Hello, Windows 10 user of about a year now. I would like to switch to Linux (Ubuntu or Debian), but have a couple of questions.

  1. Is there a way to play steam games designed for Windows on Linux?/What are the drawbacks of doing this?
  2. Is there a way to transfer files from my old OS to the new one without using external drives (i dont have one ;-;)
  3. Is there a distro more suited to a Windows user going into linux rehab?
  4. Is there anything else I should be aware of?

TIA as always comrades and good day.

  • Owl [he/him]
    ·
    11 months ago

    1. There's an "enable proton" button burried somewhere in Steam, and then almost everything just works.

    2. I'll get back to this in a second.

    3. Mint

    4. Making a live USB and trying out your chosen Linux for an afternoon is easy and risk-free. See if your shit works. Try a different distro if it doesn't, or you just don't vibe with it.

    Okay so 2 is the big one. You really should back up your files before installing a new operating system, shit can go wrong and you'll be sad. Nobody is going to make a good way to do this, because the first step would be "back up all your files," which would defeat the point.

    One cheap option for storage is buying an external hard drive enclosure and putting an old drive in it (or if your computer happens to have multiple physical drives). Another is to get Dropbox or similar, do your stuff, and cancel it after the first month.

    Now, assuming you're ignoring all of the above options, then there's the wildly irresponsible option. I'll only outline the steps, you'll have to google all the details. I don't really recommend this at all.

    1. Follow a tutorial for a dual-boot install, giving as much room as possible to the Linux side.

    2. Boot Linux, mount your Windows partition as a drive, and move your files into your new home directory.

    3. If you run out of space: shut down, launch the live USB again, resize the partitions, and repeat from 2.

    4. When done: shut down, launch the live USB again, delete the Windows partition, and resize Linux take the whole space.

    But seriously, find a way to back up your files instead of doing this.