Trying Linux after using Windows for decades

Oh boy, now's the last chance to stop before it's too late.
Don't, under any circumstances, ever install something called "EndeavourOS"!
It's the gateway to Å̸̧͉͝R̴̫̮̅͠C̷̪̘̬̓̿H̴̡̏, and once you set foot on that path, you won't come out the other side without Unix socks and a Blåhaj.

Which way do I gotta go for the Unix beard?
- Slackware
The socks were in my cart, my mouse pointer right io the order button but before I could click the mouse, I changed my mind. It was almost too late but I installed Fedora just one moment short of being unable to turn back for good...
Don't forget a apple fan boi level of false superiority.
- ~~false~~ superiority
- Is hackintish still a thing? I haven’t looked at that in like 15 years.
If gaming is a priority, Garuda is a nice one to avoid as well
- “Gaming” distros are such a noob trap
Me but opensuse tumbleweed, have it on my PC and Thinkpad now.
My first distro was arch btw. It's not hard if you approach it with a mindset to learn. That's the whole point of Linux anyway, it's a tool and the better you know your tool the more capable that tool becomes.

It's like a lathe with interchangeable parts and gears. You don't know what your doing it might throw some metal at you but it's also capable of crafting a precise and finely finished part in a short amount of time.

I also throw fedora on my laptop because laptops are an ergonomic nightmare. Plug and play is nice for when you don't have time to really learn your tools or do setup and just need any hammer to get the job done. You can still smack your thumb though, it's not a cordless drill with proprietary batteries like Macos or windows.

I've been on Linux Mint for two weeks now AND I LOVE IT. It feels like computing from back in 2010, just the way I like it.

Straight up it reminds of of being back on Windows 7 and it's so goddamn cozy to be back there
- It's glorious, and as more people are driven off Windows by MS's shady practices, Linux is only going to get better and better.
- (re: learning curve) I'm actually enjoying the process of learning a whole new OS that isn't constantly getting in my way. I like having software that's logically designed, like a Word Processor (Libre Writer) that actually has the "Print" button right on the main screen and hasn't buried it at the bottom of a sub-menu that's not even on the menu bar.
Since Mint is a derivative of Ubuntu, are you being asked to pay for security updates? Using Ubuntu right now and looking to switch soonish
- Mint doesn't ask for you to pay
- Hi there.
  
  And no. I haven't been aske dto pay for any updates.
- Is this happening on Ubuntu, or are people just saying it might happen cos they don't trust canonical?
  
  Also, Mint Debian edition exists and works just fine. I have it on a brand new Intel laptop
- Ubuntu Pro is free for personal use

Just made the switch to Nobara Linux on my desktop and ill probably go with Mint on my ancient laptop tomorrow. My only hang up was games but it seems like compatibility is a lot better nowadays so hopefully I can fully switch over. Same for windows only programs and Wine.

I only had a couple programs holding me: Fusion 360 and Windows 3D Builder.

Then I found out there's a functional snap pack for Fusion 360. Now I just have to come up with a solution for Windows 3D Builder.

And the reason I use Windows 3D Builder is for 1 feature: it's model repair function is far and away the best I've used for broken 3D models.
- No idea if this will work for 3d builder but thought I'd mention it, Winapps
As Nobara is Fedora based and Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu/Debian, perhaps stay in this eco system and use some Fedora spin/derivate on the Laptop as well.

Good luck with the transition away from Windows!
- Run Fedora KDE on my 2016 MacBook Pro, runs amazingly.
How's it with NVIDIA hardware?
- I've been using Mint for about 6 months now and it works with Nvidia just fine BUT the new user experience isn't great. You have to use the nomodeset kernel option and install Nvidia drivers, otherwise you'll boot to a black screen.
  
  Helpful guide: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=421550
- Im on AMD so can't help with that

Welcome to the Linux side of things

If you've recently installed Linux, you're probably going to be making a lot of changes and installing a lot of stuff over the next couple of weeks. I recommend using TimeShift (comes pre-installed on Linux Mint) to make a snapshot of your system. (It works like System Restore on Windows). The first snapshot takes up the most space but later snapshots only contain the changes you make to your system.

It's a good idea to take a snapshot before you update things like graphics card drivers or additional desktops. Then, you can always go back to where you were if something gets messed up. You can even rescue a system that won't boot by booting from your Live Linux USB and running Time shift. It will find your hard drive backups and restore them for you.

Green Ubuntu

Green Ubuntu best Ubuntu

Welcome, if you need any help feel free to ask! Also don't let the few bad eggs in our community ruin your time, there's plenty of us who really care about building a strong community.

Hell yeah! Welcome brother!

I figure this is a halfway decent place to ask, and it's on my mind. If there's a better place to ask, I'd love a point in the right direction, cause navigating lemmy well still eludes me.

Looking to test out linux for the first time and I know fuck-all about the basics, and I have a couple of questions:

spoiler

gaming is my main use for my pc, and I've seen Bazzite and Pop_OS as recommendations, are these good starting points? Relevant system specs (I assume):

CPU: Intel i5-9600K (overclocked in BIOS)
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2060 (overclocked with MSI afterburner)
2 monitors setup, with my main setup for gsync ('adaptive-sync/freesync'). Both are ASUS monitors
I almost universally don't play games with anticheat, so I'm not concerned on that front (I've heard that's a big wall for linux gaming)

spoiler

I plan on using an SSD for testing linux because I have a spare available, but I'd like to eventually use my NVME that my current windows install is on for linux (after swapping windows to a different drive of course). Could I expect any issues by doing that, or should I set up NVME for linux before starting the dive?

spoiler

I'd like to be able to boot into windows or linux regularly (at least until I get my bearings and settle into it), but I've heard windows like to fuck with boot processes in some way? Any tips for avoiding boot issues?

Again, if there's a better place to ask (I'm sure there is lol), I'd appreciate a mention for that too.

Edit: collapsible spoilers are a damn godsend.

I recommend downloading the latest Linux Mint .iso file and using Rufus to create a bootable, live USB drive. Also, if your computer has an internal d: drive, I would recommend using that entire drive, instead of dual-booting from c: (I had a bad experience removing Linux from a dual boot system and getting the partitions back to normal). This way, you're not touching anything on your windows (c:) drive.

If you’re really worried about messing up your c: drive, you can physically disconnect it while you’re installing Linux, so the Live installer only has one choice for installation. After you've installed Linux, change your boot order in BIOS to boot from your d: drive first. Once you’re sure Linux is working correctly, you can run “sudo update-grub” which will add your c: drive to the boot menu on the d: drive. This allows you to dual boot into either OS without touching anything on your c: drive (so the boot menu will be on d:, your linux drive). Grub will let you choose between continuing to boot from d: or to boot windows on c: without you having to change the boot order every time in BIOS.

If you use Steam to manage your games library, you're really going to like that Steam has been developing a proprietary Wine wrapper, called Proton, which lets you run all your Steam games from Linux. Steam also has a native linux client. So all the Steam games you backed up on windows, you can restore on Linux. I've run everything from Unreal Gold, to Witcher 3 to Techtonica to Fallout 4 without any problems.
- Awesome, thanks!
  
  I'm definitely not short on drives, so I'm not gonna bother with any partition shenanigans. The trouble is I only have one NVME drive, so it's just a question of which OS gets my best drive, but that's pretty minor honestly.
  
  You mentioned Fallout 4, do you have experience in playing with mods on linux? That's another unknown for me, as I like modding and have no idea how that might transfer over.
my gear

I still use HDDs because my 2 PCs are very old. But they both run versions of Linux mint 21.3 (the current release) without issue. Mint xfce on my 15 year old optiplex with 4Gb ram.(because 2 slots are fried) My other different model optiplex (also about 15 years old) has mint xfce, mint, another mint (different purposes) a shared volume, a timeshift partition (snapshots) on a 1tb hdd and windows on its original 320mb drive. 8Gb ram, onboard video, external soundcard

things

Over clocking on Linux... Not sure if necessary? Linux uses a CPU governor which throttles or maxes CPU based on .. Things. Same with memory.

I don't play games, but I do run other processor heavy stuff. I know nvidia has/had issues depending on certain seemingly random things. Their drivers, I believe, are mostly NOT open source.
WINE is a godsend, especially the latest version 8. Wine gives you the ability to natively rum most windows apps. (Some run better on Linux, lol) You could install windows as a VM, too. But wine works for what I need (fl studio basically)

booting issues

If you dual boot, windows must be installed first. Windows (MBR) and Linux (GPT or MBR) use different partition table types. Windows stores the boot loader in the MBR (master boot record) which is usually the first 100mb of a disk. Linux gpt can install boot record to disk (/dev/sda), to disk boot partition(/dev/sda6), and to BIOS. Windows will often overwrite the Linux boot loader (GRUB) Boot menus in Linux are fully customisable text files. They can be simple text menus, or fancy graphical ones. When GRUB is.used it finds other OSs on your disks. It makes a menu. It works. Separate drives helps. Linux isn't limited to 4 logical volumes or the need for extended partitions. Linux can see all filesystem types. Windows?

::: filesystem's Linux uses a fuckton of different filesystems for different functions (Linux is at its core -simple, but it is voluminous in the knowledge base - 15 years later and I'm still going, 'oh, that's cool, I didn't know I could do that) Anyway, the main fs on Linux is ext4, but it can read/write/modify NTFS, fat, vfs, luks, and on and on. Windows does NTFS and fat. :::

::: don't be scared The terminal is actually, really, truly, for real, your best friend and portal to power potential :::

Resources may seem overwhelming at first. Linux uses a lot of words to do things. The GUI has gotten prettier, but the real customisation comes in text files(all of Linux is text files) there's not registry that is mostly unreadable/unusable.

Linux manages resources much better (Maybe because it doesn't try to stuff ads all over the place and spy on you)

Use the manpages man7.org or sjmilar Use archwiki.org Use bash.org Use your distros site (or use Ubuntu.com or Debian.org for deb/Ubuntu variants like mint)

Learn your package manager. (Apt, pacman, whatever it is). Install apps from there. Unless trusted or you've reviewed the code, avoiding installation from websitez is good practice.

Everything is a text file. Configuration files are usually easily readable and configurable. Though some may be in json and some in Java and some in Matlab and some in sh and some in plaintext (the joys of not having monolithic monopolies controlling everything)

Anyway. Its late. I've rambled. Happy fossing
Consider Nobara for gaming!
- Seconded, runs like butter Bazzite sounds good too but I don't like the idea of an immutable distro so until/unless nobara becomes broken I'm sticking with it.

Ever since we got the OK to dual boot our machines at work, I’ve been daily driving Mint Cinnamon unapologetically and with no plans to change.

I’m looking to close tickets rather than tinker with my install. It’s nice to start with something fully featured working great out of the box. But it’s still Linux, and based on Debian/Ubuntu at that, so I can run/install/change whatever I want. I don’t feel restricted just because somebody else did a ton of configuration for me before I installed it.

If this were 20 years ago, I’d totally be an Arch/Gentoo user, constantly breaking things and troubleshooting, distro hopping, and all that. But the busy middle aged parent version of me currently speaking is extra grateful for all the effort volunteers (and some companies) have put into making new installs so freaking easy.

Honestly, I'd be a Mint user if it weren't for me being almost entirely spoiled rotten by the the ease of using pacman. I've literally never had an easier time with a package manager.

If I had to choose a more ready-made distro to replace my current Arch install, I'd probably look into EndeavorOS.

Windows 11 is too proudy.

If I wanted to be violated as much as Windows 11 wants to violate me I'd reinstall Grindr
- Grab your ankles and bite the pillow, Microsoft is going in dry.

Mint was the distro that converted me. After 8-10 years, I'm still using the cinnamon DE, but just on top of Arch. Next hope is the devs port it over wayland so I can also ditch xorg. (There is a demo/alpha available)

Can somebody explain why everyone is trying to ditch xorg? I've never had an issue with xorg, but I'm always hearing about major issues with Wayland.
- Xorg(and the x server protocol) is very old and like most long lived software has quite a few warts and quirks.
  
  Wayland has been "the future" for like 10 years (though it's quite a bit older). It's only now starting to reach a critical mass where things are starting to change so it might feel a bit of a mess at the moment.
- Because it is mess or a program. If nothing else Wayland has much better security. However, X tends to be less performant and harder on power usage. It also has poor support for input devices such as touch screens and is unreliable with multiple different monitors.
- Better multimonitor support, VRR, and HDR are some of the promises I think. I want all of these things but not enough to switch away from Linux Mint. I'll be happy when Wayland makes its way in over the next couple of years.
- Wayland has much more up-to-date graphics technologies behind it to put it simply.
- Noob here, also curious to this..