Hello!
I'm interested in moving my personal computer to running Linux but I'm not sure where to even begin. As background, I am a casual user and have a desktop with hardware from around 2014 running Windows. I am hoping to setup a NAS drive as a media server in the next year or so, offloading all of the files currently on the Windows desktop and have been interested in open source software such as Jellyfin. I also mostly game on an Xbox and Nintendo Switch, but have used the desktop in the past for gaming such as with an Oculus Rift Headset and some Steam games so not huge on getting games working on the computer. But, I do sometimes torrent using the computer so don't want to lose that capability (especially with upkeep for the media server).
With all of that said, I didn't know how to get started with choosing what Linux OS to use, setting it up, backing up my files to make sure I can use them with the new OS, etc. Making the switch seems to have great options for customization and "choosing a distro that works for you", but I don't know what would work for me or what will be user friendly for a beginner.
Any tips or pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
I think my biggest tip is to manage your expectations. What you are attempting is not the same as simply moving to a new version of Windows -- literally everything will be different. You've spent a lifetime learning how to perform all these tasks until they became second-nature, but now you plan to move to a whole new system. Thing will be in different places, the way you tweak settings or access content will be different, and it's going to be very frustrating because hey, this task should be easy. Don't expect to cram all those years of experience into re-learning a new system in a few weeks.
The good news is that there's a huge support community, and just about anything you want to do has already been asked and can be found through a quick search. Stick with it, and you'll discover that linux actually gives you quite a lot more control over what you can do with your hardware (not to mention nearly all the software is free). It won't be long before you're asking how you ever survived without many of these tools.
Okay thank you! Could you give some examples about tasks that "should be easy" but aren't? I've worked with MacOS casually and I thought it was based on Unix (maybe?), so I was at least aware that the way to maneuver through the desktop/settings/file searches are different from Windows of course. I am certainly not a power user, just getting frustrated with companies overstepping more and more and want to cut myself from their whims, if that makes sense.
In the beginning it seemed like everything was a task -- how do I install new software, how do I set up the right display or printer driver, how do I upgrade the whole OS? Then it quickly got down to making things look and act in a way that made more sense to me, or even adding and moving things around on the start menu. Back when I started, setting up dual monitors required manually building an X11 startup file and upgrading the OS usually meant compiling a new display driver, but that was around 2005 so of course things are MUCH better now.
Eventually you'll get down to the point of simply finding compatible software to reproduce something you did in Windows, which usually isn't difficult. A lot of this is going to depend on exactly how you use your computer and what you expect from it. I was already using Firefox and Thunderbird when I made the switch so that covered like half the things I needed at the time. Microsoft Office is (thankfully) gone although some parts of Libre Office still feel a bit rough. There's pretty much no remaining support for Adobe pdf files, so if your employer makes use of advanced features for filling out forms then you may run into trouble (of course standard PDFs are very well supported). You will find things along the way where some business has made a point of locking people in to their product and there's not much you can do except point out to your employer that they're buying licenses for something that is free and more widely supported in open source products, but mostly you'll just find your own solutions to work around these issues.
I'll be stuck with Windows on my work laptop, that's not something that I will be able to change anyway. I can point out as things come up, but with industry accepted software (like SolidWorks for example) that we use daily I can't see us switching to any alternative.
Somebody at my company got a hard-on for Microsoft products several years ago and I'd like to beat them senseless with all the problems it has caused. They started by moving all email to Microsoft "because we'll save a ton of money not having to pay techs to manage the servers." Within the month our mailboxes were full of spam and they've had to open up multiple new tech teams to deal with the constant fallout from phishing scams. And they just keep doubling down and ignoring things like the recent news of Microsoft ignoring a full remote-access vulnerability for more than a year and then mis-representing it when they did finally decide to patch it.
Yeah that's what has made me apprehensive to be honest. I feel pretty comfortable in windows doing many things, and my wife has a MacBook that I'm also pretty comfortable using so learning a new, third OS does seem obtuse. I like the idea of having more control over the software, but don't want to lose the "it just works" feeling of an OS or software I am used to using.
It doesn't really take long to get the basic stuff figured out though, but there is definitely that initial feeling of being lost. As others have suggested, start out running something in a VM on your Windows desktop, then you can quickly go back and forth to practice doing things in linux as you have time (plus it's a huge benefit to have a working browser in Windows so you can do a search if something breaks).
Linux has a number of different desktop environments to choose from, and what's cool is you can load up multiple types and select one at the login screen. If you want to start with something that is reasonably comfortable, try loading the 'Mate' desktop. Maybe I'm just used to old-school Windows (Win2K was the last one I used), but I've always thought Mate did a good job of putting all everything in logical places. As for the OS itself, there's also been a lot of suggestions so I'll throw mine in as well... I'm a die-hard Debian fan, both on my desktop and on my servers. It does NOT push bleeding-edge releases on you, so this means you won't have the very latest updates but to me it's more important to have a rock-solid system that I can always rely on. I've been using it for about 15 years now and it has never failed me.
On the desktop you will likely be notified when updates are available. On my servers I do automatic security updates, but leave the rest for manual updates so I can do one machine at a time and know right away if an update breaks something.
Linux mint is in my opinion the best distro for a new user, but you may personally not be fond of the UI.
I don't know how to write a guide for you, but if you have more specific questions feel free to ask them, best of luck!
My main tips are: get the live ISOs of a few of the most used Linux distributions, I'd recommend in particular: Debian (my current one), Mint, Fedora and OpenSUSE.
For Debian and Fedora, get both the KDE and GNOME editions. OpenSUSE is mainly only KDE, and Mint uses Cinnamon. Those are the "desktop types".
Try each live system on a virtual machine and see which one you like best. Your main choice tbh is the desktop environment you like the best (mine is KDE, also called Plasma), each distribution has it's own way of doing a few things as well.
Then pick the one you enjoy the most. All of those are long-lived, stable and well-supported and documented.
Source: me, I've used Linux since 2003 and introduced all my family it and they have been using it for years with no issue.
What are the main differences between fedora and Debian?
Fedora with gnome is usually my go to distro, but I have been playing around with endeavor and arch.
Technical differences:
Fedora uses RPM for package format, and is made to work with the latest versions of software, so it's almost a rolling release, and receives VERY constant updates (but it's still solid). The only other release model is the SilverBlue/Kinoite which is all about having an immutable base system and managing your applications through Flatpak.
Debian OTOH uses the DEB package format, and comes in 3 update models:
- unstable (bleeding edge software, breaks may occur) with constant updates
- testing, or Sid (with actively tested software, more akin to Fedora's main model. Stuff rarely goes wrong)
- stable (receives mostly security updates, focus on using battle-tested software versions. Ideal for servers and people who want their system to absolutely not go wrong. It's my current pick)
Project differences:
Fedora is on paper "community driven" but it's actually backed and steered on by RedHat. There's also a current proposal about implementing telemetry (turned on by default).
Debian is entirely community-made and driven, with no big corporation being its owner and/or main sponsor, and it has a stronger focus on FOSS. It's about as old as RedHat (both have their origins in the early 90s), so you can bet they'll both be around basically forever.
Edit: both are great distros, mature, stable and easy to use. Fedora was previously my most beloved, but my relationship with it soured over RedHat's leadership decisions. Don't let my current salt take away from the review :')
Okay I'll try out a few and keep notes on which ones I prefer until I make that "final" decision.
Most people just use a browser these days, and they behave the same in every OS.
Steam has proton to run non native games on Linux, and works well enough for most things.
Try a few live images before making the switch.
That's true, most of what I do would be in a browser as a casual user. My work laptop would still be running Windows and doing what I "need" (Excel, SolidWorks, etc.) Although I want to keep the ability to torrent and manage my media files nicely, I'm open to using different softwares than I'm used to for those.
I've been using linux for over 30 years, from Linux from Scratch to Mint. Dont' pick a distro that makes you seem 1337 or anything. I must say, that for the not-so terminal-savvy user, linux Mint is a great pick, most stuff (if not all) can be done with the GUI, and the installer is a breeze.
Picking a distro is one thing, picking a desktop environment is, in my opinion, more important. With default Mint, you get Cinnamon, which is a great pick, a balance between saving resources and eye candy. You also have XFCE which is very light, but some integrations are lacking, and it's lightness shows in the basic appearance. Gnome is another beast, can almost look as slick as MacOS, but is very resource hungry. And then there's KDE. This is something your either love or hate, no inbetween.
And for every task you want to perform, you'll need to have a little selection process, since there's a lot of choices.
Steam works most of the time. I only know about NVidia cards, but with the right drivers (for which Mint has a nice tool) it works well.
As said, I've used a lot of different Linux flavours, from very hacky and compily ones to very UX oriented ones. In the end, the UX one did it for me, I just wanted something that worked. So I do recommend Mint with cinnamon.
Okay great! An interesting tea combination: Mint with Cinnamon :) do most desktop environments work with most distros, or is there a list per each distro?
I second the Mint recommendation, but with your older hardware, I suggest using the version with Xfce instead of Cinnamon, as it's lighter weight
Oh definitely. Though I'm not actually sure how heavy Cinnamon is. Xfce or LxQt are my preference, since my hardware isn't great.
https://itsfoss.com/linux-mint-cinnamon-mate-xfce/ is a good comparison Mint-wise
is it possible? yeah, it's linux, you can do whatever you want. but as a newcomer, I'd pick a distro + DE combo that you can install all at once as switching may not be the most straightforward process. when you want more control so you can set things up exactly the way you like them, there's more DIY distros that make the process easier (because you don't first have to remove the configuration that made the existing DE work the way it's set up to work).
Okay that's good to know. That will come later as I get more comfortable in the environment.
Most desktop enviornments work with most distros. There will be a selection of linux users that say it doesnt matter because though its true you can make any distro look like each other. The navigations can change depending on the distro you use. I agree with most of the comments here, since you are starting out, mint is a solid choice. You get the backings of ubuntu, + its very user frienldy. A gui for packages/drivers and good sweep of software for daily usage. Im using it now since my arc 380 gpu is supported on it to use as the host for my virtual machines. ( i virtualize other distros/BSD and windows [for those pesky windows only games/programs])
I'd say don't over think it. Just pick a distribution and try to stick with it. The vast choices is also a curse for newcomers. It definitely delayed my journey by years going back to Windows.
Start with something well supported, I'd pick Mint.
Get games or whatever you use the computer for the most to work OK. Nvidia don't like Linux, pick AMD.
Be prepared to give up some old habits instead of forcing windows software on Linux. For example I had to give up Lightroom and as a photography hobbyist it was hard at first. Now I use Darktable and the switch back to Lightroom today seems equally hard.
So in short. Install a beginner friendly distro and get the most important stuff working and begin using the computer as much as possible.
Lots of suggestions for Mint so it seems that's a good choice for me! Thank you!
No problem. It probably won't be the one you end up with if you stick to Linux for a couple of years but as I said don't distro-hop. The big jump is the one to Linux. The difference between distributions isn't that important. Good luck!
I forget what GPU I currently have but I may be upgrading soon anyway so I'll be sure to keep that in mind for the purchase. That's the first big step: finding software to fit my needs as they come up but that can be piece by piece!
The biggest advice I can give is to start with something like, as has been mentioned, Linux Mint, but also, don't buy into the idea that you eventually need to move to a more "advanced" distro. If Mint, or wherever you wind up, works for you, and you have no compelling reason to switch, then don't. All Linux is Linux, so to speak, the only things that distinguish distros are packages/package managers, default settings/configurations, and pre-installed programs. There's nothing preventing you from eventually becoming a power-user on a "noob-friendly" distro, if that's something you desire in the first place.
Okay that's good to know! Stick with one to get more comfortable until it doesn't do something I need, basically?
The best way to switch imo is to first to switch some of your currently installed app on windows with others that have a linux version, so you will not be entirely lost when you switch os.
For example Microsoft Office is not available on linux so maybe try libreoffice or onlyoffice, another example Photoshop doesn't have a linux version too.
Then maybe try to familiarize with the os on a vm or on a live usb, especially on a live usb so you know what works out of the box and with your hardware.
If you want to game look for you games on protondb if they work or not, for online games instead watch areweanticheatyeat to see if the anticheat work.
Last tip is to go with a know distro not something obscure like steamos or kali linux, they are not meant to be used as daily drivers especially kali and can give you problems that will not occurre in other distro!
Okay thank you! Do you know of a good list of Linux compatible alternatives to Windows software? I'm sure I can track some down but may want to get familiar before making the jump like you said.
Tell me a software you use usually, and I'll tell you the Linux equivalent
Typically I have a browser (Firefox), Blender for some 3D modeling, uTorrent, previously Plex (but wanting to move away from it to something like Jellyfin maybe), Microsoft Offjce products but mostly Word/Excel/PowerPoint, and I have Outlook on my work laptop but am used to using browser for email client as needed so thats not a huge priority if there isnt a good mail application. There are probably others but those are the most often or daily usage!
Dunno any, but if you maybe tell me the software you want to switch I can tell you the alternative available on both Linux and Windows if available.
I would check out AlternativeTo. You can search for programs you use (and filter by OS).
I started using Linux with a dual-boot and always booted back into Windows because it worked better since I set it up right and was confortable with it. Only booting Linux and taking the time to understand how to do whatever I want to do finally made me comfortable enough to wipe that partition.
So my recommendation is don't be discouraged if things seem hard or annoying, it will definitely get better over time.
Chew
You should dual boot windows and linux if you want to keep using the Oculus Rift because there is no chance to getting it working on linux.
In my opinion its better to first test out some distros in virtual box and use them for the tasks that you would usually use your computer for. I'd recommend trying out Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, Debian, and Pop OS. These are solid distros that work.
Once you find a distro that you like, you should start dual booting it. I got a second drive for that, before eventually copying all the files I needed over to the second drive and wiping the first drive to be my main after a year. (you can still access your windows files this way without losing any storage to linux) (steam games do not work when on windows partitions so you'll still have to redownload games)
Oh, why would the Rift not work? Just no compatibility? I've used it with some Steam games which I thought I understood to work fine in Linux.
Yeah its not compatible, but also even with compatible headsets VR barely works. I have never gotten VR to work on linux myself.
Be prepared to take a temporary hit in productivity as you learn. There will also be a degree of learning curve. Don't get discouraged. When you do, take the advice that someone else pointed out of having a dual boot system so you can switch back to Windows. This way you won't be tempted to nuke it and go back just to have a temporary break.
Good luck!
There are a lot of "linux for beginners" blogs/videos/whatever. They're a good way to get an overview and learn the first steps. Don't get into a rabbit hole, though. Watch a couple and start trying it out.
You can try out Linux distros in a virtual machine (VM). You'll have to use your web-searching-skills to find a program that can run a VM as i can't recommend one that runs on Windows.
That program runs the operating system on top of the one you have now, so you don't need to reinstall over and over again while you find a distribution that works for you.
A distribution is what we call "a linux". "Linux" is just a part of the OS, and a distribution combines it with other software to make something your computer can boot. If this is a bit confusing, don't worry, it's not important, you just have to remember the word "distribution" (or distro)
I use a distro called Fedora, but between that and Ubuntu and Linux Mint you should find one that works for you. Don't overthink it. They all do the same job in slightly different ways, so just pick one and start using it for the stuff you usually use your computer for. Ubuntu is the easiest to search for help for, and Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, so 99.9% of solutions will be the same for Mint. Distros not based on Ubuntu works with the same instructions 90% of the time, but that might be too annoying when you are justvgetting your feet wet.
Note that a lot of distros have multiple "editions", "spins" or whatever they decided to call it. They mostly differ in the way your "desktop" is presented. Just look at some Youtube videos and some screenshot and try them out.
Now go use your computer with Linux. A lot of the initial friction is from having to learn stuff over again. Search the web for solutions and if you don't find them ask for help.
Your distrobution's forums are usually a good place to start, so is places like this. Try to give information you think might be relevant when asking for help and and help people help you by following their instructions and providing the information they ask for. Finding solutions to problems is like a seperate skill you need to train, so if it's confusing or you feel dumb for not understanding something, don't get discouraged, you're just getting better.
Welcome to the Linix community, we hope you like it.
Thank you! I'll look into them. Why did you decide to choose Fedora over the others you mentioned?
I'm not them, but I'll give my reasons. Compared to Ubuntu or Linux Mint, Fedora is more up-to-date, I like the default desktop more, and it uses a method of installing applications called "Flatpak," which I like more than Ubuntu's "Snap." (Snap can be removed on Ubuntu, but Fedora's default setup is closer to what I want.) Compared to other distros, it is more polished and consistent, largely due to it being backed by a large company. Fedora is really good for both power users and beginners, but being up-to-date can sometimes lead to bugs or incompatibilities, and the default desktop (GNOME) can be hard to adjust to. As a result, I would recommend Linux Mint as a good option for you.
By circumstance.
It was hard for me initially to switch over because i kept either creating or running into problems i couldn't figure out how to solve.
This overlapped with the Snowden leaks and i got really interested in privacy and security which lead to me running Qubes OS[1] for a short while. It was a slow and almost painful experience since i didn't actually have anything worth that effort to protect - but it got me over the edge and i wiped Qubes and reinstalled Fedora 23.
At the time i just liked the package manager better, for reasons that are no longer relevant.
Today i like it because it forces me into good habits of: figuring out what exactly is misbehaving > finding the official documentation or issue tracker for it > finding a solution or reporting the it to the developers.
Don't tire yourself out with that in the beginning. Just do stuff you need or stuff that seems fun.
Protip: Learn how to use Toolbx or Distrobox to create a "sandbox", (that's both the technical term and a very descriptive one) that will make it easier to get back to a working state if you mess something up. Learn about and understand what it can't get back to a working state. This will help keep you sane if you like to tinker.
1 A Linux-like operating system that only runs VMs and everything you do happens inside one of these. This way you can isolate you virtual "work computer" from your virtual "personal computer", making it harder for malicious programs to access the rest if your data.
I personally started on Linux Mint and after 6 months jumped to Artix. Mint is a very good base to learn and I recommend to just jump in and search everything you dont know how to do and eventually you will know enough to be comfortable using Mint.
I wanted to switch to KDE, had broken packages problems on Mint as some required newer ones but Mint did not yet have them and the AUR was a massive gain.
What made you want to change to KDE? Was it an issue with Mint's (Cinnamon?) that made you want to change?
No, just that I customized the max out of Cinnamon and I wanted more options.
Learn by doing. Just make the switch and fix every problem you run into. Google is your friend.
The "fixing every problem I run into" is what is making me apprehensive in the first place. I don't really have the time or energy to troubleshoot at home, especially being a pretty light user. Given enough time I feel I could figure things out, but I don't think they would be worth the effort since what I have now does work for me. I was just looking for the most convenient way to slide into it as opposed to making a switch and hitting a break wall if that makes sense.
