Ask Slashdot: Which Apps Aren't Available on Linux? 243
Have you ever needed a Linux application which only exists in the Windows world? Long-time Slashdot reader BrendaEM writes:
Windows does have a lot of useful app (but smaller than "power apps"). Some of these are closed source, some are open, but they're not all available in Linux yet.
My list would have to contain Gimp Tookit versions of: IrfanView image manager, which I think is unequaled in Linux (though it does work to some extent under Wine). I also miss the full version of 7-Zip, because of its better compression settings, which File-Roller does not provide, though the Linux port p7zip is available (though unnoticed by common distributions). Lastly, I think that Notepad++ would be a good addition to Linux.
That last one drew some pushback from long-time Slashdot reader jesco. "If there's one area where Linux shines, then it's the availability of high-quality text editors. Last time I looked Kate was still pretty nice, and there's Emacs, Vim and Neovim" if you're partial to command lines. But are there any daily-drive apps you still find yourself needing? Share your own thoughts in the comments.
Which apps aren't available on Linux?
My list would have to contain Gimp Tookit versions of: IrfanView image manager, which I think is unequaled in Linux (though it does work to some extent under Wine). I also miss the full version of 7-Zip, because of its better compression settings, which File-Roller does not provide, though the Linux port p7zip is available (though unnoticed by common distributions). Lastly, I think that Notepad++ would be a good addition to Linux.
That last one drew some pushback from long-time Slashdot reader jesco. "If there's one area where Linux shines, then it's the availability of high-quality text editors. Last time I looked Kate was still pretty nice, and there's Emacs, Vim and Neovim" if you're partial to command lines. But are there any daily-drive apps you still find yourself needing? Share your own thoughts in the comments.
Which apps aren't available on Linux?
how? (Score:2, Insightful)
How did this article even get published?
Vote with your feet (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a great article. There are a lot of apps, use cases, and workflows that can be duplicated in Linux, but which aren't obvious or well advertised. An article like this encourages people to share those workflows they have had problems duplicating and then others who have duplicated them or found other solutions can share them. Great idea. The lowest quality (or one of) part of this article was your comment.
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This reponse reads like AI
And yet it's not wrong, which should tell you everything you need to know about this site and the people on it.
Windows has the opposite problem (Score:4, Interesting)
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Linux software repos are so much more intuitive than the Windows store, as it is moderated by volunteers with incentives to keep it high quality while Windows just rakes in the coins.
OTOH, when it's not in a Linux repo installation can be a right PITA. Windows at least has that bit down to a tee when installing software that isn't in the abominable Windows store (I mean, who uses the Windows store anyway).
I'm struggling to find a replacement for Notepad++ on Linux, specifically to deal with large single line JSON files, most things either choke or refuse to open them, the closest I've got is Geany which will at least open the files but editing it is still a crapshoot.
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snap seems to fit well with shell paths. Debian could release more frequently but Ubuntu fits the release gap.
snap isn't completely bad, or sucks, it does a job, and could get you regular updates.
Re: Windows has the opposite problem (Score:2)
Flatpak is just a software, I guess you may refer to the Flathub repository. And even then did not ban "AI" just submissions generated by AI. This is a very sensible policy, as they have to review each submission to guarantee a minimum level of safety and quality for the end user, they cannot afford to be flooded but AI slop.
Also this ban does not prevent anybody from setting up an alternative Flatpak repository with all the AI slop they wish, if there is request for this type of software, they'll be undou
Well it's lacking some malware (Score:2, Troll)
For example there are much fewer random ware packages running under Linux. There's also much less ad-ware. There's also a severe lack of "very low quality" software, though Ubuntu and the Free Desktop crowd sometimes seem to try and mitigate that.
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Well, when I went looking for an Algol compiler, I didn't find it. But perhaps I just needed to look outside the repositories.
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Hmm, typically compilers on modern unixoid systems are not language specific, instead you have a language specific front-end while most of the compiler is generic.
So for example there's gcc which offers ga68, the Algol-68 compiler.
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But I meant Algol-60, which was the only version that was ever widely used.
Re: Well it's lacking some malware (Score:2)
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That doesn't seem to be in the Debian repository. (I don't have my Algol documentation anymore anyway, but once upon a time...)
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There is an Algol compiler in the Ubuntu repo:
f.ultra@Sineya:~/$ apt-cache search algol
algol68g - Implementation of Algol 68 as defined by the Revised Report
Explorer (Score:2, Informative)
Windows Explorer. Being able to drag things into and out of the Open... dialogue, consistent right click behaviour to rename or extract or get to Properties, and so on. Having a good chance that you won't have to fidget and change mental gears when you want to quickly rename a document on the way to opening another is invaluable. I miss it so much in every Linux DE. And when programs all have their own inconsistent Open dialogs in Linux I cry.
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I'm not a big Windows user so I'm not totally sure what you're referring to, but your use case ("Being able to drag things into and out of the Open... dialogue, consistent right click behaviour to rename or extract or get to Properties") seems covered in all KDE apps, plus GTK apps that will use KDE dialogues if you set GTK_USE_PORTAL=1
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Linux I cry.
You should be crying because you didn't search hard enough!
Linux has tons of file managers, and they're highly customizable. Double Commander, for example.
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Linux is pretty good when it comes to open/save dialogs. Just drag the file from an existing file browser onto the save dialogs and it takes you there. So much better and been around since Amiga era
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Split windows, tabs, single instance or multiple windows, integrated command-line, selection mode, file stash, inline renaming, configurable double click in white space, configurable context menu, configurable previews, etc. Dolphin beats Windows so much, it's not even fun, Windows Explorer is so pitiful to use. Plus Windows explorer is SLOW.
Creative Suite, f.e. Affinity. & Fusion 360 (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, Affinity is "also not Photoshop" but comes closest to the mark. And you can now apparently WINE it, but I wish there was a supported native tool that doesn't suck for professional work. A lot of Linux devs apparently think people want to work with native RGB pixels. Uh, no.
And I don't get the rationale for Fusion 360's unavailability on Linux. It's cloud-oriented, constantly downloading parts of itself over again and you have to be signed in to use it, even on the non-commercial license. It's not like a monolithic app on a CD from the 1990s. And I don't want "almost as good". I'd like this app.
Re: Creative Suite, f.e. Affinity. & Fusion 36 (Score:2)
Re: Creative Suite, f.e. Affinity. & Fusion 3 (Score:2)
I've got to try OnShape, get conversant with it.
I assume someday there will be done move off of F360 for some as yet unknown reason.
The move from my old version of Lightwave 3D (it was all I had, all I knew well) to Fusion360 was hard, but a very good thing. Don't wanna be caught flat-footed again.
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If you haven't tried FreeCAD lately, the latest release is a big improvement. Even better if you follow some of the instructions for setting up the GUI so it's less clunky.
Video editor? (Score:3)
Less hate please... it's a reasonable question IMHO
Re:Video editor? (Score:5, Informative)
Da Vinci Resolve [blackmagicdesign.com] runs on all platforms, is free, and will do everything a non-professional could ever dream of doing. Da Vinci Studio is the $300 one-time payment for the pro version that dominates Hollywood.
Pro-tip: If you think you need Da Vinci Resolve Studio ask yourself if you need new photo gear too, then see if there's anything in Black Magic's product line that suits you. Buying a Black Magic camera gives you Da Vinci Studio for free -- or $300 off your new camera if you look at it that way.
The latest version of Resolve can even replace Adobe Lightroom [xda-developers.com].
Re: Video editor? (Score:2)
I was struggling doing video editting on linux until I ran into DaVince Resolve Studio. Bought for $120 at the time. Best $120 I spent on software ever!
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Re:Video editor? (Score:5, Informative)
There's kdenlive which works very decently.
Re:Video editor? (Score:4, Informative)
Depends what you mean by video editor.
For transcoding, de and re-muxing, filtering, cropping, resizing, de-interlace, and some splicing with the equivalent audio capabilities (basically for format bashing with enough splicing ability to piece together pieces of movies, for example, spread over multiple discs) you have avidemux [fixounet.free.fr].
You have other tools like MKVToolNix [mkvtoolnix.download], Mediainfo [mediaarea.net] and MakeMKV [makemkv.com] for direct Matroska editing, meta-data vewing, and DVD/Blu-Ray ripping respectively too.
For video authoring with splices, fades, effects, animations, titles, with good timeline support, you have openshot [openshot.org].
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I have tried Da Vinci Resolve in the past and it is fantastic... but really heavy and a big learning curve.
kdenlive looks more like what I am after - will check it out
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Re: Video editor? (Score:3)
Apparently Blender does a good job.
CLI (Score:5, Informative)
One of the hardest parts when switching to Linux was learning to use the command line and shellscripts instead of relying on "power tools" for everything. It's a very different mindset from the Windows world, but once you adjust it's a lot more pleasant. I feel like telling people that "Linux is exactly like Windows now" is counterproductive. Sure, you can try to use Linux like Windows, but it's a miserable experience.
If you run Windows Subsystem for Linux ... (Score:3)
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Yeah. Thumbs up for that Linux Subsystem for Windows.
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You should do it the other way around.
Been there done that. Dual boots worked better. WSL works better. Linux is less troublesome as the client OS.
Running Windows directly on hardware is not viable in 2026.
I've been duel booting since the mid 1990s. Still setup for it, but WSL is pretty damn convenient.
Then you would be able to roll back from buggy Windows updates ...
Windows has that ability. Not that I needed to do so.
I've been building my own dual boot PCs since the mid 1990s. I have always carefully selected my parts, used quality vendors that supported both OS. Both Windows and Linux have run flawlessly for decades. Most windows problems are actually related t
I hate to say it... (Score:5, Interesting)
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agree. Excel too, ultimately, has those few features FOSS equivalents lack. Plus, there's always the doubt a compatible program isn't fully 100% compatible and you miss lost data
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Not so. Thunderbird is WAAAAY better that Outlook (AKA Look Out!). In fact even if Outlook worked as designed and intended (which it doesn't, much of the time) it would still be a piece of crap because that very design is poorly done.
Crap tools (Score:3)
2. Qualcomm's closed IDE to build code to run on their Bluetooth devices.
Both cases force me to run a VM to use them.
Second that for IrfanView (Score:5, Informative)
I have two anecdotes from my use of IrfanView, and why it is so well regarded to this day:
1.) In 2006 I was using a Pentium 1 300Mhz (in not a type, there was a mobile versions of the P1 that reached 300Mhz) with Win2000. Windows media player would take close to 100% of the processor to play an MP3, Clasic Media player would tale 50%, IrfanView + an MP3 player Plug-in would take only 30%, a true lifesaver.
2.) In 2022 I fell of a roof and broke my scapula. IrfanView 32 bit with a suitable plug-in was the only SW that could see the DICOM medical images of my Rx and CAT CDs. Alas, the medical Images plug-in is not available in the 64 bit version...
Plenty small, plenty fast, plenty fleible. Hurray for IrfanView.
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In 2006 I was using a Pentium 1 300Mhz
Citation needed, please, otherwise you're just spouting nonsense.
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This from Intel: https://www.intel.com/pressroo... [intel.com]
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Re:Second that for IrfanView (Score:4, Interesting)
For all the NaySayers about the Pentium 1 300 Mhz, that demanded citations and such:
As I clearly said, it was a MOBILE part, and it was soldered to the board, not socketed (at that era intel had a weird solution for that they were promoting agressively to manufacturers).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The codename was Tillamook.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
My machine was a machine I bought in 1999. A Thinkpad 2611-451 with the P1 300Mhz option because it was cheaper than the P2 Option, and faster than the 256Mhz option (the P2 option also bundled a DVD, and an Mpeg2 decoder card, which made it waaaaaaay too expensive). I never modded it to support an AMD K2 or K3 (which, I think, came latter as options).
While the industrial design was made by IBM, the innards, (even the BIOS) was designed and manufactuerd by ACER for IBM, as a way to lower costs and MSRP.
https://macdat.net/laptops/ibm... [macdat.net]
It was obsolete from day one, yet competitive with my machines at work at the time (well, not the K series PA-RISC servers ;-) ). As machines progressed, eventually both my personal desktop (a PIII 700Mhz clone), and my work desktop, and then laptop, and then desktop again, handly surpassed it, so I saw no need to update it (anything it could not do, I could do on my personal desktop, or at work).
When it was time to do the MBA in late 2005 and all of 2006, the electronics enginner in me considered (and rightly so), that the machine (with a lot of optimization and fine tunning) was good enough for word, excel and powerpoint, as well as the early web and such. I was not poor or anything, but since the MBA was outside my country, I did not want to spend money I did not need to spend, lest some unforseen problem arise, or an investment opportunity arose, or I had a VERY SPECIFIC need in my computer. None of the 3 scenarios came to pass.
The replacement was a Core-Duo (sans 2) bottom of the barrel toshiba with an Xpress 200 chipset in 2007, an impulse purchase (even in 2007 I saw no need to replace the IBM laptop), bought at the spur of the moment, because it was oh-so-cheap, I could not pass it up.
The replacement for that was a late 2008 Aluminum macbook, the only macbook with not another word in the name (like air, pro, retina or neo) ever done on aluminum.
I am typing this on an early 2015 air, and my desktop is a 6 core mini 2018. I still game on that (via bootcamp) thanks to a GTX1070 over TB3
A modded synology DS1515+ is storing all my data.
Replacement for the two machines and the NAS is due for (boreal) autum 2028.
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You can use ImageJ for those DICOM xrays.
Geany is similar to Notepad++ (Score:5, Informative)
Geany is a nice text editor with similar functionality to Notepad++. https://www.geany.org/ [geany.org]
"glide typing" / swipe on screen kbd. (Score:2)
Just this past week i encountered a POS system that afaict uses the on screen keyboard from Ubuntu 20 LTS or 22 LTS. It has no glide typing capability the way apple and android have.
Some initial searches suggest there's no standard easy solution to this day though i haven't looked deeply into it.
somewhat related.... on the phone side, i still somewhat miss Swype though at this point it might be rose colored glasses as haven't tried in years.
Gboard is "fine" though.
https://www.theregister.com/on... [theregister.com]
snipping tool (Score:2)
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https://flameshot.org/ [flameshot.org]
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xv used to do that. Now far too long out of maintenance, sadly.
Just as useful to ask: (Score:3, Funny)
Does anyone know how to get Onstar to work in my new Honda?
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2. Hold down the power button on the infotainment center for five seconds
3. While still pressing the infotainment power button, lightly tap the ignition button
4. Douse the car in gasoline and light it on fire
Laser engraving software (Score:3)
Photoshop (Score:5, Insightful)
GIMP is a serious case of not-invented-here leading to abysmal usability. It can't even compete with Photoshop from more than a decade ago. It's embarrassing. Copy the good stuff.
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Krita
Re:Photoshop (Score:4, Informative)
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No. Photoshop *was* good software. 20 years ago. It has slowly gotten shittier and shittier as has Adobe's products as a whole. "Industry standard" does not mean it's (still) good software. It just has the most dominate market share, which has been steadily declining to the point where they are now barely in the lead. Why? Because the "industry standard" is complete bullshit perpetuated by the losers who keep investing money in this shithole product.
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Good software or good marketing?
E.g. how is word an industry standard?
Engineering (Score:2)
Just about every engineering and non web LOB software.
Altium, any old microcontroller dev platform, most mech CAD.
Altium Designer
Keil MDK
IAR Embedded Workbench
Intel Quartus Prime
Lattice FPGA tools
Proteus (if used)
Siemens/Cadence PCB tools (PADS, Xpedition, OrCAD)
Solid works
STLink
flash magic
NI lab view.
M1 ERP
PSOC creator
You get the idea
It’s a long list.
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Interestingly, the real pro IC design software - cadence, synopsis are Linux only.
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Pretty much all (Score:2)
Serious engineering tools
Was going to say Claude Desktop (Score:2)
I was going to complain about the lack of a Claude Desktop for Linux, but I double checked before roasting them, and by gosh they've got a version in beta for Ubuntu and it'll work on any Debian offspring. When Anthropic says beta that means it's pretty darned good, they're cautious about putting stuff out.
I got a couple M1 Macs two years ago and the weight advantage pushed Linux off my desktop. Anthropic releases Mac first and I'm a Max subscriber so I've been at the head of the line. All my Linux these da
MS Office, mostly (Score:2)
Of course, it would be nice if we could get a native version of Office 365. My needs are mostly covered with LibreOffice but I need sometime the real MS Office to test compatibility with some documents supplied by my clients.
Other than that, there are still some games that won't run on Linux, mostly because the kernel-level anticheat malware prevents that.
There's also some niche apps that only offer versions for Windows or Mac or Android/iPhone, but not for Linux. My digital signature with SignCloud has no
srsly? 7z default params? (Score:2)
GDID (Score:2)
IDM (Score:2)
That alone probably kept me on windows longer than I should have.
Yes yes yes, there are managers available for linux, but none come close to the ease and integration of IDM.
Project Management? (Score:2)
Tax Software (Score:2)
On the accountant side of things, Lacerte tax software doesn't natively work on Linux. So many tax offices use that software, it locks them to Windows.
Why these apps? (Score:2)
IrfanView is a good point. I think there are alternatives depending on what you like. gthumb was a nice small one focusing on the quick switching between images like IrfanView. Gwenview probably comes closer for the quick edit (rotate, crop) aspects. An open source build of IrfanView would still be nice.
7-Zip: What's wrong with 7-Zip under Linux? I think ark should support it in full. When it's only about compression you might be better of with xz, though. I don't understand why the article is a about file-
What does linux not have? A photoshop competitor. (Score:2)
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Photoshop hasn't been a good product for 20ish years. If you can't get the same results with GIMP as Photoshop, that's a you problem. Photoshop does absolutely nothing unique.
Mostly parity, but.... (Score:2)
I use Windows and Linux a lot, run into this often. For the most part anything I can do on Windows I can do on Linux, and I would love to ditch Windows entirely with all the AI crap being literally the only thing Microslop demonstrably cares about. But I can't quite yet, I find that Linux partisans (of course) vastly overstate how well things work there. You've got to be honest if you really want to catch up and beat Windows for some things.
Things that are just fine on both: Notepad++ on Windows, emacs on
"apps" (Score:2)
Only two, on Windows 10 (Score:2)
- AxCrypt 1.7.3
- MS Publisher 2010
On my Linux Mint 22.3 system, I'm using 7z (with longer passwords) in lieu of AxCrypt, at the moment, and will have to get better with LibreOffice and/or learn Scribus for the the things I did in Publisher, mostly greeting cards. I converted my more complex Word docs and Excel spreadsheets to LibreOffice a while ago.
Native Instruments (Score:2)
This exists in the Mac world as well, but the primary reason I'm tied to Windows for my DAW is because I can't register my instrument because Native Instruments never bothered making a registration app for Linux.
What do people use for reading mail on Linux? (Score:2)
Thunderbird? Something else?
(And anyone out there still miss Eudora?)
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Yes.
vi = notepad++ hints at why this will never work (Score:2)
What the OP is really asking for is to switch from using Windows as his kernel+/desktop to using Linux but still be able to use the same kinds of apps that they are comfortable with. This is not a criminal offense; CLI is not for everyone. Vi (pick any fork/family) is nothing like the experience of using notepad++. Nor should it be!
But if your gut response is "learn VI or Emacs" what you are really saying is "stay on Windows, n00b". At some point in the past that would have been the right solution for "n00b
Market share, not functionality (Score:2)
There are plenty of Windows progs I cannot do without, but it is because of their market dominance, not because of an intrinsic lack on Linux. I've been a professional writer, editor and proofreader for 10 years* (and a Linux user for 25) and as an editor I have never received an ODT file from a client. I saw them a few times working in academia, but they are functionally invisible in (my part of) the industry. I have used LO in my own time, but not stretched it capabilities.
Logically, we should no more cri
OCR (Score:2)
SnagIt (Score:2)
SnagIt is the best screen capture app in my humble opinion, and I've tried dozens and dozens across multiple platforms. Linux has some decent ones but none really compare to SnagIt's features and the fairly decent quickie-editor built in.
Yes, I've tried Flameshot and Shutter and Kazam and Wayshot and Spectacle and Ksnip etc etc etc and while some of them are fairly decent, I confess I like SnagIt better.
My pick of the Linux apps is Flameshot, followed by Shutter. The rest, meh.
If I've somehow missed a good
Too many to list (Score:3)
While there are potential substitute / alternative applications that claim to be just as
good as their Windows counterparts, I've never seen it. If they truly existed, folks
would have switched to Linux a long time ago and never looked back.
Gaming is a good example.
While it has improved a bit over the past five or so years, Linux is still lagging behind
Windows in this category. When any game that runs natively on Windows can also be
run -natively- ( read that: no emulators ) on Linux, then we can consider this problem
to be solved.
Music and DAW
I have both Ableton Live Studio and Akai MPC 2/3 on a Windows box. Neither are
available on Linux nor are the drivers that interface the hardware with the software.
Zbrush
To my knowledge, Zbrush is not available on Linux with Blenders sculpting tools being
the only contender that I am aware of. While Blender tries, it can't compete with Zbrush.
Adobe CC and Substance Suites
None of the Substance Suite ( Painter / Sampler / Designer, etc ) is available on Linux as
it is part of the Adobe CC Suite. Gimp is not a substitute for Photoshop imo. Affinity
requires Wine or some other emulation to work.
I have a Cintiq Pro 32" display and I have yet to get Linux to recognize the stylus so I can
actually use it as a tablet. It isn't natively supported on Linux by Wacom and ultimately I
gave up on trying.
As a result, I run two separate hardware boxes. One running Windows with much of the
aforementioned software that Linux can't deal with and my daily driver Linux box for
roaming around the internet.
I see it as a catch-22.
Developers won't commit to a Linux variant of their software because the market isn't there. :|
The market will never be there until developers commit to it
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Gaming works just a well, and sometimes even better than Windows. Most games just work, with the notable exception of many online games with anticheat.
Re:Too many to list (Score:5, Insightful)
When any game that runs natively on Windows can also be
run -natively- ( read that: no emulators ) on Linux, then we can consider this problem
to be solved.
I'm curious as to why you put this requirement in there? Especially given that we have plenty of examples of games running under the Proton layer *BETTER* than they do on Windows natively. What do you do with games other than play them?
HMI and drivers (Score:2)
good luck digitizing an image and transferring it to a 30 year old embroidery machine on linux. Even if you use something like inkstitch you still need to export the file and run it thru the windows based HMI or find a way to copy the file to a 3.5 inch floppy disk.
Idem est (Score:2)
Command Prompt (Score:2)
Where's the real apps? (Score:2)
A proper live OS backup/restore disaster recovery (Score:2)
Like Acronis can do in the Windows world. My Proxmox Linux box is my router & HAOS VM, which controls my home lights, among many other things. If I want to do a full disk backup that's easily restorable without shutting the Proxmox host down, there is no officially supported way. A simple dd of the boot SSD onto a NAS will not be reliable while the OS is running live due to pending writes. The state of the target image would not be consistent, and possibly not bootable.
industrial / business software (Score:2)
Studio 5000
TIA Portal
ACADE
TwinCAT / CODESYS
Office 365 / Onedrive
Zscaler private access vpn
etc.
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Regarding a photomanager ever heard of shotwell ?
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Actually he has a point, the 7zip file manager allows for example to easily extract an icon from an exe, until now I used the windows version for that, from now on I'll use 7zFM then, the linux port, it still allows to do this even in the linux native application.
For the rest yeah, you can do anything with the command line and 7z, there are even specially optimized versions available.
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Pretty much all of our spatial services run on Linux (they used to run on solaris). Even ArcGIS Server runs under linux (albeit through its wine compat layer)
Everyone uses GDAL/OGR, numpy, scipy, R in various combinations for analysis, and QGIS is reasonable popular for frontend work. Pretty much all batch processing happens under Linux.
But yeah, ArcGIS Desktop is a pretty hard thing for them to let go, it is the last thing...