Approaching the end of window 10 and have no plans on upgrading to 11.

I am trying to find alternatives to applications I regularly use before jumping ship (it is mostly a gaming focused pc) any suggestions?

There’s oculus software for my vr but don’t know what I’m going to do with that

Small update: probably going to do Linux mint as that appears to be the most beginner friendly

Update two: that’s a lot of comments, and Thanks for all the info

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    AMD drivers: Native, will auto-install as the mesa library, AMD is tits in Linux, it just works.

    Gmail: Thunderbird works with Gmail accounts and can sync the calendar.

    iTunes: Rhythmbox has a very similar layout to iTunes and so should feel pretty familiar.

    Anti-virus: Linux doesn’t really need antivirus in the same way Windows does because it’s more locked down and doesn’t have the same vectors of attack. If someone is hacking a Linux machine, it’s a corporate server, not your desktop PC. If you still think you might need one ClamAV is available for Linux distributions. (.deb for Debian derivaties and .rpm for Fedora derivatives)

    Py-Charm: As others have noted, Python is installed natively and is usually already implemented “out of the box” on a fresh install. No need for a program to run it, Python is just… there already.

    Remote Desktop: Whatever distribution you have will likely also come with a Remote Desktop client. I am unaware of whether or not they will connect natively to iOS.

    Star Citizen: You should be able to add this as a non-Steam game to Steam and use Steam’s Proton compatibility layer to play it. A few years ago they were literally asking for Linux players to test it with Proton and Easy Anti-Cheat.

    VPN: Linux has extensive VPN support including “roll your own” through either OpenVPN or Wireguard.

    Windows Games: Steam, using the Proton compatibility layer, which is essentially WINe, just made a little easier. As with Star Citizen, just add it as a non-Steam game and viola.

    Windows 10: The Distribution of your Dreams is just around the corner… I’ve heard Mint isn’t a terrible place to start.

  • Peasley@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    What do you use iTunes for? That stood out to me.

    Also Chrome works fine on Linux, though Firefox is a better browser even on Windows.

  • Synapse@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago
    Software Linux support
    AMD driver ✅ open-source drivers for CPU and GPU are included in the Linux Kernel and work very well. If you have bleeding edge news hardware, check online in which Kernel version they are supposed and choose Linux distro accordingly
    Web Browser ✅ Chrome/chromium, ✅ Firefox. All are commonly available in your distro software repository by default, or otherwise with Flatpak
    Web-based email ✅ not dependent on OS. Local Email client software are available, one exemple is Thunderbird.
    Office suite ✅ LibreOffice, or anything web-based such as Google Docs will work independently of the OS
    Itunes Many music players/library managers are available on Linux, I don’t have any specific recommendations here, I am self-hosting Jellyfin for my music needs
    JBL not sure what you mean here ? Your headset/speakers ? Don’t see why it wouldn’t work
    Music score reader/editor ✅ MuseScore, I also use Guitar Pro (7, 8) inside Bottle (wine) and it works with some tweaks needed for fixing font bug
    Antivirus ✅ ClamAV, arguable if you need an antivirus at all
    Python ✅ many IDEs are available, a scary amount of Linux distribution rely on Python under the hood 😅
    Remote desktop ✅ RDP protocol (many clients available), ✅ Rustdesk, ✅ anydesk, ✅ TeamViewer)
    Game platforms ✅ Steam, ✅ Heroic Games Launcher (for Epic and GOG), ✅ Lutris
    VPN ✅ OpenVPN and ✅ Wireguard protocols are supported (maybe others), you can find many providers using these protocols. Most ask you to use their app, but digging a little you often have options to configure the VPN connection without installing anything extra. I know Nord on client works on Linux, I haven’t tried other. Mulldav is a very frequent recommendation in Linux communities
    Windows games compatibility ✅ Wine/Proton via Steam, Lutris, Heroic and Bottles. The only thing that will block you is competitive multiplayer games with Anti-Cheat
      • Synapse@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        This isn’t exactly what I recommend. Only in the case the hardware is bleeding edge, as in, it was released less than 6 month ago, then check in which Kernel version it starts to be supported, as well as check the Kernel version shipping with the distribution you are interested in installing. Distro Kernel version >= Kernel version where the driver starts to be included, no problems. Otherwise, check a distro that has more frequent upgrades.

        Things to check: GPU, CPU, WiFi chip, Ethernet chip. In windows you can find the information in the device manager. On Linux (e.g: test with a live USB) the command lspci with display the information.

        A common case would be: I am interested in Debian because I heard it’s the most stable, will my AMD 5070XT work with that ? Probably not very well, better Check Ubuntu non-LTS or Fedora.

        I am not recommending op to modify the Kernel from the Linux distro, just consider this point in choosing the distro.