Not sure about Linux

I'd love to use Linux. Two small issues:

  1. Lots of features that are in Windows or OS X don't exist in Ubuntu.

  2. Some of my favorite games don't play on Linux.

What to do? Just continue using Windows?

Features? Like what?

If you still want to try a Linux distro but don't want to replace your current OS, you could download a Linux distro and extract it to a flash drive and run it without installing it. That's one of my favorite parts about Linux - you can try it before you buy it, essentially.

As for games that don't run, you could always dual boot or if you have capable hardware, run a GPU passthrough to a virtual machine running Windows to play your game (somewhat difficult).

or use wine. Linux acts like windows, but you need a lot of wine.

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If you play games a lot, linux is not worth it. Not everything will emulate, and running a VM or dual-booting to play games that don't is just too inconvenient for it to be worth it, regardless of any potential benefits.

And well, you may want to try linux in a virtual machine first, maybe there's nothing there that you'd want over windows anyway.

Have you considered running Linux inside of a virtual machine? What is it exactly that attracts you to use Linux?

I don't think there is a feature that OS X or Windows has that Linux doesn't have. However, getting all the features that you want to function might require some work on your part.

run windows in a vm

So at what BAC will Linux begin behaving like Windows?

There is also dual booting if he does like it and still wants Windows.

Can you list the features? I'm rather curious as I've always found it the other way around.

Yeah, but dual-booting tends to be higher risk, especially if it's your first time.

The first time I tried Linux I thought I would try dual-booting. I didn't understand a thing about partitioning, so I ended up wiping my Windows partition, and on top of that my laptop's wifi drivers weren't in the kernel, so I had to figure that all out. When one of my CS friends installed Ubuntu for the first time not too long ago, he did the exact same thing, only I don't think he had wifi problems.

That's not to scare him away, I hope... I'm just saying to try it from a flash drive first, from experience. :P

I don't know, how about this one.
OS X's Finder has a column view. Very handy and useful
Windows and Ubuntu don't have these in their Explorer's.

As some of us have mentioned earlier, just because Ubuntu or some other distro doesn't have a feature out of the box, doesn't mean it doesn't exist completely.

https://www.kde.org/applications/system/dolphin/ - Dolphin file manager for example has column view, and so do other linux file managers. Finding the right feature set for you and making it work is all just a matter of time and effort on your part.

I am not sure what in particular you are referring to @Shredder2600 but I would interested in specifics.

Myself, I have found it challenging with my work environment being largely a Microsoft shop. So one thing that I realized is that I need to put the time and effort into Linux and a little google research you can find solutions for most windows features, some of mine were/are:

  • Gaming - Getting Better and Steam is making that leap a little "easier"
  • Citrix Client - Still exploring
  • Connecting to work via Microsoft Lync 2013 - Pidgin add-on appears to be a viable option
  • Others software options I am exploring under www.linuxalt.com

Just thought some of my learnings would help you.

Just continue using Windows, no need to fit a square peg into a round hole.

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Gonna go way overboard on this one.

You could have a PC somewhere in the house with Windows and steam running on it. And lets say you install linux on your laptop and install steam. You can stream all your games to your linux laptop.

Or

Get a PC with an Nvdia graphics card installed, install Zen Server on it. Startup windows VM. Pass the NIC through it. Install steam on it with latest nvidia drivers on the VM. Boom you got yourself a steam server that can stream games to any device (windows or Linux). This way only one pc needs to have all the games installed. The rest syphon off of it.

Now that might be too hardcore but Im not right in the head.

What if I told you, that Nautilus (file manager default in Ubuntu) is not the only one, you can run? And what if I told you, that Ubuntu is not the only distro you can run? Try Pantheon, or Marlin file managers.

The application and features that comes with Linux distributions is a very small percentage of the application and features that Linux distributions can have. Everything in Linux can be replaced with something else without much problem, and there are many alternatives for any feature, applications who get the same end result, but slight different path to it and execution.

Linux is about choices and preferences. You can change almost everything without much effort, compared to Windows OS and Mac OS X.

Stick with what works, there's no point forcing yourself to compromise on the things you want just for the sake of it. I run linux on my laptop and servers but I have windows on my gaming PC and HTPC because linux can't do the things I need to do on those machines.

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