Why wait? Install it now. I would recommend Mint as a beginner distro.
Comment on Microsoft is reportedly banning Palestinians in the U.S. for life for calling relatives in Gaza
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
This is the final nail in the coffin for me. My next PC is going to be a Linux machine.
z00s@lemmy.world 3 months ago
djsaskdja@reddthat.com 3 months ago
Why do people keep recommending Mint as a starter distro? Maybe if your computer is a toaster, but it lacks tons of modern features. Seems like a one way track to people thinking Linux sucks. Fedora KDE edition is a way better beginner distro for a halfway decent PC.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I use Mint and I like it. It does everything I need it to do.
What keeps people away from Linux, or at least it helped keep me away, were people arguing with each other about distros like a mini-OS war within the OS wars and it makes the whole thing sound like it’s a lot more trouble than it’s worth.
Most people’s computers are “toasters” because most people’s computers are used for things like web browsing, word processing and maybe a few games. They don’t need the modern features, they need something that works better than a Chromebook and isn’t super bloated.
todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Do you know what also keeps people away from Linux? Being told that Linux Mint is a good distro for beginners, and then going to the Linux Mint website and finding that there are three different flavors, Cinnamon, XFCE, and MATE, and not knowing what any of that means because you’re a beginner. Beginners don’t benefit from incomplete information that requires prior knowledge, and every time I see “use Linux Mint” without any clarification on Desktop Environments, I see a jerk who doesn’t know what “beginner” means.
Krzd@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Because the UI is similar to windows, so it will feel more familiar to (ex-)windows users
todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 3 months ago
The UI is similar to Windows.
Which UI? Linux Mint comes in three flavors: Cinnamon, XFCE, and MATE.
Nobody has suggested a specific flavor, and those desktop environments vary quite a bit.
djsaskdja@reddthat.com 3 months ago
KDE is closer to the modern Windows UI than Cinnamon. Cinnamon looks like Windows XP which nobody has used in like a decade. It’s not a familiar UI anymore.
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
Noted, thank you!
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 3 months ago
The next version of Mint is in beta right now and will likely release within a few weeks. Might want to hold off until then.
uis@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Or OpenSUSE Thumbleweed
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
How does that compare to mint?
i_have_some_enemies@welppp.com 3 months ago
“I will stop smoking next year”
soloner@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Not even remotely comparable situations
i_have_some_enemies@welppp.com 3 months ago
Stop smoking you weak ass woke turd
ripcord@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Will believe it when it happens.
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
Have you considered that you don’t know me?
ripcord@lemmy.world 3 months ago
It’s not personal. I’ve just seen hundreds of people claim “that’s it, I’m installing Linux on my system tonight/this weekend!” In response to one of these articles. Very rarely do people seem to actually follow through.
If you do, great! Although already putting it off until your next system isn’t a good sign.
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
I’ve been vassilating on it for a couple years, actually. I was going to do it when I built a PC (I just had a laptop for college) but then my parents bought one for me while I was in the middle of figuring out what parts to get with my sister’s help. It’s probably my fault for telling them about it around my b.day, tbf. 😂 I used a partitioned system that she helped set up for me 10 years ago or something like that, but I wanted to make one that was just a Linux PC, and for the past few years the idea of installing Linux on my current computer just never occurred to me because my plan became obsolete. The brain is a funny thing.
zippythezigzag@lemm.ee 3 months ago
I just switched one of my PCs to Linux mint. I am not that smart with computers. I have never used Linux before. I have no experience in changing operating systems. All I did was buy a flash drive stick and used my phone to go to Mints website and follow their directions. That was a month ago. It was a great decision. Mint is amazing and im glad I did it. I am currently getting ready to switch both my wife and my gaming computers over to Mint as well.
i_have_some_enemies@welppp.com 3 months ago
You tried to be funny but you are actually disabled, even unable to install linux. Lol
todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Your current PC can become a Linux machine by lunchtime. What are you waiting for?
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
The last time I used a Linux PC was around 2012 with something called “Egyptian Hax” that my sister set up because she wanted me to play NetHack, so a guide would be a great start. I’m aware that WINE has gone through some vast improvements, but beyond that I don’t really know where to start, what distro would be good for me, or anything else.
smiletolerantly@awful.systems 3 months ago
Start with Linux Mint. It should be a very pleasant and straightforward experience right out of the box, and is just in general very beginner friendly. I recommend to create a live USB (basically, download the ISO from the Mint website, then use something like Balena Etcher to put it on a USB stick). You can then boot off that stick, and try Mint out to your heart’s content, without risking your Windows install or data at all.
Can I ask, whatbare the programs you wager you’ll have to emulate through wine?
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
I’m saving this so I can look at it again this weekend.
I’m not one for making bets unless I know something that I suspect someone else doesn’t, but I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the games I have on steam need wine to run on Linux. My understanding is that wine is a compatibility layer, hence the name, correct?
emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
Write down a list of the software you use (e.g. web browser, office suite, notepad, image viewer, video player, … ). Download Linux Mint from here and use Balena Etcher to write it into a pen drive. Switch off your computer, plug in the pen drive and switch on. DON’T INSTALL YET. Run Linux ‘live’ for a couple of hours, see if everything (speaker, printer, webcam, all the software you listed above) is working correctly.
Once you have confirmed that all is well, copy your files into an external hard drive, confirm that everything important has been backed up, and then install Linux from the pen drive. (You can have both Windows and Linux on the same computer, but then Windows should not be given internet access or it will ‘update’ and mess up everything. This can be repaired using, for example, this software, but why bother?)
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
Saved. I’ll look at this Sunday if I have time (I’m making that PCM developed by NightHawkInLight to use for a few planned events).
z00s@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Don’t let the gatekeepers put you off. The Linux community is quite helpful if you can get past their garbage. Every guru was once a noob 👍
drcobaltjedi@programming.dev 3 months ago
I’m also going to recommend Linux Mint, its a really friendly beginner distro. I’ll presonally recommend you do Linux Mint Debian instead of normal linux mint since regular linux mint is Ubuntu based and really loves snaps.
The default user env is cinnimon which is going to look a lot like Windows 10 making the transition easier. If you want to install steam its literally a command line away from installing and then its ready to go. That and Steam personally pushing for Linux as a viable gaming platform there are a lot more games now that work out of the box now on steam.
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Mint doesn’t use snaps at all by default. It has a regular .deb repository supplemented by Flatpaks.
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
I’m saving this to note down that the flavor I’m most likely to want is “Cinnamon”.
MehBlah@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Don’t listen to people who mock you for asking a question. They are never the people whose advice is worth listening too. Start small. Get 8gb or bigger thumb drive. You can even use an external SSD. USB C would be the best. Follow the guide below or find a guide of your own. Start with Ubuntu. It isn’t perfect but it is the most popular distro out there. Be aware this installation is going to be laggy due to it being on a slower thumb drive. This will allow you to see that it just works. Games might be slower loading due to the thumb drive. I use steam daily and only have seen a few games I couldn’t play. Everyone was due to the ham-fisted drm the games had implemented.
itsfoss.com/ubuntu-persistent-live-usb/
Alternatively you can install a second hard drive in a PC and use both safely without fear of problems. I’ve been running linux as my daily driver for over ten years. I still have a windows installation that I can boot into if needed. Usually for firmware updates that only can be performed in windows. Currently I haven’t needed it in over a year.
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 months ago
I may look into Ubuntu if I have time this weekend. How does it differ from mint?
I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Installed? Sure, you can do that by lunchtime.
Getting it set up? Making sure all your drivers are working right? Troubleshooting issues? Finding alternatives to programs you need that don’t work on Linux? That will take much longer.
fern@lemmy.autism.place 3 months ago
By lunchtime? Yes, yes, yes, no, no are your answers.
Jrockwar@feddit.uk 3 months ago
If only I could install it on the Surface Pro X…
Damn, they worked so hard to gain goodwill in the last few years and it seems they’ve set out to destroy it in record time.
WSL and WSL2, Android Apps, working with Qualcomm to get their ARM computers to a credible state, the new Powershell and the push to open source so many things…
And in the past 12-18 months they’ve been crashing and burning, either backtracking on those things or by starting new initiatives to become scummier and scummier. TPM, Copilot, the ad situation, abusing their position of power with office/teams, the giant safety holes in the Recall feature… But it seems every day there’s something new in the news. It’s never ending.
Gingernate@programming.dev 3 months ago
github.com/linux-surface/surface-pro-x?tab=readme…
Jrockwar@feddit.uk 3 months ago
That’s a nice project, but the last update was from 2 years ago and it needs way too much work to be close to usable. Windows 11 might be getting ads but at least audio works…
todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 3 months ago
I have no recollection of this.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I’m not surprised that you can’t, but I’m still disappointed.