this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023

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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Upgrade to Linux (www.upgradetolinux.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Resources to test, install, and run your first instances of Linux and open source software.

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[+] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For someone who has never used Linux it can be very daunting, especially if they have never installed an os.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you can't even install an os by reading documentation using linux is just going to frustrate you.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Reading documentation with countless of terms you don't know is frustrating too. For new users i can recommend using Youtube tutorials installing Linux.

Not every user has to know the inside and outside of the used OS, there are many beginner-friendly distros these days.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think it's more about the fear factor. What if something goes wrong? Especially when dual booting. I was so so scared that I might break my system accidentally when I was first installing Mint alongside Windows and doing manual partitioning. I have to tell you, it was quite scary at first, and then it was just frustrating how much space Windows took away from me (when I wasnt evem using Windows) that I wiped it.

[+] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (7 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dual-booting is fine if you have more than one drive.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

This, even still, with only one drive, I've done it before as a novice, if you rtfm you'll be fine. Otherwise yeah, just put it on a second drive

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I ran dual boot for years with zero issues. Just partition the drive or use two different ones.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Mint and pop are basically ubuntu

Which makes Ubuntu basically Debian right? So just install that!

For a user coming from Windows I recommend Mint Cinnamon as it will give them the best, most familiar experience. Yes a newbie could find and install Ubuntu Cinnamon but the default ISO on the downloads page will saddle them with Gnome.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

If you have to dual boot, give Windows a separate disk.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Dual booting is fine if you are using 2 Linux OSes.

If one partition has windows installed an update can hijack the Linux partition or remove the grub.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Old news. I updated Winblows and nothing happened to systemd-boot.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It will depend on the update.

Either way, If I want to have a windows install, it's either

in a vm
on a different physical disk that is kept physically unplugged from the motherboard until it is needed and then I'll plug it in while unseating the Linux drives and any other drives windows does not need access to
a different computer

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I hate it, basically I have to force myself when I boot into windows to physically disconnect the RJ45 from the back, so it doesn't replace the boot entries thru an update.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Mint and pop are basically ubuntu.

Big difference: Pop, at least, does not push Canonical's proprietary "Snap" nonsense. You can use it if you really want, but it's not installed by default. No snapd on my system, thanks.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Mint is also strongly against Snap. The plurality of Mint's users guide is "Why Snaps are disabled by default."

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fair point, but that probably wouldn't be a "big difference" for a first time user.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sure, but if I were recommending a Linux OS to a first-time user, I wouldn't recommend today's Ubuntu as it is likely to lock them into a proprietary single-vendor system, which is contrary to one of the main points of promoting free software.

The first-time user might not immediately notice the difference, but it's (unfortunately) bad for free software to have more new users starting on today's Ubuntu.

This is pretty sad because Ubuntu used to be the obvious choice to recommend to new users.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

For the end user, especially a beginner, there's 0 difference between them.

Shouldn't be the other way around? Beginners usually won't want to install DE's or other stuff by hand:

Linux Mint offers a Windows-like experience with cinnamon out of the box, and has several stuff setup by default like system snapshots and media codecs.
Pop!_OS is really appealing visually and very comfortable to use and setup.
Ubuntu, well, is Ubuntu. I'm not diving into it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

This is nice but there are already tons of "how/why to start using Linux" websites. Not sure if we need another one.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I still keep my old Windows disk as a second boot option. Might finally wipe it at some point.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was scared to install Linux as a daily driver at first. Then Windows Update screwed up my install and I said "Screw it, I'm not installing Windows again". Basically Windows took the decision to uninstall it for me :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'll probably just keep a Win10 VM if need be.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use wine most of the time. In extreme cases qemu will do it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Can you run PhotoShop and such okay?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I haven't tried Photoshop, but all the Windows apps I've used in Linux (mostly games) run seamlessly. Probably you can find a YouTube tutorial for configuring wine for your needs

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Wine will not run Photoshop because of the DRM. More than fifteen years ago, you could run Photoshop in Wine, but Adobe's DRM is probably what killed it. You might be able to get Affinity Photo running in Wine with some manual tweaks, though. I haven't personally tried in over a year, but there are people on the Affinity forums who have been able to get it working.

Photoshop would probably work alright in a VM, though. GNOME Boxes is a good zero-configuration Virtual Machine manager.