Quitting Linux...

sanserfio

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Wow... It's been quite the journey. About 2 months ago I 'quit' Windows 10. I installed Manjaro XFCE on my laptop, and KDE Plasma on my desktop. I've distro-hopped quite a few times (I've tried Ubuntu, Elementary, and a couple of others), but every time I've ended up installing the same two OS's. My experience has been awesome; the pros including customization, the freedom, the control, and the fast startup times just to name a few. Obviously I've had to deal with numerous driver issues or various Wine or Proton issues being somebody who plays a lot of games, and I've always just overcome them (after sometimes hours of dedication). However, there are a few titles that simply won't run on my PC no matter what I do, and I've come to the point where I'm going to install Windows on my system again. For example, COD WW2 refuses to open, and after days of research and fiddling I've found no solution. I know if I install Windows 10 on my computer to play games, I'll also want Discord, and also therefore OBS to record funny gameplay, and thus it would be a pain to Dual Boot for other tasks. The reason I opened this thread is not to complain and whine, but simply to ask if any body has any advice or information that will convince me to not install Windows on my PC. I know it's a crazy and wierd request, but It would be very sad to leave the wonderful linux environment and community...

Thanks,
Sanserfio.
 


G'day sanserfio, Welcome to linux.org.......and possibly goodbye as well.

You have got to do what you have go to do.

Give thought to the fact that you will miss Linux terribly.

Also give thought to why you opted to ditch win 10 in the first place.

Your choice.
 
Hello sanserfio,

I'm not a gamer but I know hard core gamers and none of them use Linux for gaming.

I'm not a gamer although do Microsoft Flight Simulator X and X-Plane 10 and I use Windows XP to run them.

Games are developed for Microsoft Windows not Linux.

Windows
is the OS for the hard Core Gamer.

Linux don't game.

I'm not bad mouthing Linux
I'm a Linux user.

Either dual boot or run Linux on one computer and run Windows and game on another computer.

Best of both worlds in my opinion.
 
... but It would be very sad to leave the wonderful linux environment and community...

That's quite touching really.

0cd7RxV.gif


(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke, setting fire to his gown. Use the flame to light a cigarette then casts a spell to put out the flames, which extinguishes the cigarette as well ... Damn!)

I am behind what Brian @Condobloke and Tom @poorguy have said above, but have other ideas as well.

How much RAM do you have?

Have you given any thought to running Windows under a virtual machine such as Virtual Box, as a guest under your host Linux?

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
4559
 
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I'll take it that that is Brian's idea of a LIke. :)

I remember what it was to be 20 (4,980 years ago) and Games were important. We had "Dodging Pharaoh"s Guards" in the Lower Nile, and "The Emperor's New Clothes" in China.

Seriously, we had Pub Pong, Space Invaders, and Asteroids.

It's said that

If we fail to plan, we plan to fail

The corollary of that might be to plan on how to stay with Linux and still be satisfied.

What are the configs/specs of the lappie and the desktop?

Which one do you spend more time on, between Gaming and work/exploring? Maybe take a log of your hours over a couple of weeks to get a better idea.

Solus and Manjaro are getting better and better for Gamers, and there are others we might refer you to to try.

We also have a Gamer's Section here

https://www.linux.org/forums/linux-gaming.202/

and those who are there may have some opinions.

Just be aware that that Section was only started in July, and we hope it will grow. And there may be one or two people who are a bit anti-Windows, so take that in your stride.

Cheers

Wizard
 
Well, don't focus too much on games that didn't work. I actually play some titles on linux and they run fine. Some titles were even made for linux and run natively.
If you are looking for multiplayer FPS, Counter Strike runs fine, there's also Team Fortress, Warsaw (https://warsow.net)... So many others in fact. These games are great but since they don't put that much money on advertisement they have a smaller player base.

To me the biggest problem is some of my friends who only accept to play games for which that they have seen ads on TV... Really, like they won't even try the game. They need to be teased or they won't move.

If you are a streamer it could also be an opportunity for you to stream some uncommon games that are really worth it.

Remember that "buying is voting". Buying and playing games that run on linux will help the companies that made that choice and will encourage other companies to do the same.

and thus it would be a pain to Dual Boot for other tasks
Dual boot is probably the best compromise but if you spend most of your time playing games it won't really matter.

Don't hesitate to come back to linux later, things are slowly improving on various subjects. It's always good to take a look every few years. Some problems disappear, some other will probably never unless there are some major changes in the electronics industry (which could happen thanks to systems security concerns).
 
Let me just preface this reply with the fact that I'm incredibly astounded by the helpful and kinds messages you have all sent. You all went out of your way to reply to this thread, and that, my friends, is quite touching as @wizardfromoz would put it. So once more, thank you all for your replies.

G'day sanserfio, Welcome to linux.org.......and possibly goodbye as well.

You have got to do what you have go to do.

Give thought to the fact that you will miss Linux terribly.

Also give thought to why you opted to ditch win 10 in the first place.

Your choice.

Condobloke, first and foremost, thank you for your reply. This is a very good point indeed. I'm not sure that I will be able to get over my love of Plasma's customization options, nor will I be able to survive the windows application menu that feels like I'm walking through a swamp with pla-dough instead of water... I ditched Windows because I couldn't stand the lack of control; I hated being kicked mid-game because my computer needed to update, or my computer not letting me run a program for the oddest 'security risks.' So Condobloke, I think I would simply be causing myself extreme agony If I were to opt in for the Windows 10 experience.

I'll take it that that is Brian's idea of a LIke. :)

I remember what it was to be 20 (4,980 years ago) and Games were important. We had "Dodging Pharaoh"s Guards" in the Lower Nile, and "The Emperor's New Clothes" in China.

Seriously, we had Pub Pong, Space Invaders, and Asteroids.

It's said that

If we fail to plan, we plan to fail

The corollary of that might be to plan on how to stay with Linux and still be satisfied.

What are the configs/specs of the lappie and the desktop?

Which one do you spend more time on, between Gaming and work/exploring? Maybe take a log of your hours over a couple of weeks to get a better idea.

Solus and Manjaro are getting better and better for Gamers, and there are others we might refer you to to try.

We also have a Gamer's Section here

https://www.linux.org/forums/linux-gaming.202/

and those who are there may have some opinions.

Just be aware that that Section was only started in July, and we hope it will grow. And there may be one or two people who are a bit anti-Windows, so take that in your stride.

Cheers

Wizard

Wizard, thank you. "The corollary of that might be to plan on how to stay with Linux and still be satisfied." That's a good idea. I'll address that in the end of this. And for my specs, my desktop has an i5-3470, 8 gigs of DDR3, a 1050ti, and 2tb of HDD if that matters at all to you, and my laptop has an AMD a8 and 6gb of DDR3, but I don't do much gaming on it. Also, thank you for sending me a link to the Gamer's Section. I've joined it and I plan on learning as much as I possibly can from the threads there. I spend about 12 to 15 hours per week gaming, about 35 working, and maybe 5 exploring.


Ah yes, a wizard.

Hello sanserfio,

I'm not a gamer but I know hard core gamers and none of them use Linux for gaming.

I'm not a gamer although do Microsoft Flight Simulator X and X-Plane 10 and I use Windows XP to run them.

Games are developed for Microsoft Windows not Linux.

Windows
is the OS for the hard Core Gamer.

Linux don't game.

I'm not bad mouthing Linux
I'm a Linux user.

Either dual boot or run Linux on one computer and run Windows and game on another computer.

Best of both worlds in my opinion.

Ok poorguy, and thank you for your reply. This is also a pretty good idea, but I'm pretty against having to go through dual-boot shenanigans. I will also more extensively address this at the end.

That's quite touching really.

0cd7RxV.gif


(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke, setting fire to his gown. Use the flame to light a cigarette then casts a spell to put out the flames, which extinguishes the cigarette as well ... Damn!)

I am behind what Brian @Condobloke and Tom @poorguy have said above, but have other ideas as well.

How much RAM do you have?

Have you given any thought to running Windows under a virtual machine such as Virtual Box, as a guest under your host Linux?

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

Wizard, this is another good idea. At the current moment in time I only have 8 gigs of RAM. Do you think it would be worth it to upgrade - to maybe 16 gigs - in order to have a fast Windows virtual machine?

Conclusion...
I hate to start off two messages with wow, but wow... Even if NONE of you had supplied me with useful tips and information - which all of you did indeed do - your kindness and the fact that you went out of your way to post a reply would have convinced me to stay with Linux. So my friends, Linux it is. "The corollary of that might be to plan on how to stay with Linux and still be satisfied." Hm. I've though about this one for a few hours now. How can I plan to stay with Linux and still be satisfied, I've asked myself. The privacy, the control, the customization; these are all things I'm in love with, not to mention the community. What can I do? Well, while it might sound silly to a lot of you, I will learn programming and dedicate a lot of my free time to help developing things for Linux, and hopefully eventually I can help 'transcode' games from Windows to Linux.

One more time, your replies are super kind and helpful. :)
 
Well, don't focus too much on games that didn't work. I actually play some titles on linux and they run fine. Some titles were even made for linux and run natively.
If you are looking for multiplayer FPS, Counter Strike runs fine, there's also Team Fortress, Warsaw (https://warsow.net)... So many others in fact. These games are great but since they don't put that much money on advertisement they have a smaller player base.

To me the biggest problem is some of my friends who only accept to play games for which that they have seen ads on TV... Really, like they won't even try the game. They need to be teased or they won't move.

If you are a streamer it could also be an opportunity for you to stream some uncommon games that are really worth it.

Remember that "buying is voting". Buying and playing games that run on linux will help the companies that made that choice and will encourage other companies to do the same.


Dual boot is probably the best compromise but if you spend most of your time playing games it won't really matter.

Don't hesitate to come back to linux later, things are slowly improving on various subjects. It's always good to take a look every few years. Some problems disappear, some other will probably never unless there are some major changes in the electronics industry (which could happen thanks to systems security concerns).

Julien, thank you. This is an incredible point. "Remember that 'buying is voting." You're absolutely right. Purchasing these titles does indeed support these scummy devs. Instead, I should put my money where the devs that support linux are. Thank you Julien once again.
 
Ooo, this is a good idea. I'll make sure not to buy another game without checking the compatibility! Thanks arochester!

Compatibility lists can be tricky. I once had to use some very recent kernel for my hardware to be usable and it lead me to using very recent other libs and Wine. But latest wine version totally broke compatibility with some games (thx to the removal of the standalone plugin mechanism by debian for example). But it gives some hints.
 
Do you think it would be worth it to upgrade - to maybe 16 gigs - in order to have a fast Windows virtual machine?

Fair question.

I'll preface my answer with saying what I say to a lot of new folk - You are The Driver behind the steering wheel to the vehicle that is your computer. You, and only you, can and should be the one to make the important decisions that affect your enjoyment of your computer experience. Not Microsoft, not Linux, not any self-appointed guru.

That being said, LInux provides a multitude of choices, and we give advice where we can, and you can evaluate it.

:D

I am by no means an expert in VMs. Although I have 47 Linux running on this Dell Inspiron and another 40 on a Toshiba Satellite, I have only one instance running VirtualBox, and that is an Arch-based one, SwagArch, which has Arch itself as a Guest.

I don't know of your experience or not with VM (virtual machine) so I'll explain basically.

When you install Virtualbox, you get to choose how much RAM to allocate to it. That's 1.

2. is that you can choose to establish Shared Folders for one-way or two-way access between Host (LInux for you) and Guest (Windows for you), and also to set up Clipboard access to drag and drop between the two. For dragging and dropping, obviously it is better to have the VM windowed rather than fullscreen.

2. relies on your having installed alongside VB, the "Guest Additions .iso" as a virtual CD, compatible version.

3. There is the option to un-capture the mouse/cursor to move between the VM environment and the Host environment.

Since starting this Post I have been into my Swagarch and its VM to check a couple of things.

Virtualbox gets a little antsy if you allocate to it more than 70% of your system RAM (a warning pops up about unexpected consequences), so in my case with 16 GB RAM that's 11.2 GB. Heaps for playing games, if you got 16 GB.

In your case with 8 GB RAM, that would be 5.6 GB for Games, and you can be the judge of performance levels.

The remaining 2.4 GB would be sufficient to keep your Linux Host running, but performance might be sluggish if you are going backwards and forwards between the two. But there may be no need for you to do that, and of course once you close down the VM, the RAM is regained in favour of your Host.

So there you go, some choices to think about, and we've got your back if you need us.

BTW if anyone says I am wrong in any of my assumptions, then they are likely right, as I have a lot of work to do with VMs to get good at them.

Cheers

Wizard
 
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Wow... It's been quite the journey. About 2 months ago I 'quit' Windows 10. I installed Manjaro XFCE on my laptop, and KDE Plasma on my desktop. I've distro-hopped quite a few times (I've tried Ubuntu, Elementary, and a couple of others), but every time I've ended up installing the same two OS's. My experience has been awesome; the pros including customization, the freedom, the control, and the fast startup times just to name a few. Obviously I've had to deal with numerous driver issues or various Wine or Proton issues being somebody who plays a lot of games, and I've always just overcome them (after sometimes hours of dedication). However, there are a few titles that simply won't run on my PC no matter what I do, and I've come to the point where I'm going to install Windows on my system again. For example, COD WW2 refuses to open, and after days of research and fiddling I've found no solution. I know if I install Windows 10 on my computer to play games, I'll also want Discord, and also therefore OBS to record funny gameplay, and thus it would be a pain to Dual Boot for other tasks. The reason I opened this thread is not to complain and whine, but simply to ask if any body has any advice or information that will convince me to not install Windows on my PC. I know it's a crazy and wierd request, but It would be very sad to leave the wonderful linux environment and community...

Thanks,
Sanserfio.

If you have to use Windows, avoid Win10 like it was the second coming of The Black Plague. M$ has filled it to the bursting point with all of their latest&greatest corporate spyware and malware....Palladium, NGSCB, Longhorn, Trusted Computing, and who knows what even more virulent crapola they have created.
 
avoid Win10 like it was the second coming of The Black Plague.
@sanserfio I will second what Sigma333 said. I stayed with Win 7 after hearing the shenanigans that were occurring with Win 10 on it release and subsequently since then.
But as the Wiz said You are the driver of your computer and all the best on your journey on the Linux road.
 
@sanserfio I will second what Sigma333 said. I stayed with Win 7 after hearing the shenanigans that were occurring with Win 10 on it release and subsequently since then.
But as the Wiz said You are the driver of your computer and all the best on your journey on the Linux road.

You are likely already aware of M$ shenanigans towards Win 7, but for any that are not, beware of KB stealth installs that attempt to force or enable 'upgrade' to win 8 or 10....or attempt to backport the myriad corporate spyware/malware in Win 8 or 10, to Win 7. This has been in play for years now, and I suspect will intensify in the future, as M$ gets ever more paranoid that Win 7 will become another Win XP (the OS that refused to die), and ever more desperate to disseminate their corporate malware.
 
Wow... It's been quite the journey. About 2 months ago I 'quit' Windows 10. I installed Manjaro XFCE on my laptop, and KDE Plasma on my desktop. I've distro-hopped quite a few times (I've tried Ubuntu, Elementary, and a couple of others), but every time I've ended up installing the same two OS's. My experience has been awesome; the pros including customization, the freedom, the control, and the fast startup times just to name a few. Obviously I've had to deal with numerous driver issues or various Wine or Proton issues being somebody who plays a lot of games, and I've always just overcome them (after sometimes hours of dedication). However, there are a few titles that simply won't run on my PC no matter what I do, and I've come to the point where I'm going to install Windows on my system again. For example, COD WW2 refuses to open, and after days of research and fiddling I've found no solution. I know if I install Windows 10 on my computer to play games, I'll also want Discord, and also therefore OBS to record funny gameplay, and thus it would be a pain to Dual Boot for other tasks. The reason I opened this thread is not to complain and whine, but simply to ask if any body has any advice or information that will convince me to not install Windows on my PC. I know it's a crazy and wierd request, but It would be very sad to leave the wonderful linux environment and community...

Thanks,
Sanserfio.

I don't know what sort of desktop you have, but if it has a spare 5.25 bay you can use a mobile rack to install another HDD, and depending on the model of mobile rack, a SSD too. This eliminates the need to dual boot (I never liked that idea either), and keeps each OS separate and protected from the other. The better mobile racks have an on/off switch. In my 'new' rig, I have Win 7 on the internal HDD, a mobile rack in the 5.25 bay that accommodates a HDD and SSD, with on/off switch for both. I had the computer shop set the boot sequence to DVD burner>SSD>secondary HDD (in the mobile rack)>internal HDD. When I want to boot LiveCd, I do nothing. When I want to boot MX Linux on the SSD, I just leave the DVD burner empty. When I want to boot the internal HDD (Win 7), I just leave the DVD burner empty, and turn off the mobile rack. There is no reason it has to be an either/or choice between Windows and Linux if you have that spare 5.25 bay, and willing to pay $40 for a mobile rack.
 
For example, COD WW2 refuses to open, and after days of research and fiddling I've found no solution. I know if I install Windows 10 on my computer to play games, I'll also want Discord, and also therefore OBS to record funny gameplay, and thus it would be a pain to Dual Boot for other tasks.
Is it this game COD WW2, you are talking about which you are having problems with? I may just buy it this weekend to see what happens when I launch it. As far discord I have never had any problems with discord, however I only use it for group chats for several opensource projects I have never used the voicechat in it, when I game I use mumble for voicechat and have used TeamSpeak3 in the past. As for OBS I have no experience with but I know many of the youtubers covering GNU/Linux and opensource software all use OBS as well so it shouldn't be a problem to run.

Although it seems you haven't logged on in over a year means that you've decided to quite GNU/Linux anyways, if you decide to give GNU/Linux a try again than I'm happy to try getting that game to work myself.
 
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There are distros like zorin Lite that come with play-on-linux - worth a go. Quite enjoying Zorin.

With regards to Windows - I am not going to bag it - it has it uses. Linux does it all for me - but that is me.
 

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