i currently run windows 8.1 and i use premiere pro and lightroom almost everyday, i also play games such as skyrim and h1z1, but they only run on windows. is it worth switching to linux or should i keep windows?
It sounds like the answer is no. You have a lot of software you depend on and the games you like aren't on linux and probably won't be.
If you really want to try, go run linux in a VM and fullscreen it. You really can't tell a difference.
What about just dual booting?
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For some games windows is a must but I dual boot and I know many others who do as well. What harm is there in it and if you don't like linux after trying a few distros then just delete it and reformat the partition it was on. Come on and drink the kool-aid you be glad you did :)
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Oh I am 100% sipping atm :D
Your question answers itself OP.
If you need windows to run the applicaitons you rely on then use windows. If you find alternative applicaitons that you're willing to try and do what you want effectively in linux then give it a go.
There is no need to switch entirely anyway ~ dual boot, run a fast usb stick with a persistant distro or have another pc that you can dedicate to linux.
If you are curious about it you can run it in a VM or on a raspberry pi. Dual booting isn't hard either.
Do whatever sounds good to you. Linux isn't free Windows though, it is a different way of using a computer.
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Well, as others poster above, a virtual machine, a dual boot, or a persistent and and fast bootable usb stick are pretty nice ways to try another OS without discarding Windows. Also, you could start using free software ( free as in GPL or similarly licensed ) that is available for Windows and Linux. For example, use Shotcut for video editing instead of Adobe Premiere Pro, and GIMP for photo editing and raster graphics manipulation. Thus, you will gradually be able to abandon Windows and switch to Linux. For the games, I would try PlayOnLinux. Also, don't be suprised if even older Windows games become available on Linux, especially now that Valve is finally releasing the first Steam Machines.
You have the option to run Linux as your daily driver and a windows VM with GPU passthrough for the tasks you currently run in Windows. It all depends on how much disruption you can tolerate whilst you experiment with it.
To answer your original question, yes it is worth switching...but that is just my opinion.
thanks. i have some parts to build a linux machine so i can take a spin at the alternatives, does playonlinux support more demanding games like h1z1 or farcry 4?
Here are the current supported ones. You can still try to run it in wine.
My suggestion: Download a few distros, and burn them onto a USB flash drive, and then boot from the USB to try it out. There's a few studio distros that have all kinds of programs packaged in like Ubuntu Studio, so try that out and see what you think!
I must say, if you dualboot, I would suggest dualbooting with Windows 7 rather than 8. It's not impossible to do it with 8, it is just a major pain and way too much effort over what one would accept as reasonable. With Windows 7, you just install Linux alongside it and it adds it to the Grub (if you are using a noob friendly distro) bootloader for you, so long as 7 is installed BEFORE Linux. That is another thing, it is ALWAYS suggested to have Windows installed before, just so you don't have to fix the Linux bootloader that installing Windows last will wipe out.
ive been told gnome is good but what distro should i get?
If you insist of using windows software, first do your research on how the specific software you NEED runs in WINE, and look into booting windows in a virtualbox for the things that absolutely won't work in WINE and have no acceptable opensource alternative.
I don't like gnome, but I also don't like Windows8.
Archlinux with MATE has been my home for 2 years.
Linux in general, for 14 years.
what about zorinOS
I would stay away from Zorin since the companies commercial offerings are of questionable quality.
Ubuntu Gnome is ok but Ubuntu has too many dependency issues for my taste.
I really like Opensuse, Sabayon, and Manjaro.
Fedora is nice but I would bother with their forums though.
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which distro has the most compatibility with windows programs and/or games when using wine or playonlinux
it is pretty much the same across all distros Manjaro and Sabayon are both rolling releases so you will have the most up to date versions of wine.
Linux Rule #37: There Is No "Best"
Each DE has their own goals and they are meant to accomplish those goals. No DE is created equal.
Something that might help here:
- Unity is based off of Gnome... 3?
- MATE is based off of Gnome 2
- Cinnamon is based off of Gnome 3
Everything else is essentially it's own thing AFAIK and have their own way of doing things.
Unity: Pretty, simple, Mac-like. It's less customizable, but you can still adjust things.
Gnome 3: Pretty, minimalist, Mac-like looks, but not in how it functions and where the buttons are. Very configurable.
XFCE: Windows XP like, light. I'd call it no frills because it doesn't have that glossy polish that others have, but it is very light and snappy.
LXDE: Windows XP like, light and a little more basic than XFCE, but essentially in the same category.
KDE: Windows 7 like, has support for widgets and lots of customizations are available. Recent updates have really polished the overall looks.
Mate: Windows XP like with the polish of Windows 7 like looks. It looks good, and it's fairly light.
Openbox: Very basic and light. Right clicking the desktop gets you the program menu. It will need things like tint2 to make it really usable though.
The most used ones are the following:
- Unity
- KDE
- Gnome 3
- Whatever Linux Mint users are using
For me personally, I loved Unity2D (support has ended) and Openbox (which needs something like Tint2). For me, Unity3D, or, Unity 7 is too sluggish. I tried out Unity 8 and while it was snappy, it's not really built for desktop use at the moment, although, when it is I'll totally try it out!