Hi all,

As the title states, I’m interested in making the switch from Windows to Linux. I know absolutely nothing about Linux, other than that fact that there are distros that exist under Linux, and Linux itself isn’t an OS, or so I think.

I have 2 laptops and my main home office PC, which I use for my job and gaming.

My plan is to switch one of my laptops to a Linux distro, and test it out. This laptops only purpose is web browsing, so I figure getting Linux set up to do something as simple as opening a browser is something I am capable of.

Down the road, once I’ve sort of learned on this laptop, I may work my way up to using other distros and dual booting my main PC. Who knows, maybe I’ll even switch over completely prior to Windows 11 rolling out.

I’ve heard getting games to work with Linux can sometimes be a hassle, and can require some fiddling, so I won’t be doing gaming on a Linux distro until I feel quite comfortable.

So with the above context, I’m looking for recommendations on a distro I should use, any guides that any of you may have found helpful, and generally any insight on things I may need to be aware of.

I am fairly tech savvy (probably not compared to most of you), and am not afraid of tinkering with things until they work. Any help would be muchly appreciated, and if this isn’t the correct place to post, please let me know and point me in the right direction.

  • TJDetweilerOPEnglish
    3·
    8 hours ago

    Thanks for the detailed response, I’m really looking forward to getting it set up. It’s nice to hear that it seems like you can sort of dip your toes in and be in a somewhat familiar environment at the beginning.

    • Diplomjodler@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      8 hours ago

      Mint is great. It’s very easy to get started with but it’ll also serve just fine for advanced users who don’t like tinkering too much. Installing on a machine you don’t depend on for daily work is a smart way to do it. You’ll be up and running in no time

      • TJDetweilerOPEnglish
        2·
        5 hours ago

        Awesome. That’s pretty much exactly what I’m looking for. I’m sure I’ll tinker more down the road, but this is perfect for now.

    • mortimer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      8 hours ago

      I found Linux Mint familiar but also setup by default the way I always liked/wanted my Windows system to look. With Windows I was constantly wrestling with the machine, changing things to make it look and function better for me, only for Microsoft to screw it all up again after an update. Whatever distro you choose I’m confident you’ll be fine. Only issue I had with my girlfriend’s Lenovo laptop was getting into the Bios to change the boot order to boot to USB. Make sure you shut off fast boot on your Windows system (it’s under Power Management settings) otherwise it might lock you out of the Bios.

      • TJDetweilerOPEnglish
        1·
        5 hours ago

        I have issues right now with fast boot on my Windows machine. If I disable it, I can’t shut down my computer, it just restarts. Weird problem that has somehow survived a re-image. Likely some issue I’m going to have to sort out prior to starting the Linux process.

        • mortimer@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          5 hours ago

          And welcome to the wonderful world of Linux, where the most difficult thing about it is often trying to get rid of Windows which will cling on to your system for dear life. When I was dual booting and didn’t boot into Windows for a couple of months, the first time I did so I was greeted with a friendly message thanking me for being a loyal Windows user. The bastards clearly know even when you’re getting ready to jump ship. Regarding your reboot issue, just do what I did and keep monkeying about until it does what you want, or take the hard drive out and scrub it completely.