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Should I be using Windows?

Looking at my workflows and how I could potentially be benefiting from using Windows

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I’ve been a Linux user for the last ten years. And I would prefer to keep it that way, as I see open source as an investment. You can use proprietary software, but you’re going to be limited by what other people make available to you.

In the last two weeks or so, I’ve been looking at what it would take to set up a streaming setup. And one of the conditions is the ability to run VTube Studio which can run on Linux, but the process is probably not worth the trouble. So I’ve been looking into ways to include Windows as an out of the way streaming setup. But I’ve also been looking into the different programs that I use for DashGL, and it looks like there are a lot of Windows programs that I use directly to the point where it would probably be a lot easier to run windows.

Streaming / Recording

  • Olive Video Editor
  • OBS
  • VTube Studio

Tools

  • Tenora Works
  • NDS Header
  • Narc Explorer

3d Modeling

  • Metasequoia
  • Blender
  • Noesis
  • Godot

Games

  • Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst
  • Phantasy Star Universe
  • Megaman Legends 1
  • Megaman Legends 2
  • PPSSPP
  • PCSX-Reloaded

Development

  • Python
  • Nodejs
  • Visual Studio Code

Listing out all of the files gives some visibility into the tools I use all of the time. There are a few like OBS and PCSX-Reloaded that are also on Linux. But most of these are either on Windows directly, or things like Godot and Olive video editor, where a stand alone version works. But then you might as well be using the stand alone version in Windows.

As I’m writing this out, I’m thinking of what approach I want to take for being able to access these applications, but to still be able to access and run Linux as my main development enviroment. And it seems to boil down to three options.

  1. Use Windows as my main computer and Raspberry Pi or Steamdeck as an execution evironment
  2. Use Linux as my main computer and run Windows in a virtual Qemu environment
  3. Have both a physical Windows and Linux computer and switch between them with a physical KVM switch.

Right now I’m effectively using the third option to switch between two computers. One for open source stuff with DashGL, and the other a Linux machine for work. I think there’s something about having specifically separate environments for specific tasks. The Linux as main with KVM sounds somewhat appealing to that end. I’ll have to do some more experimenting to see how a set up would work going that route.

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