Like, where do I go to install Linux?
Are there any benefits over Windows 11?
It seems to work just fine for my Steam Deck.
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Pick a distro, any distro, download and write it to a flash drive, boot and install on your drive of choice. Mess around with it for a bit getting to learn the ropes, decide you want a different distro, rinse and repeat.
Benefits over Windows: no telemetry, no spyware, your device is your own and you have full control, no requirement to have a TPM or secure boot, updates only when you want them.
Reminds me of my college days when I was installing new distros everyday but the huge sense of accomplishment, when I finally installed Arch after 2 days by building drivers one by one with the help of complete strangers on IRCs, will never be matched. Fun times!
A distro? Could you send me a link?
Also, does Linux do more things than Windows 11?
I don’t really care about the spying business because, frankly, I’ve accepted that there will be a lot of that going on anyway.
Distro = distribution. “Linux” is a family of operating systems, and there’s a bunch of kinds to choose from. As a beginner I would suggest something well documented and popular like Ubuntu, or Mint which is based on Ubuntu.
In terms of the three main PC operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux) there’s only minor differences in functionality but sometimes the way something is achieved is different. Linux OSes are unique in that they are for the most part open source and free to use and modify. You can change every part of the OS if you want, whereas with Windows and Mac that’s very difficult. Depending on what hardware you have you may have some issues on Linux OSes though. Companies make drivers primarily for Windows, and do drivers for popular Linux distro as an afterthought or not at all, although that’s slowly changing.
In terms of not caring about the spying business… That’s your choice of course, but the argument of “I don’t have anything to hide so I don’t care if I’m surveilled, or as you say” it’s happening anyway so why bother fighting it" is very weak and leads to further erosions of our privacy and ultimately our freedoms.
Eh, I hear you on the last part, but it has more to do with picking my battles.
Anyway, thanks for the rest of the info, btw!
Linux isn’t really a thing itself, it describes a lot of different operating systems, each with their own features. Then beyond that there is window managers. It’s very different from corporate OSes.
Ubuntu is one distro that’s very popular and easy to install. But it’s also not so popular with enthusiasts. I personally first installed Ubuntu at 12 so maybe its a good place to start and with time you can learn about the other ones.
Otherwise people like Pop OS.
Warning tho: Linux is addictive. I have 3 computers each with Linux. My favourite is Debian with i3. Be careful before you spend too much money on computers!
Gotcha! Thanks!
start simple and just virtualize one on your windows machine.
User friendly choice would probably be Linux Mint. There are lots of distros, with pros and cons, and differences between each one.
I’ve used Debian for the past ~15 years, which is one of the older distros.
If you have other questions feel free to ask.
Anything good for compiling, research, and (as weird as this may sound) quoting from a book? Or note-taking in general?
I like keeping computing simple, i’ll give you my example of how i quote/take notes from books. I made a bash script using xclip (wl-clipboard for wayland), this tool does stuff related to your clipboard aka the place things go when you copy them (in linux text goes to your clipboard simply by highlighting/selecting with the mouse). I use my mouse to select a sentence that i liked from a book and press Ctrl+P (in linux you can customize your keybindings easily) and the script just copy pastes it directly to a file using echo command, this way i dont have to open the file write whatever and save the file.
Echo command?
For beginners, you can never go wrong with Ubuntu. The installation is pretty straightforward these days.
Apart from Ubuntu, I would also recommend looking at Mint, ElementaryOS, Pop!OS and ZorinOS.
The reason why there are so many to chose from is because Linux is customizable to the core. A lot of them are specialized to serve a niche purpose like entertainment, penetration testing, core development etc. For general purpose too, different teams have different vision and they end up making there own. The benefits over Windows 11 depends on which one you choose and what matters to you.
This might be a hot take, but if you are not looking to dig deeper into internals just to learn, Windows/MacOS is a better choice.
Err, penetration testing? Core development? Sorry, don’t understand these terms lol.
But, err, can I use my airpods with Linux? Because mine are meant for Windows (and other OSes). But I don’t know if there’s a way to use them on Linux.
Also, an entertainment “Linux” or something for research and compiling would be interesting.
As long as you have the required hardware for bluetooth, you should be able to connect most devices. For example i can connect my Wonderboom speaker, PS4 controller and some random airpods i bought from aliexpress simply by turning them on.
You can use Calibre to organize your books and papers, it is a very powerful tool with a lot of options.
Imo the hardest part of linux is just finding out about the tools available out there.
Calibre? Do tell.
Buy an usb, flash it with pop_os! iso, plug it into an old computer and just start.
kewl
A good start is to go to distrowatch and look at the popular distros. Anything in the top 15 should work great. For beginners I would pick among MX Linux, EndeavourOS, Fedora, OpenSUSE, or Ubuntu/an Ubuntu-based distro like Linux Mint or Pop!_OS. You can click on their name and read a bit about them and download the ISO either from the “home page” link under the description, or by scrolling down to the release announcements and clicking there.
I highly recommend Ventoy. You can download that, plug in a removable storage device, then run Ventoy2Disk. It will guide you through installing it to the removable storage, and once you do all you need to do is drag the .iso files onto the drive. You can put as many iso files as you like and Ventoy will let you choose which one you want to use when you reboot. All of the ones I mentioned above have a “live” environment meaning that you can try them out freely without doing anything permanent. MX Linux even gives you the option of saving the changes you make in the live environment so you can install software that will be there the next time you boot into the live environment.
For the reason above if you’re lost on where to start, grab an iso of MX-21.3_x64 if your hardware is older or MX-21.3_x64 “ahs” if it’s newer from their website, slap the iso on the device with Ventoy, reboot, press F11 or whatever at your BIOS splash screen to change the boot device to the one with the iso, then just follow the instructions to boot into MX and go to town.
Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions or need more help.
Cool beans.
Yeah, I just need something useful.
So have you taken the plunge yet?
I’m weighing my options, especially when it comes to distros.
What are you leaning towards? Honestly just pick any distro. Switching isn’t a big hassle, you can keep all your personal files and just overwrite the software. Though if you’re really unsure, I think you should steer towards the more popular ones when starting out.
Gotcha.
-first: you need to choose a distro, to know what’s better for you, go to https://distrochooser.de/ and download the recommended options. but my favorite are: -devuan -mx linux -mint linux (if you want a windows-like experience)
-benefits over windows? no need for KMSpico, keygens, no telemetry (in most of them), no need for “cracks” to use a good software fully, no need to deal with long hours of installations (in most of them), ready for use, approved by communist countries, and you’ll get many “hacker points” with your windows friends
come home comrade, abandon the hellish landscape of windows, but be aware of the sickness called “distrohopping”
Distrohopping?
yeah, it’s when you try a distro, but you want to try another, and then another…because you don’t want to miss a cooler distro waiting
Oh I see. Yeah, just pick one and pretty much stick with it for a long time. I getcha. Yeah, I can do that.
