The Late Night Linux FamilyDo you dual boot and why?
(Please note that your replies may be read out and discussed on an episode of Late Night Linux)
Petre@LateNightLinux not any more. I was lucky enough to not need windows only software
αchilleaς@LateNightLinux Yes, (Linux & Windows) for the boring obvious reason: Games.
I could probably get away with Proton only (and I did for a very long time) but a few years ago there was a game I really wanted to play that didn't run on Proton and once the seal was broken, I moved all games over.
Joshua Aspinall@LateNightLinux not anymore (used to dual Windows & Linux). Linux fills all my OS needs and if I need another OS, tend to run a VM or micro-VM (such as Incus or LXC). Windows VM if desperation calls.
bit101@LateNightLinux
I have the capability to dual boot. It's nice that if I need to do something on Windows, it's two minutes away.
But DO I dual boot? Not very often. Maybe once a month. Do what I need to do and go back home.
Roman@bit101 @LateNightLinux Same here. I'm using Windows less than I thought when I did set it up ... Watching curlingchannel.tv and streaming it via Chrome/ Chromecast on Windows due to my lazyness not wanting to install Chrome on my linux install. Btw I use Arch 😁
Jan ☕🎼🎹☁️🏋️♂️@LateNightLinux Yes, for two reasons:
* Games. There are still things that don't run quite as well on Linux, and often I just don't feel like fiddling with it to get it to run
* Photo editing. Lightroom classic is currently still my tool of choice (I can't get my head around the others).
Miguel Aguayo@LateNightLinux
No, whenever I have needed windows a virtual machine is more than enough.
No, whenever I have needed windows a virtual machine is more than enough.
Softwarewolf@LateNightLinux I used to dual-boot Linux and Windows for games. Now I have two separate machines running Linux, one of which is for games (primarily Steam with Proton).
Random Tux User@LateNightLinux
Not anymore, I did at first but at some point realized I don't actually use windows and could instead use that extra drive for storage.
Though tbf, when I was switching, there wasn't any windows specific software I *needed*. I also had taken a break from gaming at that point. By the time I wanted to game again, I could easily do it through steam/lutris/heroic.
Paul Jewell@LateNightLinux I have clients that expect me to be able to use Microsoft 365 (even collaboratively on some occasions). Therefore I can dual boot both my desktop and laptop into Windows 11 when doing work with them. Everything else is done in Linux (Gentoo since 2004! :) ). I am very much looking forward to wiping Windows off both machines in the next couple of years when I finally retire!
Don Hayward@LateNightLinux Yes, I dual boot. I need to use Quicken to manage and track my mom's finances. I need it to pull from her institutions. and I need an automatic LOCAL backup. From everything I read, WINE couldn't reliably handle it.
Before Quicken, I managed this in a popular online system and was solely using Linux locally. Unfortunately, that system went away last year, and they wiped my data early this year while I was dealing with other issues. Around 10 years of data lost.
Before Quicken, I managed this in a popular online system and was solely using Linux locally. Unfortunately, that system went away last year, and they wiped my data early this year while I was dealing with other issues. Around 10 years of data lost.
@LateNightLinux I could cobble together scripts and systems to do this under Linux, including pulling information from the financial institutions apparently, but the time and energy required to do this are not available to me at this point in time, so I reinstalled Windows as a EFI Dual Boot option. That's all I use it for though.
Chris Pearse HAS MOVED@LateNightLinux It's always there on nearly all but my smallest disk machines, but I rarely boot into it. There will always be some piece of crap that refuses to work in a VM, even with USB passthrough etc., so having it around can be handy sometimes. At home it gets the guest WiFi only, VLAN-ed off from any real fun on my main subnet.
Jules Enriquez@LateNightLinux I used to dual-boot Windows and Linux, since fan control was only working through a Windows program for a laptop. Thankfully, Linux gained support for the fan a while later. Then I changed laptops for other reasons and fan control just worked in Linux on the new (and current laptop).
I now dual-boot Linux and Haiku on a desktop and have Haiku on an external drive for the laptop, since sometimes I want to use all the cores for compiling and Haiku just feels so much better on bare metal.
mcgrew@LateNightLinux Not since about 2006. Once I figured out how to use Linux and realized it had everything I needed I wiped Windows and never looked back.
Miguel Beltran@LateNightLinux nowadays I only go into Windows for some .Net development work with Visual Studio (not Code but the og one). Rider from JetBrains is good but there is some stuff that Microsoft doesn't support well on Linux. Although most of the work I do for .Net works on Linux too.
@LateNightLinux also some Flutter Windows Desktop development and testing
Dafo@LateNightLinux Not anymore, but when I did it was because of gaming.
popeyI dual boot MacOS and @ubuntuasahi :)
I keep MacOS so I can continue to get updates, to firmware, and if I need to use it for something that doesn't work on Asahi. e.g. HDMI out.
Adda@LateNightLinux Used to, but for a few years now, there is no need. I kept a Windows around for when I needed to connect to my home printer/scanner. It works flawlessly on Linux now. And every printing/scanning session meant that that *wonderful piece of SW* that is Windows wanted to make an update. I always wondered if the printed page is worth the risk of having to repair Grub.
But, I used to dual-boot multiple Linux setups when distro-hopping. Would not do it again, though. Too risky.
Inaction FigureI do not dual-boot.
I made the change to Linux on my personal computers over a decade ago. On the vanishingly rare times I need to do something with Windows, I can use my wife’s computer, since she has no interest in Linux or FOSS.
Mike Stone@LateNightLinux No. I hate rebooting my computer. If I need Windows I'd rather have it running in a VM or bare metal on separate, dedicated computer. I used to keep a Windows computer around specifically for gaming, but with the advent of the Steam Deck and the vast improvements that have been made to Linux gaming in the last few years, I just don't see the point.
Reddish@LateNightLinux
I don't dual boot. I can do everything I need on my Linux machines.
I don't dual boot. I can do everything I need on my Linux machines.
Bill@LateNightLinux Have not dual booted in at least 10 years. Rarely did even before that going back to the mid 00's
Neotheta@LateNightLinux ~9 years ago I had windows on a separate hard drive for games (to physically disconnect and connect between switching not actually dual boot), I played cs:go on it once until realizing ot ran with better fps on linux.
Then I just forgot it existed and a year back when my then pc finally kicked the bucket I found the disconnected hard drive still inside untouched (and formatted it for a new life).
fukawi2@LateNightLinux Not for maybe 15+ years. When I needed Windows regularly, VirtualBox worked perfectly fine. I'd either set it on a dedicated virtual desktop in fullscreen mode, or originally in Seamless mode with the Windows start bar at the bottom and Gnome (2 back then!) bar at the top.
Simon B@LateNightLinux I made a dual boot machine with windows for audio stuff, since music production on Linux is so painful. but windows wouldn't get past the 2204 update bundle and would endlessly attempt it and fail. I think it was due to the dual boot. I wiped the machine and put Ubuntu mate on it and gave it to my mum instead.
Jean 🐧 🇺🇸 🏳️⚧️ 🏳️🌈@LateNightLinux
Not for several years now
Not for several years now
Duncan Murray@LateNightLinux No it's too much trouble - Windows doesn't play nicely and it has eaten the boot partition before. Now I just steal my wife's computer if I need Windows which is fairly rarely.
Meziu 
@LateNightLinux University exams. Software such as Lockdown Browser and Safe Exam Browser only run on Mac/Windows. For anything else i prefer running Wine/Proton on my Linux partition.
Alexey@LateNightLinux no, Windows with WSL have everything I need from Linux world and play nicely with the rest of the family. Had Linux desktop for couple years without and it mostly fine, but overhead to make it work with family devices with Windows and Apple ecosystems does not worth it. Linux is happily running on all servers and appliances and cloud machines. As a side note - looks like it is a nice Linux only bubble what doesn’t overlaps with the real windows users.
Sean Thrailkill@LateNightLinux I still have a windows drive just because I started trying Linux gaming. I never went back and now I'm kinda scared to go back and have to sit through all the updates.
NiceMicro@LateNightLinux I do dual boot, but, the catch is, both the systems are actually Arch Linux.
I have my main system with all my personal data and mostly free software, and I have my secondary system installed where I have Wine and Lutris installed for games, and which my user doesn't even have sudo privileges.
@LateNightLinux Need Windows for ArcGIS Pro even though I prefer QGIS running on Ubuntu. I may be mistaken, but Windows is installed by our Admins so I think it would be difficult to personally install it in a VM, plus ArcGIS is resource hungry. Probably shouldn't admit this but Tech Services doesn't know I opened the box, added an SSD and installed Linux as dual boot. Did it at home first, also so I could have ability to still use ArcGIS, and said "well that was easy, might as do it at work. "
Daniel O’@LateNightLinux I keep a copy of windows on a second drive. More of a “Just in case” thing than an active part of my computing.
Mostly, it’s either “this game is buggy on Linux” or I’m testing cyber security tools.
SweetAI Belle 
@LateNightLinux
Most of my computers are just running Linux.
The one that has Windows on it, I switched over to dual boot, with a goal of gradually moving as much as I could from the Windows side to the Linux side.
(Some of the big things under windows would be programs like the Affinity suite, Clip Studio Paint, and Paint Tool Sai. And yes, there are open source alternatives, but they aren't as good... [Also, I'm aware there's a Wine fork that can run the Affinity suite. Haven't tried it yet.])
Simon Walters@LateNightLinux Switched main computer to from Windows to windows/Linux Mint 6 months ago. Kept the old windows just in case needed something - haven't used the Windows option for 4 months
Bill@LateNightLinux Nope. Linux now does everything I need. And I also use a Mac. But it’s too much hassle keeping both OS’s on the same machine. Both OS’s can be used at once as well.
dbrw@LateNightLinux nope. I only use windows to do works that need MS Office compatibility like editing some word or power point files, which is fine in a vm.