this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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Problem is there's too much professional software that simply won't run on Linux, things you spend all day in and even if you can get it to run in a sandbox the experience sucks (because it's too resource intensive, otherwise it would get all SaaSy and force you into the cloud), like CAD software, 3D modeling tools, editing...
Monopolistic behavior is monopolistic behavior. MSFT needs a beatdown.
Sometimes the switch is surprisingly seamless, though. Autodesk Maya has an official Linux version, Blender is more than competitive now. For photo and video editing, Krita has become the better Photoshop for me and DaVinci Resolve has a native Linux version as well, with the additional benefit of letting me completely avoid Adobe. The ex-Allegorithmic tools also have Linux support and can be bought on Steam even.
On the other side, I haven't had much success running Clip Studio Paint or Daz 3D and a VM is rather frustrating to use (the lag between pen and screen just feels weird).
photopea is also really similar to photoshop
krita is similar to paint.net
On the contrary, there is a lot of professional software that doesn't run on Windows!
plus many USB devices need drivers, and god knows the OEM isn't gonna make them. i.e. steering wheels, stream decks, some audio interfaces. i know there is a software for streamdecks, but i imagine it's not even half of what it could do on windows.
At least all joysticks, mice and keyboards implement the HID standard and work effortlessly. The drivers they make you install on Windows are usually just tack-on products for things like configuring RGB profiles. Even professional audio interfaces and mixers (I'm currently running the SSL2+) just connect and work thanks to the USB audio standard (which transmits lossless 24-bit audio up to 192 kHz over USB).
If you're referring to digital cameras or smart watches, yes, the former is a hit-and-miss and the latter... a total miss (Garmin Connect, I'm looking at you).
Not all Audio interfaces work. I use a GoXLR and I can’t get any output from Linux to my audio setup. Can’t read the microphone either.
Not all products work as easily as you say.
A quick check seems to indicate that these, too, should work as easily as I say (there's even a tool on GitHub that gives you the same level of control as the official Windows app: https://github.com/GoXLR-on-Linux/GoXLR-Utility).
But I know sometimes it's different in the real world. Kernel too old, chosen distro has a weird audio setup, desktop environment (Gnome/KDE) only acknowledges the presence of the device if it was already connected on boot-up, etc. etc.
I’ve tried that a few times. It requires booting into windows first, then shutting down and rebooting to Linux or passing it through a WindowsVM to start it and then reassigning it to the main OS.
It just got to be too much of a headache they it wasn’t worth staying on linux.
Yeah I know, but it's a lot better than 15 years ago. I run professional grade, paid for and licensed, video editing software. Native Linux support.
I don't need all that crazy excel wizard crap so I'm good with libreoffice.
There's one game I haven't attempted to run in a long time on Linux which may work just fine now for all I know, but the rest of my stuff works great these days.
I realize the alternatives to some programs are not always that great but they can sometimes get the job done decently enough
Better for sure, but still no meaningful/full-featured CAD tools on Linux. No "works on Linux" in quotes, nothing at all.
Yeah, I don't do cad so I have no knowledge of that.
None of that stuff works with wine I guess?
Not really. I've gotten one to work but it was dogshit. Very complex software doing lots of geometric computation, very resource intensive and will leverage all the GPU you give it. If you can get it to "run" in wine, even if the driver compatibility is perfect which it's not, every hiccup will be disruptive (like surfaces failing to render).
99% of people don't need this kind of software.
99%? Based on what data?
I made it up.
But realistically, how many people use something other than MS Office, Outlook and a browser?
Most.
(Also a made up statistic)
Use those professional softwares on a work PC/laptop, and don't use it for anything personal. Use a separate device for your personal use.
It's resource intensive stuff used for personal projects, CAD workloads benefit from more cores and more RAM so what you're really saying is to have two top of the line machines running in parallel along with a KVM switch because you're probably alternating between the two on your personal time. Too wasteful.
da Vinci resolve "works on linux"
If those are sarcasm quotes, I do all my video editing with DaVinci Resolve on Linux. It works beautifully, with the same amount of features it has on Windows. I'd even say it performs a little faster when huge files are involved. The only restriction I know of on Linux is that it's picky about importing AVC (H.264) files, but FFV1 and all the mezzanine formats are supported, so I never needed it.
they weren't but the latest info i had was from livakivi's linux challenge so i assume it way improved