this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 167 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Final paragraph sums it best:

Don’t want any bloatware or subscription services preinstalled on your computer? Consider installing Linux instead of Windows the next time you’re reinstalling your computer.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (12 children)

I'm quite interested in using Linux, but it won't run many, if any of the 100s of plugins I own, let alone my audio interface, or my production software.

At least, that's my assumption. I did a search and can see there's a decent DAW for Linux (the amusingly-named Cockos Reaper), it's affordable at $80. But I'd also need to buy a new audio interface, there's a few that have Linux drivers. An expensive experiment. My interest is because it'd be amazing to have a stable system to play music live, with no weird Microsoft shit happening in the background guaranteed.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reaper is awesome. It's pro tools for non-millionaires.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Reaper is awesome indeed. But the DAW isn't the issue, it's the VST, very few work on Linux

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

it's wild to me how many people I see saying this. I assumed I was one of like... 3

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Maybe Ardour can fit? You can pay $1 or more for the binary or compile it yourself.

http://ardour.org/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Reaper is the best there is for Linux. There are other alternatives of you want FOSS, but they are not as good.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ardour is very appealing to me because it supports VST3! There is a 'wrapper' available to make VST3 compatible with Linux, but that's just adding the complexity and potentially bugginess that I'd be trying to escape from.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

FYI I am using reaper on Linux and I have all my windows plug-ins working through yabridge (32 and 64 bit vst/vst3), focusrite interfaces don't even need special drivers, that and my alesis midi keyboard just worked when I plugged them in. I just started using Linux semi-permanently at home last week for the first time (though I am a developer)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Does the interface that you have now work under Linux? Linux has pretty good support for a lot of things now, so you may be able to use what you have. Reaper also has a generous free trial, so potentially this is a free experiment. (I'm no expert and just tinker with this stuff, but I have Reaper and I find it similarly easy/difficult as every other DAW I've used) Several distributions have "live images" where you can run it from a flash drive without copying anything to the hard drive. I don't know if you could set up Reaper and your interface from a live image.

If you do decide to do an installation, consider buying a different hard drive and installing Linux on that. You can install both Windows and Linux on the same drive, and it's not difficult, but it is slightly easier to use a separate drive and they are not expensive.

I have used Linux and Windows a lot, but I have only used Reaper in Windows, so unfortunately I can't say whether it's a similar experience.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately, not only is my interface not supported, but it straight up doesn't work with linux (according to all the forum posts I've seen of people trying, failing, then asking UAD why no Linux compatibility). It's a UAD Apollo USB, ASIO-only.

I've got a frankly ludicrious number of M2 / SATA drives in my music PC so installing on a separate drive is no problem. Thanks for the tip! I bought a new interface for mobile production / live work, so maybe I'll fare better with that than the UAD beast. Certainly wouldn't want to stop using that because it's an absolutely fantastic interface, not to mention the 2x SHARC chips which allow me to run CPU-intensive UAD hardware recreations without smashing my CPU.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you want to try Linux, try Ubuntu or mint. Those are the easiest to make an entry into.

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nice try Microsoft! I'll never install Windows ever again.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I wish I could be like you but I like HDR too much.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was just thinking about this recently, there’s a lot of talk about HDR and nit brightness specs and such recently, but I must be the only one that finds current panels too eye-searingly bright. My current IPS monitor is set at 2% brightness and it’s just comfortable enough for daily use. Even my OLED TVs don’t have brightness set over 10%.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I mean yeah I have the same issue too (escept I use around 20-25% brightness on my OLED). But HDR is about more than just brightness. For me it's worth it for the extra colors—especially teal—which SDR displays struggle the most at reproducing accurately.

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[–] Bakkoda 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was honestly a little disappointed in how HDR looked. Maybe I didn't calibrate or set my colors properly. Dunno.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

What kind of panel technology? You really need an OLED to get a decent HDR image. My old VA TV looked so washed out in HDR, so I never used it.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Microsoft has already earned enough money from your license purchase, and the software giant shouldn’t need to include any first- or third-party bloatware.

Microsoft:

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Uhhhh I don't know about y'all but I got one Windows license for free back in college, and I've upgraded that one ever since to newer versions of 8, 10, and 11 for free. Oh yeah, and I actually scammed a second license out of that one, I just held on to my old Win7 drive for a few years, then booted it up in a new system one day and associated it with a different MS account, and upgraded it all the way to 10. The upgrade process gave me a second Windows key apparently, so I got two licenses for zero dollars.

And that's not even mentioning the $5 OEM licenses that you can get online..... Also, you know you don't NEED a Windows license, right? You can leave Windows deactivated indefinitely, the only downside is that "please activate Windows" shame text on your desktop (which you can get rid of with a registry edit).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why do any of that shit when you can walk into your local library/community college and grab the key off of that for free? And it wont suddenly shit out on you one day like those 5 dollar "OEM" OS keys.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You think stealing from your local library is somehow better or more reliable than an OEM key? LOL

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

You think those 5 dollar "OEM" keys are legit? They are not. Plus, its a blanket license. The only one to count those is to get a physical machine count. If its a crime its victimless because they don't lose any access, microsoft just loses a buck and I dont give a fuck about a megacorp and their OS money

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Usually you have to pay $500+ for a course in a course that would justify giving you access. They don't just hand them out to anyone who walks in the door without paying.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Have you tried it? Its a community college not a university. Most aren't IDing people as they walk into the door. The public library also does not require classes to use.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, I'm speaking from experience.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Years ago I worked for a company that provided employees with an MSDN subscription. When I left I went in and activated all the product keys and put them in a spreadsheet. No one in my family has had to buy Windows in a long time

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This will get patched fast. Microsoft loves the bloat!!

[–] Fluffgar 14 points 1 year ago

Aye. But make them work for it, eh? XD

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