Migrating from Windows 7 to Linux

[Dabombinable]

Today I've decided to do a full switch to Linux due to Microsoft screwing me with Windows 7 (which sucks as I won't be getting Windows 10 anytime soon ).

I've had to re-install it multiple times on both my rigs (each time I moved the SSD and all HDD to the 1 rig, and ran Linux off a USB on the other) and as a result from the amount of times its been activated, my copy of Windows 7 is now invalid, even though I bought the damn thing and followed the license by having it only installed on 1 computer.

My main problem that I know I will encounter is being able to play my games through WINE. With most of them being steam or Origin based. Is there a way to play them through WINE (the distro I will be using is Ubuntu GNOME) as I don't want to install Ubuntu on my SSD until I'm sure. The games I have at the moment are as follows:
Steam

• Beyond Divinity
• Divine Divinity
• Divinity 2: Developer's Cut
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (so far just copying it across between computers hasn't affected the mods-its a pain having to re-install all 40)
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Lost Planet 3
• Portal
• Red Faction
• Red Faction 2
• Red Faction: Armageddon
• Red Faction: Guerrilla
• Train Simulator 2015
• Aliens: Colonial Marines (kicking myself for buying it. I mean come on, its more about shooting people than the Aliens, they only add a little variety to the game)
• Gratuitous Space Battles

 

Origin

• Battlefield 3
• Battlefield 4
• Crusader: No remorse
• Crysis
• Crysis 2: Maximum edition
• Crysis 3
• Dragon Age 2 (played it all the way through once, and got bored of the repetitive areas, so its no big deal)
• Plants vs Zombies

 

Windows

• Diablo
• Diablo 2+Expansion set
• Warcraft 3 (including Frozen throne)
• Unreal Tournament 3
• Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War GOTY edition
• Rollercoaster Tycoon 3
• Avatar the game
• Crysis (with all expansions, I foubd a disc copy 2 days after I bought the standard version off Origin, and the Origin version was more expensive-kicking myself)

 

Uplay (*spews*)

• Farcry 3: Blood Dragon (ended up cracking it to avoid Uplay, the stupid program wanted to download the entire game after it was fully installed off disk)
• Assasin's Creed 1 & 2 (2 in 1 box, haven't even played it yet since I've had so many other games to finish, so I'm not sure if Uplay is used).

 

Another issue I know I will have, but have no idea on how to fix, is running my GTX 970 in Ubuntu, as my 650ti works properly straight away, whilst my 970 just doesn't want to cooperate (it was locked at 800x600, the 650ti was able to push 1080p).
If anyone could please help me with these issues and give me any additional advice it will be great appreciated.

Edit: Another thing I forgot to mention was getting the Unity web player to work. (I've had no success in previous attempts).

Also please ask me if something needs to be clarified, I know I can be unclear at times.

[Darel]

you'll be disappointed man.. dont do it... I tried it many times.. it's just not supported enough

[awesomes8wc3]

If you call Microsoft they'll reactivate for you..

 

You could play games with Wine, I haven't tried, but I've seen it done. I don't think it'll be too great though.

[Dabombinable]

you'll be disappointed man.. dont do it... I tried it many times.. it's just not supported enough

I'm out of options though as I've got 12 days to activate with a new key. #microsoftthatbunchofscammingcons

 

 

If you call Microsoft they'll reactivate for you..

 

You could play games with Wine, I haven't tried, but I've seen it done. I don't think it'll be too great though.

They refused to, which is why I'm saying screw it and going full Linux, its a matter or principle.

[Guest]

Call MS about your Win 7 copy.

[Ciccioo]

linux will make your gtx970 feel like a gt540m: weak and unsupported

graphics power goes wasted. stay with windows if you're a gamer

[Dabombinable]

linux will make your gtx970 feel like a gt540m: weak and unsupported

graphics power goes wasted. stay with windows if you're a gamer

I don't really have that much to spend on an OS, and since I can either have Win 7 activated, but not receive the upgrade to Win 10. Or buy a copy of win 8.1 to tide me over until Win 10, I end up paying a company that hasn't allowed me to get the full use of the product I paid for. Its not like I paid $200 to just rent Win 7.

[Octavialicious]

I don't really have that much to spend on an OS, and since I can either have Win 7 activated, but not receive the upgrade to Win 10. Or buy a copy of win 8.1 to tide me over until Win 10, I end up paying a company that hasn't allowed me to get the full use of the product I paid for. Its not like I paid $200 to just rent Win 7.

reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap

 

Windows 8.1 for $10

[Ciccioo]

I don't really have that much to spend on an OS, and since I can either have Win 7 activated, but not receive the upgrade to Win 10. Or buy a copy of win 8.1 to tide me over until Win 10, I end up paying a company that hasn't allowed me to get the full use of the product I paid for. Its not like I paid $200 to just rent Win 7.

spend some more time at the phone with microsoft, sometimes they need a lil' encouragement

[Dabombinable]

reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap

 

Windows 8.1 for $10

Thanks for that, I didn't know it could be bought for so little, and the Paypal options add even more buyer security. Still though, which of the games I own will run on WINE? As I'm still going to be using Linux as much as possible (I've been using Windows since 3.1 so I'm not being a fanboy here, I'm trying to get a legitimate alternative to Windows that isn't as dumbed down as the newer versions of Windows-I grew up with DOS after all)

 

spend some more time at the phone with microsoft, sometimes they need a lil' encouragement

Another 2 hours going around in circles? Yeah.... I'm not ready to do that again just yet.

[tmlhalo]

Thanks for that, I didn't know it could be bought for so little, and the Paypal options add even more buyer security. Still though, which of the games I own will run on WINE? As I'm still going to be using Linux as much as possible (I've been using Windows since 3.1 so I'm not being a fanboy here, I'm trying to get a legitimate alternative to Windows that isn't as dumbed down as the newer versions of Windows-I grew up with DOS after all)

 

Another 2 hours going around in circles? Yeah.... I'm not ready to do that again just yet.

Can search here.

https://appdb.winehq.org/index.php

They have more in the browse by app tab. I don't have enough information to say if you can get the 970 working or what steps you took. I can tell you Nvidia isn't too kind to Linux. AMD is leaps and bounds ahead since they allowed their linux driver to become open source. You're probably better off using the 650 Ti or picking up an AMD gpu if you wish to change to Linux 100%.

[Opcode]

EA's engine hates running on WINE so I wouldn't bank on them games working well if at all. You can check the WINE app database here to get an idea of what works and what doesn't. If Windows 7 is giving you problems with activation you can always just do a clean install of Windows 10 TP. There's a lot to sacrifice by moving to Linux when it comes to gaming. Tho I guess you could always buy Steam games that run native on Linux in the future then you won't have to worry about any incompatibilities.

 

Steam games you own that run on Linux.

• Portal
• Gratuitous Space Battles

 

linux will make your gtx970 feel like a gt540m: weak and unsupported

graphics power goes wasted. stay with windows if you're a gamer

That's entirely not true. The GTX 900 series performs just as good and most of the time better on Linux than on Windows.

[Ciccioo]

That's entirely not true. The GTX 900 series performs just as good and most of the time better on Linux than on Windows.

the linux experience is never consistent, so you could say that 900 series gpus work good for someone but you can't say that it works good

there is often something in the chain that makes thing work bad, whether it's the gpu model, the driver, the particular distro, the particular version of the particular driver, the particular program, or that one particular package that just screws everyting up for some reason that one linux guru in the world may or may not be able to explain

i only know that i have a 770 and youtube stutters

that's why i don't recomment it

[Opcode]

the linux experience is never consistent, so you could say that 900 series gpus work good for someone but you can't say that it works good

there is often something in the chain that makes thing work bad, whether it's the gpu model, the driver, the particular distro, the particular version of the particular driver, the particular program, or that one particular package that just screws everyting up for some reason that one linux guru in the world may or may not be able to explain

i only know that i have a 770 and youtube stutters

that's why i don't recomment it

It usually breaks down to user error. Installing drivers properly isn't always an easy task as I have outlined here. Tho once you get Nvidia drivers installed properly the GTX 970 and 980 are excellent performers on Linux. Most of the time they perform even better than on Windows.

[Ciccioo]

It usually breaks down to user error. Installing drivers properly isn't always an easy task as I have outlined here. Tho once you get Nvidia drivers installed properly the GTX 970 and 980 are excellent performers on Linux. Most of the time they perform even better than on Windows.

but applications perform bad (running through wine, having no support), so the perceived perfomance is worse

and yes, installing things is such a painful thing to do that it's not even guaranteed you will succeed doing so if you're not an experienced linux user

 

it all comes down to how much pain you're willing to go through, and how much time to waste, to play your goat simulator. that's the tradeoff of linux

if you like to troubleshoot and study the OS, that's awesome. if you just do it because you don't want to pay microsoft, you're probably going to have deep regrets in the near future

[Dabombinable]

EA's engine hates running on WINE so I wouldn't bank on them games working well if at all. You can check the WINE app database here to get an idea of what works and what doesn't. If Windows 7 is giving you problems with activation you can always just do a clean install of Windows 10 TP. There's a lot to sacrifice by moving to Linux when it comes to gaming. Tho I guess you could always buy Steam games that run native on Linux in the future then you won't have to worry about any incompatibilities.

 

Steam games you own that run on Linux.

• Portal
• Gratuitous Space Battles

Damn, so few games are supported? And I'm dual booting Win 10 TP on my test rig with Ubuntu, which is why I'm extremely annoyed at Microsoft trying to force me to pay when I shouldn't have to. Win 10 looks like an improvement over Win 7 so far.

the linux experience is never consistent, so you could say that 900 series gpus work good for someone but you can't say that it works good

there is often something in the chain that makes thing work bad, whether it's the gpu model, the driver, the particular distro, the particular version of the particular driver, the particular program, or that one particular package that just screws everyting up for some reason that one linux guru in the world may or may not be able to explain

i only know that i have a 770 and youtube stutters

that's why i don't recomment it

My GTX 650ti was able to work just the same under Ubuntu (live USB) as it did in Windows, so as long as I manage to get the drivers working my GTX 970 will be fine. And as for consistency, all that is preventing me from having that is MS pushing DX over OpenGL. (BTW, I played Minecraft in Linux with my 650ti, it managed to get higher minimum and maximum FPS than when I was playing in Windows 7)

 

It usually breaks down to user error. Installing drivers properly isn't always an easy task as I have outlined here. Tho once you get Nvidia drivers installed properly the GTX 970 and 980 are excellent performers on Linux. Most of the time they perform even better than on Windows.

I've found that installing drivers for a Quadro NVS 110M and a Radeon 9000iGP was a lot easier than my GTX 970, still trying on my test rig and so far the driver just doesn't want to work.

 

but applications perform bad (running through wine, having no support), so the perceived perfomance is worse

and yes, installing things is such a painful thing to do that it's not even guaranteed you will succeed doing so if you're not an experienced linux user

 

it all comes down to how much pain you're willing to go through, and how much time to waste, to play your goat simulator. that's the tradeoff of linux

if you like to troubleshoot and study the OS, that's awesome. if you just do it because you don't want to pay microsoft, you're probably going to have deep regrets in the near future

If you set everything up properly, most applications can be made to run in WINE as if they were in Windows, and with some programs a virtual machine should be fine, I was just unsure about games. And I've been using Windows since 3.1. I deserve better customer service than I received after buying their products for so long. I will not be locked into 1 OS because of the dirty tactics they use to ensure that most people us Windows. Oh, and none of my games are Goat Simulator so how is it related?

[Opcode]

but applications perform bad (running through wine, having no support), so the perceived perfomance is worse

and yes, installing things is such a painful thing to do that it's not even guaranteed you will succeed doing so if you're not an experienced linux user

 

it all comes down to how much pain you're willing to go through, and how much time to waste, to play your goat simulator. that's the tradeoff of linux

if you like to troubleshoot and study the OS, that's awesome. if you just do it because you don't want to pay microsoft, you're probably going to have deep regrets in the near future

I'm speaking from a native standpoint. Portal will likely run better on Linux for his GPU than on Windows as an example.

 

Games are becoming more and more frequent to the Linux platform thanks to Steam. In another 5-10 years Linux gaming will be closing in on the Windows platform.

[Dabombinable]

I'm speaking from a native standpoint. Portal will likely run better on Linux for his GPU than on Windows as an example.

 

Games are becoming more and more frequent to the Linux platform thanks to Steam. In another 5-10 years Linux gaming will be closing in on the Windows platform.

So far in Windows, Portal achieves 145 FPS with 4K DSR and all settings maxed out, so if it performs better, I'm not going to really notice it.

[Opcode]

So far in Windows, Portal achieves 145 FPS with 4K DSR and all settings maxed out, so if it performs better, I'm not going to really notice it.

Yeah, but personally it seems like gaming is the primary function of your machine. I would run Windows 10 Technical Preview all the way up until it expires. The Consumer Preview for Windows 8 ran for nearly a year after its official launch. So that's plenty of time for you to get your hands on a full version of Windows 10. Making the move to Linux is really going to cut nearly half of your games out of the picture. WINE will run some of them but not all of them.

[Dabombinable]

Yeah, but personally it seems like gaming is the primary function of your machine. I would run Windows 10 Technical Preview all the way up until it expires. The Consumer Preview for Windows 8 ran for nearly a year after its official launch. So that's plenty of time for you to get your hands on a full version of Windows 10. Making the move to Linux is really going to cut nearly half of your games out of the picture. WINE will run some of them but not all of them.

Well I'm still pushing Microsoft to get Win 7 activated (I've had the day off, so I called them every 15 minutes), but considering the Preview expires soon as well, I don't want to use it as my every day OS.And I thought that most games would be able to work in WINE, but obviously I was mistaken.