Five Things to Know Before Switching to Linux

[@cinccave5459]

6 months ago I went from Windows 10 to Linux Mint 21.3 since then I've upgraded to Linux Mint 22. At that time I also changed web browsers from Edge to Firefox and I went from Windows Office to Libre Office. Since I'm a lightweight user I haven't had any problems. I'm sure if I was a gamer or power user I'd have a horror story or two to tell but since I'm not, it's all been gravy.

[@STONE69_]

Exceptional decision making, Your PC belongs to you again.

[@mchenrynick]

Went through the same path as you, but from a Windows 7 PC. The only issue I encountered was a critical bug in Audacity 3.6.1. on Flatpak on LM 21.3. When I installed LM 22, I chose the System Package (version 3.4.2), and Audacity runs just fine now. Goodbye Windows :)

[@yararaq]

Not at all. Actually games such as Cyberpunk run better on linux. Energy management is also more efficient, my GPU went from 30W idle (win10) to 7W with linux

[@terryschima4964]

I recommend you try some other browsers: Mullvad for extreme privacy, Brave for general privacy, and Vivaldi for general browsing. If you tend to keep a lot of tabs open, Vivaldi has workspaces that you can keep similar tabs in a specific workspace.

[@mchenrynick]

@@yararaq Windows suffers from so many processes that keep running. Too much bloat.

[@mldrm777]

One of the most important points that new users should pay attention to it, before switching to Linux is to "be patient". Be patient to adapt.

[@TuxUser-X11]

Yes, it takes time to learn. You will make a lot of mistakes and get frustrated at first. But keep trying. I started my full Linux journey 2 years ago. And tried many of the popular distros Like Mint and other Debian based distros including straight Debian at one point. And yes I have gone back to Windows a few times but I keep trying. I am now running an Arch based distro and very happy and comfortable with it, but did take 2 years to get here.

[@istvantorok4819]

- UDF is a filesystem for optical medias (DVD / CD /BD). - For appimage also note, that this format can be used on Linux without knowing the root password.

[@CTSFanSam]

I dipped my toe into the Linux world a year and a half ago. I started off with Zorin. Sadly, it took just a few weeks for its updater to go stupid. So, I opted to try Linux Mint. Been there ever since. I have had a very smooth experience with Mint. I still have a Win 10 machine around for those things I can't get working on Linux. That machine isn't on very often. I would say if you are a bit computer savvy and want to exit the Windows world, start off with Mint. I have enjoyed learning the Linux world.

[@Br1cht]

Yeah, Mint is good as first Sneederinoo

[@yellingintothewind]

exFAT is a modern alternative to fat that *should* work everywhere, it is what large size flash drives usually come preformatted to. BTRFS has a signed driver for windows, but that assumes you only need it on machiens where you have admin access on windows.

[@cybernit3]

If you are trying to switch to Linux make sure you have a distro with a recent Linux kernel version that supports your latest hardware. Like for a AMD 7800xt graphics card you need like Linux Kernel 6.3 and up. Right now Ubuntu 24.10 is at kernel 6.11 now.

[@brostoevsky22]

Which means that Debian and Linux Mint may not work for you in that case.

[@mauroliberatore3256]

If you are going to convert to Linux for business, I recommend going directly to Ubuntu (cinnamon, for windows feel). This is because majority of security software monitoring providers (which our IT guys use to monitor our machines) only support Ubuntu. Started with Linux Mint (love Linux Mint), but the matrix forced our hand, and now we're on Ubuntu cinnamon. Oh, and try to only buy Lenovo machines... All the others (Surface, Dell) gave us severe head aches. Yeah, we could but Linux Machines (Tuxedo, System 76, etc), but the economics work out so much better on later years lenovo low spec machine, and swapping out windows. Hope this helps.

[@Chirp_Bunny]

I'm very grateful that Linux exists. I appreciate it very much.

[@calholli]

Things are really getting good out here. I can name a dozen distros that are even better than Mint.. Pretty incredible. The gaming distros especially, are moving the bar very well.

[@debeeriz]

what i have found is if you buy certain hardware while linux may have drivers, the manufacturer does not support linux so the piece of hardware is limited in its use,

[@andrewjohnson6633]

I started out with Opensuse with KDE desktop and got hooked on KDE I later went to Kubuntu and from there to Linux Mint. While I was delighted with Linux Mint, the maintainer decided he would no longer support the KDE desktop so since then I have stayed with Kubuntu. I've tried other desktops but I am most happy with the KDE way of doing things (probably because that is what I started Linux with).

[@brokeandtired]

My easy setup. Mint Linux then Steam, Wine experimental, Lutris, Heroic Launcher. Covers 90% of gaming. Web sites of online apps can fix issues like needing MS Office, etc.

[@Jart988]

The problem I have is that my family and employees are addicted to MS Office… I've been testing the alternatives, but they are just so bad at using these things, and is not like they are properly trained on MS either

[@Nightwalker1105]

Things I only knew before switching: - wdf? why is copilot installed? - - - - mint

[@ringo8410]

I could write a whole article for people who are new to Linux. Among the most important things to know: 1. Prepare to learn. While a lot of modern Linux is designed to be a lot like Windows, it is not Windows. 2. NEVER copy unvetted terminal commands from the internet because someone told you that rm -rf / was a good idea. 3. There is no "right" or "perfect" distro. Some are better for newbies than others, but the distro you choose is far less important than giving Linux a try. 4. This goes with #1: You don't have to spend your life in a terminal window but learning a few basic commands - man, ls, cp, mv, rm among them - is a very good idea.

[@rocvan8190]

Very nice intro to the Linux world 👍

[@SirChristoferus]

The hardware compatibility in Linux is definitely improving a lot these days, I recently tested an X870E motherboard with an Arch Linux thumb drive, and the hardware was plug-and-play after a single driver installation from the AUR. I suspect that Debian 13, Ubuntu 25.04, and Fedora 42 will incorporate that driver by default in the coming months - which will then trickle down to the other distributions based on those two.

[@LukeMauerman]

Can't stop playing with Linux in emulation/VM. I regularly melt my partitions in horror, so I don't rely on it for files except to always keep them in the cloud. This week I finally managed to install Arch; it took a week and a half. I can't recommend Arch, it's really not for casual people like me

[@bretthagey7916]

That's why I spend $150 every 3 years for a new windows license. No bullshit, just runs.

[@sidbell929]

I changed from Windows a few months ago - I decided on Pop as I have nVidia laptops. At least twice a week I get notifications of updates, generally packages (fair enough), but System Updates at roughly two a month. Should I be worried?

[@marcusjohansson668]

I still don't understand the sentiment "do not get an nvidia" without saying WHERE it "does not work", because IT WORKS IN 99% OF TIMES. Raytracing and local AI comes to mind. If you are going to claim such things, you should also say: *"and if you use an AMD gpu, you ALSO need the radion drivers, that are ALSO closed source. And by using AMD, you will only have access to 1080 on hdmi, because AMD does not have the licenses to use 4k"...* See how irrelevant it all becomes? I have been using my 3090 for quite some time on linux now, and it all works fine and I enjoy raytracing and having fun playing around with local AI:s. Also, maybe not use a 12 year old thread when looking for what filesystem to use... The answer to "what filesystem to use for cross compatibility" is: *exFat,* open source, made for exactly cross compatibility, and not the size limit like on fat32.

[@johnbowles4754]

Wow Tom, your beard is growing in a grand way, your not DJ Ware's cousin? Love your take on the world of os and things in general, keep up the great work 👍😎

[@SwitchedtoLinux]

LOL...I just shaved it off :)

[@calholli]

AI is great at walking you through just about anything in the terminal. It's surprisingly useful and has made my recent switch to linux (nobara) a breeze.. (no pun intended). Granted, Nobara has been designed with package managers and installers, etc.. that help you avoid the terminal.. But any time I ask AI about something I need to do, it usually just gives me terminal instructions rather than GUI instructions, unless I specifically ask for it.. So ironically, I have used the terminal more than I ever did in the past-- even though I almost don't even need to now, from all the extra managers/installers that distros are including now. The linux future is looking great IMO. There is about to be a giant wave of users being pushed over to linux, when windows 10 closes it's doors next year.. MS did this to themselves. (by not letting older PC's upgrade to win11).

[@ruthcherry3177]

I wish you'd talk about Zorin_OS a bit more as it is probably the easiest switch for basic - average users, yes, even more so than Mint Cinnamon (I use both daily). It is what I'm planning to install for my 80-something year old Dad. You don't need to use the terminal as much as you do with Mint, and you will be prompted when there is new software available for your machine. The app store is simple and easy to use, and Libre Office and many other programs are ready to use out of the box. As I'm running the same system, I can supervise him once a month to do terminal updates and upgrades with a video call. I'd love to see you do a deep-dive into Zorin_OS, after giving it a daily drive for a while. Thanks, and keep up the good work!

[@STONE69_]

I have been using both Mint and Zorin for a few years, but Mint is just more stable with problems being a rare. They are both right at the top for the new users.

[@toby9999]

Someone else commenting said zorin was problematic, so decided to switch. I've done some casual "research" on this "switching to Linux" thing. What I found was that there is no "best" distro, and there's no easy problem free distro. Pick any distro, and I'll be able to find a bunch of people who didn't like it for a bunch of reasons. My son went through this process. By distro four, attempt six (or something like this), he finally settled on one, but it was a battle. Now bring in Windows... I've been installing Windows for 25 years and most versions from 95 to W11. Rarely, did I have any problems. And right there is the hurdle to switching for many people. Linux is too rough around the edges and too inconsistent between distros. I installed Windows 10 on an old PC earlier this year. Took me 30 mins. My son took 4 days to get Linux working. Anecdotal, yes, but he did better than me. I've never succeeded in getting Linux to instal and work.

[@davidswanson9269]

Tom, thank you so much! I wasn't aware of that hardware testing site! Lol, I wish I would have known about it two weeks ago. Better late than never I guess!

[@someuser4166]

If there was a Linux distro that had support for my Dell canvas (it's basically just a rebranded Wacom cintiq) I'd switch to Linux full time. Now I have to dual boot because I need that canvas.

[@hudefuk]

So, in summary: As we know, there are five known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns-the ones we don't know we don't know.

[@HakushinX68000]

We also know that choosing and using an OS is untidy, and user freedoms are untidy, and FOSS programs are free to make mistakes and commit crimes of good practice and do bad things with your system.

[@STONE69_]

You know what know, because you know!😛

[@EmptyHandshake]

profound!

[@CTSFanSam]

I love the comments on the Linux Terminal. When I am using Windows, I have a CMD prompt on the screen somewhere. I think in words, thus the terminal and I understand each other.

[@toby9999]

I'm the opposite. I think conceptually and visually. I hate terminals. I use GUIs 99.99% of the time. I'm a C++ application software developer of 28 years. I always think in terms of how the GUI look and feel in parallel with other required functionality. The GUI is never an afterthought. It's integral. and that's where LInux so often fails. It's the 21st century.

[@TheRealSembler]

exFAT for transfer is without the 4 GB limitation of FAT32 and also universal.

[@mchenrynick]

exFAT isn't recognized as widely on devices. My USB-reading car stereo and the Blu-Ray player (with USB slot in front) will read FAT32 just fine, but not exFAT.

[@TheRealSembler]

@@mchenrynick, yes, it’s not that compatible but has to be more suitable for the major OSes where accessibility of large files is important.

[@STONE69_]

@@mchenrynick same here, fat32 for the car.

[@dlbrooks2658]

peacock does not work on linux and prime video app to download movies does not exist unless you have a vm running windows

[@laurentitolledo1838]

Too late.....already 'knee deep in the hoopla' 😉 watching this on my linux mint mini pc.....relaxed.... sipping coffee...with some doughnuts on the side....

[@mchenrynick]

Funny that they mention .DEB for Debian installation files. I always find .dpkg files instead when searching over the Internet.

[@hansreynders6853]

If I'm not mistaken, .DEB files are application software files, .dpkg files is system software.

[@tridens6708]

I'm using open Suse switched in April F eh on W10😊

[@squirrelarmor]

It's a deb or an rpm, not a dotdeb or dotrpm. Just saying.

[@johnt4789]

Things that kept me from coming to linux! being a novelist at best with linux you go to website too many and choices, you choose one and it move to a new page and there's more choices , finally you see the link to download and it goes to another page , you never get your download, come make it simple. never confined right drivers always, if you want to compete with Windows you need to copy the ease of windows. bottom line it's confusing to setup.

[@uslegend24]

Windows is pure shite now. Avoid 24H2 like the plague.

[@STONE69_]

Every new update brings new problems, what a clown show.

[@laurentitolledo1838]

@@STONE69_ w$ updates the problems, not fix, just updates them...

[@toby9999]

I'm running 24H2 right now as I type this comment. It is the Best Windows version to date. It's excellent. Rock solid. And don't come at me with the typical anti Windows scaremongering. It's all over hyped and inaccurate.

[@calholli]

@@toby9999 I have it on an MSI gaming laptop.. It's fine. but I still don't like all the fluffy bulk. I wish they would make a cut down version like Windows 7 or even LTSC and let people use what they want. But they are too busy corralling people like cattle and forcing everyone to do as they say. I was glad to switch to linux.

[@raimg1816]

First and most importantly, don't get caught up watching too many KZbinrs. A lot of the content about Linux on this platform is just low-quality stuff, and it’s often not relevant to the 99% of people who want to switch.

[@shifureisaikyou2055]

You missed one, everything can be done in linux, but almost EVERYTHING costs 2x + the amount of time and their is a skill floor

[@leemanwrong]

There’s a skill floor for any operating system and things will always take longer while learning. I give old laptops with Linux installed to kids and they pick it up in no time and become just as proficient with it as they are with windows.

[@STONE69_]

When you first used Windows it took time to learn it, same with Linux. Most thing are just as fast in Linux. Some may take some extra time, it can be a good thing, to exercise your brain.

[@davemason2290]

Very little leearning. I installed Linux Mint, opened software and installed Brave browser. Everything was was working and I nust add very fast compared to Windows 11. I use a 6th Gen i5 in a HP mini PC. I was able to use Linux imediately with no issues.

[@toby9999]

@@leemanwrong The skill requirement for Linux is exponentially higher than for Windows (all else being equal), and that works against new entrants. This needs to be reversed, but that won't happen because Linux fans consider overcoming unnecessary difficulty is a badge of honour, and the developers don't care.

[@shifureisaikyou2055]

@@davemason2290 You can do that on android, trying to move to linux as power user is a hassle. documentation is too spread out. app configs are inconsistent. things you expect to work dont without obvious error messages. logs are anoyng to find

[@HakushinX68000]

Viable alternatives? There's only one alternative, viable or not! 😞

[@toby9999]

There is only one alternative that I might consider if absolutely pushed and that would be macOS. More likely, I would run an old version of windows offline if W11 became pay-as-you-go.

[@HakushinX68000]

@@toby9999 I bought a Mac Mini not so long ago, and it lasted 2.5 years before going wrong. There was no easy way to troubleshoot the problem or replace parts. Never again! Anyway, the Mac is likely stuffed full of spyware, just like Windows. I'll be installing Pop! OS soon on an external drive (my old W7 internal drive).

[@roborob347]

If you're a new user, I suggest going with Arch Linux or Linux from scratch. 2 very easy user friendly distros.

[@GapRecordingsNamibia]

What is the second one? You said Arch, which I would not suggest for a new user, as Linux is the kernel and Arch is the distro what is the second distro you would suggest?

[@roborob347]

@@GapRecordingsNamibia I was just being sarcastic haha. Linux from scratch is what it sounds like. You essentially build your own distro and it's hell on Earth.

[@scottfulford553]

Unfortunately, I want ALL my games I paid for to work. I know thats not the fault of Linux, but a GAMER needs to be informed that a game MAY or MAYNOT have a Linux version available. Some games won't work due to anticheat restrictions... its def not good for a gamer to switch to linux and watch 80% of his steam library is now worthless.

[@TuxUser-X11]

Gaming can be hit or miss depending on the games you play. I am not a social gamer and play mostly single player games. I have games on Steam, Epic, GOG, Uplay, and EA. So far all the games I want to play have worked. Currently playing Jedi Survivor and getting better performance on Linux than windows. 60 FPS medium to high settings. Ryzen 7 3700x, Nvidia GTX 1070, 64GB 3600 DDR4. CachyOS Linux.

[@ricciozztin]

Windows 11 Pro is good as long as you build your installation media with Chris Titus' winutil. If you want to play Apache Webserving and MySeekHell adventure games then Linux is a good option.

[@STONE69_]

Windows 11 24h2 has been the Worst rendition of Windows ever. Its good for people that don't know anything else. Its like a guy that is the gofer, Laborer all his life and didn't know enough to ever get a promotion.

[@ricciozztin]

@stone69_ its good for people who know how to install it the right way using the aforementioned tool from Chris Titus.

[@CupOfSweetTea]

It will fail?

[@toby9999]

By switching to Linux, I would lose too many useful tools and features... and for no benefit to me. It would be a rather stupid thing to do, actually. And Windows is not getting worse. It is actually better than it was 10 years ago, and it's better than it was 5 years ago, etc.

[@mauroliberatore3256]

Disagree on windows getting better. Windows 11 has effectively killed our older laptops, and the speed of its tools has decreased (unless you buy a top spec laptop, for top dollar). Converting to Linux is hard, real hard, and it is not a true "desktop" like windows and Mac. However, if you have a defined need which doesn't include video editing etc, and have the patience, Linux crushes windows for speed, stability, and performance -fact.

[@toby9999]

@@mauroliberatore3256 You could perhaps stay on W10 if your laptop is not up to it? Technology moves on. Yes, not great in your case, but should an OS be held back until every old piece of hardware is dead and gone? There will always be people who have problems upgrading. I won't an OS to improve and take advantage of new hardware features, I could use your 'argument' against you. One of the reasons why it's unlikely that I try Linux again is because every attempt I'd made over say, the past 20 years has failed due to incompatible hardware or unavailable drivers etc. I've never had such a problem with any version of Windows on any hardware - W95 to W11 and many in between. W11 is definitely the best and most polished version so far in my opinion. And finally, to your claim that Lunix "crushes Windows in speed"... that's an urban myth. It might be a little snappier in some scenarios, but in raw processing terms, there's nothing in it. We used Linux at work for a year as a cost cutting exercise. It definitely didn't feel any faster than Windows. The problem with it though was instability.

[@mauroliberatore3256]

@toby9999 agree with cross over issues. It is no mean feat, you need to choose alternatives to tried and true ms office, staff frustration, etc. It is a monumental jump, which takes a lot of patience and time (and resources/money). A majority of the software we use for our business is now browser based, so this doesn't cause issues. Excel to Collabora Calc (commercial version of Libre Calc) also took a lot of getting used to etc. Word? Google docs, after some refining, is much easier for staff on 95% of use cases. We'll agree to disagree on performance. I tested Linux v windows 10 on existing business machines, side by side - Linux won. Handling multiple web pages open? Linux won again. Windows 11 v Linux on new hard ware? Linux won again. This was our experience. We must have different business use cases. However, changing from windows to Linux for a business is a risky proposition for the matters we (you and I) have outlined. If you don't fully commit, and run it side by side first as a test crash dummy for a while, then major issues (drivers etc, as you mentioned). Accordingly, until the Linux community "unites" to overcome the driver/monitor etc issues, then the vast majority of business users should stick to Linux. Our business are now over the "hump" with Linux, and it been smooth (mostly) sailing. You are mostly right-linux will be a bridge too far for most, so windows will be the best option. Cheers

[@OpenBASED]

I recommend Gentoo to any new user reading this since Linux Mint is just too hard. Sike!

[@alastairstaunton7081]

Psych!

[@RCohle452]

Microsoft is becoming coercive

[@zeev]

when in hell are you and rob braxman gonna do a hoedown and dual cast?

[@Igbon5]

A comment below says you need patience to use Linux. Yes, a lot, but not to use it because actually using it is a fleeting experience as it inevitably fails to do whatever it is you want to do. Then you get the joy of the endless screens of cryptic gibberish. It does not work. And it does not tell you why it doesn't work unless you are pretty high level computer savvy and even then it is doubtful. But if you are willing to devout hours and days to solving the endless stream of inevitable problems and never actually use it, except maybe for fixed narrow use cases, well enjoy, but the universe will cool before Linux becomes decent. I have tried a lot and no matter how dumb I am or aren't Linux is always garbage.

[@M_T483]

Old hardware work with Linux better, yahh the old printer to Linux” Am I joking to you” 🤣

[@EmptyHandshake]

HP has good Linux drivers for their printers, but it's cheaper to buy a cheap HP printer than to buy an ink cartridge everytime it goes dry. And they want you to go online to download all the drivers anymore and want you to buy their subscription thingie. Nope, done with HP. Going with either Canon or Brother...not as many hoops to jump thru. Most likely, Brother. I don't print that much color so a simple laser printer will do what I need.

[@georgebetrian676]

Windows can have problems, but offering an alternative with more problems than Windows is not a realistic solution.