Questions about my ability to switch to linux

[orloj]

Hello, for context : I have been jumping in and out of various linux distributions for the past 4 years but ultimately never joined for good because of a few problems I kept having at the time.
Windows 11 is most probably the last windows os I will ever use as it is getting worse and worse.

This is probably one of the most commons questions which gets answered on a daily basis and I am sorry for that.

What is the current state of linux, and can it fit my setup ?

I have a 3600/3060ti desktop with two monitors respectively at 3440x1440@165hz and 1920x1080@165hz <- here goes my first problem, I always had display issues with both official drivers and the open ones

I need to be able to have multiple audio outs / per app audio routing, also my main audio runs through a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 2 inferface <- tho this interface does not need a specific asio driver, in fact i run it on the basic ass wasapi one on windows 11 so i guess it could be just plug and play

I also do some VR gaming, quid of this ?

And lastly and I know this is a big issue, any way to run adobe apps nowadays ? For video editing I use davinci resolve mainly so it's okay, but when collabing with others it's always premiere, and also I use photoshop quite a lot. I've heard things about running them in a VM but honestly it does look intimidating, and dual booting is a no go

On a related note, did wine get easier to use ? Last time I checked, bottles was gaining popularity, but quite honestly I found it very unintuitive and awfull to use

On the flatscreen gaming side, I don't really have many games I play that use an awful kernel anti cheat, tho I have a couple that use EAC. Oh and I play CS2 quite a bit

Edit here : I have a bunch of my games on other stores than steam, they're on epic and ubi, will that be a problem ?

But there is one thing I often do : mirroring my secondary monitor to the tv, either via a hdmi cable or via parsec. This works well on windows since it does not care about refresh rates being different

I think this concludes my list of concerns

For distros, I have tried ubuntu, mint, fedora and some of their derivatives, and I do use the terminal a lot on windows so I'm familliar with that

Thanks for coming to my TED talk, if you have anything else relevant to tell me of course you are welcome to do so, especially on software compatibility

aight, byeeee

 

[CaffeineAddict]

And lastly and I know this is a big issue, any way to run adobe apps nowadays ? For video editing I use davinci resolve mainly so it's okay, but when collabing with others it's always premiere, and also I use photoshop quite a lot. I've heard things about running them in a VM but honestly it does look intimidating, and dual booting is a no go

Most people will suggest you to use GIMP, including me.
This isn't only for GIMP but most Linux software in general, when using Linux users have get used to Linux software, this takes some time to get used to them.
Many Linux software is equivalent or as good as Windows equivalent, but UI may not be as shiny.

There are exceptions of course such as Windows games or programs which have no equivalent in Linux.

On a related note, did wine get easier to use ? Last time I checked, bottles was gaining popularity, but quite honestly I found it very unintuitive and awfull to use

wine works great for games, but it depends on what Windows software you run, not all work but majority does.
For games you have proton which comes bundled with Lutris, a gaming bundle platform for Linux, many games work fine, some require minor adjustment, but in general proton/wine got better for sure.

Edit here : I have a bunch of my games on other stores than steam, they're on epic and ubi, will that be a problem ?

No it won't Lutris client supports multiple game stores including epic, steam, itch.io, ubisoft and many others.
You can download from those stores by logging into stores from Lutris.

--

Can't advise on dual monitor setup, what's your GPU and which distro are you using?

 

[KGIII]

I'll add to the above that your computer's assumed specs mean that you'd likely be able to handle running a Windows VM just fine. That's not a great solution, as you're still using Windows. But, you'd be using it only when you needed it for gaming.

Also, unless things have changed, some games with 'anti-cheat' may not work well while running on Windows. My understanding is that 'anti-cheat' would require a kernel mod and that it'd be a proprietary blob. So, we are (collectively) generally opposed to such things in the kernel itself. This may have changed, however.

 

[orloj]

Most people will suggest you to use GIMP, including me.
This isn't only for GIMP but most Linux software in general, when using Linux users have get used to Linux software, this takes some time to get used to them.
Many Linux software is equivalent or as good as Windows equivalent, but UI may not be as shiny.

There are exceptions of course such as Windows games or programs which have no equivalent in Linux.


wine works great for games, but it depends on what Windows software you run, not all work but majority does.
For games you have proton which comes bundled with Lutris, a gaming bundle platform for Linux, many games work fine, some require minor adjustment, but in general proton/wine got better for sure.


No it won't Lutris client supports multiple game stores including epic, steam, itch.io, ubisoft and many others.
You can download from those stores by logging into stores from Lutris.

--

Can't advise on dual monitor setup, what's your GPU and which distro are you using?

1) Not a single soul will ever see me use GIMP, I genuinely hate it with all my heart so I'll probably stick with photoshop until a good FOSS competitor comes up

2) As I said in my post, my gpu is a 3060ti and I am still on w11 at this moment. I still have not landed my choice on the distro, but every time I tried to join the gang I would end gravitating around fedora forks. My last one was Nobara 34 or something iirc. Maybe that can give you an indication for why my monitor issues occured ? I am absolutely not knowledgeable about drivers nor compositors but I never swapped anything from stock installations

 

[orloj]

I'll add to the above that your computer's assumed specs mean that you'd likely be able to handle running a Windows VM just fine. That's not a great solution, as you're still using Windows. But, you'd be using it only when you needed it for gaming.

Also, unless things have changed, some games with 'anti-cheat' may not work well while running on Windows. My understanding is that 'anti-cheat' would require a kernel mod and that it'd be a proprietary blob. So, we are (collectively) generally opposed to such things in the kernel itself. This may have changed, however.

I honestly wouldn't mind giving up a couple games. I know the "best" process is simply to dual boot but my adhd cannot handle doing the steps to reboot on windows (especially if I do it multiple times), maybe if there is a script or something so do a quick swippy-swap of the os automatically I'd consider it but I'm not savy so I've only done it manually

 

[MikeWalsh]

1) Not a single soul will ever see me use GIMP, I genuinely hate it with all my heart so I'll probably stick with photoshop until a good FOSS competitor comes up

Back in the day, when I was running Windows XP, I actually invested in Photoshop CS2. Around the same time, I started playing around with the Windows port of the GIMP. I used both alongside each other for a while, although the Windows port of the GIMP is a poor, f***ed-up excuse of a thing. In its native Linux environment, it's a powerful, intuitive piece of software that can do anything that PS can do.....and probably better.

I got so handy with the two of 'em - they're both raster graphics editors, and handle image data in exactly the same way - that to this day I run CS2 under WINE, and frequently swap back'n'forth between the two in the course of a project. I can move from one to t'other, and carry on from where I left off without missing a beat.

This suits me, 'cos PS has a few features the GIMP doesn't have. At the same time, the GIMP will do stuff Adobe's devs have obviously never even thought of... They both have their pros & cons, so I exploit those differences for the sake of the project. I don't care what I use - a graphics editor is a graphics editor - so long as I achieve the result I want.

You sound as though you're "stuck in a rut" with regards to workflow. You've got so used to running PS in Windows, you don't want the messing around getting used to using summat else. For this reason, and this alone, I'm going to do what amounts to sacrilege.....my recommendation is that you stay with Windows. Despite 'experimenting' for a few years, you don't come across as a good candidate insofar as learning new ways of doing things is concerned.....doubly so if ADHD is involved, since sufferers NEED stability & routine.

It won't win me any brownie points, but there ya go. I'm a blunt-spoken Yorkshireman from the North of England, an' I have this horrible tendency to tell it like it is.......and it frequently ain't what people WANT to hear.

Sorry an' all that.


Mike.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Welcome! @orloj!

And lastly and I know this is a big issue, any way to run adobe apps nowadays ?

1) Not a single soul will ever see me use GIMP, I genuinely hate it with all my heart so I'll probably stick with photoshop until a good FOSS competitor comes up

You can run Adobe through wine, here's a guide. This person has a lot of experience doing it, I don't use it.

There's also Affinity Photo which runs through Wine as well, this person left Adobe for it.

Here's a guide for it.

This person is good at teaching things about Linux, I am not. So subscribe to his channel.

I don't really have many games I play that use an awful kernel anti cheat

Games that use kernel level anti-cheat are root-kit anyways and we don't want those on are system.

I have a 3600/3060ti desktop with two monitors respectively at 3440x1440@165hz and 1920x1080@165hz <- here goes my first problem, I always had display issues with both official drivers and the open ones

I have an Nvidia RTX 5080, one monitor 1440p(164hz) and one monitor 4k(144hz). I've never had issues with either and I use the nvidia-open drivers.

For distros, I have tried ubuntu, mint, fedora and some of their derivatives, and I do use the terminal a lot on windows so I'm familliar with that

I would go with a distribution that has up-to-date software. So either Fedora, EndeavourOS or CachyOS.

I also do some VR gaming, quid of this ?

No experience with this but from what I've read this is still limited on Linux. I did come across this link in a Discord server I am on.

VR Gear & GPUs

Hardware# GPU Support# Manufacturer/ Hardware Driver VR Support Reprojection Support Hybrid Graphics Support Notes Nvidia >= 16XX Series GPU Nvidia (Open Module) ✅ Acceptable ⚠️ Partial ✅ Supported Requires driver version 565+. By default there will be noticeable display latency - see the Monado...

lvra.gitlab.io

Hope that helps?

 

[Brickwizard]

This person is good at teaching things about Linux, I am not. So subscribe to his channel.
Games that use kernel level anti-cheat are root-kit anyways and we don't want those on are system.

Agreed, the biggest weakness in windows security is the ability for any app to embed itself in the Kernel

 

[KGIII]

I know the "best" process is simply to dual boot but my adhd cannot handle doing the steps to reboot on windows (especially if I do it multiple times),

That's why I'd suggest using Windows in a VM. You don't reboot, you just keep using Linux. You can even use your VM (learn the keyboard escape code) in full-screen mode. If your computer can run VR, it can absolutely run Windows 11 in a VM. You won't even notice much of a performance degradation. (Both Linux and the VM are running at the same time.)

Look up VirtualBox. There are other virtualization tools out there but VirtualBox is easy to figure out and a great starting (or ending) point. You don't need any cryptic terminal commands. Everything is a GUI.

 

[PuppyHome]

VM is the way to go in this case. Take a look at Virtual Machine Manager.
It's native to Linux and you can Run Windows in that. It will run smoother and faster than VB or that other one.

Paste in terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients bridge-utils virt-manager

You can launch VM Manager through the menu and it will guide you step by step to create your VM.

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

VM is the way to go in this case.

Maybe, wine/proton however will result in better performance and less resource consumed.