this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
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what do you do if you need to run an app thats windows exclusive? wine?
My solution is to not run that app.
The only Windows-only stuff I have run in the last 15+ years of using Linux are games, and then I just pick one that works out of the box on Steam for Linux. The transition period was rough, but now I just don't even consider what Windows-only software exists and stick to Linux software, and I've solved every problem I've had so far.
If you really need something, either WINE or a VM works. I actually have a separate drive on my desktop with Windows installed, but I haven't needed to boot up Windows in years. But it's there if I absolutely need it.
need it for work dog
So do I. It sits in its vm jail and does its job, or I roll back the snapshot
If so, then you either need WINE, a VM, or dual boot.
not OP but yeah, hopefully it works in wine or has a webapp, failing that I look for alternative software that meets my needs. If all else fails I suppose I could use a windows VM until a better solution appears. It's really going to depend on your specific case and how vendor locked you are.
How well does a windows vm run in linux? Does it have hardware acceleration?
Asking because i need something to run photoshop and lightroom, which both need hardware acceleration :/
It can be run in wine, but you can't install it from the cc app and there's no hardware acceleration, so it's kind of a pig.
Honestly, if you're stuck with windows anyway, you're probably better off with linux in the VM or just using WSL.
True, i was using w10 + wsl until this week. With my new pc i want to switch to linux full time as i did with my laptop. Photoshop and lightroom are the only apps i have issues with atm ( office will follow... ) and dont want to go back to windows full time for them alone. Hence the dual boot in case i need them :p
I find Google docs to be sufficient for most office, But I don't go too far into the weeds and Excel, It would probably be pretty easy have use cases where Google wouldn't cut it for you.
The free open source office alternatives are serviceable, you could get your work done on them but they're disappointing in some tasks.
The new Outlook app is indistinguishable from their electron app. They both suck but they're equal.
But I provision hardware for my job so I have windows boxes sitting around if I need them.
It depends on the VM, but some of them have working graphics hardware acceleration. Virtualbox should be relatively easy to set up with modern Windows guests, but isn't free for commercial use. qemu/kvm is free for all uses, but may require some tinkering to get everything to work. qemu also supports video passthrough—using the VM to drive a second video card installed in your machine—which some gamer types prefer.
Thanks, that doesnt fill me with a lot of hope, but thats why i have dual boot set up with linux (mint) as main os. Ill try wine regarfless before going to windows though
I don’t have experience with it, but I’m sure it’s possible to pass the GPU control to the VM, I don’t know how well this sort of thing works.
I think in general, VMWare is the best at working for Windows images.
It's doable with KVM+Qemu. You really need a second video card to make it sane.
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/GPU_passthrough_with_libvirt_qemu_kvm
nyan answered your question, I just want to add that older photoshop allegedly runs well in wine and for me personally i've had a lot of success with photopea although I'm a terrible example because I don't do much with it.
thanks
Personally haven't encountered anything that didn't run on wine or proton. I know shit like Adobe and some multi-player live service games are intentionally made to NOT run on Linux, but I couldn't care less. If I wanted to burn money for the hell of it, I'd spend it on something fun.
Cubase
Music daws in general seem to have a bad time on Linux.
Is it related to real time kernel performance or libraries?
Yeah, it's the single reason I still keep a windows boot handy.
Hmm, yea actually... I kinda forgot about it, since it technically works, but VLCs in LLMS pretty much stopped being a thing ever since I switched to Linux. A powerful tool, the loss of which forced me to learn how to more effectively utilize more primitive instruments and effects. I admit, Linux is lacking in high quality music composition apps.
I still have a 2nd drive with windows on it for davinci because things don't quite work right in the linux version.
I'm using Bottles for the 1 game I play seriously and it was the only thing keeping windows as my daily driver. it's been almost a month without booting into windows now.
The real secret is to dual boot and don't inconvenience yourself. Nothing will turn you off linux more than having limited time to do something specific and needing to spend it all compiling something that just fucking works out of the box on windows.
Use the right tool for the right job and eventually you'll realize how bad a tool windows has actually become.
yeah i used to have a ubuntu dual boot machine for years. i just only use it for the program i need, web browsing etc is on the phone anymore
thanks