flynnguy

So I was in the market for a new computer. Previously I used a 2015 MacBook Pro and liked the Mac experience, I could run pretty much whatever software I wanted but I still had a terminal. However looking at the latest Mac's, everything is soldered, no way to upgrade anything. This was not something I wanted to support so I started looking at my options....

I don't love Windows but if I go from non-mac hardware, my options become Linux or Windows. I have a windows 11 desktop that I use mostly for gaming but for my daily driver, I didn't want a Windows machine. That left Linux.... what could I run?

I realize this isn't for everyone but I started looking at my options. The first piece of software I use that I was looking to replace was Capture One (Photography software). I started looking around and found darktable which so far seems to have all I need. It was a little adjustment from Capture One but not a lot. It runs on Windows/Mac/Linux so you can certainly try it out before you make the switch.

Then I use Alfred App as my quick launcher on my Mac. On Linux, I found Albert which seems to have what I'm looking for. I like that I can write plugins in Python but it's still pretty fast because it's mostly written in c++. It's not perfect but it'll do for now.

For 3d printing, most of the slicing software runs natively on Linux/Mac/Windows so that was an easy decision. The biggest downside was that I use Fusion 360 which does not have a Linux port. Jumping forward, I did try running it in Wine and it mostly works but not really 100% so right now I dual boot solely for this piece of software.

I already switched to Inkscape for vector graphics so that was easy since there is already a Linux version. I don't do a lot of word processing, spreadsheets and/or presentations but when I do, google docs has been good enough and there's LibreOffice if I really want to go local. Most other misc software I use is generally Open Source and runs on Linux as an option.

Since I already decided I would dual boot, I pulled the plug on a Framework 16. I really liked the modularity, the fact that it worked under Linux and really, everything about the company.

Installation was fairly straight forward once I sorted the Windows/Linux dual boot situation. You need to do it in the correct order or Windows complains. (I used 2x1TB NVMe drives) I went with OpenSuse tumbleweed mostly because debian is on the older side (great for servers, not great for desktops), ubuntu is dead to me after apt install firefox installs a snap and not a deb, fuck snaps. OpenSuse seemed like a good balance of latest but with mostly stability. I didn't want to go Arch or Gentoo because I just don't have time for that now.

So once everything is setup, I install Albert, Firefox, DarkTable, Inkscape, 3d Slicers, and Steam. In steam, I installed the handful of Linux native games but was a little disappointed in the number. Then I was talking with my son about Proton and decided to look into it a bit more. HOLY SHIT, IT'S JUST A FLAG IN STEAM!!!! Basically it's Settings->Properties->Compatability.... then toggle "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool." Then I was just able to install Windows games under Linux. They run just like any other Steam game. There's a website that lists compatibility: https://www.protondb.com/ but so far everything I've tried to run works fine. So if you run Linux and Game at all, check this out.

So basically, now I've been using Linux as my daily driver (except for work) and the only thing I've had to boot into Windows for is Fusion 360.... Maybe I should really take a look at FreeCAD but for now, Fusion is too easy for me to reach for.

tl;dr: I think 2025 is the year of the Linux Desktop (well, Laptop, main driver) for me.