I’m currently dual booting Linux Mint and Windows. Love Linux, hate Windows. So why I am dual booting?

Because I own and use a Microsoft Zune HD.

It’s probably the best product Microsoft ever came out with. It’s so much lighter than my phone, it has a ton of my music on there, and it has an HD FM radio tuner. However, the software that runs it has never been released so there aren’t really any good options to try and manage the Zune on Linux (some people have tried, it doesn’t really work). So I keep a windows partition just so I can manage a 16 year old mp3 player and radio. That has to be the worst reason to keep a Windows partition, right?

(The reality is I would probably get rid of the Windows partition if I could, I’ve tried but something seems wrong with the BIOS on my computer idk I’m not a programmer. The Zune software is pretty janky at the point so uploading new music barely works anyway).

  • just_the_ticket@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    9 hours ago

    My only reason to dualboot Windows is I own two Xbox controllers that randomly decide, from time to time, that they need to be updated and will refuse to connect to Linux otherwise.

  • AndrewZabar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    14 hours ago

    You really can’t run it in Bottles, or a VM of Windows? I’ve managed the occasional peripheral using a VM.

    • Holytimes@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      13 hours ago

      The zune was one of the single greatest MP3 players ever made. Microsoft as dumb as they are is still right twice a day.

      The zune died before it’s time.

  • lattrommi@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    22 hours ago

    Sometimes I need to show off that I beat Microsoft Minesweeper on Expert in slightly less than 200 seconds.

    My time is by no means competitive, the current record for Expert is less than 30 seconds. I am also aware the score could be faked by rewriting the .ini file. In fact there are numerous cheats which could simulate a win. That is why when I share this accomplishment in person, it is only with those who know I would never compromise my integrity with such dishonest behaviour.

    Most people have been more impressed (if impressed at all and haven’t left by the time Windows has booted) that the drive Windows is installed on still works, since it was made in 2005 (Seagate ST3160023AS).

  • buckykat [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    0·
    1 day ago

    I remember back in the day when I used mp3 players, I had a good experience using banshee to manage them from linux, both an iPod and a Sansa Fuze. Of course it looks like banshee was last updated in 2014.

    • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.websiteEnglish
      0·
      1 day ago

      That’s just a VM running atop Docker container; convenient, perhaps, but a little misleading to users who don’t understand how Docker works and might think it’s better performance-wise than a VM.

      • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        16 hours ago

        You dont want to use windows in a vm to talk to externally connected devices or update them…ask me how I know

        Bricked my favorite mouse doing this firmware upgrade for it on linux with a win 10 vm. I was sad but after a few days amazingly, the mfg sent me a custom program to reset the mouse, and it was windows only, had to use a friends pc to do it.

        And I did it using usb pass through. I would not trust it again.

        • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          0·
          15 hours ago

          How weird! I ran two Windows VMs with USB and GPU passthrough as my work and gaming daily drivers for about six years. Now I run Mint and Bazzite with the same setup. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t have issues, both Windows and VM related, but I never saw one even vaguely like that.

        • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.websiteEnglish
          0·
          16 hours ago

          Sounds like a freak accident rather than the fault of the VM.

          I literally use a GPU for passthrough on my Windows 10 (and macOS) VM; PCIe is a much more complex protocol and much easier to F up than USB.

          I’ve used my iPhone many times through Windows and been fine, as well as whole USB keyboards and mice (just simple ones); I think I might have even updated an iOS device once, though I can’t remember if I actually did. I’ve also used an iPod Nano 7th through an 11 LTSC VM before.

          I could see some things being a little finicky, but simply managing a Zune with a VM probably causes no issues. It’s probably been eons since it got a firmware upgrade anyway.

        • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
          0·
          16 hours ago

          i have used a windows vm to update mice (and some other things’) firmware before and it went quite well.

  • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    2 days ago

    I have an old laptop with windows on it out of a combination of pure laziness and im in a no spend condition and need to buy a solid state drive.

  • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 days ago

    So I keep a windows partition just so I can manage a 16 year old mp3 player and radio. That has to be the worst reason to keep a Windows partition, right?

    Yeah, and you can often assume that someone else has had that problem and was also enough of a nerd to fix it for us all.

    https://github.com/Klar/ZuneSyncLinux

  • juipeltje@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    For me it’s hdmi 2.1 on AMD. Starting to really hate my decision of buying a TV as a gaming display, purely because of how much windows sucks. Just booted it up to see if my samba server was working, only to find it has no internet connection whatsoever. Wifi also connects but no internet access, but i know for a fact it’s working because both on linux and my phone it’s working fine. Already tried a bunch of troubleshooting, including resetting the adapters competely. I’m starting to suspect the mullvad vpn app somehow fucked something up, because i’m not connected to their servers right now because i haven’t added more time to my account. Internet should work if i disable the vpn app though, so idk what’s wrong there.

  • Marthirial@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    There is one app that only runs on Windows and that’s my dual boot cross to carry. I hate it so much that I am running a Windows VM and run the same app there until the lag is too much and have to boot to Window to finish the job.

  • sorrybookbroke@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    2 days ago

    No that’s the best reason to fuel boot and I absolutely love it. I:'my adding it to my list of perfectly reasonable reasons to fuel boot or not switch to Linux. Right next to “I need this software for work”