This is my third attempt. Partly to rage quit Windows, and partly to gain utility and control with some professional AV software.

I have converted an old Asus netbook to Ubuntu netbook remix and used it for a while. I was impressed with how much better that tiny thing ran with Linux than Windows. But in the end it still had less power than a TI-84. So I stopped using it, and never really learned Linux proper.

I dual boot my Chromebook, so I can use gimp for photos on vacation, but everything I do with the Linux partition is cut and paste from articles by people who know what they’re doing. (I was motivated to post here by a meme about that.)

I’m thinking of dual booting my main desktop, because I need Windows for some fairly processor intense A/V software I use for work. So what would be a good distro to look into for a novice and where should I look for a tutorial? I would ultimately like to see if I can use Linux to run my AV software in emulation and add drivers for some professional audio interfaces. I’m fed up with windows and trying to see how far I can get without it. Your help is appreciated in advance, and if this is inappropriate for this topic, let me know and I’ll delete it.

    • Phil@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 years ago

      Epic post, really good advice, MInt is the way to go IMO as well, the Xfce version is perfect for my needs and really stable, indeed having dabbled with linux for years this is the only version I have used for more than a year, actually just checked and I have been on mint now since 2020 with just the one upgraded installation. I actually duel boot but never actually boot into window for anything other than occasional work needs.

  • odium@programming.dev
    202·
    2 years ago

    Pop OS is a good beginner friendly Linux distro. Like Ubuntu, it is also debian based. This would make it easier to get used to for you since you have some experience with Ubuntu.

    • coldredlight@beehaw.org
      2·
      2 years ago

      I’ve been really happy with Pop on my laptop. Tiling was a lot more useful than I expected, it’s nice being able to flip it on and off as needed.

  • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
    14·
    2 years ago

    General tips:

    • Don’t look for Linux versions of the Windows software you use. Instead look for software that fulfils the same purpose.
    • If you’re cutting-and-pasting a lot of stuff from those articles, give yourself a check on what those things actually do. See it as a small investment of time to economise time later on, as you’ll rely less and less on those articles.
    • Stick to popular distros. And for the desktop environment (DE), use whatever works for you.
    • Keep it easy. It’s fine if you need to log into Windows once in a while, but over time you’ll notice yourself doing it less and less.
    • Barbarian@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      2 years ago

      give yourself a check for what those things do

      To add, don’t kick yourself for forgetting and needing to double-check something. For example, even as a Linux vet, I still sometimes need to double-check whether it’s -r or -R for recursive on whatever command I’m using sometimes.

      • SymbolicLink@lemmy.ca
        3·
        2 years ago

        Also it’s good to get into the habit of using man or - -help instead of or in combination with searching on the internet. Makes you less reliant on searches and also ensures that your are using commands that correspond to the version of the software you are using

        IE: man rm | grep recursive

  • SymbolicLink@lemmy.ca
    14·
    2 years ago

    I would go from the bottom up instead of top down.

    Make a list of software and tools you use, and search for functional Linux native equivalents. Then find the distro that supports up to date versions of that software (through flatpak or the package manager).

    You can honestly do 100% of this without even touching the command line if you choose something user friendly like Mint, Pop OS, Ubuntu, or Fedora. Don’t fall into the rabbit hole of finding the perfect distro. Go from what you need to what supports it.

    keep the windows partition around for a while until you are 100% confident you can fully make the switch.

  • girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works
    10·
    2 years ago

    Not a pro take here … but when I was playing with various distros back in early 2001-03 I favoured Ubuntu, simply because it was the most user friendly (still have an old laptop duel-booted with it).

    distrowatch.com is a good place to look around and check out what’s new and true to your needs.

    The old-style web page is the same as it was in 2001; brings back good memories. :)

    • Andonyx@lemmy.mlOP
      10·
      2 years ago

      I really appreciate all the answers here so far. But I wanted to thank you for that resource specifically. Maybe my googling isn’t so great either, but I haven’t come across that before. Much obliged.

      • Marxine@lemmy.ml
        3·
        2 years ago

        Just be aware of distrowatch rankings, they’re sorted by visits to the site, impressions and etc, and don’t necessarily reflect how much a distro is really widely used.

        As others have said, if your device doesn’t have a Nvidia card, go with Linux Mint. If you do have a Nvidia card Fedora (maybe not the default GNOME version, as GNOME’s workflow required some time to get used to) or openSUSE might be better options.

        If you’re okay with a distro installer asking a few more questions than the basic ones, and you don’t need super updated stuff, you can also try Debian.

      • Balder@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 years ago

        It’s not your fault, Google has become almost useless when it comes to things that aren’t commercial SEO optimized stuff. The course of popularity, I guess.

      • §ɦṛɛɗɗịɛ ßịⱺ𝔩ⱺɠịᵴŧ@lemmy.ml
        3·
        2 years ago

        There’s a wide user base in mind with each, so rarely does anyone use all of the included packages. This could be defined as bloatware, plus proficiency in linux to me means anything can be done via terminal or GUI. The base distro’s have some task which require the terminal, while mint and kubuntu are managed via GUI.

  • neytjs@lemmy.ml
    8·
    2 years ago

    I’m a middle-aged truck driver. I’ve been using Linux Mint (Cinnamon) now for about seven years as my only operating system (without dual booting) since Windows XP Pro became totally obsolete. Granted, I’m a hobbyist programmer and lifelong computer enthusiast. However, there are definitely some easy to install and use distros out there these days.

  • slimsalm@programming.dev
    6·
    2 years ago

    Would start off with linux mint cinnamon edition, imo it is the easiest way to transition to linux, and dont be afraid to play around with linux. Go make mistakes, it is the best way to learn from

  • NerdyOldGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    2 years ago

    If you can, find another old computer that still works, maybe replace the mechanical hard drive with a solid state drive and install Linux Mint or even the new Debian 12. I have Debian running on an old computer with an Intel i5-2500k processor and it is rock solid. As far as learning linux, I recommend https://www.learnlinux.tv/ as a starting point. Jay is very good at explaining.

  • mvirts@lemmy.world
    5·
    2 years ago

    Only one thing: never give up. You’ll get things fixed by copy and paste until one day youll have a broken system and think wait I actually know how to fix this because I’ve been through it five times before.

  • baldturkeyleg@lemmy.world
    5·
    2 years ago

    Lol are you me?

    I kept trying to run Linux and windows, both in dual-boot and separate system form, and always crutched my way back to windows. My largest excuse was gaming.

    Once Valve proved gaming on Linux is possible via the Steam Deck, I was officially out of excuses. I formatted c: and installed Pop_OS and forced myself to learn it. The only thing I miss, and not even that much, is MS Office apps. There are perfectly serviceable productivity apps for Linux but none feel as comfortable (yet).

    It’s been about a year, and I am finding myself copy/pasting a little less than at the beginning and becoming more comfortable and knowledgeable every day. Taking the nuclear option isn’t for everyone, but it worked for me.

    • ToNIX@lemmy.ca
      3·
      2 years ago

      Have you tried OnlyOffice? It’s pretty much like MS office and documents compatibility is really good.

    • lordnikon@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 years ago

      i have been doing Linux for 22 years and know it in and out for the most part and you never stop copying and pasting. sometimes I know it fully and still copy and paste out of pure laziness for longer one liners. but best advice I can give is. Don’t ever feel like your not good at Linux case you use a DE vs window manager. or use one distro vs another. There is some gatekeeping people do just like with any hobby/community. Just ignore them and enjoy learning something new.

      Trust me, you will miss the wonder of learning and playing with a new interface and ways of doing things. its funny I go the other way now loading up windows 3.1 in DOSbox just to play and try and remember how to do things and get things working.

  • Yuutzyu@lemmy.world
    61·
    2 years ago

    I dual boot Fedora and Windows on my PC, have had a good experience so far. I would say Fedora is beginner friendly and is a good choice for a distro, everything just works.

    • slimsalm@programming.dev
      1·
      2 years ago

      I guess if you have a new laptop, I can imagine that with newer kernels than what is debian based, that said before debian 12 recently came out. I’m personally a bit worried of recommending “corporate funded” distros, help me if I’m wrong, but what heppened with RHEL, I can’t stop thinking it will happen with fedora… It is just my opinion/fear

  • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
    5·
    2 years ago

    As an alternative (and since you need to keep Windows running for now), have you considered downloading VirtualBox and installing linux thee on your desktop? There’s a couple of really good reasons behind this… First off, you don’t have to mess with switching back and forth when dual-booting, but it also gives you the ability to play with some different distributions and find something that feels more comfortable without having to trash a machine and continuously starting over. You can even load up multiple distros at the same time on your Windows desktop and compare them.

    Now for really getting going with linux… It’s easier if you don’t expect yourself to figure it all out at once. Pick a daily task, like reading your email. Maybe you already use something like Thunderbird, so that’s an easy switch. Just shut it down on Windows and start using the linux screen for this every time. Web browsing might also be an easy switch, and you already mentioned you use Gimp. Have you played around with different desktops yet? With linux you can install several and select one of them when you log in, so maybe try KDE, Gnome, or Mate (this one is my favorite because it’s fairly light on my older system but still lets me configure a lot). What else can you dive in to? How about configuring your login screen for different options like showing available users or automatically signing you in when you boot up the linux system in virtualbox? There’s a lot of configuration you can do by editing files in the /etc/ folder so it pays to get familiar with that aspect of things.

    Once you think maybe you found a distro or desktop you like, consider what other things you can do to really start getting familiar with linux. You could change your default shell, or your default command line editor. What about setting up a local DNS cache or maybe your own email relay? Maybe even set up your own web server and database, and use them to develop web pages locally. The point is, once you realize there’s no limitations in what you now have available to you, your brain starts thinking about all the things you could do – and that’s where you really start learning how to work with linux. Sure you need to use online guides the first time you set up a web server or something else. Sure you’ll have to continue to rely on the web for some time, but as you work through various projects you’ll start to remember where you found things, and you’ll start to see how they connect to other things, and one day that thing you’ve been re-typing from your notes suddenly clicks and you understand WHAT that thing was actually doing.

    It’s never an easy process to start something new. The first time somebody gave me a bunch of old PC parts and I powered up a machine on my waterbed, I looked at the blinking cursor and thought “now what?” (Yeah he didn’t even give me a DOS boot floppy!) But here we are thirty-some years later and I’m running servers, troubleshooting multiple operating systems at work, and doing pretty much anything I want. Linux was a complete change of gears but it was totally worth taking the time to figure it out, you just need to work on one piece at a time.