What Linux users can do to help increase the adoption of their chosen desktop operating system.If you are interested in Linux, the first episode in my "Linux...
One of the great things about Linux is that you can almost always just run whatever distro from the USB drive before installing (and just reboot without the USB drive to get back into Windows) So you can download a few ISOs and try each one for a bit before committing to anything.
This is nice if there’s anything specific that you need to work, you can try it and make sure it’s usable for you before making any permanent changes.
For example, I’m legally blind and use a screen magnifier. I tried a few distros to compare the built-in magnifiers before settling on one.
I’d also recommend using Ventoy on your USB. That lets you just plop ISO files on the drive and choose which one at boot.
Get into the “variety is good” mindset. Having options is always better than not having options, even if it feels overwhelming at first. It’ll get easier with time
just go zorin os. it attempts to simulate the look and feel of windows while also having a lot of pre installed applications including playonlinux/wine sot that once its installed you can just go.
I made the dive into Linux mint last night. If you already have windows installed you can side load so you don’t have to completely commit right out of the box. I play games that would require windows so this was necessary for me but so far outside of hating middle mouse click to paste and some troubleshooting for my headset (I could hear myself quietly through my headphones when speaking into mic) Linux has been preferable to win11
You’re right, but the point I was trying to get across to another layman is you can have windows already installed and not break anything with another install of Linux. Rather than get into partitioning and dual booting.
Sideloading an app on a phone doesn’t have the potential to wipe everything else off the phone. It’s bad advice to call dual booting that because you might cause someone to go into it without understanding the risks involved. In fact, the best facsimile, which doesn’t even require knowing how to get into the boot menu, would be to run a Virtual Machine instead. That way there actually isn’t any risk of erasing Windows. It’s also really simple these days, here’s some guides from ubuntu and fedora:
Or if you don’t want to go through the hassle of installing Linux inside the VM yourself, you can download pre-built VMs for most major distros from here:
Sure, I’ll do that. But you’ve lost 99% of average people when you mention “virtual machine”.
Also at least for mint which I was directly talking about you actually boot via live USB first and have to install from an icon on the desktop so there really is no risk for erasing windows until your well into making decisions. Which again you have to choose to erase windows.
Sorry, but Debian stable is a terrible recommendation! They don’t even ship bugfix releases of KDE Plasma… It’s stuck with a months old version that has lots of known and long fixed bugs in it
I’ve decided to run Linux as my main os next PC build… I said that two years ago and still haven’t built my new rig.
I’m terrified of switching. There’s just way too much information out there. So many options.
I’m used to being in a box with just one or two ways of doing things.
Does anyone know a good series to help windows users adapt?
Just need web surfing and gaming including steam vr
One of the great things about Linux is that you can almost always just run whatever distro from the USB drive before installing (and just reboot without the USB drive to get back into Windows) So you can download a few ISOs and try each one for a bit before committing to anything.
This is nice if there’s anything specific that you need to work, you can try it and make sure it’s usable for you before making any permanent changes.
For example, I’m legally blind and use a screen magnifier. I tried a few distros to compare the built-in magnifiers before settling on one.
I’d also recommend using Ventoy on your USB. That lets you just plop ISO files on the drive and choose which one at boot.
Great advice.
I’m already using git to gather my linux build notes and install commands I’ll need.
Eventually I’ll be able to USB boot a disto and run my custom setup script for my apps.
Linux Mint with Cinnamon. Easiest transition. If you want customization, use KDE. If you want your desktop environment to make choices for you, GNOME.
Thanks. I loaded exactly that already on an older laptop just to get used to it and test some workloads.
Just regular web surfing is snappy as all hell.
Get into the “variety is good” mindset. Having options is always better than not having options, even if it feels overwhelming at first. It’ll get easier with time
just go zorin os. it attempts to simulate the look and feel of windows while also having a lot of pre installed applications including playonlinux/wine sot that once its installed you can just go.
I’ll definitely look into zorin thanks
https://youtu.be/GTMBFtl_xs4?si=JYY5BPXFX382pJ8t&t=38
I made the dive into Linux mint last night. If you already have windows installed you can side load so you don’t have to completely commit right out of the box. I play games that would require windows so this was necessary for me but so far outside of hating middle mouse click to paste and some troubleshooting for my headset (I could hear myself quietly through my headphones when speaking into mic) Linux has been preferable to win11
That is not what sideload means my friend.
You’re right, but the point I was trying to get across to another layman is you can have windows already installed and not break anything with another install of Linux. Rather than get into partitioning and dual booting.
Sideloading an app on a phone doesn’t have the potential to wipe everything else off the phone. It’s bad advice to call dual booting that because you might cause someone to go into it without understanding the risks involved. In fact, the best facsimile, which doesn’t even require knowing how to get into the boot menu, would be to run a Virtual Machine instead. That way there actually isn’t any risk of erasing Windows. It’s also really simple these days, here’s some guides from ubuntu and fedora:
https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/how-to-run-ubuntu-desktop-on-a-virtual-machine-using-virtualbox
https://fedoramagazine.org/install-fedora-virtualbox-guest/
Or if you don’t want to go through the hassle of installing Linux inside the VM yourself, you can download pre-built VMs for most major distros from here:
https://www.osboxes.org/virtualbox-images/
Added benefit that you can try multiple different distros without even rebooting your computer.
Sure, I’ll do that. But you’ve lost 99% of average people when you mention “virtual machine”.
Also at least for mint which I was directly talking about you actually boot via live USB first and have to install from an icon on the desktop so there really is no risk for erasing windows until your well into making decisions. Which again you have to choose to erase windows.
Yeah, so don’t say Virtual Machine. Say “you can sideload linux on windows to test it”.
Honestly, just go with Debian Stable (bookworm) with KDE or Linux Mint. It is pretty stable and a windows like experience.
I have not tried VR on it tho, so can’t speak to that.
Sorry, but Debian stable is a terrible recommendation! They don’t even ship bugfix releases of KDE Plasma… It’s stuck with a months old version that has lots of known and long fixed bugs in it
Fair point, but for someone who doesn’t like tinkering and is afraid to make the jump to Linux, I still stand by the suggestion.
Different people value different things and that’s okay.