Are there any good tools for listing your current programs, maybe exporting settings etc. Listing hidden settings and save locations would be great too.
I’m about 90% ready to switch to Linux full time, and I want to make sure that I’ve got everything. I’ve got a horrible feeling that I’m missing something, but I can’t think what it might be.
EDIT: Ironically, I forgot to mention my ADHD / memory issues. I could do with a tool like this because I forget about anything that I’m not currently using, or actively thinking about using soon >.<
Get an external disk and maybe dump your home folder and appdata there. One of the best features of Linux is the available free software. Although daunting, I would recommend having an open mind with regards to what tools and procedures you need in order to accomplish different tasks. Your preferences should change a little (I think, did for me atleast) and if you need some of your old stuff you have your config files and such on the external partition.
Dual-boot, and if anything is missing, boot back into Windows to do that while you work on figuring out how to do it on Linux. There might be something to do what you’re asking, but I find it unlikely because Windows and Linux are very different internally.
That’s what I’m doing at the moment, but I find myself staying on the OS I’m using until I’m forced to reboot to the other for whatever reason. e.g. If I boot to Windows for Photoshop, I tend to start browsing and checking my emails, and the next thing I know, it’s three weeks later and I’ve forgotten to switch back >.<
Setup a Windows virtual machine inside your Linux environment. Now you’re not leaving Linux to get into your Windows environment.
Does Photoshop run properly in a VM? That’s the most resource intensive program I use regularly
What do you mean, what do you think is so special about Photoshop? I play Starfield on Ultra on Windows inside Qemu/KVM virtual machine on Linux.
It tends to be one of the most regularly mentioned reasons for staying on Windows. It can’t run natively, and whenever I’ve read about Photoshop in a VM, it’s been from someone saying that the performance is awful.
Don’t misunderstand me, this is one case where I’d love to be wrong. Photoshop is probably 99% of what’s keeping me on the dark side. Being able to use it in Linux without a major performance penalty would be fantastic :)
Yes, if you run a non optimized VM everything will be slow. It took me few weeks at start to discover all optimisation options for qemu/kvm and then years of perfecting it to make it run very close to bare metal
Edit: the key is to pass through one of your graphic cards
Does that mean I need more than one graphics card? I’ve just got the one.
Note down every tool you use in windows and use alternativeto.net to find linux alternatives for them. Thats what I did, saved me what you are going through. Everytime I tried to switch usinf a sifferent method I just ended up using Windows to not deal with the “pain point” of switching
A windows to flathub to could be nice!
Its certainly possible.
- List all windows apps
- Make a folder and export their settings to zips in this folder
- Make a linux script listing all apps
- On linux run the script, it installs the apps, runs them, closes them again and copies the contents to the correct folders
I would totally do this but I dont want to deal with Windows coding and these cringe file paths and slashes. Maybe ChatGPT can help?
All those points assume that you would have compatible apps for both platforms. For some small subset of applications might work… Like VLC player, Firefox, Chromium browsers, … You could try to run Windows apps with Wine, but that can be done on app basis and will not be generic
You don’t need to immediately delete your Windows installation, you can just dual boot and keep your Windows install around. Then, you can just start using Linux, and see over time if you missed anything. If you notice that you haven’t needed to boot into the Windows partition for some time, and you feel comfortable with getting rid of it, you can just delete it afterwards.
This is a what I’m trying to do at the moment, but I forget to switch back if I’ve been forced to boot into Windows.
It doesn’t help that I’ve got ADHD, so I’m convinced that I’ve forgotten something and just can’t remember what >.<
Fellow ADHD guy here, back when I switched to Linux from macOS I encountered the same issue, maybe you can try to move all of the important stuff to Linux first, so when you use Windows for the things that you haven’t moved over yet you are forced to reboot into Linux to do other stuff
That’s a good idea, I might try it that way, thanks :)
Hope that works for you. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to DM me, I’d be happy to help you out!
