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One solution that has long existed is to have a dual boot system... you can choose which OS you want to load each time you start the system.
Another option is to run a Window VM in Linux.
If you must dual boot, have totally separate hard drives, and the choosing between Linux and Windows should be done in the UEFI boot menu, not GRUB menu. Windows can render Linux unbootable otherwise, requiring a rather complicated rescue. Windows would ideally not have any chance to see the Linux hard drive while booted.
An external SATA SSD in a USB enclosure is cheap these days.
Yeah, Windows likes to overwrite the MBR with no warning as if that's perfectly fine. I've always wondered what combination of carelessness, incompetence, interface streamlining and competitive malice is responsible for that. It's also ridiculous how in 2023 there's still no native way to read Linux filesystems from Windows.
@Zeppo That does sound ridiculous especially as I wouldn't mind running linux through Windows, I know it wouldn't work as well but I know I would do a lot of my less complex tasks through there such as browsing the internet as I could game on Windows or Linux as I don't really mind if I'm VMing one
Sure, another option is running Linux in a VM, though I thought the goal was to overall switch to Linux as much as possible.
VMs have facilities to transfer files between the host and guest OS, which helps.
@Zeppo The goal would be to use Linux as my base OS in the future. As I look through the many comments from everyone I am now re-evaluating some of the things I feel I 'Need' in my set up such as my Sync Cloud Storage, Instead I hope to move over to External Hard Drives.
Knowing Adobe is a huge part of my setup does hurt the idea of moving to Linux at the moment but I will have to find if there is a workaround other than VMs in the future. People mentioned GPU Passthrough on the VM which would help a lot, It's just not only learning how to run a VM but how to do the pass-through on it.
But yes I do wish to move to Linux in the future but maybe baby testing the Distos I think I might like on a VM might be the best way to step into this rather than going into the deep end straight away.
Sure, installing Linux in a VM would be the fastest and easiest way to test it out and start becoming familiar! You could try a few distros/desktop environments and see what you like without having to deal with reformatting or real hardware.
I do the external usb ssd for my windows drive and recommend it endlessly. I use the windows drive for music production and the maybe 2 games in my several hundred game library that don't work in linux. 100 bucks for a 1tb samsung external ssd, and wintousb to make it functional.
I've got Windows and Mint dual booting from the same drive, using grub. All seems to work fine for me...
Windows tends to overwrite the bootloader
it works great until windows decides to reinstall the bootloader
For your steam games you can check compatibility at https://www.protondb.com/
@nlm Thank you will check it out, didn't know we actually had a database for it.
There's also https://lutris.net/ and https://usebottles.com/
A lot of games work really well these days but you'll probably notice a 10-20% fps drop. That's at least what I've found.
Moving to Linux is probably not going to be a good idea on your work computer. Just grab Virtual Box and install Linux there and learn Linux.
@art I think that might be a good idea, I was originally going to test running Windows in a VM on Windows and then think about Running Linux with a Windows VM on that. But I feel as if I might just need to VM my Linux as it would be easier due to my dependencies with my apps at the moment, I will be looking into changing or even removing the function of the apps I don't need as much as possible.
I might catch flak for this, but WSL would also be a good option. At least it was for me. It’s basically a Linux container that runs in Windows and is developed/supported by Microsoft. Some limitations so YMMV.
Quick way to install Ubuntu WSL in PowerShell:
wsl --install
I also recommend the Windows Terminal app to compliment a WSL install. Download it in the Microsoft Store.
@i_cant_sports I've tried using WSL before but I seem to not be able to boot up into the Distro from clicking on the Linux WSL application after it appeared, I still might give it another go and see if it will run this time, thank you.
As others have said, dual boot or VM works for Adobe Software. If you go with VMs, you should probably research GPU passthrough.
For syncing, I recommend Syncthing (syncthing.net).
You can play a lot of Steam games with Proton (check out protonDB for what works).
Also have you decided on a distro already?
@backhdlp I haven't quite decided on a Distro as there are so many and I'm not sure if there's one more my style as of yet, I do like the center bar of Windows 11 & MacOS so might see what sort of Interface each one has (I know I could customize it from there what is fine, I can learn that later down the line).
Sync is more of a CloudStorage for my Video Edits as well as other things I know I need an Archive of but don't have enough physical space on the 15TB+ I have across my devices.
Steam & gaming is less worrying as I've tried out Linux previously and found most of the games I did play on there where better FPS than on Windows (This was about a year ago, so I am sure this has greatly improved with stuff like the SteamDeck now out).
Dual Boot won't really help in the long run but might be a good way for me to try out Linux on my PC before 100% committing to it.
You shouldn't base your choice of distro on the desktop configuration you want. Any major distro can give you any of the various desktop layouts. Sure, their defaults may be different, but Linux being so configurable means that any other layout or environment is just a few clicks away.
Just choose a major distro (so you get regular updates and support when needed), and go with it. Linux Mint is a popular choice for beginners. Debian, OpenSuse, Fedora are all good choices. Then find out how to set your desktop to the configuration you like.
@a@kbin.social Thank you, I knew that you could change your Desktop I just didn't know how easy it would be to change it. But I will have to give it a good go and maybe use Linux Mint as heard some good things about it.
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this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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