For like a month or two I decided, screw it, I am going to use all the programs I cannot use on Linux. This was mostly games and music making software.
I guess it was fun for a bit, tries different DAWs, did not play a single game because no time.
Basically, it was not worth it. The only thing I enjoyed was OneDrive, because having your files available anywhere is dope, but I also hate it because it wants to delete your local files. I think that was on me.
Anyways, I am back. Looking at Nextcloud. Looking at Ardour. I am fine paying for software, but morally I got to support and learn the tools that are available to me and respect FOSS. (Also less expensive… spent a lot on my experiment).
Anyone done this? Abondoned their principles thinking the grass would be greener, but only to look at their feet coverered in crap (ads, intrusive news, just bad UI).
I don’t know. I don’t necesarily regret it, but I won’t be doing it again. What I spent is a sunk cost, but some has linux support, and VSTs for download. So, I shall see.
Technically, I’ve done as you’ve described several times over. Did it with IOS and Android - I approached both with an open wallet and open to doing things differently than I was used to. Could say the same for several gaming consoles and Chrome. ALL have required concessions on my part that left a bad taste in my mouth - speaking strictly from a User Experience perspective.
The worst of it has been all the apps that dissappeared from the IOS Appstore - apps I paid for and now all that’s available are pale imitations full of ads and demanding subscriptions.
I’m not asking the same apps to work across multiple decades either - the gap between my first iPad and my second was less than eight years.
Welcome back. Good decision.
What you have learned about Linux is that the most important thing is FOSS/Libre computing.
Namely, that the user is no.1 and everything that the software does must always respect the freedom of the user and be to their benefit, and NEVER harm them.
THIS is what makes GNU/Linux special. Not the fact that it’s generally free of charge.
Now you’ve learned this, you will know why it’s impossible for any true Libre Linux user to ever go back to proprietary software. It doesn’t respect him or his freedom.
Now that you’re back, you have a ton of distros to choose from. Personally I use LMDE 6 but regular Mint is also great.
As for software, you may have to give up on some proprietary stuff if there is no FOSS equivalent but it’s worth it because you get your freedom in exchange.
If you depend on that software to make a living, simply install Oracle Virtualbox and run Windows in a VM just to run that software.
At least it can’t affect your Linux system and your main OS will be FOSS and when you’re done using your proprietary program, shutdown Winblows and it goes away until next time you need it.
Everything you typed out was a painful rediscovery on my part. I basically had to ignore my principles at every moment, but using Windows eventually became too gross, I had to get out.
For the money I spent experimenting with proprietary software, I could have donated to projects making the alternatives.
This is not a lesson I will need to learn again.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. The Linux path can be frustrating because you just wish the stuff was there that you need. And the pull of proprietary is the seeming ease with which you can get that stuff over there.
But it’s a bitter sweet trap. We all go though this until we realise we aren’t willing to take that crap anymore and we’ll just make due without that program/app and find another way to get stuff done.
Nextcloud or a samba server are good options. But if storage is not a issue I’d recommend checking out syncthing. I run it on my server and sync some directories to my phone and other directories to my desktop. And one directory between phone and desktop(obsidian notes). I don’t think you can run sycthing on iphones though.
Have you considered Bitwig Studio? It has native linux support.
Yes. The cost is reasonable, and think it is worth it!
Right now I am using Tracktion Waveform, but I do not love it.
I am looking at Reaper, and I do like the workflow, but the way it loads plugins puts me off. Not horrible, I just need to do extra work to make it work.
I am a Bitwig fanboy, big time. The DAW is beyond everything else!
This video was a game changer for me. Turned my vanilla Linux Mint into an audio production powerhouse with a single script. Bitwig, Reaper, Windows VSTs, low latency. Incedible!
You and I are in similar situations. I discovered Linux around 15 years ago and I wanted to fully switch over to it but found I couldn’t run games or photo/video/sound editing software the way I knew how (grew up with sailors discounts on the Adobe Suite).
Nowadays most of my previous hangups are solved. Almost all of my steam games work in Linux without any issue (1 or 2 games needed a single google search to paste the change needed to fix something), GIMP and Inkscape have way more extensions that increase QOL (not to mention Photopea being a literally photoshop clone with the exact same keyboard commands so your workflow doesn’t need to be relearned).
The only computers running windows in my house are my server (cause I just repurposed it and it’s working for now) and my VR computer (and that’s just because I’m lazy too since the Valve Index is fully Linux supported).
I use Windows at work and have no other choice. I don’t want any of my other computers to feel like my work computer. Feels like I haven’t left work.
Running FOSS is practical for the long term, even beyond moral judgments. Proprietary software starts strong with lots of funding, but it only gets worse and worse as it goes along. Open source starts slower but plays the long game. You can take a look at something like Windows itself for an example of the gradual infestation of ads and user-hostile features/tracking. It’s never going to get better. The only hope for proprietary users is for a new proprietary app to be created and start off more user-friendly because they need to attract users. Once they have the users they’ll restart the cycle again.
That is what I am starting to realize. Every paid program that I used to desire is now subscription based.
Also, I am coming to terms with how truly powerful FOSS programs are. People seem to pay for the workflow, the user interface, more than the capabilities. At least I feel that way with DAWs. Ardour does everything. Vital makes every sound. I can be happy with that. I need to focus on making music.
