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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Visual Studio (Not VS Code), C# is fantastic these days cross-platform wise and a pretty solid general language
But the non-ms IDEs for it...are lacking...and MS just terminated MacOS support for VS (Not that it really mattered the macOS version was a bastardized version of VS anyways) so I don't think their flagship is coming (officially) to Linux anytime soon.
Yeah I second Jetbrains Rider. It’s fantastic on Linux and dotnet development has never been better with it. The only lacking thing is WPF but there’s open source alternatives that are actually cross platform and integrate just as well (AvaloniaUI).
Rider has just been better in every way imo. I haven't touched VS in years.
It does cost but you also get a permanent licence for the version you paid for so you can pay for a year and keep that version.
excel for vba support
Yeah, that makes sense. I’m not an irrational hater of Microsoft — maybe a little — but Excel is very good. The people who need Excel, often genuinely need Excel, specifically.
And Numbers on the macOS ecosystem is shockingly bad. Like, I’d rather barebones Gnumeric from 10 years ago for my purposes.
I ain't no hardcore Excel user so can't speak for others, but I've been able to completely switch to Excel Online and use Office Scripts and Power Automate for tasks for which I used VBA previously. In fact, Power Automate has been great for doing stuff like updating workbooks through scheduled or event-driven flows, without even having to open Excel. I can see VBA going away soon with these technologies.
With the state of O365 these days, there's zero need for me to have a native MSO install, and this no need for a Windows VM either (for day-to-day/personal stuff). The only reason I still keep Windows VMs though is for occasionally testing random things for work.
WSL2 is pretty good. j/k
I used it a lot while developing a Linux program for a raspberry pi with a colleague and was blown away how fun and easy it was to use.... Untill I started daily driving Linux and realised how much stuipd window wsl setup and work I could have skipped by just using Linux directly.... Lol I was missing out. Now I just daily drive Linux and never looking back to wsl
[email protected] if I am donating GPU power to science research. There is a BOINC client for Linux but packaging is a hot mess (though getting better) and compatibility with graphics drivers is hit-or-miss. So any crunching rigs I have w/ GPUs all run Windows.
I have a Windows VM that runs Visual Studio and a small number of developer tools so I can test my code on Windows. And another windows VM that runs Daz3D, Clip Studio Paint and the Epic Launcher (to download stuff from the Unreal Engine Marketplace).
Sometimes I misuse either VM by creating a snapshot and installing Garmin Connect so I can update the music library on my watch :)
Anyone using ReactOS for this?
Adobe Lightroom Classic. I have darktable installed on Linux, but I haven't mastered it yet. Lightroom is the software for photo editing, unfortuntately.
Nope.
There are some programs I still use that are designed for Windows, but use cases are "niche" or at very least specialized:
Guitar Pro 8 - Guitar Tab software
Line 6 HX Edit - Helix Settings Editor
Line 6 Powercab Edit - Amp Settings Editoe
Line 6 Updater - Firmware Updater for Line 6 Products
Steelseries GG - Configuration Software for Steelseries Peripherals
Numerous VSTs and other Audio Plugins
These are just what I remember I use off the top of my head.
I do use Guitar Pro 8 with Wine, but the others won't work through Wine. I did try to use the others with a Windows KVM through QEMU but I ultimately gave up and left one windows workstation because of my issues with my Nvidia RTX 3090.
I run Scrivener, which is a writing software that's only for Mac & Windows (well, there is a Linux version but it's ancient), but I just run that through Wine rather than a VM. That's about the only thing I haven't found a good equivalent for on Linux though.
Yeah. I use quite a few windows exclusive programs. I know it is a long list but can't be helped. Good support and stability beats ideology and these apps provide me that. Here is the list:
I hope this list is helpful to others as well ☺️
Underrated comment.
non-game, non-niche
Nope, that's actually strictly my reason for having a dedicated Windows rig. Games, and niche homebrew apps.
notepad++ with textfx edit, textfx tools, and hex editor. I've tried a lot of other things and it is still my favorite.
I don't actually use it for coding, but I often have to futz with files received from customers/QA or test data that I create.
I have mac for work and have been mostly hating BBedit. I keep meaning to try Cate and I guess the folks that made Atom just released something new.
Edit: just remembered: I did try Cate but had really weird UI issues using any dark themes (menus, etc. all became unreadable) and gave up.
Not currently running a VM or anything, but I might need to set one up for iTunes and Garmin stuff.
I have a Windows 11 VM which I keep around. I was forced to use it for iTunes because I needed to sync my old photos onto the phone (fortunately a one time process).
I also played around with RemoteApp because I wanted to use Visual Studio or Office on Linux through the Windows VM, but I have not managed to get it working.
Directory Opus
GenoPro. I don't use Windows for it, as it's packaged with wine as a snap.
MusicBee, Stardock Fences, obligatory Adobe mention, all VR everything (unless something has changed recently, I haven't looked in while).
Gamepass