I’ve used an app to organize my recurring chores etc. Usually it’s just a running mark of my failures but I took the day to get it all done. Home is as clean as it gets, things are put away and I feel vaguely acconplished.
Admittedly, I did this because my next project is switching from Windows to Linux and I wanted to have everything else done so that even if the switch breaks me, home will be nice and pretty.
(Anyone else recently made or thought about the switch? Misery loved company…!)
I switched when Windows 10 update made my system too slow and turned an old laptop into a useless lump.
It was a learning curve, and choosing what Desktop Environment was hard because of so many choices. But after a while running Linux you realize what a terrible user experience Windows is.
Mint, PopOS and Zorin are all solid choices for starting out because they work well out of the box.
But if you game a lot then Bazzite is presetup to have all the tweaks to make running windows games easy.
The safest way while learning is install on a secondary SSD so Linux and Windows are independent.
If you dual-boot on one SSD you will run into Windows randomly taking over the EFI boot partition and killing your Linux booting. So the two drives is easier. However if you are drive savvy you can partition so that Linux has its own EFI boot partition, the Linux OS then should probe for other OS during install. It creates a chainloader link from Linux boot menu to windows boot. This way Windows doesn’t realize it is loaded from another boot menu and leaves Linux alone.
All this assumes you are familiar with how to, turn off fast boot in Windows. How to set your BIOS to initially boot from a USB stick for install, and how to turn on or off secure boot, how to set a EFI boot option.
Note: everyone says turn off secure boot. Its a good suggestion for getting used to Linux. But when you’ve gotten used to Linux and installs and partitioning etc. Many distros support secureboot, when you reboot it will come to a janky looking screen asking you to enroll the distros MOK, or nVidia MOK. This is putting the signed keys into the secure boot management system so the hardware can ensure what it is booting is not tampered with.
Honestly, despite being an IT guy, I’ve never been great at the mechanics of “how the fuck the computer does its magic” which is a huge part of the linux appeal for me.
Interesting notes though and absolutely worth considering, thanks!
It definitely teaches you a lot, even if you don’t go and start tweaking source code.
Also OpenSUSE tumbleweed and some other distros have btrfs with built in snapshotting. So if you wreck your install, you just reboot and choose an older (working) snapshot. Them set that as your default to boot from. No downtime from mistakes is nice.
Ha, yeah I’ve seen a lot of advice about snapshotting the install in case I accidentally destroy it. Love the notion of having that automated! There’s a whole world of linux awesomeness that I’m looking forward to. (Until I try abd am reduced to tears but until then…!)
Somethings have truly been amazing like plugging in a random device and it just works without having to install drivers.
Or my obscure Ethernet only printer that had some interface to add it as an IP network printer via windows custom port that always failed to connect on Windows; on Linux (specifically openSUSE YAST printer discovery) finds my printer, suggests a model number, then gives me a list of gutenprint drivers that support it. I select the driver, it works. No stupid Canon network app that windows couldn’t work with. It also adds it as a CUPS shared printer and everyone can print to it like magic.
But, then on a negative note, there was last week: the ooensource NVIDIA driver fell behind the Kernel release I’m on. So it meant booting to the advanced menu and choosing an older kernel at boottime. After a few times of that I was irritated so just uninstalled all nvidia drivers, added the proprietary repo and installed the nVidia drivers directly from Nvidia. It works now. And with switcheroo package I can right click apos and launch on the integrated GPU or the Dedicated GPU. A problem you’d probably not see too often on Windows
We have something similar on Nixos too - every time you change your system (install an app, change the wallpaper, add a network drive, or whatever) it makes a new “generation”, and every time you boot you get to choose which one to boot. It’s definitely more work than other distros though, so I wouldn’t recommend it for you probably.
For the comment about Desktop Environment, you have a lot of options and for new penguins, that choice probably matters more than the actual distribution.
The two biggest are KDE and Gnome. Both come with a ton of applications (like calculator, image viewer, file browser, maybe a browser and email client. Can be all sorts of stuff). KDE looks more like Windows, Gnome looks more like MacOS, but both are pretty customizable so you can make them look more or less how you want.
Oh interesting, I’d figured I’d just stick with the default environment but I suppose I could absolutely look around for ones that play nicely with some beginners distro like Mint.
Thanks!
When I installed Debian froma USB drive, it gave me the choice of, I think, six desktop environments! Not all distributions give you a choice on install, and most will let you switch without too much trouble. I’m sure there are some that are biuilt around a particular DE, though.
A Live USB with Debian on it should have several options, and I think you can pick all of them. When you have multiple installed, it lets you switch on the login screen.
Looks like your choices on a Debian live installer will be:
[ ] GNOME [ ] Xfce [ ] KDE Plasma [ ] Cinnamon [ ] MATE [ ] LXDE [ ] LXQt
I switched from Windows to Debian last year, and had no trouble to speak of. Some games took a few extra steps to get working the first time.
I’ve since switched to Nixos, which is VERY different from Windows or other Linux distributions underneath. To get a working system takes like ten minutes, and most changes are dead simple. Anything they DIDN’T plan for can be a pain to get working. It’s a lot of fun!
This year i switched both my gaming pc and my university laptop to linux and it is really amazing. You have to get used to it just like you got used to windows though.
The more I look into it, the more impressed I am. Already starting to think about which of my old beasts I can try to revive with an appropriate distro…
I’ve been using Linux on and off for almost 20 years now. Start out with a user friendly distro and go from there. I started out with Mepis Linux. I tried Garuda Linux recently, but it broke my games too much.
I hear Mint is good for switching.
Best of luck!
Yeah, I think for starters I’m leaning Mint for my first switch on my main. Then maybe a more fun distro like Pop! On a backup computer that’s just collecting dust right now. And then re-evaluate and look at distros for an elderly laptop…
This is a dangerous/fun path.
I made the switch earlier this year but have had to mostly move back due to a hardware upgrade. My new GPU performs considerably worse on Kubuntu than Windows (like, Ultra 144fps+ on Windows, struggling to maintain 100fps+ on medium in some games…), so until drivers catch up, I’m stuck with windows. Shame, because I’d just switched from Mint to Kubuntu, and really liked it.
Oooof, that’s rough, sorry to hear it.
I’m not much of a gamer and for now, most I’m interested in a fairly old. (Though I can hear Baldur’s gate calling to me…)
Switching is super easy if you buy another SSD. For a time I used a drive switcher so I could push a button on my case and reboot to a different os.
https://www.amazon.com/Kingwin-Optimized-Controls-Provide-Longevity/dp/B00TZR3E70
Oh wild, I have a switcher for my peripherals but had no idea they existed for hard drives! That blows my mind.
Ive been thinking about switching. My 8 year old laptop runs on W10 and wouldnt switch to 11 even if it could have handled it.
I have list of chores to do around the house but had no time or energy to do yet. The biggest one being replacing the old silicone in the shower, which has gotten really nasty with mold. Which is my fault, because last winter I re-siliconed it and did a really shitty job (it was the first time I ever did it, in my defense)
I think sealing around the tub is hard for most people. I’ve found that masking with tape and using those little caulking tools to smooth it contributes greatly to success. I always struggle with jobs where the prep takes more time than the work so I’ve had to redo multiple caulking jobs due to rushing.
I switched over 5 years ago and never looked back.
I actually just bought a refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 3, it arrived today and not a second thought, I wiped Windows and installed pop_OS! 24.04
I love Linux distros, they are honestly so low maintenance ❤️
Ha, that’s beautiful! I can’t wait to be comfortable enough with linux to just wipe and go.
What app do you use?
Regularly!
It’s imperfect but it’s simple, free and does what I need. Been happily using it for years and years.
