On Mon, Dec 07, 2020 at 02:58:48PM -0500, Máirín Duffy wrote:
Hi Chuck,
On 12/7/20 2:55 PM, Chuck Anderson wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 07, 2020 at 02:18:43PM -0500, Máirín Duffy wrote:
>> On 12/7/20 1:47 PM, Matthew Miller wrote:
>> Like, if you step back and view "dual-boot" as a solution, what
problem
>> could it possibly be solving? Some ideas:
> 4. I just bought a laptop. It came with Windows. I don't want to run
> Windows ever because it is not Free Software, unless I have no
> choice to perform a specific task such as updating firmware or
> configuring some new piece of hardware I just bought (e.g. Gaming
> Mouse), or to run some diagnostics software to prove that there is
> a hardware problem that requires warranty service.
> _______________________________________________
If you were to wipe windows and install it on a VM running in Linux,
could you not use Windows for the same tasks?
(I've used my Win10 VM to do HW firmware updates and to operate a Cricut
machine, and am just not aware of other tasks like these that require
bare metal?)
I wasn't aware you could do BIOS or firmware updates from a VM. With
USB passthru, I guess there is some hardware that can be operated or
configured from a VM. However, it is much harder to "swap" the
pre-installed copy of Windows to become a VM than it is to configure
dual-boot.
Also, a VM cannot be used to diagnose hardware problems.
If the problem is that your Windows license didn't include a copy
of the
Windows installer, that's a different problem entirely, isn't it?
I suppose, but that is not in my control. Well, strictly speaking I
could go out of my way to buy a laptop without Windows pre-installed,
then purchase a separate retail copy of Windows, but that has a higher
barrier to entry.