I think of giving Linux one last chance help would be appreciated

[Kriz]

Hi

 

Since Windows 10 was supposed to be my last version of Windows I have two choices : go for Windows 10 2021 IoT LTSC and prolong it's life to at least 2029 or try Linux one more time.

 

Problem is I'm mostly a gamer with a rather high end setup and I also use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. For adobe apps I could just dual boot to Windows 10 but for daily use I should use up to date OS. So what I need is a gaming ready system with support for HDR displays and a way to quickly switch active and inactive monitors to switch my station (I have a dual monitor setup and LG OLED B9 couch setup with Dolby Atmos Home Theather system with it's dedicated keyboard and mouse). Currently I use DisplayFusion to quickly switch from my desk setup to couch setup (enable one set of monitors and disable another) there is no DisplayFusion for Linux. Is there a way to achieve this or is my best bet is to stay on Windows 10 for a few more years ?

 

Ps. Windows 11 is not an option for me it's ugly, less customizable and inconsistent in it's design not to mention even more spooky than Windows 10. I don't want it on my main PC.

[SpookyCitrus]

Windows 10 is still supported, and I believe will be for a few more years. Just stick with that, or bite the bullet and use Windows 11. Linux isn't the best for your use case, let alone for a gaming focused computer in general. There are versions of Windows 11 out there that have been cut down to a more basic OS. Just like the custom versions of 10 that were released. Disabling all of the garbage. And the whole it's ugly thing, so what? I'd rather have function over form personally. 

[8tg]

Just keep using 10.

 

[Brando212]

for photoshop and that, you could dual boot like you say, or you could always set up a virtual machine for ease of use if you don't want to have to reboot every time.

 

The bigger issue though is you say you want HDR, and that still does not play very nice in Linux a lot of times.

[goatedpenguin]

1 hour ago, Kriz said:

Problem is I'm mostly a gamer with a rather high end setup and I also use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.

Use Windows 10/11, there is nothing wrong with not using Linux. Most of your gear that you have will also be better off with windows. You can try using GIMP and dropping some unsupported games due to anticheats but that is a big tradeoff. Usually, people moving to Linux have a reason to be running it for an example, they would be into kernel development, system programming etc.(not all but some are or some use Linux because they don't want windows as they might not even play video games and they don't like using the windows bullcrap) Your use case is why windows exists. AFAIK you can run adobe photoshop on linux but the performance will not be where it should be compared to running it natively on windows. 

[Sauron]

59 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

Windows 10 is still supported, and I believe will be for a few more years.

support for 10 ends in almost exactly 19 months.

1 hour ago, Kriz said:

Problem is I'm mostly a gamer with a rather high end setup and I also use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.

There's no sugar coating this, even if you can get all of this to run it will not run as well as on Windows. If all your main use cases require Windows only software then your Linux experience will inevitably be sub par. HDR support in Linux is mostly absent with the exception of some very experimental implementations in specific desktop environments; don't count on it ever working.

 

If you really want to quit windows and have a decent experience you should look into which Linux native software you could use instead of these programs. Wine, proton etc. should be seen as crutches to run a couple of programs or games that aren't available for Linux, not the main use case.

[SpookyCitrus]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

support for 10 ends in almost exactly 19 months.

Good to know, didn't realize we were coming up that quickly. 

[carter_]

1 minute ago, goatedpenguin said:

Use Windows 10/11, there is nothing wrong with not using Linux. Most of your gear that you have will also be better off with windows. You can try using GIMP and dropping some unsupported games due to anticheats but that is a big tradeoff. Usually, people moving to Linux have a reason to be running it for an example, they would be into kernel development, system programming etc.(not all but some are or some use Linux because they don't want windows as they might not even play video games and they don't like using the windows bullcrap) Your use case is why windows exists. AFAIK you can run adobe photoshop on linux but the performance will not be where it should be compared to running it natively on windows. 

100% agree. HDR, adobe, and maybe Dolby are impossible. Linux imo is the best for low end hardware, server grade hardware, software development, and local AI model inferences. If you don't have or do any of those things I don't see why you'd switch. Gaming is fine now with proton, easy anti cheat, steam contributions, etc.. but still objectively worse.

 

If you hate the windows 11 lack of UI customization, there's some third party software to fix that. Just have to some digging.

https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

https://www.autohotkey.com/

 

[Kriz]

3 minutes ago, carter_ said:

100% agree. HDR, adobe, and maybe Dolby are impossible. Linux imo is the best for low end hardware, server grade hardware, software development, and local AI model inferences. If you don't have or do any of those things I don't see why you'd switch. Gaming is fine now with proton, easy anti cheat, steam contributions, etc.. but still objectively worse.

 

If you hate the windows 11 lack of UI customization, there's some third party software to fix that. Just have to some digging.

https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

https://www.autohotkey.com/

 

With WindowBlinds 11 and Start11 I probably could get Windows 11 to look bearable but I would still have to deal with updates (mostly feature updates that changes things and often breaks things) and inferior folder previews witch for someone working with lots of photos is very useful. Windows 10 IoT LTSC seams like the best version of Windows right now. Alternatively I could wait for Windows 11 LTSC.

 

Ps. My issue with Windows 11 design is Mica. They added it in Windows 11 but in classic Microsoft fashion instead of making Mica show up everywhere by default like Aero Glass back in the day it's limited to updated apps if dev adds it or new UWP apps nobody likes making Windows look even more inconsistent and disjointed especially now when they are killing accent colors. So far WinAero Tweaker still works but it' can stop working after any update. I have Windows 11 on my home server and without WindowBlinds I can't get it to look the way I want,

[carter_]

39 minutes ago, Kriz said:

With WindowBlinds 11 and Start11 I probably could get Windows 11 to look bearable but I would still have to deal with updates (mostly feature updates that changes things and often breaks things) and inferior folder previews witch for someone working with lots of photos is very useful. Windows 10 IoT LTSC seams like the best version of Windows right now. Alternatively I could wait for Windows 11 LTSC.

 

Ps. My issue with Windows 11 design is Mica. They added it in Windows 11 but in classic Microsoft fashion instead of making Mica show up everywhere by default like Aero Glass back in the day it's limited to updated apps if dev adds it or new UWP apps nobody likes making Windows look even more inconsistent and disjointed especially now when they are killing accent colors. So far WinAero Tweaker still works but it' can stop working after any update. I have Windows 11 on my home server and without WindowBlinds I can't get it to look the way I want,

Alright, this is ill-advised as you can see from the responses. But expect troubleshooting, debugging, and hour long terminal sessions.

 

If you have important data, back it up on a drive not connected to the Linux boot drive. The chances of making a mistake + the chance of the distro making a mistake is higher than comfortable.

 

ChatGPT, for most problems it will be able to quickly solve, try it before going to the forums or google for questions. It will save you time and the forums people time. Even if it doesn't debug your issue, it will usually lead you in the right direction.

 

A reputable distro like Ubuntu or Fedora might auto config the dual monitors and sound setup.

Even Arch, since the steamdeck, has become pretty stable, and with archinstall the chance of bricking your system on install has gone down a good bit.

 

Though HDR isn't supported, the nvidia-settings works pretty well app has a decent amount of features to get a nice display (sharpening, bit depth, vibrance, etc) and gwe(green with envy) can help overclock your GPU. There's a few other settings you can mess around with if you google 'nvidia-xconfig' it will have some info on it.

 

Good luck !

[goatedpenguin]

@carter_ Just wanted to tell you that Linux is not for low end hardware AT ALL, it supports both ends of the spectrum.

[Kriz]

3 hours ago, carter_ said:

Alright, this is ill-advised as you can see from the responses. But expect troubleshooting, debugging, and hour long terminal sessions.

 

If you have important data, back it up on a drive not connected to the Linux boot drive. The chances of making a mistake + the chance of the distro making a mistake is higher than comfortable.

 

ChatGPT, for most problems it will be able to quickly solve, try it before going to the forums or google for questions. It will save you time and the forums people time. Even if it doesn't debug your issue, it will usually lead you in the right direction.

 

A reputable distro like Ubuntu or Fedora might auto config the dual monitors and sound setup.

Even Arch, since the steamdeck, has become pretty stable, and with archinstall the chance of bricking your system on install has gone down a good bit.

 

Though HDR isn't supported, the nvidia-settings works pretty well app has a decent amount of features to get a nice display (sharpening, bit depth, vibrance, etc) and gwe(green with envy) can help overclock your GPU. There's a few other settings you can mess around with if you google 'nvidia-xconfig' it will have some info on it.

 

Good luck !

I have some experience with Linux. I operate a home DNS server with piHole, played around in VM's, used docker and even tried it on my main machine. Though with that I had hurdles from the start cause there was same bugs in the BIOS making Linux unbootable until issues were fixed. When that got resolved I find myself struggling with minute details that would take a second on Windows. So I kinda know what a pain it can be but KDE at least did everything I wanted it to do not to mention I didn't had to debloat or despook my OS.

 

Damn if only Microsoft stuck to making the same operating system they were making in the 90's I wouldn't think about alternatives but things such as ads in OS, telemetry, bloat and poor updates not to mention changes to desktop environment you can't op out of are getting worse and worse.

 

To try Linux one last time I need at least one thing to work fairly easily. Switching my living room setup on (LG OLED and my AVR) and switching off displays in my office. In windows it's easy with DisplayFusion but last time I have tried Kubuntu there simply was no easy way to do it that's why I went back to Windows 10.

 

If I don't find what I'm looking for at least Windows 10 2021 IoT LTSC has still plenty of gas left in the tank maybe by that time there will be alternatives.

[goatedpenguin]

7 hours ago, Kriz said:

Damn if only Microsoft stuck to making the same operating system they were making in the 90's I wouldn't think about alternatives but things such as ads in OS, telemetry, bloat and poor updates not to mention changes to desktop environment you can't op out of are getting worse and worse.

 

They copied Apple bluntly, and Bill Gates is a horrible person who made a horrible OS that we are all stuck using.

[Ralphred]

13 hours ago, Kriz said:

Damn if only Microsoft stuck to making the same operating system they were making in the 90's I wouldn't think about alternatives but things such as ads in OS, telemetry, bloat and poor updates not to mention changes to desktop environment you can't op out of are getting worse and worse.

Look up the "Windows AME project". It used to be against the rules to discuss it here because they sidestepped activating windows by supplying an ISO, but they just provide scripts to turn windows into "windows light" now. I can run it in a VM (with GPU pass through) and the overhead of linux and winAME is lower than native windows, and it performs quicker. I don't know what full full experience is like, but it runs my windows only (the very few I have to now) games fine.

[goatedpenguin]

Not to mention the anti competition shit they used to do with edge. 

[Kriz]

6 hours ago, Ralphred said:

Look up the "Windows AME project". It used to be against the rules to discuss it here because they sidestepped activating windows by supplying an ISO, but they just provide scripts to turn windows into "windows light" now. I can run it in a VM (with GPU pass through) and the overhead of linux and winAME is lower than native windows, and it performs quicker. I don't know what full full experience is like, but it runs my windows only (the very few I have to now) games fine.

I'm aware of AME but for the sake of stability and ease of keeping OS secure I would prefer latest IoT LTSC build of Windows 10. While Microsoft treats it's regular clients as garbage they at least respect their corporate clients and you can actually get ad free, lightweight, fairly bloat free and rock stable distro of Windows. As far as I can tell LTSC branch also respect settings to block telemetry and data collection.

 

Besides I don't know weather AME will be able to use extended support to 2032 or will it expire with the end of mainstream support. There is AME for 11 but downgrading to Windows 11 is a last resort.

 

Ps. It's not that I don't like Windows. I've been using this system in almost every version since early 90's and I respect it's stellar compatibility, hardware support and almost unbelievable amount of software that without any updates can often work even if it's decades old. My problem is squarely with Microsoft and their latest policy of screwing their users over (though it might have always been their policy and I have only realized it now). Linux might be frustrating, unfinished and difficult but at least people behind it usually have your best interest at hearth.

[10leej]

HDR support on Linux is still fairly new (less than a year old) and the protocols for it are still a WiP.

 

For dynamic displays your going to want to use a wayland session which might come with its own headaches (nvidia).

 

One last chance? I would never give any operating system one last chance. I check in on everything that interest me from time to time. Whether it be Linux, MacOS, BSD, or even Haiku

[wasab]

On 3/14/2024 at 9:51 AM, goatedpenguin said:

Not to mention the anti competition shit they used to do with edge. 

I actually use edge as my default browser on all my operating system lmao. The new edge is basically chromium browser under the hood not so dissimilar to chrome 

[CosmicEmotion]

You need Nobara Linux. HDR shuold be supported after you update the system on initial boot. For games look up ProtonDB, areweanticheatyet.com and Lutris websites.