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I switched to Linux!
(hexbear.net)
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this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024
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Damn. Sounds cool. I despise windows (naturally) and sometimes want to do this too. I am scared because windows is all I’ve ever known, but on the other hand it’s now almost unrecognizable from what I grew up with and I don’t really know how to do anything on it anymore. If I was ever a computer person, I am certainly not one now. Think switching would be worth the effort for a simpleton like me?
Windows 8 almost destroyed my computer-illiterate father-in-law so I suggested he try Linux Mint and after a while he agreed. He was fine for the 3 or so years he used that laptop. There was an issue with it like 2 years after I did the install regarding the official repos being outdated and keeping regular updates from running but that was the only time I really had to mess with it for him.
I did my own distro hopping years ago and eventually settled on Linux Mint personally and I feel like it's probably among the better options for "just works" out of the box for people wanting to take the leap. I do know a lot of people praise Fedora with KDE too but I just never really got around to checking it out personally so can't vouch.
Even if you are computer illiterate, most stuff you need will be the official software center(repositories) of whatever distro you go with and it's all basically a one button click to install these days. But also command line isn't super scary either, but you mostly don't even need to use it for just everyday stuff.
Try watching this video, Linux isn't for "computer people" it's for people who reject being treated like trash and are searching for greener pastures.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Install it in a virtual machine and just full screen it and use it like that for a day. Ignoring that it's gonna run like ass you can get an idea of how things work, and if it doesn't work then just shut down the VM and go back to what you were doing before.
how many people who are nervous to install linux know how to set up a VM?
There's no risk of data loss with a VM. If you don't like it then just shut the VM down and pretend it never happened. With a dual boot you always run the risk of clicking the wrong option, or the installer just not liking your windows install and bjorking it (usually the bootloader)
i think you replied to the wrong comment
No, definetly replied to the right one.
Either is going to require you to google things. How to set up a VM can be googled on the computer while in the process of setting it up. If you're stuck in the bios because secure boot is blocking you but you don't know that then you can't just fire up firefox and google away at it.
Either way is going to require research if you don't know what you're doing, one lets you stay in the "comfort" of windows while doing it.
anything you change it will be a learning curve
sometimes you might not have the bandwidth for this
if you can then FUCK YES you should
start by making a liveboot USB. If you go by @hello_hello@hexbear.net 's reccomendation of Mint, follow he instructions only steps "live boot" and "download". It will not change anything on your computer. Only an experiment.
Well, honestly, yeah! Def get input from more seasoned folks, but most distributions have a "live" trial version thing where you run it off of a thumb drive without installing it. That way you can see how it behaves and poke around before you commit. The other way is to do a dual boot which gets a bit more technical but it's not extremely complicated. Another way to get the full experience is to find an old laptop and install it there to learn. A lot of the manually installed things through the terminal is hardly relevant anymore, it's gotten so much easier to use.
Edit: another plug for Linux Mint btw.