Linux, A Success Story

sweetkakachu · September 1, 2016, 4:15pm

In August of 2015, my Windows 7 install took a dump.

I had just upgraded my girls laptop from 8.1 to 10 and was contemplating upgrading from 7 but after spending some time with both 8 and 10, just couldn't take all of the retardedness.

Enter Ubuntu 14.04

Long story short, I have had some casual user time with Linux (Ubuntu, Mint and Arch) and knew that I might have to give up some Windows programs I have gotten comfortable with through out the years.
Definitely not the case.

Music Creation

Windows (Before) – Ableton Live for writing, Reaper for mixing and mastering.

Ubuntu (Now) – Bitwig Studio (with VST's in .so or .dll format) for writing, Reaper (with Wine) for mixing and mastering.

___https://soundcloud.com/goodchild-music

___https://goodchild.bandcamp.com

Video Creation

Windows – Adobe Premire

Ubuntu – Kdenlive

Photo and Image

Windows – Adobe Photoshop

Ubuntu – Gimp and Krita

Gaming

I have never been a big AAA gamer... and have never attempted running games in Wine or Play On Linux. Here is a list of Windows games I found work absolutely awesome in Linux.
Currently Installed:
Skyrim (Play On Linux with Steam)
Aliens Vs Predator 2010 (Play On Linux with Steam)
Guilty Gear X2 (Play On Linux)
Pain Killer Black (Play On Linux)
Sanitarium (Play On Linux)
TrackMania Nations Forever (Play On Linux)
Wizardry 8 (Play On Linux)

Uninstalled for the simple fact I was not playing them anymore:
Dead Space (Wine)
Dead Space 2 (Wine)
Lego Star Wars : The Complete Saga (Wine)
Gothic 3 (Wine)
Diablo 2 (Wine)
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Wine)
Dragon Age 2 (Play On Linux)
Far Cry 2 (Play On Linux)
Thief (Play On Linux)
Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2 (Play On Linux)
Worms World Party (Play On Linux)

I tend to stick to Play On Linux as of late. I like the virtual drive option. Keeps your Windows game installs nice and tidy.

I have tried more games then listed above. Some worked to an extent while others just wouldn't boot or would just crap out.

Now for games I have gotten on Steam for Linux...... too many to list here.
Some highlights are:
Borderlands 2, Mount and Blade Warband, The Witcher 2, BioShock Infinite and so on.

I guess what I am trying to say with this post is; if Microsoft has got you down.....Linux is a very viable option.

Now Linux is not for the faint of heart. I would like to put people in 3 levels of tech users and then apply Linux to them:

If you: surf the internet, create documents and check email....then Linux is for you.
If you love using the old DOS, C++, and BASIC that was taught to you throughout your childhood....then FUCK YEAH.....Linux is for you.
If you are a AAA gamer and can't be bothered with how any of this works; and expect the highest quality from a free OS......then you are a retard and Linux is not for you.

Linux is about exploring and getting away from the normal, conditioning and greed that has already flooded the tech industry (like all industries).

It's about rekindling your love of adventure for new tech.

I am not knocking Windows and Apple users....just trying to bring another point of view on our love for the nerdy and the tech :D It's all about learning and challenge :D

FaunCB · September 1, 2016, 4:22pm

I'm gunna blow your mind here.

Theres a program that emulates lightroom but does a hell of a better job. Its called Darktable. I edited an image off my iphone with it to get what the colors looked like to me when I too the pic.

REALLY nice program. Also look at InkScape. It has more features than gimp, though GIMP has plugins so that you can add more and more tools and features. I use GIMP, DTable, KDEnLive, and Cinelarra for the occasional after effects lighting tool that it has. Some times its handy but the interface is messy. Also peek at lightworks. Its a very good tool. They made The Kings Speech with it.

anon85933304 · September 2, 2016, 12:20am

Agree with everything except point 3, I do understand the sentiment behind it though.
Congrats on linux going so well.

sweetkakachu · September 4, 2016, 8:31am

TOTALLY BLEW MY MIND :D Just when you thought you have seen all that Linux has to offer.....BOOM!!!! Darktable is amazing. Will give InkSpace a try.

XDroidie626 · September 6, 2016, 2:19pm

I disagree with point 3.
Using qemu-kvm you can build a vm to run Windows at near native performance, now yes technically you still need Windows but at least you can strip the system down, just install the games you want and use Linux for everything else, its quite a popular method on here.
If you cant do that then yes Linux is not for you from a gaming perspective, But most people on here who would go to Linux likely love to tinker with their boxes.

Congrats on finally moving to Linux btw!

sweetkakachu · September 6, 2016, 2:57pm

Thank you trucker :D

Yeah, I might of been a little harsh with the jump from point 2 to 3. I only mention this from experience. I know quite a bit of people who invest in bleeding edge tech; not knowing how it works or why it does what it does.

These people would also complain about the changes from Windows 7 to 8 and later 10.

While I was sticking to my guns on 7, I would pitch to them Ubuntu, Mint and Zorin (another debian build).

They were ecstatic with the idea of "unexplored territory" and a utilization of hardware (not trying to sell Linux here) but did not want to put any time and effort into the inner workings.

Eventually I moved to Ubuntu while they went back to Windows.

I totally agree with Qains comment/video "Use whatever gets the job done." I guess my gripe is, If you are going to invest all that money in the tech itself, get to know the software side of it????? This might sound pretentious but as all industries, I see a dumbing down in this one and that kind of breaks my heart.

Hence why point 3 was typed :D

sweetkakachu · September 6, 2016, 2:59pm

Sorry XDroidie626 (Mazda 626 maybe?). You get the same response as trucker :D

Yeah, I might of been a little harsh with the jump from point 2 to 3. I only mention this from experience. I know quite a bit of people who invest in bleeding edge tech; not knowing how it works or why it does what it does.

These people would also complain about the changes from Windows 7 to 8 and later 10.

While I was sticking to my guns on 7, I would pitch to them Ubuntu, Mint and Zorin (another debian build).

They were ecstatic with the idea of "unexplored territory" and a utilization of hardware (not trying to sell Linux here) but did not want to put any time and effort into the inner workings.

Eventually I moved to Ubuntu while they went back to Windows.

I totally agree with Qains comment/video "Use whatever gets the job done." I guess my gripe is, If you are going to invest all that money in the tech itself, get to know the software side of it????? This might sound pretentious but as all industries, I see a dumbing down in this one and that kind of breaks my heart.

Hence why point 3 was typed :D
[/quote]

XDroidie626 · September 6, 2016, 3:21pm

Nope, always been XDroidie
Its not a harsh comment, I used to sit on bleeding edge not knowing what I was doing, but I consider that fun and exciting, I break things as a hobby so I can fix them at work and I love every moment of it, but I agree there are people who do not understand what bleeding edge can entail, they then slate Linux because it broke and they didnt read the mailing lists.
I also complained about the change from 7 to 10, I still do but I know what is over the fence, I have sat on insider builds and watched breakage often and then fixed it using google fu.
To the idea of Unexplored Territory, a lot of people cannot live on it, they are scared of change and having to fix things, in college I experienced this a lot, only a hand full reached a higher potential due to their curiosity of technology, and I was one of them, I breathed IT basically.
Windows is a safe haven for people who are scared of change because its forced down their necks, here on Tek we had a big discussion about it a few years ago, was rather insiteful.

And yes at the end of the day Qain is right, its a tool, Windows and Linux are tools, just imaging them as brands, iFixit vs snapon screw sets, different designs.

But IT is not dumbing down, its becoming more advanced on the back end, and at an alarming rate, hardware has slowed down but software has begun to speed up, we rely more on the cloud and VMs than hardware, its lasting longer because of software like Linux which is becoming easier and more advanced at the same time, Windows is becoming more advanced but we cant physically get to it due to closed source, everything is behind a GUI for the simple IT engineers who would never excel far in this industry (Not saying Windows engineers are stupid, I am one but they never really experience the power of linux)

I agree with your original post, but there is always an alternative as you your self have descovered, that is what I call exploration, you stuck at it and found something that works for you, you learned and thats all that matters.

(Sorry for the wall of text lol)