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Thread: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

  1. #33
    ZaO
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Quote Originally Posted by GuidoLS View Post
    Don't conflate easier with better The best gaming distro for Linux is Slackware, but it's far from the easiest - much like Windows, a good part of performance is based on what's running in the background, and the 'boutique' distros all tend to have a lot more background clutter on by default. Your desktop is also going to be a big factor in used system resources.

    Linux is a lot of things, and it's getting easier and better for the general user, but don't confuse easier than before with being easy. It's not easy yet. Just slightly less involved with the advent of Steam on Linux and PlayOnLinux, which purports to make installing Windows software, in general, and games, specifically, a lot easier than before, but it's still a front end for WINE, and isn't perfect.
    I think what I meant was "compatible out of the box", rather than easier or better. But even that might be the wrong way to put it.. Loads of experimenting and lessons to be learned ahead of me! I'm just hoping it doesn't end up with the same conclusion as my previous attempts..

  2. #34
    Token 'murican GuidoLS's Avatar
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Odds are very high that you'll be playing many more games this time than in previous attempts. Some will work as well as Windows. Some will work slightly better, and others will not work as well. And you'll find that there are still many games that won't play on Linux. DX11 titles are the most noticeable. It's nice that Valve converted many of its' Source games over to Linux, but they aren't releasing anything new on Source, so... and then there are the really strange cases of games that will run just fine, but you need Windows to install them, and to do any patches that may come along.

    It's still far better than it was even a year ago.

  3. #35
    ZaO
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Quote Originally Posted by GuidoLS View Post
    Odds are very high that you'll be playing many more games this time than in previous attempts. Some will work as well as Windows. Some will work slightly better, and others will not work as well. And you'll find that there are still many games that won't play on Linux. DX11 titles are the most noticeable. It's nice that Valve converted many of its' Source games over to Linux, but they aren't releasing anything new on Source, so... and then there are the really strange cases of games that will run just fine, but you need Windows to install them, and to do any patches that may come along.

    It's still far better than it was even a year ago.
    Yeh that's basically the impression I've got. I have ordered myself another SSD now. I've already decided to have one of the music orientated Linux distros on one and try to use that as my main OS, while the other one will have Windows 10 on it. I'm hoping I don't need to boot into the Windows drive much, but it's there if I need it for games or music software. I can have the best of both worlds now

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    Anthropomorphic Personification shaithis's Avatar
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Quote Originally Posted by ZaO View Post
    Yeh that's basically the impression I've got. I have ordered myself another SSD now. I've already decided to have one of the music orientated Linux distros on one and try to use that as my main OS, while the other one will have Windows 10 on it. I'm hoping I don't need to boot into the Windows drive much, but it's there if I need it for games or music software. I can have the best of both worlds now
    That's probably the best solution and the one I still run with. The fact you have SSDs for both drives and (from what I can tell at least) no RAID arrays to initialise, means that the reboots will be damn fast, even faster if you are running with UEFI enabled.
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  5. #37
    ZaO
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Quote Originally Posted by shaithis View Post
    That's probably the best solution and the one I still run with. The fact you have SSDs for both drives and (from what I can tell at least) no RAID arrays to initialise, means that the reboots will be damn fast, even faster if you are running with UEFI enabled.
    Yeh I can't be bothered with boot partitions or RAID. Never been a fan of that stuff.. Never actually used RAID, though I don't want any boot manager nonsense. I'll just bring up the BIOS boot menu and select the drive I want to boot from manually (hopefully that'll work out ok!). I have an SSHD which I use as a media storage drive, and install the odd program or game on it that really doesn't need to take up space on an SSD. I'm hoping to be able to partition that one - one half for Linux and one half for Windows, then encrypt the Linux partition when I shut the Linux OS down (again, I hope I can do that ok).

    What do you mean by "running with UEFI enabled"? I have a UEFI boot menu from my BIOS. I don't know all the ins and outs of UEFI.. I have my gpu set to use that BIOS mode also. I just thought it was like a BIOS, but with a more advanced GUI, and maybe more secure or something.. How would I enable it in the way you mention? Thanks.

    Edit: This is my motherboard, btw: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...-Gaming%207#sp

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    Anthropomorphic Personification shaithis's Avatar
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Yup, that's a UEFI board. If you look in partition manager in Windows and can see an EFI partition on your boot drive, then you are almost certainly in UEFI mode.

    UEFI boots faster by learning what what happens during boot and starts to skip certain things if it sees there hasn't been a change between boots.

    Linux fully supports it as well but you will probably need to change the fastboot type in the BIOS from Windows to unknown (or other OS).

    There's no reason to skip the bootloader process, especially if you install Windows first. You can then even boot back into linux from windows windows by holding shift while to restart and choosing "boot other OS"
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  7. #39
    ZaO
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Quote Originally Posted by shaithis View Post
    Yup, that's a UEFI board. If you look in partition manager in Windows and can see an EFI partition on your boot drive, then you are almost certainly in UEFI mode.

    UEFI boots faster by learning what what happens during boot and starts to skip certain things if it sees there hasn't been a change between boots.

    Linux fully supports it as well but you will probably need to change the fastboot type in the BIOS from Windows to unknown (or other OS).

    There's no reason to skip the bootloader process, especially if you install Windows first. You can then even boot back into linux from windows windows by holding shift while to restart and choosing "boot other OS"
    I do see a 100MB EFI partition, yes.

    I'm sure I have fast boot turned off in the BIOS though. I wasn't sure exactly what it did and just hadn't bothered to read up on it yet. I'm guessing I need that enabled then..

    Well, I don't even know how the whole bootloader thing will work. One drive will have a Linux bootloader on it, and the other will have a Windows bootloader on it. I was thinking of putting one drive in, installing Linux, then taking it out and putting the other one in to install Windows, then plug both drives in. I really don't want Windows touching the Linux drive at all. Partly because I don't want it snooping, but also because I've had so many annoying issues with stuff like this in the past.

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    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Quote Originally Posted by ZaO View Post
    I do see a 100MB EFI partition, yes.

    I'm sure I have fast boot turned off in the BIOS though. I wasn't sure exactly what it did and just hadn't bothered to read up on it yet. I'm guessing I need that enabled then..

    Well, I don't even know how the whole bootloader thing will work. One drive will have a Linux bootloader on it, and the other will have a Windows bootloader on it. I was thinking of putting one drive in, installing Linux, then taking it out and putting the other one in to install Windows, then plug both drives in. I really don't want Windows touching the Linux drive at all. Partly because I don't want it snooping, but also because I've had so many annoying issues with stuff like this in the past.
    http://forums.hexus.net/pc-hardware-...i-dummies.html

  9. #41
    Token 'murican GuidoLS's Avatar
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Unless MS has secretly put in the ability to read ext# partitions (they haven't), then it can't natively read a Linux partition. This, of course, presumes you don't install using NTFS or Fat32 partitions, in which case, you're putting out a welcome mat. Yes, there are third party programs that can read them, just as there are 3rd party programs that can read Mac partitions. And the usual method that doesn't require drive swapping or bios booting is to install Windows and then installing Linux - the Grub installer is smart enough to know that there's a Windows partition/drive in the machine, and smart enough to make a boot option (I use Grub as a generic term - your install disk may or may not use a different boot loader.)

    You really need to quit making this harder than it is. Install Linux using ext4 partitions, encrypt them (both of which you enable at install with a couple of radio buttons) and be done with it. The full time encryption WILL slow your system down some, and you will notice the difference, but that's sort of the price you pay for the extra level of 'security'.

  10. #42
    ZaO
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Thanks for the guide So I can just have both drives in when I do the OS installs and not worry about bootloader mess I'm used to. That's a relief! But what if I do decide to do the installs with one drive in at a time anyway?

    Quote Originally Posted by GuidoLS View Post
    Unless MS has secretly put in the ability to read ext# partitions (they haven't), then it can't natively read a Linux partition. This, of course, presumes you don't install using NTFS or Fat32 partitions, in which case, you're putting out a welcome mat. Yes, there are third party programs that can read them, just as there are 3rd party programs that can read Mac partitions. And the usual method that doesn't require drive swapping or bios booting is to install Windows and then installing Linux - the Grub installer is smart enough to know that there's a Windows partition/drive in the machine, and smart enough to make a boot option (I use Grub as a generic term - your install disk may or may not use a different boot loader.)

    You really need to quit making this harder than it is. Install Linux using ext4 partitions, encrypt them (both of which you enable at install with a couple of radio buttons) and be done with it. The full time encryption WILL slow your system down some, and you will notice the difference, but that's sort of the price you pay for the extra level of 'security'.
    I don't know they haven't. I trust them 0%, you gotta understand that!

    I don't know what you mean by me making it harder than it is. I ask questions, test things, and learn. I don't like to just blindly follow people's advice, unless I'm just looking for a quick fix on something I don't have much interest in. I really like to understand stuff I'm not going to encrypt the whole drive, I've decided. I setup Linux Mint for someone the other day and realised that once you've encrypted the whole drive, it's not so easy to change that password or even remove that encryption. What I'll do is just encrypt the Home folder with the standard user login instead. and see if that suits me. If not, I'll just encrypt the whole drive!

    Anyway, here's the plan from this point:

    * Install Windows on one drive.
    * Install Linux on the other.
    * Use Linux as much as possible and try to run my Windows software in a virtual machine so I don't need to boot into Windows much.
    * Have the Windows install there for when I really have to use it (hopefully that'll just be for a few games).

    Thanks for the help

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    Token 'murican GuidoLS's Avatar
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Quote Originally Posted by ZaO View Post
    I don't know they haven't. I trust them 0%, you gotta understand that!
    No, actually I don't understand that - or if I were to pretend like I do, then I don't understand why you're using the product, period. Seriously. I won't ride in a vehicle that I know has Takata airbags in them. I trust them absolutely 0%. That excludes many vehicles, including everything on this LIST. There's no 1/2 stepping here. 0% trust means I don't use a product. Ever. Even in passing. Even if it means walking or calling a taxi. But in my case, I have irrefutable proof that vehicles with Takata airbags in them have caused the extreme injury or deaths of multiple dozens of people, and even more accidents that fortunately did not result in death or injury. I'd kind of like to see some sort of serious reasoning behind your overabundance of caution in regards to Windows. Because I've certainly not seen anything. And I've looked for it.

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  13. #44
    ZaO
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Quote Originally Posted by GuidoLS View Post
    No, actually I don't understand that - or if I were to pretend like I do, then I don't understand why you're using the product, period. Seriously. I won't ride in a vehicle that I know has Takata airbags in them. I trust them absolutely 0%. That excludes many vehicles, including everything on this LIST. There's no 1/2 stepping here. 0% trust means I don't use a product. Ever. Even in passing. Even if it means walking or calling a taxi. But in my case, I have irrefutable proof that vehicles with Takata airbags in them have caused the extreme injury or deaths of multiple dozens of people, and even more accidents that fortunately did not result in death or injury. I'd kind of like to see some sort of serious reasoning behind your overabundance of caution in regards to Windows. Because I've certainly not seen anything. And I've looked for it.
    Relax. I don't need to do a big write up to justify my reasons to anyone. But, I would suggest you consider the way that Windows 10 has been designed as a data mining/advertising system, and also look at the Microsoft privacy policy for a start. Amongst other things, those are some of my reasons. I don't trust Facebook either, and I don't use it because I don't have to. But, I will have to use Windows until/if I can figure out a way to do everything I want to do on Linux. And that is my mission - to move eveything over to Linux so that I don't need Windows at all. In the meantime while I'm figuring that out, I'll have to keep a Windows install.

    That is all I was looking for help with, and with everyone's advice (thankyou all again for that!), I've began to put a plan into motion. If you want to trust Microsoft with all your data - good for you I don't.

  14. #45
    Super Moderator Jonj1611's Avatar
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Why not just keep the version of Windows you have?

    Edit : Question already asked by Saracen on the first page.
    Jon

  15. #46
    Bagnaj97
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    Re: Always wanted to completely move over to Linux. Looks like it might be time very

    Quote Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix View Post
    Also, I would avoid the mindset of "I am switching completely to Linux" because it is unlikely to happen. I will at some point switch to Win10 for Windows as with my dual boot there are limited things that Microsoft can learn about me. They can learn that I play a few Steam games and play WoW, anything serious will likely be done in Linux.
    I'm in the same situation, anything "serious" is done under Linux, but I still have Windows around for gaming. I was pleasantly surprised that the upgrade to Win10 didn't scrub the bootloader!

    Quote Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix View Post
    I have updated Wine and have the AMD drivers installed, so WoW should just work. Really must try it
    Give Wine-staging a go, or rebuild wine with the CSMT patches. WoW gets a decent framerate boost!


    As for the AMD drivers, well, they're much better than they used to be. The biggest issue I seem to find with my 7870xt is with fullscreen behaviour on a dual-monitor setup. Sometimes games fullscreen to the right monitor, sometimes left, and sometimes spanned like 1 big screen. I'm not 100% certain that this is a driver issue though, as it's not all games and I don't have another GPU to test with.

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    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Best of all worlds is to run Windows (of whatever flavour(s) you want in a virtual machine with Linux as the host.

    (Or really best, an iMac as the host and run Windows and Linux in virtual machines, although as Mac OS is Unix based, maybe not much point! I am running what may possibly be my last ever Windows purchase in a VM on OSX, and I have previously done the same on a Linux host.)
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  17. #48
    ZaO
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    Re: Hoping to run Linux as my main OS..

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    Best of all worlds is to run Windows (of whatever flavour(s) you want in a virtual machine with Linux as the host.

    (Or really best, an iMac as the host and run Windows and Linux in virtual machines, although as Mac OS is Unix based, maybe not much point! I am running what may possibly be my last ever Windows purchase in a VM on OSX, and I have previously done the same on a Linux host.)
    Yeh that's basically my starting point for my journey. I'm going to have Linux setup on one ssd with Windows in a virtual machine for experimentation. Hopefully I'll get my software running inside that virtual machine without issues. But if not, I'll have Windows installed on the other ssd so I can use that for my software. I'll probably want the Windows install for some games as well (the new MGS game is out soon, and I HAVE TO play that. So it's things like that which make me realise I probably won't be able to completely bin the Windows install for some time yet). But like others, that Windows install will have limited access to my data. Cheers

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