A Linux Experiment
I was always attracted by linux since my young age. I remember of my older brother doing things with RedHat back in 1998. Today he's a Windows Developer =) Later I picked up an "old" pc from him : A Pentium II 233Mhz MMX. What kind of child had a computer for him in 2000 ? I had a lot of luck (same today). I remember a bit that I installed Ubuntu around 2006, before that i liked turning around Win 3.1 or DOS 6.22.
Why I don't stay on Linux
Many times I tried to go definitively to Linux but every times I went back to Windows. Today, it's no more than another attempt but this time, it's quiet different.
Why I went several times to Windows, what is THE thing that I must do on Windows ? Hardware compatibilities, deep diving in linux softwares, rejection of non-free softwares or Gaming was some reasons. The main one was clearly Gaming.
The solution
So why I'm going back to Linux now ? What is different ? No, i'm not going to game on Linux although now it's better than ever. No, i've not discovered Dual-Boot yesterday.
No, the reason is because i'm not leaving Windows, now Windows is on my homelab server. One VM with GPU passthrough and NVMe passthrough. Well it's not anymore a VM at this time xD It was that simple. I'm connecting to it through RDP for any purpose other than gaming, and for gaming, i'm connection using Parsec.
The cost
The cost was only 200€ to have a Win10 Pro License. Parsec is free to use with one screen at home. You "just" need one PC to run as a server (or just with windows on it), install Parsec on Windows and that's it. Now you need another PC to connect to it, preferably one with a GPU to hardware decode video stream quickly. You don't need a powerful pc as client, just something that can decode with a GPU the video stream. You don't need an RTX 3080 Ti for that, just one with hardware decoding available, eg. AMD RX 550 bought 100€ (and it was expensive) or your good old GTX 970.
The cost is not only about money, it can be also about time. I looked for many hardware pieces to create my own server during weeks. I tried to use Proxmox to make my GPU passing through without success. Some weeks after, i tried Unraid and it works. It was time consuming but interesting to do. Some downside I have right are:
- Updating drivers freeze video signal through Parsec
- Some applications like "Oculus Store" needs GPU rendering and dont works with RDP, I need to use Parsec.
References
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