I’ve wanted to go over to Linux for a long time but I have no idea how to go about it. I hear about incompatibility problems with hardware and all the different options for different Linux OS’s and that’s it, I forget about it for a while to avoid the headache.
So where do I start? I don’t even know how to choose hardware or what to look for. The number of options with Linux makes things a little confusing.
And although others here have answered the question before, I’m unsure what I have to do to stay ‘safe’ on Linux. Are there extra steps or is it just the standard, don’t open dodgy links and turn off Java script in the PDF viewer kind of thing? Does Linux come with a trustworthy firewall/antivirus/malware detection? Is there a chance of Linux e.g. sending my passwords, etc, to someone or just letting someone into my harddrive? I hear that ‘open source’ means people can check the code but how do I know if someone has checked the code—I wouldn’t know what to look for myself.
I followed the Linux subreddit but the users the can be rather… enthusiastic, which is great, but I need something far more basic to get started lol.
Is there a good step-by-step guide somewhere? Or can anyone give me some pointers/tips/advice?
I mainly browse, type, and read pdfs and other text files. No gaming, although I wouldn’t be opposed to it. No need to be mobile; laptops are terrible for my back so I always use an external monitor, anyway, so I won’t be using it ‘on the go’.
Edit: Thanks for all the advice. I got a machine up and running from a bootable USB.
Any others who read the comments here because they’re interested in trying out Linux – if you have Windows installed and want to keep it on your HDD/SSD, partition your drive within Windows. Then boot from the USB. You can partition your drive (and keep Windows) from the bootable USB but it’s a bit more complicated and it makes it harder to create a swap partition and a storage partition. I had to go back and forth a few times to figure this out.
I switched to linux less than a year ago after using winblows for most of my life. I found Fedora to be really easy to start with. It’s a good mix of stability access to new versions of stuff. KDE plasma is a really good all around desktop environment and easy to adjust to if coming from windows. I’m sure others will chime in with other distro/DE suggestions.
I’d give you more advice, but I still have a lot to learn about linux. I won’t be much help with hardware either because I only know about hardware leading up to when I build a PC; I forget most of it shortly afterward.
The fact that you’ve jumped ship and don’t want to go back is advice enough! I think I’m going to give it a go.
It’s amazing how much we can learn about something for a specific task and then forgetb almost all of it almost immediately after. I recently did some tiling and I got quite good and quite quick by the end. If I ever come to do any more tiling, I’ll have completely forgotten all the little tricks and the first few tiles will go down wonky and slow.
Do you have an old laptop lying around? That’s a great way to try out Linux without wiping out your main system. Most hardware, especially if it’s a few years old, has excellent support in Linux.
There are antivirus programs for Linux, but I wouldn’t recommend it. First of all malware targeting Linux is so much more rare than malware targeting Mac or Windows, but also Linux has some better security practices in general, like not requiring you to run everything as administrator. Most distros will come with a firewall installed that you can configure if you want.
Linux is one of the most reviewed pieces of software in the world. It’s used by every major company, and in almost all of the Internet servers you visit. The chances that it’s exfiltrating your passwords is extremely low. Linus has even discussed in an interview that the NSA proposed to put a backdoor in Linux, but he refused.
To get started, I would recommend just installing a beginner-friendly distro like Linux Mint on an old laptop or desktop you have lying around. It’s actually super easy to jump in, and you’ll learn a lot more by actually trying it out compared to reading some beginner guide.
Good luck! I’ve been using Linux as my daily driver for over 10 years now and I would never go back to Windows 😀
I think my most viable option is an all-in-1 machine that I might be able to get my hands on soon.
Otherwise, I’d be buying or building something if I could do it cheap enough to start with.
That’s reassuring about the built-in security. I think that’s what I needed to hear to jump in. So it’s safe enough for internet shopping, email, that sort of thing?
Thanks.
Incompatibility problems with hardware? Nvidia isn’t great but it still works. What hardware do you have?
Have you used a virtual machine?
I would recommend Ubuntu because there is the most help for it available online. Googling questions with “Ubuntu” at the end of it will yield better results than other distributions but your mileage may vary. There are plenty of other options but Ubuntu is the most straightforward, and if you don’t like it you can try something else.
If you want to install it on your hardware you should look up “How to make linux live USB”
I don’t want to be rude but I feel like you’re overthinking the whole thing. If you want to play around with it just look up “how to make a linux virtual machine” and that will show you how to make one without losing your files.
If you want to use it as your main operating system you should make a backup of all your files first. Just throwing them on an external hard drive should be sufficient in most use cases.
Let me know if you have more specific questions, I know I didn’t answer everything in your post but feel free to let me know. I’m not a Linux power user or someone who works with it for a living but someone who made the switch 10+ years ago and has gotten by as a regular user pretty well.
I might have a 2010 MacBook Pro somewhere if that turns on. Otherwise, I’d either look at buying a machine or I might be able to get my hands on an all-in-1 computer that will probably ‘break’ with the next Windows update.
I don’t rely have old machines as I mainly use work computers. If I have anything in the proverbial attic, it would be ooold. Circa 2003. I had two machines between then and 2010 but one inexplicably fried itself and the other was stolen.
I’ve not used a virtual machine. The bootable USB might be more straightforward for me?
You’re not being rude. I accept that I’m overthinking it. It’s partly because my main strategy for staying safe online has been to distrust everything lol. And partly because I don’t want to fork out for a machine that doesn’t work. Tbh I’d be willing to buy something cheap-ish to use to play with before I commit to a faster machine as I could give it away to someone who needs it for school once I’ve done.
But my impression was that Linux only works on certain hardware and with factory-sold setups being what they are nowadays, it’s not been clear how I would resolve an issue if one component didn’t work. You did say that I was over thinking this!
Thanks for your advice.
Okay a 2010 MacBook does make it more complicated. That’s pre retina though so it might be okay, but on a laptop Linux gets harder.
I never received a notification for this message, I apologize. You should definitely be able to use a USB yourself, https://etcher.balena.io/ is the software to make it when you choose your operating system.
I would look into a virtual machine first to try it out. It will be shockingly boring once it’s up and running and it’ll be slower than if you installed it on your hardware. Try out https://www.virtualbox.org/
You should do what’s within your budget for buying a computer, I wouldn’t recommend anyone buy something they can’t justify. It helps to know what hardware you have instead of using an all in one setup but there are other people who have used those setups and you may be able to find help more easily. It can be a toss up.
I’ll give you a more proper response in the morning, sorry I missed this! Still learning Lemmy
For the usage you describe really any distribution is fine. A distribution is like a style of linux. Mint, Fedora, and Manjaro are pretty easy ones to start with, just pick one and download the iso file. From there you can make a bootable USB drive where you can play with whichever one you chose, they will have instructions on any of their respective websites on how to make a bootable USB. The best part is that the bootable USB doesn’t change your existing system until you tell it to, so at any point you can unplug the USB and boot back into windows.
Here’s a slightly dated video on how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vq_v0oGPH8
Chris has a great channel and likely covers questions that are going to come up for you.
Best of luck, don’t be afraid to ask questions. One of the best ways to learn is to break stuff and figure out how to get back to a working system.
if you just want a quick start list of steps
grab your computer (laptop or desktop pc, doesnt matter)
install virtual box or vmware (doesnt matter which tbh) on your computer
go to the ubuntu homepage or linux mint (or if you wanna get more involved look for other beginer friendly distros, pop os is good for that too)
after you download the distro you chose, install it on the virtual machine (theres youtube videos for this and help across the web)
try it out for a while, its possible you run into issues that only exist on the virtual machine, this isnt too bad, spend some time just getting used to it
