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Why Are We Still Dual Booting?

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The Linux community is one full of passion. From the outside it may seem strange why a small percentage of people around the world care so much about an operating system, after all it's merely a tool or set of tools used to complete certain tasks.

For many of us it isn’t that simple however, and we have a multitude and wide variety of reasons which drive us to support Linux in the way we do. Be it contributing code, running websites like this one or simply advocating the OS and showing its greatness to others.

Some have different views to others, some may insist on calling it GNU/Linux and may insist on only using free software, while others may be less ideologically inclined and simply use Linux because it's the best operating system out there. What unites all these people is the operating system and the desire for it to succeed, seeing it widely adopted or improving in many areas.

In fact, this desire for success and to show the world that we exist has led many of us to take regrettable actions, ranging from abusiveness in forums to insulting the CEO of a major game development company or even going as far as threatening developers who aren’t supporting the platform.

In the gaming world, what often makes many of us flip out most (or the more level headed among us, respond in a constructive manner) is when two simple facts are stated:

1 - Linux only accounts for a small percentage of the desktop market.

2 - Many Linux gamers dual boot or have access to a Windows machine.

While there is not a huge amount we can do about the first of these two points, the second is one which always perplexes me considering it's so simple to amend. If there are so many of us who care so greatly about Linux succeeding (often to the point where we act immaturely) then why do so many of us commit the “cardinal sin” of the Linux world and use Windows?

When I set out to do the GOL survey, one of the things I expected was the number of dual booters to slowly decline as more games come out. In June of last year there were 500 Linux games on Steam. Since then, that number has risen to 1000 and we’ve had huge games like CS:GO, Dying Light, Borderlands 2, Dead Island, Civilization: BE and many AAA games right round the corner.

Despite this, and despite the passions which surround Linux, our survey has shown no significant change in the amount of people dual booting or who have a Windows partition, unlike the amount of people using Wine which seems to be showing signs of declining. In many ways, it seems as if while Linux gaming is making leaps and bounds, Linux gamers are standing still.

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The controversial phrase “Sie wissen das nicht, aber sie tun es” (they do not know it, but still they do it) from Das Kapital comes to mind, though condescending and completely incorrect in this case. Dual booting is far more cynical, a case of “they know very well what they are doing, but still they do it”.

We are all fully aware that the thought of Linux users dual booting and using Wine as a motive not to port a game to Linux has crossed the minds of many developers and even though we may badly want that game on our OS of choice, we still choose to be part of that percentage which makes that argument a valid one.

So why this doublethink? With the recent case of the WoW petition, it is a certainty that all those signing the petition who play WoW do so either on Windows or through Wine. It is easy to see how Blizzard CEO said what he said:

Michael MorhaimeLinux usage represents less than 2% of installed desktop operating systems browsing the web, and I would assume most of those people also have access to a Windows or Mac device capable of playing Blizzard games.


From his perspective, why should he spend money on porting a game to a platform when nearly all the people who would benefit from it are customers already? The irony of the petition is that its very existence also negates its purpose (unless, of course, Linux users were to abandon Blizzard altogether).

As much as I personally loathe the idea, the unavoidable fact is that we do live in a global free market which defines culture as an industry and decides who gets access to that culture based primarily on the profit motive. Culture, in this case, is video games and to many companies giving Linux users access to that culture does not fall within the worldview of putting profit above all else.

It is somewhat presumptuous to state to people whose lives are dictated by this fundamental premise that they are wrong in their conclusions. Simply put, yes 2% (or thereabouts) may be worth it to many developers financially, but when taking into account that with a game like WoW many (if not most) of their potential 2% like the game enough to sacrifice their principles in order to play it, then the rigid logic of the free market implies that WoW (and games like it) will never come to Linux so long as those individuals continue to choose the game over the operating system.

In essence, that 2% in many cases is non-existent and rather than being its own separate "market segment", developers like Blizzard will continue to see it as a percentage of the Windows market which also happens to use Linux on the side, that is, until people stop dual booting. Simply put, there is a significantly higher chance of games getting ported if users use Linux and Linux alone.

Thoughts and suggestions

The intention of this article isn’t to tell people what to do or to shout people down for not thinking in the same way as I do (in fact, if I see discussion heading in that direction, I may well see to it that comments are deleted). The intention is to create a debate surrounding a few simple questions to which there are no right and wrong answers:

- Why do you dual boot?

- Do you see yourself first as a gamer, then as a Linux user?

- Are the 1000+ games on Steam and hundreds more on other sites still not enough for you to be a 100% Linux gamer?

- If you feel so passionately about Linux that you’ll take questionable actions to defend it, then why not do the most simple thing and stop gaming on Windows?

- As someone with a tendency towards a specific genre, do you feel the current Linux suggestion doesn't cater to your gaming needs?

Ideally, I would like to see the number of dual booters decline after reaching some sort of consensus that it would be in all our best interests. I see myself as a Linux user first and a gamer second, and haven’t had Windows on a single computer since ~2008. However, I bear no animosity towards those who think differently. If all that comes of this article is an enlightening debate surrounding these issues and perhaps leads others to oppose the statements made in this article through other articles or through comments, then I’ll still be more than happy.

Even though I may have my own views as to how things should progress which may differ from those of others, I think we can all agree that being respectful, helpful and constructive goes a long way - be it to each other or to the developers which are (or aren't) porting our games. Though dual booting might not be something will (or maybe even should) disappear overnight, aggression and abuse certainly should. Likewise, the same goes for buying Linux games before porting - something which has been repeated and discussed time and time again. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
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About the author -
After many years of floating through space on the back of a missile, following a successful career in beating people up for not playing Sega Saturn, the missile returned to earth. Upon returning, I discovered to my dismay that the once great console had been discontinued and Sega had abandoned the fight to dominate the world through 32-bit graphical capabilities.

After spending some years breaking breeze blocks with my head for money and being mocked by strangers, I have found a new purpose: to beat up people for not playing on Linux.
See more from me
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124 comments
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Huddayn Mar 13, 2015
Quote- Why do you dual boot?
I don't, but I do keep a separate hard drive with Windows. I rarely use it (few days in several months), and mostly for non-gaming stuff Though, sometimes I use windows to play old games which don't have working multiplayer on wine.

Quote- Do you see yourself first as a gamer, then as a Linux user?
No, I am a Game/Mod developer (though, I've shared my work only with small groups of people).
I use Linux because both because I find it technically superior and because I feel more comfortable using it. And I also appreciate the Free Software.

Quote- As someone with a tendency towards a specific genre, do you feel the current Linux suggestion doesn't cater to your gaming needs?
Most of games I care about are playable on Linux (or are in process of being ported). But I wish there were more Free & Open Source remakes of old games (such as OpenMW, OpenRA, FreeRA, OpenTTD and others which I don't know about yet).
EKRboi Mar 13, 2015
Quoting: crt0megaummm....

Yea, F3 and NV and light mods worked and even run pretty well in wine. Try to add a bunch of mods, especially texture mods and it turns into a crash fest. From what I've gathered wine has some memory limitations (like 3 or 4gb) and just segfaults when you hit that limitation. I like to play Tale of Two Wastelands (Fallout3+NV combined into one awesome experience) and even with minimal graphic mods on top of it wine craps out unfortunately.

When I tried it I tried to find a way around it but everything I ran across pretty much just said it is what it is. 64bit wine didn't make a difference either, it would crash at the same amount of memory allocation as 32bit.

If anyone knows a way around this PLEASE inform me, like NOW!
mao_dze_dun Mar 13, 2015
Since you guys picked up the mod topic I'm up the ante by discussing shader injectors like SweetFX and ReShade (which technically includes SweetFX) as well as tools such as Radeon Pro. SweetFX is a really awesome tool(set?) to make games look often much better or at least change the entire graphical feel of the game. Heck I made myself a SweetFX for Hand of Fate because I did not care for the bleak colors and low contrast of the vanilla game. And the thing I mostly love and am completely addicted to is SMAA injection, be it via RadeonPro or SweetFX.
Why, I just tried Torchlight II in Linux - it's alright. Ran acceptable even on my AMD gpu but the game has pretty much the same graphical problems like Hand of Fate - washed out colors, bad contrast, lighting's not vibrant enough and the thing that bother's me the most - it's aliased (same goes for Hand of Fate). How do I fix that in Windows - download a SweetFX preset I like, install it, launch the game and activate SMAA through RadeonPro - all in less than 3 minutes. It's definitely something I'd like to see in Linux.
Not going to talk about proper mods - people have already pointed out that using big ones in Fallout, for example, is practically impossible through Wine. And Nexus Mod Manager sure rules them all.
crt0mega Mar 14, 2015
Quoting: EKRboiTry to add a bunch of mods, especially texture mods and it turns into a crash fest.
mmh, could you provide some links? maybe i'm gonna try them ^^
Quoting: EKRboiFrom what I've gathered wine has some memory limitations (like 3 or 4gb) and just segfaults when you hit that limitation. (...)

When I tried it I tried to find a way around it but everything I ran across pretty much just said it is what it is. 64bit wine didn't make a difference either, it would crash at the same amount of memory allocation as 32bit.
running f3/fnv with 64bit wine doesn't make their ol' 32bit binaries "run as" 64bit binaries...
Quoting: EKRboiIf anyone knows a way around this PLEASE inform me, like NOW!
i can't promise anything but i'll try it ;)
Quoting: mao_dze_dunHow do I fix that in Windows - download a SweetFX preset I like, install it, launch the game and activate SMAA through RadeonPro - all in less than 3 minutes. It's definitely something I'd like to see in Linux.
Umm. If you're using mesa with gallium3d it's quite easy without installing anything.
export pp_jimenezmlaa=8
or use ~/.drirc
no need to download or install anything..
davidjosepha Mar 14, 2015
I technically dual boot, although I can't remember the last time I booted into Windows. Might be over a year, now. My Windows and Linux installs are on different SSDs, so at any moment, I might just clear off the Windows SSD and use it for something else. I keep it around, mainly, because I don't have any use for the SSD, so it's probably more work to not have Windows than to keep it around. Plus, there are still a few games I wish I could play, and I like to have the option available, even if I don't use it. Deus Ex: HR is still one of my favorite games, and I could see myself going back and playing it again sometime.
EKRboi Mar 14, 2015
Quoting: crt0mega
Quoting: EKRboiTry to add a bunch of mods, especially texture mods and it turns into a crash fest.
mmh, could you provide some links? maybe i'm gonna try them ^^
Quoting: EKRboiFrom what I've gathered wine has some memory limitations (like 3 or 4gb) and just segfaults when you hit that limitation. (...)

When I tried it I tried to find a way around it but everything I ran across pretty much just said it is what it is. 64bit wine didn't make a difference either, it would crash at the same amount of memory allocation as 32bit.
running f3/fnv with 64bit wine doesn't make their ol' 32bit binaries "run as" 64bit binaries...
Quoting: EKRboiIf anyone knows a way around this PLEASE inform me, like NOW!
i can't promise anything but i'll try it ;)
Quoting: mao_dze_dunHow do I fix that in Windows - download a SweetFX preset I like, install it, launch the game and activate SMAA through RadeonPro - all in less than 3 minutes. It's definitely something I'd like to see in Linux.
Umm. If you're using mesa with gallium3d it's quite easy without installing anything.
export pp_jimenezmlaa=8
or use ~/.drirc
no need to download or install anything..

you are correct about the 32bit and mods not making the old 32bit binaries ok with more ram but there is the 4gb+ mod for windows and it certainly allows breaking the 4gb barrier in windows. It does not using wine though. I copied my whole TTW (tale of two wastelands) folder from win (where it works fantastic) to linux/wine and it craps out. I'm drinking with some friends this evening, but I will certainly get you a list or a screenshot of the list of mods that I use in the morning. You also have to remember that I play @ 5760x1080 which does stress things quite a bit more. Vanilla F3 or NV @ 5760x1080 does play in wine just fine though.
mao_dze_dun Mar 14, 2015
[quote=crt0mega]
Quoting: EKRboi
Quoting: mao_dze_dunHow do I fix that in Windows - download a SweetFX preset I like, install it, launch the game and activate SMAA through RadeonPro - all in less than 3 minutes. It's definitely something I'd like to see in Linux.
Umm. If you're using mesa with gallium3d it's quite easy without installing anything.
export pp_jimenezmlaa=8
or use ~/.drirc
no need to download or install anything..

Nah, I'm using Omega - the latest proprietary one. AMD performance is bad enough as it is for me to sacrifice more for the open source driver. Plus, I'm super lazy :). I appreciate the tip, though. It's just beyond my comfort zone. And since we're talking why people continue to dual boot, I'd actually use that as another example. I mean, hand to your heart, how many common users do you think would bother with that. The majority of people find the Windows method complicated and it involves using GUI and a pre-made preset, which often includes SMAA, so you don't even need RadeonPro.
Linux need both the support and the proper tools with easy to understand interface. The terminal should be an advanced tool for the power user, not a crutch for the average one.
sub Mar 14, 2015
I don't care much about the moral side when it comes to games I have to admit. By that I mean if there is a game that I want to play and it is available on Windows only then I'll probably buy it - in particular if there's a sale - and play it. Plain and simple.

But this is not the only reason. Currenty, for instance, I play the Windows version of Borderlands 2 (which runs smooth like butter) because the Linux port by Aspyr performs abysmal on my system.
PopTart Mar 14, 2015
Long time lurker here - thought I'd make an account and chip in :)

First off, I would love nothing other than to see devs target Vulkan and Linux/SteamOS. I'd love to see Vulkan targeted on ALL PC operating systems, effectively relegating D3D to the XBOX1. However...

I use Arch day to day, and as far as that goes, Arch is perfect - I get pretty much the latest version of whatever, and there is a wealth of software to choose from. Coming from Windows, I thought I'd miss Foobar2000, but there's Quod Libet. I can't use Visual Studio, but JetBrains' CLion is shaping up to be great. However... I can't use Native Instruments' software. I can't use Steinberg Cubase. I can't, in all practicality, use Unreal Engine 4's editor (yet). I can't use EVGA Precision X to tweak my nVidia 970 fan profiles and clock settings. Razer doesn't ship a Linux driver for my Mamba mouse, so I can't edit mouse profiles. And then there are issues with the games...

I can't play any Unity 4 game without screen tearing. I use the proprietary nVidia driver, and while I've seen a few complaints about this issue on the net, I haven't encountered a fix. Among the Sleep, Shadowrun Dragonfall, Kentucky Route Zero... as much as I really really want these games to work, I won't play with tearing on Linux when they work properly on Windows (SteamOS works fine, by the way, but if I want to use a desktop, I'm relegated to GNOME 3.4 and the Debian Wheezy repos). Civ V doesn't support anti-aliasing, The Witcher 2 is only now approaching Windows-like performance. I HAVE had good experiences with Aspyr's Borderlands 2 port and Transistor, but by this stage I'm running out of games... Other games I want to play, such as Shadow of Mordor (I know, there's a port on the way), Alien Isolation, Endless Legend, Ori and the Blind Forest, Insurgency, Dragon Age... are all only available on Windows. And so I continue to dual boot. Don't get me wrong - if it's on Linux, I will try it on Linux first (I recently finished Metro Last Light on Linux, for instance), but things still have a way to go before I delete my Windows partition.

Exciting times, though, right?
crt0mega Mar 14, 2015
[quote=mao_dze_dun]
Quoting: crt0megaNah, I'm using Omega - the latest proprietary one. AMD performance is bad enough as it is for me to sacrifice more for the open source driver.
yeah.. i made this comment before i knew you're using a 290x. the last time i heard about "radeonsi" (the open source driver for your card) it was in good shape but still not "good enough" to consider it as an alternative to catalyst.
Quoting: mao_dze_dunPlus, I'm super lazy :). I appreciate the tip, though. It's just beyond my comfort zone. And since we're talking why people continue to dual boot, I'd actually use that as another example. I mean, hand to your heart, how many common users do you think would bother with that. The majority of people find the Windows method complicated and it involves using GUI and a pre-made preset, which often includes SMAA, so you don't even need RadeonPro.
Linux need both the support and the proper tools with easy to understand interface. The terminal should be an advanced tool for the power user, not a crutch for the average one.
i agree about the need for GUI tools. i'm a bit lazy, too :P

at least there's "DriConf" which has a nice GUI for configuring the ~/.drirc. the sad thing is that configuring DRI is only one part of optimizing these drivers..
Quoting: EKRboiYou also have to remember that I play @ 5760x1080 which does stress things quite a bit more. Vanilla F3 or NV @ 5760x1080 does play in wine just fine though.
aww yea! i totally forgot that you are the guy gaming with three displays. i also remembered that you're using the binary nvidia drivers. unfortunately my solution may not work for you; i'm playing fnv/f3 with "gallium nine" and in your case that would only work with nouveau. i don't now how good nouveau currently is.. i still would try these mods sooner or later. no need to hurry, you can send me a pm anytime :D
Quoting: EKRboiI'm drinking with some friends this evening
heheh, me too. have fun!
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