be “enterprise” software, which is usually a pile of a flaming wreck that barely runs in its native Windows environment in the first place. So it is with the point of sale/inventory software I have to use for work. I can run it in a VM, but it explodes spectacularly in Wine.
that means they’re lying to you so you stop asking
I switched to Ubuntu a few months ago and the only thing that doesn’t work are a few online games due to anti-cheat software and those games I’ll just play on PS5 now. I don’t see myself ever going back at this point. Every issue I have encountered I’ve been able to resolve with a quick google search. Google search has been getting kinda shitty so that’s the next thing I’m looking to replace.
Time to host your own SearXng instance
If you’re willing to pay for a search engine, I highly recommend Kagi. I’ve been using it for a few months and I like the results better than Google or any other search engine I’ve tried.
At this point I have used duckduckgo for years with no issues.
Moving goalposts is a concept that applies to debates. Choosing an operating system shouldn’t be a debate. It’s a personal choice, or sometimes a professional choice. Convincing people who don’t want to be convinced shouldn’t be anyone’s goal.
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Well, no duh.
M$ has been the dominant OS for the majority of a lot of peoples lives, accordingly a massive, massive ecosystem has grown up around it.
My IT career has taken me some weird and wonderful places, and there is a lot of extremely specialised software that will only run on windows, and wine unfortunately still has a bit of a stigma with its interoperability. When you’re running shit a business literally relies on to exist, you don’t play games with it.
Fortunately m$ are shooting themselves in the face, which is driving a lot of vendors to rethink their software., but it’s still a slog.
It’s scary. Straight up. You don’t know if changing it will put you into a situation where there is no one there to help. All your information is on these machines and Windows for all it’s faults is a bought product with customer service.
Making a change without a safety net or someone to walk you through it is ballsy. Research is important and no offense, hard to find for Linux. Sure there are many “how to” videos and scenarios. But what if I play a game and I cannot absolutely live without it. And all of its plugins?
customer service
Not unless you’re a business customer lol, don’t get me wrong they do support but the quality really isn’t much above a community Linux forum (at least where I live). Not that the average Joe knows that so the claim is still a valid reason why people don’t switch.
I went to MS forums for remembering how to write “sfc /scannow”, “Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth”, because it was often the first answer on a post. How-To’s concerning “bootrec” and “diskpart” were always to be found somewhere else. At least with sfc and dism it was always pray and hope it does something useful under the hood.
With an unbootable Linux partition (which seldomly happens) I mount it, chroot it and then have a plethora of fixes I can try, tools I can use and logfiles I can check instead of putting my self in the hands of 2-3 blackbox-apps. Manual fixing under Windows is possible but nobody can tell me it’s feasible with the repair console.
Or better yet, that 1% can run in a VM
or on wine
Wine is so much better these days it’s not even funny
Yeah, they’re doing great work.
A real Linux boi would rewrite the program from scratch custom tailored to his personal needs.
Until remember patient exists and legally cannot create another copy. Sure you made one yourself but can never release it to the public.
Even without that, things can go really bad:
- You’re the only developer, then you burn out on the project.
- You underbake the UI so much your project becomes infamous for how hard it is to use, complete with an elitist userbase that just screams “git gud” memes at everyone asking for help (most often happens to dev tools).
The rare occasion, it’ll become like Krita, modern Blender, Audacity, etc.
S2g linux users are their own worst enemies
Ha you think I can possibly code a UI ? Command line only. Maybe curses if absolutely necessary.
Still under baked…
If you aren’t creating custom software to address one-off needs, are you really a Linux user?
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I run Arch , by the way.
I use gentoo, fyi
sploosh
i feel so incompetent compared to other linux users, like i didnt even know flatpak had a repair command until today
I’ve been using linux for 10 or 11 years and I also didn’t know flatpak had a repair command, so don’t feel too bad
If it makes you feel any better, I’m a total fraud. I’ve used Linux Mint a few times, so now I can say I’m a Linux user.
Exactly the same with me. Very occasional Mint user. I will never touch Win11, so when Win10 hits EoL I’m screwed if I haven’t learned to deal with the friction of learning Linux.
I may end up regressing to a PC-less monke until I figure it out. Windows can kiss my primate ass.
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Same (after reading this comment). Flatpak is some new fangled contraption. /s
A person can’t know everything.
Feh.
The only flatpacks I trust are made in Sweden.