It depends on what kind of software you usually use. You should look up the programs you use regularly/can’t live without to see if they have Linux versions or if they have decent replacements. If everything there checks out, find an LTS distro. Debian/Ubuntu and derivatives (PopOS or Mint) or fedora and derivatives (I don’t know any fedora derivatives) would be good.

I started using PopOS last year for a gaming machine and all the tinkering I did, I did because I’m a nerd and I wanted to. If I wanted an easy experience without even looking at a command line I think I could’ve.

One more thing. Most (maybe all?) Linux distros can be booted and viewed in a live environment from a USB without having to erase your whole drive (just make sure you don’t go through the setup and actually erase your drive (unless you want to))

I’m sure others have mentioned this and you know it by now. But just in case, it is possible to run a complete Linux desktop from DVD or USB without installing. It is a good check to make sure your hardware is compatible and everything works for you.

I think one failure of the Linux community is not communicating that this feature has been around for two decades now.

Agree with both commenters.

Make a live USB, see if you like it, and then install Linux alongside Windows in a dual-boot configuration. Note that it is recommended to use two different physical drives for the respective operating systems, but one will do as well.

Then do everything in Linux while feeling safe that there is still Windows to fall back to.

I mean, it’s not like I haven’t spent hours debugging windows. Why is the sound crackling? WHY?

Never solved it and Linux just worked

A direct hop is usually not the best way to move into the Linux world. The best way I’ve heard (and wished I did myself) is slowly start migrating to programs that will be available and you’ll be using, while still on Windows. Get used to how new things work and if an emergency comes up, you can fall back to your tried and true tools. Then, just keep migrating apps until most of what you use is open source stuff, or stuff widely available. (Spotify, Discord, Zoom, etc.) Once you have your workflow worked out, you’ve found substitutes for things you can’t get on Linux, then is a good time to take the plunge.

Going cold turkey is going to be really rough. I had Fedora on a side piece laptop for years before my first try on my workstation and it was a disaster. Less than a week later I had to go back to Windows. But, now I’m familiar with the tools I use and I’ve been a full convert for a few months now and it’s been great.

You can do it! Just…take it slow.

Linux Mint has been set and go for me personally. You will thank us later.

Can verify that photogimp is brilliant. As well as the interface it also creates photoshop like keyboard shortcuts too. There are one or two things not quite right but on the whole its a life saver.

Rip it’s not in the aur

This sounds awesome! Thank you for commenting about it

Sounds amazing. Using GIMP sounded like the worst part of this whole endeavor.

Oh that’s so awesome, I had no idea about this! I jotted this down and will definitely try it out tomorrow. Things I take for granted and know so well in Photoshop, I can’t even figure out for the life of me how to do in GIMP. It’s practice what I need, and this package sounds great to help me ease into it again. Thank you!

Just installed this and tried it out. THANK YOU. It immediately cured most of the things that drive me nuts about GIMP!

“Did you see that ludicrous display last night?”

The nerd team!

One of us! One of us!

NOOOOOs very darth vader-y

And I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for your meddling logic.

Don’t make me blush bro

Thanks for your input.

I won’t give 11 a chance due to the privacy and security concerns.

I’m also not the target customer for HDR. I’m photosensitive and bright lights are a migraine trigger. To put it in perspective, I can’t drive at night anymore due to modern headlights - I’ll end up vomiting and then possibly bedridden for a couple days. I generally have my monitors, depending on model of course, no higher than 30% brightness at all times.

I dual booted for 6 months just in case. Went to windows like 3 times. Made the switch completely to Mint like a year ago and never looked back.

Thanks for the suggestion on tiling, I will look into that as well. I remember one thing I heard about Pop_OS was it’s excellent implementation of tiling, so this sounds interesting to me.

Curiously I forgot to try EndeavourOS. I’ll roll Linux Mint for now and then if my use case changes, I’ll explore it. So far I’ve only recently tried Pop_OS!, Zorin, and Ubuntu. Linux Mint felt best for how I currently use computers. I’m interested in the idea of whatever an “AUR”, so I’ll do some research on that too and log that away for some ideas.

You have the option of trying without installing. Lots of Linux distros can run straight from DVD or USB without having to be installed. This way you can rest assure that it will either work for you once installed or you can just eject the media without altering or touching anything on your drive.

Happy to post this! I wish you good luck with your switch!

My approach was of course to backup all my personal files to a large backup drive. I exported as many as configurations for my programs as I could - like for Handbrake and FreeTube as an example. I backed up those configs so that on my Linux OS I could just import them and have all my programs configured the way I wanted. Before I pulled the plug on my windows, I also wrote down every program I used and saved it into a simple list, so that I can hunt for alternatives.

That approach I think was great for me since I spent a lot of time planning and carefully backing everything up.

It’s been very smooth for me with minor hiccups when I first cutover to Linux Mint, but I’m damn happy with how well things have gone.

Take your time to methodically prepare and I’m sure you’ll do well when you’re ready to commit.

Definitely will be taking advantage of those two softwares. I tried dabbling with Syncthing when I got my Steam Deck, because I wanted the save files for my… er, Linux ISOs, to sync with my Windows PC. I couldn’t get it to reliably work (user error probably). So this time I’ll try again and hopefully it will be much better!

Thank you! I only wish I discovered all this back when I was a teenager and had much more free time! I could have been a wizard like all these other nerds posting here!

Ah well, I’m never late or early, as I understand the lore. Picard or Dumbledore said that, it’s true.

Even though I was aware of it, this was one of my challenges. I was using Bazzite, which is obviously so niche that few tutorials would be specific. So, I tried to understand which distro was the base layer for it, and based my searches around that. Even then, a lot of things felt inapplicable, or needed to go through its containerized compatibility structure.

Also important to know is, us that Mint is based on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian. The majority of Stuff that works on Linux Mint should work the sane way on Debian and Ubuntu(except UI solutions OFC). So if you’re stuck try exchanging “how to do XYZ in Linux Mint” to “how to do XYZ in Ubuntu/Debian”

I’m working on learning all the terminology, which I’ll figure out over time as I immerse myself.

Things that catch my attention are distro hopping. As a hopefully former Windows user, the idea of being able to switch your OS to another distro just baffles me. Without having any understanding of this, I would imagine it’s possible switching from a Debian to a different Debian distro. But if I switched from an entirely new “framework” (no idea what to call original Linux distros), such as Fedora to Debian or something, that baffles me. I don’t expect to distro hop but who knows!

And then I learned you can switch things out like KDE, Gnome, and even learned that Gnome is not pronounced like the traditional word, but like “Guh-Nome” as a play on the acronym “GNU”. LOL

I’m very much a novice with this system. In the past I tried to roll Pop_OS! and also Ubuntu, but they were so glitchy and didn’t work great for me. After having my Steam Deck and seeing just how stable Linux is, I felt much more confident going all in on Linux Mint (appreciating Steam Deck is Arch).

Anyway, the point of my rambling is unknown. If you made it this far, I’m proud of you.