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Honestly dual-booting with Linux and Windows on your workstation is perfectly feasible nowadays. Just treat the Windows partition as your "game console" and onl

Honestly dual-booting with Linux and Windows on your workstation is perfectly feasible nowadays. Just treat the Windows partition as your "game console" and only use it for games (and avoid the hassle of WINE). Otherwise do everything else on the Linux side. If you want you can use disk encryption and VLANs to segregate the Windows install for security/privacy reasons. Obviously if you need other Windows applications like Photoshop or Office this mentality doesn't work, but I've convinced people who want Linux and games to go this route. They just treat the Windows partition like an Xbox or Playstation.

phendrenad2 5y ago
There are downsides. First, it's an advanced technique not recommended for novices (too easy to destroy one OS or the other). Second, Windows will want to install updates every time you boot into it. I generally recommend... just having to computers.
- Tenoke 5y ago
  Another big downside is that restarting is annoying, you can't easily switch between different things you want to do (like say run a script while you wait for something in a game), and maintaining 2 systems is more hassle. That's why I just use WSL on my PC nowadays (though I have just Linux on my laptop).
  - digitallyfree 5y ago
    That's why part of this is the mentality of treating the Windows partition as a game console - it's a seperate system from your main Linux workspace (generally when you play on your game console you're at your TV and not working at your computer as well). If you really want to do both at once then dual-booting is not the solution for you.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
  I wonder if there could be a novice friendly "distro" that merely acts as a switch between operating systems. Like a fuller featured prettier GRUB. What can be done to make dual booting as easy for novices as possible?
  - Tenoke 5y ago
    For years I've been dreaming of a thin hypervisor as an OS that allows me to easily change what resources I give to multiple opened VMs (e.g. a Windows and Linux one) without closing anything.
- trelane 5y ago
  Or you could stop giving money to companies that make it harder for you to migrate, and give the money to companies that make it easier... It's indeed possible to buy a different game, or even not buy a game at all!
  - phendrenad2 5y ago
    Yeah but it's the prisoner's dilemma, unless everyone else also quits using Windows, you're just causing yourself pain.
    - trelane 5y ago
      Except it doesn't have to be painful, and it is (for me at least) be very rewarding and much better than Windows. And it's just entertainment.
haunter 5y ago
A modern fork of Wubi with the support of UEFI exists and works perfectly fine https://github.com/hakuna-m/wubiuefi https://github.com/hakuna-m/wubiuefi
stjohnswarts 5y ago
I don't do anything graphics intensive in windows so a Windows virtual machine works fine for 99.9% of the things I need windows to do. Just throw some more memory in your machine.
Nbox9 5y ago
> Honestly dual-booting with Linux and Windows on your workstation is perfectly feasible nowadays. I’m confused by the word “nowadays”. I had a friend with a dual-booting setup between Windows and Linux in the 90s.

phendrenad2 5y ago

There are downsides. First, it's an advanced technique not recommended for novices (too easy to destroy one OS or the other). Second, Windows will want to install updates every time you boot into it. I generally recommend... just having to computers.

Tenoke 5y ago
Another big downside is that restarting is annoying, you can't easily switch between different things you want to do (like say run a script while you wait for something in a game), and maintaining 2 systems is more hassle. That's why I just use WSL on my PC nowadays (though I have just Linux on my laptop).
- digitallyfree 5y ago
  That's why part of this is the mentality of treating the Windows partition as a game console - it's a seperate system from your main Linux workspace (generally when you play on your game console you're at your TV and not working at your computer as well). If you really want to do both at once then dual-booting is not the solution for you.
2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
I wonder if there could be a novice friendly "distro" that merely acts as a switch between operating systems. Like a fuller featured prettier GRUB. What can be done to make dual booting as easy for novices as possible?
- Tenoke 5y ago
  For years I've been dreaming of a thin hypervisor as an OS that allows me to easily change what resources I give to multiple opened VMs (e.g. a Windows and Linux one) without closing anything.
trelane 5y ago
Or you could stop giving money to companies that make it harder for you to migrate, and give the money to companies that make it easier... It's indeed possible to buy a different game, or even not buy a game at all!
- phendrenad2 5y ago
  Yeah but it's the prisoner's dilemma, unless everyone else also quits using Windows, you're just causing yourself pain.
  - trelane 5y ago
    Except it doesn't have to be painful, and it is (for me at least) be very rewarding and much better than Windows. And it's just entertainment.

haunter 5y ago

A modern fork of Wubi with the support of UEFI exists and works perfectly fine https://github.com/hakuna-m/wubiuefi https://github.com/hakuna-m/wubiuefi

stjohnswarts 5y ago

I don't do anything graphics intensive in windows so a Windows virtual machine works fine for 99.9% of the things I need windows to do. Just throw some more memory in your machine.

Nbox9 5y ago

> Honestly dual-booting with Linux and Windows on your workstation is perfectly feasible nowadays. I’m confused by the word “nowadays”. I had a friend with a dual-booting setup between Windows and Linux in the 90s.