I currently use Windows 10 and I’d like to try out Linux. My plan is to set up a dual boot with OpenSUSE tumbleweed and KDE Plasma. I’ve read so many different opinions about choosing a distro, compatibility with gaming and Nvidia drivers, and personal issues with the ethos of different companies like Canonical. I value privacy and I’d rather avoid a Linux distro that’s implementing something like ads or telemetry…if that’s even a thing that’s happening?
As a complete beginner, what sort of advice would you all have for me? Should I avoid OpenSUSE or KDE Plasma for some reason? Are there any ‘10 things to do first when installing Linux for the first time’ recommendations?
Despite all the ‘beginner friendly’ guides and tutorials around, I still feel a little lost and like I’m going into this blind.
EDIT: Thanks to everyone who’s offered advice, I really appreciate all the help and the patience with my dumb questions! There’s a lot to look through and it’s been a busy day for me, but I’ll get back to reading through everything and replying as soon as I can!
I think he wants to dual boot tumbleweed and windows, not two linux distros.
Yeah. I probably should have been more clear about that.
That’s an even worse idea imo. If you’re not very familiar with bcd and grub you will find it hard to boot into Linux once windows decides to “fix the boot issue”.
Better to have a separate drive so you can select by picking boot device on startup.
I know it’s possible to dual boot, but it will be some issues at some point
I have an SSD I’m using for windows and a separate one that I want to install Linux on. I want the ability to remove one of them and keep using the other. From what I understand I can set the BIOS boot order to load Linux first and use the Grub to select which OS to boot?
I realize now I should have been way more specific with how I worded things in the beginning.
Yeah that’s exactly how I do it. Never had a problem with dual booting Windows, just make sure your Linux drive is the default boot drive and then you can select Linux or Windows in GRUB/systemd-boot
Just for the sake of another experience, my dual boot of windows and Linux mint has had absolutely no boot issues for me ever
Good to hear. My last experience included at lot of fiddling, but it’s been quite a few years
That’s generally not a problem anymore with UEFI (unless the boot variables disappear for some reason).
Ok - must admit I haven’t tried dual booting since win7
Ah, that makes way more sense.