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.
Rather than trying to muck with dual booting, I would recommend picking up a Lenovo T430S or better laptop on Amazon from around 150.00-500.00. Lenovo ThinkPad T series laptops are incredibly well supported by Linux. Then install Linux Mint. This is a great way to get started with a low barrier to entry. As you get better, you can start tinkering with the innards. By getting a cheap spare machine with which to learn Linux on, it will be the least disruptive to you.
While this is a valid advice normally, OP has already tried this with Linux on a netbook and a dual boot chromebook. Since OP wants to do AV stuff it’s probably going to be a lot better experience with a desktop (assuming more capable than laptop) and monitor(s). Going another laptop route might be fine for learning but OP wants to switch and that’s not going to happen unless it’s on OP’s main rig.
My advice would be leave the windows installation alone and add a new drive (SSDs are pretty cheap these days) and install Linux on that. Use the BIOS to set the default drive to the new Linux drive and install and use Linux. You’ll have your windows install exactly how it is when you want to go back and just pick that as the boot device from the boot menu. Making Linux the default boot drive also helps with habit forming.
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.
That’s awesome! Are there any draw backs to the debian version? I feel like they’d just abandon Ubuntu if there was really no difference.
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.
For finding applications alternatives AlternativeTo or reddit is best resources!
I second this. It helps that basically every distro is highly customizable, so if you don’t like some default settings or something’s not supported on a specific distro, it’s usually still possible to get it working with some manual tweaking. You don’t want to be spending the time for every application though, so finding a distro that supports most of what you need out of the box is a good suggestion.
Personally wouldn’t recommend Fedora as a newbie distro because most guides assume Debian/Ubuntu-based package managers. When I first switched from Pop!_OS, I couldn’t understand why my apt-get commands weren’t working. Of course, that was until I learned about other package managers like DNF, Yum, etc. Also, Nvidia proprietary drivers and media codecs can be a pain.
Pop!_OS, Ubuntu and Mint are all great recommendations though!
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.
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.
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.
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
history | grep <part of the command that I actually remember>
Saves my bacon almost every day!
@bert @Barbarian i use fzf on command history
Use something + reddit word in search for finding answers to your problems. This chatgpt’s articles are full trash usually. Stackoverflow is also sometimes helpful!
I predict that the “how to shoot web site:redditcom” trick will eventually wear down, as the place is slowly becoming a dumpster fire. A better approach is to handle search in a way that SEO crap backfires:
- lots of “apostrophe usage” to force specific expressions
- usage of -negative terms to sort out things used in SEO
- simple keywords instead of full sentences
The Arch wiki, Ubuntu forums and Mint forums are often good sources of info, regardless of your distro.
