A solution to windows PC requirements

Kind of a niche topic I guess but it crops up from here from time to time…

Windows licensing costs and other requirements are becoming an issue…without buying gray market keys and using dodgy workarounds.

I’ve dabbled with Linux before many years ago (mint and Ubuntu).

I’m now dual booting windows 10 along with Linux nobara.. Which if I’m correct is based on Fedora but with a KDE plasma interface and a bit more gaming centric and comes with steam pre loaded.

So far so good… After the usual updates everything just works.

The desktop environment is kinda similar to windows but more configurable. I might be imagining it but it looks more crisp aswell.

I still feel a little bit like a fish out of water but I’m really thinking I might switch over full time once I get to grips with it a bit more.

Comes bundled with steam, libre office, Firefox etc and it all just works.

One interesting thing is I managed to download forza horizon 5 via steam using a thing called proton.

This is interesting as it’s a Microsoft game and isn’t supposed to work on Linux.

It’s still installing so I don’t know how I will get around the Microsoft authentication you need to play the game properly.

One other niggle is using my Microsoft Xbox series x pad via Bluetooth.. It works fine plugged in via USB so I know it works fine (in portal 2) but when trying to connect wireless via Bluetooth.. It sees the device and pairs but keeps glitching between ‘connected’ and disconnected’ multiple times per second… So hopefully that’s something I can figure out.

So far the only slightly annoying things are there’s no native WhatsApp and MS outlook app (hardly surprising)… So I’m just using Firefox for that for the web versions or using my mobile phone.

So far so good… Everything other than that just works right out of the box.

The software updater thing even told me to download an AMD Linux driver for my graphics card!

Happy days… Take note Microsoft.

I highly suggest anyone in a similar position to try out a few flavors of Linux, as you can just boot it live from a USB stick to have a prat about with it without installing it properly.

Note that running live OS from a USB stick won’t perform as well as it would installing it properly!

Interested in anyone’s thoughts who are in a similar position.

First and foremost, I’m pretty much device agnostic at home; I use what works for the job I am doing and/or what work have given me to use. Currently that means I have a Win10 Laptop upstairs on the trainer (which I should really bump to Win11), a Win11 gaming PC and a MacBook Pro for work.

BUTT… I also have a bunch of random Linux systems around the place, including live USBs for more different flavours than I can easily count.

Windows, by and large, just works for what I want. It is sometimes annoying, sometime frustrating, but generally just works. If things get out of date, it usually reminds me to update them. Mac does the same thing, but prettier. Linux, is, well, more of an involved challenge sometimes.

I get its niche. I understand the advantages, I want to use it a lot mor than I do, but I have spent literal years trying to get thigns working on Linux systems that should be five minutes, but end up being solid days of updating specific libraries and virtual environments. Hell, the last time I did serious playing with something like that was a PDF forensics package that was written for Python 2.x and needed a lot of messing around to even be remotely functional on Python 3.12. It’s still not fully functional.

I think that is what Windows and Mac offer the massess: “It just works most of the time” with enough messaging to advertise that to the public. Linuxx still has the slightly off-putting nerdy image of peole that like getting their hands dirty, despite everything that the Pi and countless other things have repeatedly shown the world.

Proton and SteamOS are driving things forward for gaming and by association I’d like to hope Bluetooth drivers and such will get caught in the wake.

It’s still a long way from a Windows/Mac experience but we can hope.

Why are you having to constantly buy Windows keys?

Windows, by and large, just works for what I want.

This is true.. I have a fairly powerful gaming pc in my bedroom .. But my smaller one in the lounge is a 6th gen i5 with an AMD rx480 gpu.. It runs my most demanding games fine.. 70+fps.

But it won’t run win11 without some twattery and win10 is EOL so I’m just kind of preparing myself really..

Yes I can buy a cheap win 11 key for a fiver and then try to hack it a bit, but why should I?

Why are you having to constantly buy Windows keys?

I’m not… Not sure where you got that idea.

Not sure where you got that idea.

From the OP.

Windows licensing costs and other requirements are becoming an issue

Proton and SteamOS are driving things forward

Nabara comes with a ‘special’ version of proton which is apparently better than the ones in steam.. I forget what it’s called exactly..

So that’s what I’m in currently But I’m reserving judgements on that until I get to grips with things a bit better.

One of the confusing things for me currently is the terminology.. Packages, flat packs, etc.

Strangely I do have an apple iPad which is great but I hate the OS.. But I only use that as a web browser /media player when I’m in bed, lol! It’s great for that but useless for anything else.

From the OP.

My bad.. I didn’t articulate my thoughts very well.

My apologies. What I meant was I don’t really want to try to hack win11 onto my living room PC.. Aside from the privacy issues.. My perfectly good media center PC doesn’t meet the official requirements, and i’m kind of super annoyed about that as the hardware is perfectly capable.

I’m not going to get rid of a perfectly decent PC, or use dodgy work arounds just because Microsoft tells me that.

FWIW, MS has decent reasons for having that cut-off with Win10 and the limitations for the upgrade to Win11 (TPM version). They are, I believe, trying to do things securely, but allowing older, less structurally secure hardware to run an OS designed to use that as a base to build from, kind of undermines their aims.

Privacy issues notwithstanding (and that’s a topic for another discussion if you use Chrome), I feel your pain. But if it is a media centre you want, Linux is probably a decent choice. Just double check the repos, don’t add random apps to it and check the hashes of everything you download.

MS has decent reasons for having that cut-off with Win10 and the limitations for the upgrade to Win11 (TPM version).

I respectully disagree…my motherboard has the correct TPM capabilities, the only reason I can run win11 in the normal sense is my i5 6600k is to old for ‘reasons’.

it’s not a new chip, granted, but it can run forza on pretty high settings (70+fps) @1440p @120hz with HDR….

I think I’m just done with microsoft, really…. it’s not only the above but the really intrusive windows account crap and privacy concerns that are baked into win11.

But I digress… I;m only experimenting so far, and so far, I like what I see with linux.

Yes I can buy a cheap win 11 key for a fiver and then try to hack it a bit, but why should I?

Why do you think you need to buy a new key? Its free to upgrade using your existing key.

FWIW I had exactly the same issue, TPM was fine but a 6th gen i3, I did the registry entry and it worked fine for the upgrade.

Privacy is only an issue if you have a copilot capable chipset which yours isn’t, otherwise it’s the same as 10.

Just so you know.

Why do you think you need to buy a new key?

We are going off topic… windows keys are not the problem. I think all my windows keys have been pirated/grey market since I got bummed without lube with an official OEM vista licence that was EOL about 1 year after I paid about 90 quid for an oficcial OEM licence……never again will I pay for a windows licence, or at least not more than a fiver!

But really I want to move away from windows, and I detest IOS – so it looks like I’m learning linux, lol!

I’m just waiting for horizon5 to finish downloading before the next headache begins!

But I’ve installed linux on it’s own SSD, with my windows sys drive physically disconnected in the case..so as not to confuse the boot process.

Take note Microsoft.

That it almost works as well as Windows with a good degree of buggering about? I’m sure they’re quakeing in their boots.

the really intrusive windows account crap

Huh?

But I’ve installed linux on it’s own SSD, with my windows sys drive physically disconnected in the case..so as not to confuse the boot process.

Unless you’re planning on hopping cables around you’d probably have been better off leaving the other drive connected so they’re aware of each other.

Another slight annoyance is my audio stopped working as it decided to default to audio over HDMI to my LG tv, (for reasons unknown) which is plugged in but I’m not curently using. (my monitor is DP and doent have speakers, and I have PC speakers plugged into the audio out on the motherboard I/O backplate.

So I shut down, disconected the Linux SSD, reconected the windows SSD,  re-booted and had the same problem in windows – it defaulted to an audio device that I didn’t want to use, so I had to manually switch it back to the mobo speaker output.

This is certainly going to be a learning curve, but I’m excited!

Crikey! Is this a new bottom bracket standard or something? Confused/impressed emoji.

Unless you’re planning on hopping cables around you’d probably have been better off leaving the other drive connected so they’re aware of each other.

One step at a time for me..but I do have an awsome new PC case, so I can shut down, dis-connect/re-connect new drives and be back up and running in 60 seconds.. it’s pretty damn cool..

A lian li Lancool II… it’s this one..but I bought it on special offer a few weeks ago for about £55 https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian-li-lancool-ii-mesh-c-performance-midi-tower-case-black-ca-79r-ll.html

Please don’t rate my cable management!!!

Privacy is only an issue if you have a copilot capable chipset

Can someone explain this to me? Thx

Can someone explain this to me? Thx

Copilot is microsoft AI bull poop. Built to harvest user data and annoy the user.

I made the move to Linux about 6 months ago. I dual boot on my gaming PC as there are some games I play on line that rely on anti-cheat software that they have blocked on Linux.

I decided I liked the KDE desktop environment as it was familiar. I tried Kubuntu, KDE Neon, Debian with KDE and settled on Fedora KDE. Mainly due to some of the improvements with Wayland support weren’t available in the others.

All my Steam games play without a hitch.

Not sure what I’ll do about Windows once support ends, I also have a couple of games I purchased on the xBox platform that I can’t migrate to Linux and would have to buy again. Will possibly just stop playing them.

I have some privacy concerns about windows 11 and like you @mattyfez, not sure I want the hassle of tweaking windows only to have to change things again every time an update lands.

Having had a Steam Deck for a while with no faff at all, I had a look around for something that would replicate it for a Mini PC (Minisforum UM780XTX) connected up to the living room TV (LG C3 4K OLED) Have to say I’m super impressed with Bazzite, got the image that boots straight into the Steam big picture mode, so ideal just to use with just a controller. But it’ll easily switch into desktop mode if needed. It’s based on Fedora with KDE for the desktop, but its optimised for gaming with Proton etc.. and comes with everything setup and ready to run. Another plus is that its an immutable distro, so super stable and really really hard to bugger up.

Funily enough, I almost tried Bazzite, but installed Nobara instead on a bit of a whim after a reccomendation…just as a test drive really.

I’m still experimenting though ..I’ll see how I go…I really want a window/mac style UI with steam, rather than a tablet style UI if you know what I mean.

When you download Bazzite you have the option of hardware type (various handheld models, laptops and desktops) GPU, desktop type and then desktop or big picture to start up into via the menus to select the right image.  Forza 4 works fine for me, as does Tiny Tinas Borderlands, Skyrim, Dragon Age, Elden Ring, No Mans Sky, The Witcher, World of Tanks and more.

@squirrelking what is the registry entry thing please? My PC is only incompatible because of processor Intel core i7-6700 3.4Gh. Cheers!

A lian li Lancool II…

I’m glad Lian Li are still going. They were the gamer’s case of choice back when I cared about such things, sometime around the late Jurassic.

Please don’t rate my cable management!!!

You’d weep if you saw mine. It’s a regular minitower and it is full. It’s a poster boy for “hey kids, let me show you what computers used to look like!”

Please, no cable management ratings! I wanted a small case, so chose a Coolermaster ITX thing and it was a challenge and a half getting everything to fit, let alone routing the cables properly.

And then the cat discovered that it was a warm place to sit near and I have to include cat hair removal as part of the maintenance cycle.

I mainly bought it as my decent gaming PC is still housed in a lian-li pca10-a…  but it’s a bit old skool now.. this new one is better but there’s no way in hell I can be bothered to swap the cases around!

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/lian-li-pc-a10b/3.html

Like this but the brushed ali version rather than the black version.

We are going off topic… windows keys are not the problem

Lol, I was quoting you. I get you want to try Linux and best of luck to you. Why did you go with Fedora though rather than Arch based (for Steam OS), Bazzite or Pop! OS?

Oh and SNAP! I also have that case, it’s very nice but dual booting is nicer (and should be very simple).

Can someone explain this to me? Thx

@vlad_the_invader Co-pilot capable chips have the Recall feature enabled by default and AFAIK home users cannot turn the feature off. This takes a snapshot of whatever you’re doing every 5 seconds or something like that which a lot of people are very unhappy about. It’s all locally stored BUT it only takes an exploit to be found and that’s a LOT of personal or company data compromised.

My work are turning it off by default but we’re doing enterprise licensing so it’s different to Home and possibly Pro.

@jordan https://www.partitionwizard.com/news/processor-not-supported.html

Linux POWER..6600k & AMD rx480 😉

Death to microsoft, etc.

When you download Bazzite you have the option of hardware type (various handheld models, laptops and desktops) GPU, desktop type and then desktop or big picture to start up into via the menus to select the right image. Forza 4 works fine for me, as does Tiny Tinas Borderlands, Skyrim, Dragon Age, Elden Ring, No Mans Sky, The Witcher, World of Tanks and more.

Thanks! Good to know..if I struggle with Nobara, it’s on my list of distros to try out.

Some good info in this thread, will need to give some of the Linux suggestions a try.

I’m still puzzled by the seemingly high-bar Windows 11 CPU restrictions though – there will be some seriously powerful machines that are “unsupported”.

will need to give some of the Linux suggestions a try.

You can download and test drive them from a USB flash drive… no commitment… use Rufus or Ventoy and off you go….

It’s all about TPM 2.0 though the 6th gen can support that. AMD isn’t an issue they didn’t make that **** up.

It’s all about TPM 2.0 though the 6th gen can support that. AMD isn’t an issue they didn’t make that **** up.

I don’t care… I’ve spun up a random linux distro, and apart from a few qwibbles, its works really well, and it works right out of the box.

Apart from asking me to pay money or buy new hardware, what does microsoft or apple have to offer me? NOTHING.

It’s a bit like shagging an ex girlfriend….never a good idea!

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve flipped back to windows tonight… just for convinience, but I have no intention staying on windows in the long term… my transition is in progress!

I only swapped to Windows 10 a few years back was running 7 long after it was discontinued. Didn’t get any viruses and the PC is still running fine now. I mean I’m not recommending it, but it didn’t burst into flames and lose all those precious ones and zeros.

TBH my i5 2500K (a beautiful vintage) is long past it’s best to say the least but it still works well. Just not for the latest and greatest games and some applications that hammer mutlithreading. If I upgrade (I will at some point) I’d also have to bin my posh(ish) soundcard with breakout box because the bus type has been binned off and driver support has long since stopped, that’s a Windows 8 driver installed using compatibility mode!

Lian Li (long time ago now) used to do a really nice brushed alloy case that was well made, subtle but didn’t cost the earth.

I’d also have to bin my posh(ish) soundcard with breakout box

Sound cards are pretty much redundant these days, onboard sound is fine for 99.9% of people, unless its for profesional studio/production use…

The others are people trying to sell you sound cards.

unless its for profesional studio/production use… so 0.25%

Yes that’s what it’s for. It has various inputs, phono, midi and quarter inch jacks.

I know onboard has been more than good enough for a long time now. Still not sure they match the signal to noise ratio or latency of most outboard interfaces though!