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.

d3Xt3r, (edited )

Web apps (for MS Office/Teams), Wine (mostly for games and random apps), and for everything else, an optimized Tiny11 Core VM + WinApps for seamless windows/integration with Linux. My Tiny11 only uses 0-1% CPU and 600MB RAM on idle so I’ve got no issues running it in the background, besides it takes only a couple of seconds to launch, if I wanted to start it on demand.

I’ve also got a portable SSD with a copy of Windows installed on it, just in case I need it for some firmware updates or something (although I’m on a Thinkpad so pretty much everything can be updated via LVFS, but I keep it around just in case + it’s portable so there’s no harm in having it around).

Steamymoomilk,

Winapps is pretty cool! Thanks for sharing. I didnt know that existed till now.

mateomaui,

I’ve been looking at Tiny10 and 11, have you run into any particular problems using it?

d3Xt3r,

I only use it to run productivity apps inside a VM (Adobe Reader etc), so no issues here.

I think the most problems people have with it is running it on real hardware, since it lacks drivers and stuff.

mateomaui,

hmmm, good to know I may have to track down drivers for a regular install, I missed that. Thanks for the feedback!

shapis,
@shapis@lemmy.ml avatar

It would be easier if you told us specifically what programs you need that aren’t supported.

Kongar, (edited )

The same thing I’ve always done - booted another OS that works with that software. No need to artificially limit yourself.

Once upon a time I remember running Dos, windows, os2 warp, and linux on one hard drive. Those were the days…. Ya ya, I’m going back to my retirement home bedroom…

wviana,

It would be nice if you say in the post which apps are those that hold you. People would be able to suggest solutions.

FierroGamer,

I generally just avoid it, otherwise I use it on windows, I still use dual boot with windows and Linux, will probably stop after w10 stops getting security updates since I don’t really care all that much about windows specific stuff

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?

Tattorack,
@Tattorack@lemmy.world avatar

I already used open source programs on Windows. The programs I’m using to do all my work with are Krita, Blender 3D, Gimp, and Libre Office.

They either started out on Linux or support Linux natively, so switching to Linux didn’t really change any of the programs I use. The biggest change is playing games, but Valve has made it very pain free.

asexualchangeling,

Oh hey, same here! I’ve always been pretty poor so open source programs were the easiest way to do a lot of things

And can I just say, GIMP opens way faster in linux it really took me by supprise the first time

Aatube,
@Aatube@kbin.social avatar

I either find an alternative or use it under Wine-GE

slacktoid,
@slacktoid@lemmy.ml avatar

If you must and you have the hardware maybe run Windows in a VM just for those applications. You can even suspend the vm state to resume from where you were.

Pantherina,

Lots of Linux-only software too

linearchaos,
@linearchaos@lemmy.world avatar

Native>wine>pwa>VM

My win11 VM sits on my disk, most days it stays off. It starts in 30 seconds and I use remina to remote into it. It sucks that I lose 60gb of disk, but it’s fast and everything just works.

We use Google docs at work so that’s an easy win.

Outlook’s Progressive web app is 99% awesome.

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.

toastal,

Try WINE. Raise issue with devs. Or just decide not to use it.

King4408,

Dualboot. Use windows only with the things that need windows (ie CADs) and linux for everything else.

interceder270,

Downside of dualbooting is you have to manage essentially 2 computers.

King4408,

Thats true, but it is not that different from running windows in a VM or a separate machine like a laptop. If you only use windows for little stuff, it does not require that much maintenance. Especially W10 since it stopped getting feature drops.

lordgoose,

I’m not sure which programs you’re using so hopefully something here can help but here’s some stuff I’ve read/done:

  • For MS Office, I believe you can just use it in your web browser or use LibreOffice as an alternative.
  • If you use anything Adobe-based, you’ll probably have to keep a Windows partition around or find an alternative. I haven’t seen anything for running Adobe in WINE or WINE-based tools and I’m not sure if Adobe functions in a virtual machine or not.
  • Most gaming-related issues can be dealt with via Proton (Steam’s compatibility tool). I’ve successfully gotten just about every game I play to run in Proton, with the only issues being EA’s launcher (the game still launches though).

If you have any specific programs that you have questions about, feel free to ask. Hope this helps!

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