Migrating from Windows to Linux
· Operating system · Windows · Linux ·
Choosing Distro
Based on the Houdini support
From the discussion using Wayland
- Ubuntu
- CachyOS (Arch)
- Fedora 42
- Rocky Linux 10
Dual-boot
- Separate SSD
- Grub (keep backing it up in case Windows screws it)
Windows virtualization
Edge case for using a VM, or Bottles?
Disk2vhd is a utility that creates VHD (Virtual Hard Disk - Microsoft's Virtual Machine disk format) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs). The difference between Disk2vhd and other physical-to-virtual tools is that you can run Disk2vhd on a system that’s online.
Hardware
| Device | Windows Driver/App | Linux equivalent | FOSS | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logi vertical mouse, radio | Logi Options++ | Solaar | ✅ | GPL 2.0 | |
| Razor Blackwidow X Chroma Keyboard | OpenRGB | OpenRGB | ✅ | GNU 2 | |
| 3D Connexion SpaceNavigator wired | 3DConnexion driver for Windows | 3DConnexion driver | |||
| XP Pen Pro Deco M | XP-Pen driver for Windows | XP-Pen driver | |||
| Arturia MiniLab mk II MIDI | Arturia Software Center | ||||
| Nvidia Drivers | Nvidia driver/app | Linux proprietary NVIDIA drivers | |||
| CyberPower CP1500PFCLCDa | PowerPanel business | PowerPanel Business | |||
| Fan control/Sys monitor | Argus Monitor | CoolerControl | ✅ | GNU 3 | CoolerControl H/W support |
| GPU control | MSI AfterBurner | ||||
| Intel Wireless Bluetooth/Wifi | Intel win drivers | ||||
| Realtek Audio | Win driver + Realtek Audio Console |
Software
CG
| Purpose | Windows | Linux (Native or using Wine/etc) | FOSS | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3D | Houdini | Houdini | Indie $300 | ||
| 3D | Blender | Blender | ✅ | GPL | |
| 3D Characters | DAZ Studio | DAZ Studio using Wine or ??? | Forum discussion | ||
| 3D Painter | ArmorPaint | ArmorPaint | ✅ | ||
| Compositing and animation | After Effects | Davinci Resolve/Fusion | $300 | ||
| Asset manager | Connecter | ??? | |||
| 3D viewer | F3D | F3D | ✅ | BSD 3 Clause | |
| Draw | Draw.io | Draw.io | ✅ | Apache 2.0 | deb, AppImage or rpm |
| 2D | Affinity | Affinity using Wine | Github Repo | ||
| Image Viewer (color managed) | ImageGlass | Geeqie | ✅ | GPLv2 | |
| Video Player | MPC-HC | MPV, SMPlayer | ✅ | ||
| Image Sequence Player | cineSync Play, DJV | DJV cineSync Play | ✅ |
Audio
| Purpose | Windows | Linux | FOSS | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audio Editor | Oceanaudio | ??? | |||
| DAW | Ableton | Reaper | Personal $60 | ||
| VST plugins | Native Instruments, Arturia | LinVST vst wrapper/bridge | ✅ | GPL 3.0 | |
| Display audio EQ | Equalizer APO | ??? | |||
| Audio Player | Foobar | DeaDBeeF, Audacious, Strawberry, Amarok | |||
| Podcast player | ??? (one of the above?) |
Other
| Purpose | Windows | Linux | FOSS | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PKM | Obsidian | Obsidian | Free for all | AppImage, Deb, Snap, FlatPak | |
| E-mail Client | Thunderbird | Thunderbird | ✅ | deb, rpm, flatpak, snap, etc. | |
| Font manager | FontBase | FontBase | |||
| Finance | Manager.io | Manager.io | Free | Ubuntu 20.04, Fedora 38 | |
| Password Manager | Keepass | Keepass under Mono | ✅ | Debian, Ubuntu, and more | |
| Time Tracking | ActivityWatch | ActivityWatch | ✅ | MPL 2.0 | |
| Screen Capture | ShareX | SnapX | |||
| Code editor | VS Code | VS Code | Ubuntu & Debian | ||
| Notepad | Notepad++ | SciTE, Geany | |||
| Firewall | GlassWire | Portmaster | |||
| Sync | Resilio Sync | Resilio Sync | |||
| Power Profile Control | Power Switcher App | ??? |