Thursday, July 22, 2021

Debating whether to completely switch to Linux

 Heya everyone,

As the title says, I'm considering whether I want to go ahead and switch back to Linux on a more permanent basis. I've been testing windows 11, and it's fine, for a Microsoft operating system. But I really don't like the compromises and security issues that come along with it, especially from a personal data usage and privacy standpoint. I've been going back and forth between Linux and Windows for decades and know them both quite well by this point. So, that said, there's not a lot that I can't do on Linux that I can do on Windows, with the exception of certain kinds of gaming. Games that use certain types of anti-cheat software, and games that are insanely complex or tied deeply into underlying Windows systems tend not to be easy to run under Linux, but those are slowly dwindling in number as Steam's Proton Wine variant gets better over time.

I play Star Citizen, and can get it to run under Linux, and CIG has promised in the past to make a Linux native version (eventually), but I won't be holding my breath in the hopes of that happening any time soon, as the game is far, far, far, from being released (it's eternally in 'alpha' at the time this was posted, and for the last 9 years). Also, games like Empyrion: Galactic Survival use Easy Anti Cheat, as their cheat protection of choice, and they don't currently have Linux Support, but I have heard that Steam is working with them and other anti cheat software authors to correct that, so perhaps there's some hope on the horizon on that front. If so, I'll be happy to see it.

Anyhoo, if I do choose to switch over, I can still choose to run Windows in a virtual machine of some kind. Perhaps I'll finally buckle down and start teaching myself how to run with a hypervisor, and run Windows with a virtualized hardware video card, that way I can still game, but have the overall system under the control of a more secure and stable OS.

Any thoughts and input are welcome. If you have anything constructive or insightful to add, please let me know. I'd also welcome any ideas or suggestions on how to get all this working properly, and with minimal cost.

Thanks for reading :)

Brian