How do y'all deal with programs not supported on Linux?

I’ve been seeing all these posts about Linux lately, and looking at them, I can honestly see the appeal. I’d love having so much autonomy over the OS I use, and customize it however I like, even having so many options to choose from when it comes to distros. The only thing holding me back, however, is incompatibility issues. A lot of programs I work with very often are Windows-exclusive, and alternatives supporting Linux are rare. So I guess I’m stuck with Windows, since I deem those particular programs really important.

Any advice from Linux nerds here? All constructive replies are very appreciated.

SomethingBurger,

Depends on the program.

  • Games: Proton works well 99% of the time.
  • Office: I use LibreOffice as much as possible. At work, I use the Web version of MS Office; it doesn’t have all features of the desktop version but it’s good enough for my use case.
  • Media editing (music, image, video): GIMP, Krita, Kdenlive and Ardour are more than enough for my personal use.

In general, I would recommend trying the Linux alternative, and if it’s not good enough, use a Windows VM or dual-boot. If you spend 90% of your time in Photoshop or any other professional software without a Linux version or feature-complete alternative, you should stay on Windows, and maybe use Linux only when you’re not working.

s38b35M5,
@s38b35M5@lemmy.world avatar

Have you compared kdenlive to shotcut? Wondering how they compare as I’ve been working with SC for a few months an dfinally getting used to it, but the lack of a titler feature is a glaring omission.

JetpackJackson,

I second this, OP, this is pretty much the state of it, but I do recommend trying out a Linux program called Wine, it can run some windows programs in your Linux environment. It’s not always the best, but I run a circuit making program there and I only had a bit of issue once. I just wanted to mention wine since some stuff works well with it, but now I’m realizing a VM might be better if it’s multiple programs lol. Oh well.

bobs_monkey,

Which circuit maker?

JetpackJackson,

LTspice

JackGreenEarth,

Are they like proprietary business programs? What programs can’t run on Linux even though WINE?

musaoruc,

Well you can’t really use something not useful to you. Yes Linux is very nice but at the end of the day you gotta use the thing that gets the job done.

cybersandwich,

Agree.

Take this from someone who has spent entirely too long fighting to make certain software and games work on Linux…seriously way too much time.

Just dual boot. It’s the best of both worlds. You can spend your time in Linux but when you want to play that game or need to use your special software you can just switch into it.

It also gives you the flexibility to try alternative software but you always know you have the real deal on your windows partition if you get stuck.

fr_mg,

Depends on the game and version of windows…old games with new windows 99% of time won´t work.

cybersandwich,

It always depends on the game and the software. Sometimes even games and software that should run well on Linux have issues. At some point you’ll realize you’re spending more time troubleshooting thab enjoying the game or using the software.

I’ve had that realization with Apex. It works fine 80% flawlessly on PopOS. But over the last year there has been a bug or something that throws an error. It’s always after updates. A file fails to update all the way so I have to manually revalidate game files and download the ones that are inevitably broken.

I was spending 5-10-15minutes fighting this issue each time I wanted to play and I have a finite amount of time these days. So as soon as the error happens, I restart into windows and play.

It’s unfortunate since it’s been flawless until recently, but at the end of the day I want to play apex not troubleshoot proton,respawn,steam, and PopOS.

fr_mg,

Since many years i do not play because have no time for that, including the fixing the issues. Used to play and like to fix issues because that is a good learning technique.

grue,

I hate rebooting to play games (or even just closing my other software, for that matter), so I choose to reject games I’d have to reboot for.

BURN,

I chose to reject Linux for this same reason. I was rebooting 4-5 times daily to be able to play games, so I just reset the default to windows

alt,

A lot of programs I work with very often are Windows-exclusive, and alternatives supporting Linux are rare.

Consider mentioning the programs you work with. On a general note, Wine can be used to make Windows-software work on Linux. Bottles can be used to that effect as a front-end. Furthermore, for a more sophisticated solution; consider taking a look at CodeWeavers.

bdonvr,

Wine/Proton can run a huge amount of Windows programs.

Honestly though I’ve just been using Linux for 8 or so years now and just find some other solution. For general computing it really isn’t hard at all. Perhaps if you have some weird proprietary work software or absolutely need Adobe it could be an issue

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Wine/Proton can run a huge amount of Windows programs.

Except for everything that people usually want such as the latest MS Office. Or that nice program developed for Windows 98 that works flawlessly under Windows 11 and it totally broken under Wine.

TCB13, (edited )
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

You mostly don’t because Linux desktop is kind of a “collective delusion”. You either assume you’ll be using alternatives that aren’t compatible with your current applications and potentially deal with collaboration issues with users of such apps or stick with Windows.

If one lives in a bubble and doesn’t to collaborate with others then native Linux apps might work and might even deliver a decent workflow. Once collaboration with Windows/Mac users is required then it’s game over – the “alternatives” aren’t just up to it.

tadeubento.com/…/linux-desktop-a-collective-delus…

When it comes to distros I suggest you keep to Debian and use Flatpak to install software - this will give you a rock solid OS with all the latest version of the applications you might want to use. Flatpak apps can be installed from the GNOME Software “store” GUI which makes things really convenient.

Speaking about office, LibreOffice is great, however it isn’t as good as people like to sell it. Take for instance this simple documented I created in MS Word, side-by-side, it can’t even properly display a simple document with some headings and a few bullet points:

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/1ddb19c4-f7b9-432d-a795-ced58f11e5ba.jpeg

Things like that print screen and what is written on the article are the hard facts that people like to avoid and downvote, but it is what it is. Linux is great, but not in most desktop use case scenarios.

indigomirage, (edited )

The LibreOffice stuff generally has a workaround, even if frustrating. Most general use stuff on Linux is fine (again, not without pain wrt interoperability with my other systems).

My issue with Linux is the stuff that just doesn’t run at all (software and HW). For niche stuff, you can occasionally find a halfway implemented bridge utility made by a well-meaning (and brilliant!) enthusiast, but, in my cases, it either doesn’t work or is too glitchy to be anything more than a effort to see if I can get it to run as opposed to doing the task I set out to do originally. Add to that the fact that your (paid) software and HW is explicitly unsupported and at best at a “you’re on your own” status, and it becomes a high risk proposition.

Make no mistake - trying to get stuff to work is fun in and of itself. I use Linux. It’s fun. It’s breathed fresh life into old machines. It was my daily driver for years. Etc.

Ultimately, I really, really wish more proprietary software and associated HW supported Linux. I’m happy to pay for stuff I need/want that is outside of the FOSS world. But until devs of commercial products recognize the value of investing in Linux, it’s a game of whackamole.

In meantime, I still try to get my stuff to work on Linux. It’s a much better OS, but to successfully run the stuff I need I am confined to Windows (with WSL) - unfortunately.

KISSmyOS, (edited )

“LibreOffice and MS Office have a different paragraph spacing set as default, that’s why Linux is shit.”

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

No, it is why Linux becomes an unviable alternative - you can’t open and edit a document and be sure it won’t get messed up in some way.

KISSmyOS,

It’s not messed up, though. It’s just set to a different value.
If the exact amount of paragraph spacing is important to you, you can either set it before you print, share the file as PDF or use a proper layouting software. This isn’t a Linux issue, you should do the same when sharing a file with someone using MS Office.
Because opening a Word document in a different MS Office version than the one it was created with can also mess it up, but somehow businesses deal with that.

Your yardstick for a usable desktop system is “every detail and default setting in all software needs to be exactly the same as on the Windows equivalent”.
So by definition only Windows can ever be a usable desktop system. No matter how good anything else may be.

Theoriginalthon,

The amount of times I’ve had this argument in the office is untrue. I think the default values aren’t stored in the docx file or something like that, but when you manually set a value it does store it in the docx.

Then you have the whole proprietary blobs in a “open” standard to deal with.

The worst offenders are people who format with tabs and spaces and wonder why it’s all messed up.

TCB13, (edited )
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

It’s not messed up, though. It’s just set to a different value. If the exact amount of paragraph spacing is important to you, you can either set it before you print, share the file as PDF or use a proper layouting software. This isn’t a Linux issue, you should do the same when sharing a file with someone using MS Office.

You’re missing the point, if you get a document from a MS Office user you can’t simply view it or print it and assume the result will be what the user intended it to be. Same applies in reverse if you make changes to the document. This makes LibreOffice unsuitable and not a real alternative.

Your yardstick for a usable desktop system is “every detail and default setting in all software needs to be exactly the same as on the Windows equivalent”.

No, the problem is that most people on this post want it both ways, want to say that LibreOffice is 100% perfect and can fit 100% of uses cases and be used for collaboration and at the same time say stuff like you said “It’s not messed up, though. It’s just set to a different value.”. Its one thing or the other, not both.

And for what’s worth is shouldn’t be “set to a different value” because it breaks compatibility and LibreOffice say it does the best they can to ensure compatibility with MS Office formats.

KISSmyOS, (edited )

You’re missing the point, if you get a document from a MS Office user you can’t simply view it or print it and assume the result will be what the user intended it to be.

You’re missing the point. You can’t assume that even if both use MS Office, either. Cause one of the users could have changed a setting, or use Office Online, or Office for OSX, or an older version, all of which aren’t fully compatible.
MS breaks these things all the time between versions too, without even telling you they’ve updated your Office.
Again, if layout of your end product is important, don’t share .docx files.

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Again, if layout of your end product is important, don’t share .docx files.

I know a LOT of people who’ve been doing this since Office 97 and formatting holds across computers. And to be fair it seems to hold a lot better between older and newer versions of MS Office than with LibeOffice.

KISSmyOS,

And I’ve had better results opening Office files with LibreOffice than with MS Online Office.

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

You guys want to have it both ways, first you’ll say that Office online is the ultimate solution for every Linux user that needs to collaborate with MS Office users and now this. lol

Flumsy,

Every single docx file that I opened in a recent LibreOffice version looked exactly as intended. What features specifically are you talking about that dont work?

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Look at my screenshot above. Do you call that “looked exactly as intended”?

fnafdesktopfan111,

There are numerous ways to deal with it, depending on the specific application and use-case. For some, there’s an open-source alternative that, while not 100% similar in every aspect imaginable, does offer basically the same functionality (LibreOffice for MS Office Suite, Thunderbird for various email clients, Firefox or just Chromium for Google Chrome). For others, you can use an emulator (WINE, for example). For games specifically, Steam offers an emulator that works for most games (Proton); in fact, all the games I’ve tried worked. Then, there’s the very last option, which is using a virtual Windows machine within Linux. I mention it last because I honestly haven’t found many cases where I absolutely needed to do this, and because the set-up is rather “involved”, shall we say. But if you’re using Adobe Suite stuff then, yeah, you basically got no choice there.

Would you mind listing some of the essential programs that you use so we can get a better idea what your workflow is?

Theoriginalthon,

If you have to use a program that is windows only you have to use windows. I could move our entire company over to Linux if it wasn’t for SOLIDWORKS been windows only.

Wine can be an option but I’ve found it very hit and miss on some of the more obscure windows only programs

In the past I’ve used virtual box (virtual machine) in seamless mode, so it looks just like a window in Linux. I can’t remember why I stopped, I think it was down to licencing and oracle buying it.

sep,

Without knowing the exact programs, you can only get general answers.

If there is no direct alternative program, you can change your workflow to use other programs. Or you can try to run those important programs in wine. Or i can run those in a terminal server, or via a windows vm. Or more lately many programs come in web versions that works for everyone.

I have used linux exclusivly on my daily driver for about 23ish years.i mostly work with the linux side of things. And the few windows things the company require i use web versions, or a windows vm.

cosmic_slate,
@cosmic_slate@dmv.social avatar

You could always run Linux in a full screen VM. I do this from a Mac so I get some flexibility.

Alternatively, run Windows in a VM on Linux.

KISSmyOS,

If you need Windows-specific programs, you need Windows.
However, “need” is an overused term. Think about what tasks you want to accomplish, not what software you want to use.

Linux has software available for all tasks a computer can do. Some are sub-par and some aren’t widely used which makes professional collaboration impossible.
But for most tasks and most computer users, Linux-supporting software is perfectly fine and sometimes better than the Windows equivalent.

_s10e,

We ignore them, mostly. You cannot miss what you don’t know.

There are plenty of options however to access software not available natively. Both VMs and Remote Desktop solution work for a wide range applications. Web-based solution can be as good as desktop programs.

So many casual applications are now either web-based or on your (not FOSS) phone, so for my personal use the thought of using Windows has never crossed my mind. Professionally, I resort to remote Windows or a Mac.

penquin,
@penquin@lemmy.kde.social avatar

Depends on what you use. I’ve used Linux for 6 years and I’ve never needed any windows exclusive app. I still do have a laptop that’s running windows for just in case. I literally only open it once a week or so to update it, that’s it. For my use case, Linux has everything.

grue,

I don’t even have a single computer in my house with Windows on it anymore, and haven’t for years. Even the disused Windows 7 install I had sitting on an SSD gathering dust in a drawer has now been relegated to a disk image file.

0xtero,

Sometimes customers want me to use a specific piece of software so I have a QEMU Windows installation I use.

calzone_gigante,

My advice is segregatting work and personal environment, your company’s computer isn’t safe for general usage.

About stuff you use for yourself, don’t focus on which program you want to use, but on the task you must accomplish, most software that is made to mimic a Windows workflow are not great, sometimes you think you need a msword alternative, but you just need to create a document, there’s many ways to manipulate documents on linux that are so much better than text processors like word or libre/wps/only, and you will miss it by straight up looking for alternatives.

On Window’s software are usually bound by a lot a comercial bullshit, they have to bloat to be able to be forever at development and pushing new versions, Linux usually follows into Unix philosophy, aiming for small high quality software that are easy to compose into a bigger workflow, even when not using cli tools that operate on text streams, a gui linux application usually work with standard formats, don’t try to overlap features and are easy to replace if needed.

And about transition, i like the dual boot approach, have a linux partition, and use it for what you can do better on linux when you want to, as you get better with linux, you will be wanting to use window’s less and less.

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