Hello,

I purchased a new laptop and seriously considering switching to Linux Ubuntu. First concern is, how will I be able to run Windows programs? I heard about Wine and some accompanied extension that I can't remember the name of, which enables Windows apps that use C++ runtimes and .Net framework.

Is this feasible? Of course, I'm an advance Windows user so switching to Linux will be a huge learning curve. Compromising on my Windows programs is deal breaker. If I can't get all my daily use apps working under new environment, I will have to bite the bullet and stay with Windows.

Since, this is a new machine, it's now or never. Once file systems have been created and data starts piling up, it won't be possible anymore. Linux uses different file systems.

Looking forward to your expert opinions, before I finally jump the ship.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Why change if what you have been doing works?

 

I suggest you change to Linux Mint, it is easy to use and very similar to Windows. On Linux you can use disks formatted with the NTFS file system, but you can also create new partitions in this format if you want. In addition, you will have access to Timeshift, similar tool to Time Machine on MAC

 

Dunno, I never had good experience running Linux on a laptop, ruined every Macbook's battery, maybe it behaves better with other laptops, but I seriously doubt it's better optimized then Windows for that particular hardware.

 

There are many programs for Linux that do the same as windows you need to research them.
Also as another person said Linux Mint. I have been using it for over 10 years upgrades as 1,23.
No BS wind blows upgrades they are fast and simple. Just you sympatic and it will upgrade / update on the fly.

 

How about Wubuntu?
"Wubuntu also known as “Windows Ubuntu” is an Ubuntu-based operating system with themes and tools inspired by Microsoft Windows, but without any absurd system requirements. Wubuntu does not require TPM, Secure Boot, POPCNT or any other special hardware resource for its operation"
https://wubuntu.org/

 

I have used Linux daily for over a decade and like it much more than MacOS and Windows, but if compromising on your Windows software is a deal breaker to you I'd suggest you just forget about Linux. Most of the Windows software will work just fine, but there will always be a plugin or three that will misbehave. So no, with your approach it won't be feasible.

There's a lot of fine native software for Linux. IME, the only viable approach to music production on Linux is to start with a clean slate.

 

But you didn't say why you are switching to Linux. If it the bloatware in the Windows, there are lots of workarounds and some great custom versions too. I use the versions from Ghostspectre and they are totally void of any bloatware and run really well.

 

Massive learning curve.

Big tip... Avoid all of the tech forums/search engines when you get stuck because they talk gibberish... Ask AI. It has reached the point now where your answers will be pretty much instant. It makes mistakes, but if you reword the questions you'll get there.

I don't touch Windows apps on Linux. I have a dedicated offline music computer and Linux for online.

Cinnamon Mint is ok but it has issues here and there. All the 'flavors' come with some issues, just like Windows.

 

Have a look a Nobara Linux. It's a fedora based distro, so it uses more recent packages than debian based distro as mint (which is an Ubuntu clone with Codecs).
Nobara is meant for gaming, that's why it got everything you gonna need for running windows stuff in place. As far as I remember it already uses Proton. Proton is itself based on wine, but instead of 'make office work' it does a lot of heavy lifting about multimedia (to use that nice little 90ies word).

To some extent any daw or nle is not that much off of a game. Like cubendos gui is even rendered on the gpu nowadays.

To really make Linux work for you especially with 'I wanna make windows software work' you need to be a certain kind of human being.
It helps if you're the sub when visiting the sm club. If you liked the old school Sierra stuff like space quest, police quest and so on you gonna like the ride. You know, those games where every single click let's you feel how much the programmer hates you.
// Edit //
People say nvidia sucks in Linux. But I don't know about that I work in the AMD department.
// Edit 2 // There are basically 3 distros out there: Debian based, Fedora based and Arch based. It helps to find out what of those 3 approaches you like best and go from there. (I know NixOS is none of those, but let's not make things too complicated.)

 

Last edited: Jan 6, 2025

Linux Mint is VERY nice.
The best i tested.

BUT if you want to be music productive, FORGET about Linux.

You will spend more time fixing crappy things than making music.
I've done it ... i know what i'm speaking about

 

Watch some YT videos about Linux first steps,
or Ubuntu first steps if you're decided..

Decide the Desktop engine you gonna use,
there's many but the main trends lately go around KDE Plasma X11 vs Wayland, Gnome, Hyprland..
(you can install all of them on the same system so no probs)

TimeShift is a great tool to avoid unnecessary fuckups,
just like a Save Game feature will keep a backup of your system as it is, good for experimenting.

The most usual software you can get easily, VLC, Gimp, LibreOffice.. no probs


I also agree with the above post, ChatGPT or ClaudeAI, etc.. incredibly useful.
they're absolute Experts on Linux, and will give immediate answer to anything you show them, even before you ask.

They can go very deep about any technical aspect of the OS,
great understanding, relentless assistant.. really recommended

 

Last edited: Jan 6, 2025

Agreed..
Linux in its current state, is not viable for Professional Audio/Music production.

Complexity is too high and performance too low,
it can do many things, just not at the level of performance and reliability professional work require..
it's improving fast tho, and it's very interesting to set-up and fiddle with

But in terms of daily driving it, as a Desktop PC,
I'm sure it's Better than Win and Mac at this point..


Other viable options for Desktop besides of Ubuntu could be:
Debian, Mint, Manjaro, Mandriva, Fedora, Suse, PopOs, Alpine, Solus..

 

Last edited: Jan 6, 2025

I am 100% on your side with that one.
One can strip down windows and make it a decent OS.
And doing that is waaaay less hassle than making Linux work.
@OP: Don't get me wrong, I hate windows as much as the next guy. If you switch to Linux because you want to make a difference, like some have to start, others will follow, I want so support Open Source and so on: great, go for it! If all you want is a fast unbloated system without ads that just does the job while staying in the background then go get yourself the LTSC edition of Windows 11, install that from scratch and debloat the hell out of it.

 

It depends on how you define professional audio/music production.

You can do almost any kind of serious professional audio/music production in Linux using only stock plugins in Reaper or Bitwig, without even knowing what OS is underneath. No difference whatsoever in complexity, performance or reliability. Plus, nowadays there's a rather decent assortment of native Linux plugins.

However, if you define "professional" as being able to use any and all Windows audio software then I'll agree with you, but it's a bit of a moot point.

 

I thinks there's two aspects, Performance and Real Time applications..

With modern PCs it may be less of a factor,
but just a few generations back, if you put a heavy layer of emulation on top performance will get a hit..

And when you're working on projects with hundreds or thousands of tracks/plugs/libs..
well you hardware can only give you so much, vs going Native on Win/Mac.. right?


Then there's the Real-Time factor.. it's been Improving,
just the other day the RT kernel became official.. and Jack, ALSA and Pipewire are very mature at this point..

But I donno, I get the feeling Windows is still much more Stable and capable in terms of RT work,
specially working on Massive projects, recording a big number of tracks, etc.. it's like more buffered and slow, but stable and workable..

Altho It will always depend on the HW you're using ofc..

 

Just stick with Windows and avoid problems

 

Use Windows. You're crazy to switch if:

And,

No point switching to a different OS just to try to make it run everything from your previous OS.

- - -

Wait until all the devs support Linux natively — That was a joke. It isn't going to happen because they're gay as aids.

 

Well, you didn't indicate the storage capacity of your laptop's primary storage device, but if the drive's big enough i'd suggest firstly installing windows 10/11 & setting the windows NTFS filesystem size to leave about 100 Gb of unused disk space. I'd then install (whichever flavour of) linux onto the spare drive capacity. In other words, deploy a dual-boot windows/linux setup, which would enable you to enjoy the best of both worlds...