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> "Then I have a maxed out XPS 13 which is a very nice and capable machine that suits me completely, except that it has a malicious OS that I have to constantly

> "Then I have a maxed out XPS 13 which is a very nice and capable machine that suits me completely, except that it has a malicious OS that I have to constantly fight. And Linux doesn't support a lot of the tools I need. So..... what's the solution here?" The solution is sitting in your hands. That XPS 13 can run Ubuntu (and probably Debian, Arch/Antergos, or any other major distro) flawlessly since Dell ships a version with Ubuntu preinstalled. Set it up to dual boot with Windows, and use VirtualBox's raw hard disk access feature to set up a Windows guest under Linux using the Windows partition as the VM's boot drive. That way, you can slowly wean yourself off of Windows; use the VM for your Windows-only tasks with the option of booting natively into Windows for anything strictly hardware dependent, until you have replaced your Windows workflow with Linux. Even if you find you can't 100% escape Windows, at least you're not living in it so you're not being spied on all day.

pritambaral 9y ago
> set up a Windows guest under Linux using the Windows partition as the VM's boot drive. > with the option of booting natively into Windows for anything strictly hardware dependent IIRC, years ago, when Windows 7 was the latest Windows, this couldn't be done. Windows used to take offense if the hardware it was running on changed significantly from boot to boot. Has that changed with Windows 10?
- morganvachon 9y ago
  It's gotten better both with changes in Windows itself and with improvements in virtualization. VirtualBox allows you to use different hypervisors so you can get closer to native hardware access in a VM. It works best when the guest is Linux but it also works well with Windows and recently, macOS. You can even do GPU passthrough for better Windows gaming on a Linux host.
  - yyyttt555 9y ago
    With a separate, dedicated GPU is my understanding, which is a deal-breaker. I've recently moved to Mint with Win7 in a vm and its lack of GPU and DirectX support is not really workable. Basic apps are fine.
    - morganvachon 9y ago
      > "With a separate, dedicated GPU" Well, yes, if you want to do any significant amount of gaming on a computer, you'd want a dedicated GPU. If integrated GPUs meet your demands for gaming, you're better of with native Linux games and Wine for Windows casual games. > "I've recently moved to Mint with Win7 in a vm and its lack of GPU and DirectX support is not really workable." It sounds like you're better served by dual-booting then. Running a VM isn't a solution for everyone, just another option for some.

pritambaral 9y ago

> set up a Windows guest under Linux using the Windows partition as the VM's boot drive. > with the option of booting natively into Windows for anything strictly hardware dependent IIRC, years ago, when Windows 7 was the latest Windows, this couldn't be done. Windows used to take offense if the hardware it was running on changed significantly from boot to boot. Has that changed with Windows 10?

morganvachon 9y ago
It's gotten better both with changes in Windows itself and with improvements in virtualization. VirtualBox allows you to use different hypervisors so you can get closer to native hardware access in a VM. It works best when the guest is Linux but it also works well with Windows and recently, macOS. You can even do GPU passthrough for better Windows gaming on a Linux host.
- yyyttt555 9y ago
  With a separate, dedicated GPU is my understanding, which is a deal-breaker. I've recently moved to Mint with Win7 in a vm and its lack of GPU and DirectX support is not really workable. Basic apps are fine.
  - morganvachon 9y ago
    > "With a separate, dedicated GPU" Well, yes, if you want to do any significant amount of gaming on a computer, you'd want a dedicated GPU. If integrated GPUs meet your demands for gaming, you're better of with native Linux games and Wine for Windows casual games. > "I've recently moved to Mint with Win7 in a vm and its lack of GPU and DirectX support is not really workable." It sounds like you're better served by dual-booting then. Running a VM isn't a solution for everyone, just another option for some.