I wanted to share my setup with anyone that is frustrated with Windows 10 and 11. Unfortunately we are bound to the Windows platform fro AutoCAD, but I set myself the goal last year to find a way to minimize my exposure to Microsoft/Apple/Google etc and try to migrate to Linux this year. I am happy to report that it is possible to a degree!
I am now running Linux Mint as my main operating system. I also dabbled in Fedora and Zorin for a while, but Mint seems the most stable platform for me to use as a production machine. I then discovered Winboat, a virtual machine (VM) that simplifies the Windows installation to just a few clicks. Importantly it does not require a Microsoft account to install Windows, keeping the login to a local user. It even downloads the OS file from Microsoft itself.
I then installed F/X CAD and Land F/X in the Windows VM. The only two real drawbacks are that the VM does not support graphics card passthrough, so the graphics are software rendered only, but for 2D plans it is fast enough. Sketchup works still but is a little jerky. Also, the "home" folders (Documents, Downloads, etc.) of the host machine (Linux) show up as a network location, but Windows is isolated from network drives. I have to figure out a way to pass through my NAS project folder. For now I copy the project folder to my local drive and copy it back when I complete a project.
For any setup with a virtual machine I recommend to dedicate 4+ CPU cores and at least 8 GB of RAM to the virtual machine. I did 4 cores and 12 GB of RAM and so far it is running great. You can change the dedicated amount after the installation as necessary.
I am happy to share more if anyone is interested in more technical details.
I am now running Linux Mint as my main operating system. I also dabbled in Fedora and Zorin for a while, but Mint seems the most stable platform for me to use as a production machine. I then discovered Winboat, a virtual machine (VM) that simplifies the Windows installation to just a few clicks. Importantly it does not require a Microsoft account to install Windows, keeping the login to a local user. It even downloads the OS file from Microsoft itself.
I then installed F/X CAD and Land F/X in the Windows VM. The only two real drawbacks are that the VM does not support graphics card passthrough, so the graphics are software rendered only, but for 2D plans it is fast enough. Sketchup works still but is a little jerky. Also, the "home" folders (Documents, Downloads, etc.) of the host machine (Linux) show up as a network location, but Windows is isolated from network drives. I have to figure out a way to pass through my NAS project folder. For now I copy the project folder to my local drive and copy it back when I complete a project.
For any setup with a virtual machine I recommend to dedicate 4+ CPU cores and at least 8 GB of RAM to the virtual machine. I did 4 cores and 12 GB of RAM and so far it is running great. You can change the dedicated amount after the installation as necessary.
I am happy to share more if anyone is interested in more technical details.
RolandKouhsen
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