My plan at the moment, I think, is to wait until I have a full list of which softwares I’ll be using (which I won’t get until the course begins - the college pays for it all), and then make a decision. Based on the partial list I have, about half are compatible with Linux. I do also have the option of having Linux on my desktop and Windows on my laptop.
I’m definitely going to do some more research. The last time I looked into it, Linux wasn’t compatible with the vast majority of the software I used and games I played, and there weren’t many suitable alternatives. That situation has definitely changed by the looks of it, so I just need to research some more specific things.
People have probably told you that Wine is the way to use it anyways, but maybe no one’s mentioned Bottles which makes using Wine dead easy. Most of the time you can sort of just open up Bottles, run the installer for the software through there, make sure Bottles knows where the .exe is for the actual program is and you’re good to go.
That’s a good strategy and it makes sense. Don’t forget that you don’t have to decide for one alternative or the other. You could always have multiple options available and use them as suitable.
Just out of curiosity: when was the last time you looked into Linux?
Oh, it was a good while ago. I thought it was 3 years, but it was definitely pre-Covid, so it’s probably more like 4 or 5 or more. I was annoyed with Windows (not that I can recall now exactly what it specifically did that irked me, but I do remember yelling at it so it was probably bad), so looked into alternatives, and the biggest thing that stopped me was the MMO I was playing a lot at the time was not compatible and nobody had found a way of convincing the two to work together. That has definitely changed since then.
My plan at the moment, I think, is to wait until I have a full list of which softwares I’ll be using (which I won’t get until the course begins - the college pays for it all), and then make a decision. Based on the partial list I have, about half are compatible with Linux. I do also have the option of having Linux on my desktop and Windows on my laptop.
I’m definitely going to do some more research. The last time I looked into it, Linux wasn’t compatible with the vast majority of the software I used and games I played, and there weren’t many suitable alternatives. That situation has definitely changed by the looks of it, so I just need to research some more specific things.
For anything that you really can’t get on Linux:
People have probably told you that Wine is the way to use it anyways, but maybe no one’s mentioned Bottles which makes using Wine dead easy. Most of the time you can sort of just open up Bottles, run the installer for the software through there, make sure Bottles knows where the .exe is for the actual program is and you’re good to go.
Brilliant recommendation, thank you! I was looking at Wine and feeling a bit intimidated by it. Bottles looks more straightforward.
it’s possible to run windows in a VM on Linux (Microsoft even provides one intended for developers)
That’s a good strategy and it makes sense. Don’t forget that you don’t have to decide for one alternative or the other. You could always have multiple options available and use them as suitable.
Just out of curiosity: when was the last time you looked into Linux?
Oh, it was a good while ago. I thought it was 3 years, but it was definitely pre-Covid, so it’s probably more like 4 or 5 or more. I was annoyed with Windows (not that I can recall now exactly what it specifically did that irked me, but I do remember yelling at it so it was probably bad), so looked into alternatives, and the biggest thing that stopped me was the MMO I was playing a lot at the time was not compatible and nobody had found a way of convincing the two to work together. That has definitely changed since then.