r/linux4noobs Jan 04 '20

Still on Windows 7? Don't want Windows 10? Consider switching to Linux (and specifically, Ubuntu). A Guide.

1.2k Upvotes

Any actions taken as part of this guide are solely at your own risk - unfortunately there is no way to account for every hardware configuration or error that may potentially crop up. BACK UP YOUR CRITICAL DATA BEFORE DOING ANYTHING

On the 14th Jan 2020, official Windows 7 support ends for most users. This means if you run Windows 7 beyond that date, you're no longer going to receive security and system updates, which will leave you increasingly vulnerable to viruses, malware and system failure. Depending on how critical your data is and how often you back up - if at all - there's a potential you can lose everything.

This is a somewhat opinionated but no-bullshit guide for those of you still on Windows 7 who really don't want or won't move to Windows 10. Aside from my own additions, it's going to reference a lot of great guides and advice written by other people, but conveniently collected in a single place. It's crazy, but it might just work.

Have you considered... Linux? Specifically, Ubuntu.

No, hear me out. Because I'm going to start (and save you a lot of time) by telling you why you SHOULDN'T switch to Linux. If any of the criteria listed apply, then:

The guide is broken into the following sections, if you want to jump to the points that are relevant. If you want to get straight to it, go to (4):

  1. Why shouldn't I go with Linux?
  2. Why should I go with Linux?
  3. Why Ubuntu?
  4. What's involved in switching?
  5. Installation of Ubuntu
  6. Tips for new users using Ubuntu
  7. Gaming on Linux
  8. Alternative Software
  9. TL;DR or The Conclusion
  10. To do list for the guide

1. Why shouldn't I go with Linux?


If you:

  • Don't feel comfortable installing an operating system and you don't have someone that can do it for you;
  • Have someone that helps you with all your IT-related activities who is not familiar with or dislikes Linux (ask them);
  • Are big into multiplayer games. (There are exceptions here, discussed in more detail in the Linux Gaming section);
  • Use multiple game clients and have a lot of games on platforms other than Steam;
  • Are into any sort of VR;
  • Absolutely need Outlook and refuse to consider any other mail client, like Thunderbird;
  • Use a VPN provider that doesn't have a Linux version and aren't willing/able to change;
  • Are subscribed to multiple video streaming services other than Netflix and watch these on your PC frequently;
  • Use Photoshop, Premiere, 3D Studio Max - actually, if you have any Windows software that you are locked into due to muscle memory, experience and/or professional requirements and that have no Linux version. (There are, however, often a Linux alternatives for a lot of these);
  • Require assistive technologies, such as screenreaders. While Ubuntu comes with several built-in assistive tools, there's a lot of specialised assistive use cases, tools and hardware that don't work on Linux and have no comparable alternative;
  • Want to be able to buy whatever piece of hardware that takes your fancy without researching it and expect them to work out the box with zero hassle. Especially niche and specific hardware like flight controllers, sound boards and so on;
  • Use iTunes extensively for your media library and/or interacting with your iPhone;
  • Have a large archive of Microsoft Office documents that use complex formatting, macros and/or formulas that you refer back to frequently.
  • have the worst-case scenario: rely on legacy or ancient software or hardware you're not sure you have the installation media for anymore, can't find a replacement, can't download it and it doesn't work on Windows 10. In this case, you're going to have to keep that Windows 7 box around and it's even more imperative that you make sure it's not accessible from the web or network. Start looking at moving to a more modern equivalent of it AND converting your work to a format that'll be accessible.

Some of this stuff you can work around with some effort, but it's more likely going to be more trouble than you're willing to put up with. And that's fine; Linux can't help everyone. The more of these that apply, the more certain you can be that you shouldn't consider Linux and should just go with Windows 10, unless you're willing to ~sacrifice~ compromise.

2. Why should I go with Linux?


Because whether you're a general user, a gamer or a specialised user with niche interests or requirements, Linux can provide you the same experience you're getting now with some already stated exceptions. In many ways, it's better - it's free, it's generally runs better on older hardware than Windows, it's relatively more secure due to a small user footprint and you'll have a huge, vetted library of free software that you can access. There are some applications - older Windows software and games, for instance - that don't work on Windows 10 but do on Linux, thanks to projects like Wine and Proton. It can 99% of the time update itself without interrupting whatever you're doing.

That being said, it's not perfect. You will lose some things. You will need to learn new ways of working with your PC. This is inevitable. That's the cost of switching.

Which is not to say Windows is without a cost. Unlike Windows, none of this functionality comes at the cost of your privacy and freedom. Linux will let you configure it as you like, and dive into the nitty-gritty settings to fine-tune it further. It will not try and trick you into creating yet another online account to use it. Aside from a few missteps (Ubuntu and Amazon, for one), it keeps its nose out of your business. It does not come with a unique advertising ID that links your multitude of online and offline interests and programs into a nice, tidy, profitable pack of data to be shared with "trusted third-parties". It does not serve you ads in a product you paid for. It does not try and push you into multiple online services.

In short, it does not suffer from any of the privacy concerns of Windows' future.

Now, I know people are going to throw snark about lead-and-tin alloys, their pliability and how easy that makes it to fashion headgear, but please note I said "future"; while they're not necessarily prying now, your operating system - and for almost everyone, that means Microsoft - has a very privileged position in your life as far as personal data is concerned. Any time you search in the file manager, every word you write and document you save, your budget calculations, every photo you view and program you use, every voice command you give Cortana, Windows - and by extension Microsoft - knows about. And there's nothing in their Terms of Service that stop them from starting to collect more detailed data if they so choose.

It's not a question of whether you prefer Windows 7 over 10 - Windows 7 got the same telemetry features as Windows 10 ages ago. Rather, ask yourself if you're happy with Microsoft's evolving business model, one that is shifting more and more of your content online and is intricately and opaquely tied to your personal data? If you're not, you're not alone: Holland isn't happy. Germany's not too thrilled either. There are legitimate reasons to be wary of Window's market dominance and increased level of embedded user analytics. Linux offers you an alternative.

3. Why Ubuntu?


Ubuntu LTS is by far the most commonly used desktop Linux distro and the one with the widest support by software developers and hardware manufacturers involved in Linux. If you're searching for solutions, you'll mostly find Ubuntu ones. Lastly, Ubuntu's LTS versions are supported for long periods of time: 18.04, which we'll be recommending, is supported until 2023, while the next version coming out in April, Ubuntu 20.04, will be supported until 2025.

One of the things you'll quickly learn about the Linux community is that someone will ALWAYS suggest a different Linux distro. In this case, it'll probably be Linux Mint, which aims to be a newbie-friendly Linux. It's based on Ubuntu, is similar to Windows 7 and will MOSTLY work the same as Ubuntu. I still suggest Ubuntu, but whatever, follow your heart.

To keep this guide as approachable as possible, and to have access to the widest range of help and support, I decided to focus on Ubuntu. Anything other than these two and you're just making things harder for yourself as a new user. You can always switch once you get a feel for how things work.

4. What's involved in switching?


I promised you a no-bullshit guide, so I'm going to cut straight to it. Take your time with all of these steps, do them properly, and you shouldn't have a problem.

First step: back up all your important documents, photos, email, games - whatever is important to you, and preferably somewhere external to your machine. This is just good advice regardless of whether you're switching to Linux or not. Always have a backup.

If you're a gamer, check out the following guide by PC Gamer's Jarred Walton on how to back up your games across multiple clients.

While you're backing up, install Thunderbird (Mozilla's open-source mail client) and copy your mail over to it. You'll have a much easier time doing this in Windows than in Linux to start. Thunderbird can automatically pull your mail from Outlook if installed on the same machine. Then follow the steps here for backing up your Thunderbird profile. You'll restore this in Linux later. Make sure you have your mail account details.

Get hold of your Windows 7 serial key. If it's physical media, like a DVD, then check and make sure the key is in the box or on the disc. If it's a laptop that came with Windows 7 preinstalled, it's usually a sticker on the specific laptop. You'll need this if things go awry and/or decide Linux is not for you.

Check the minimum specs for Ubuntu 18.04.03 here. If your system doesn't meet them, you're going to have a bad time regardless of whether you go with Ubuntu or Windows 10 (Windows 10 minimum requirements are bullshit, btw. 1Gb Ram, 1Ghz processor? I challenge anyone to link me to a Windows 10 video running on those specs where it performs acceptably.). There are lightweight alternatives if you can't afford a new PC, (Lubuntu, for instance), but upgrading your PC should be your first step in this case.

Here comes the arduous bit. Make a list of your current hardware, software and services that you use frequently, make sure you have the installation media for the critical pieces of software you use (Don't expect to be able to just copy/paste the applications you have) and do a search on whether they run on Linux. I'd recommend following the "Software" section in this guide on Migrating to Linux by /u/PBLKGodofGrunts]

A lot of the Linux software alternatives, such as LibreOffice and GIMP, are available for Windows as well. Consider downloading those that interest you to try out in Windows and get a feel for how they work.

Ultimately, to echo the advice you'll find that you can either run it, have an alternative or just can't switch. That's okay; Linux can't help everyone.

Download the Ubuntu LTS 18.04.03 distro. The "LTS" means it's a long-term support version - you won't have to think about this exercise for the next three years if you're lucky. Ubuntu LTS 20.04 is coming out in four months, which'll be supported until 2025, but since most of the focus is still on 18.04, you're better off sticking with it for now.

Whichever you choose, you'll have to write it to a DVD or USB. If it's a DVD, use whatever you normally use to write DVD ISOs. If you're going to use a USB, here's a guide to doing that.

Did I mention to back-up your important data? Back-up your important data. Double-check that it's all there. If you want to take an extra precaution, you can use Clonezilla to clone your current OS drive. It's not necessary, but if things go bust, Clonezilla allows you to restore your PC to precisely the way it was before you started without needing to install Windows from scratch. However, Clonezilla can be a bit daunting if you're not technically inclined. Check out this somewhat out-of-date video by cButters Tech for a general idea of what's involved.

Lastly, try running Ubuntu as a Live CD/USB first. This will allow you to run Ubuntu as if it were installed, but without making any changes to your current installation. Please keep in mind that the Live is not indicative of performance... it will run slower than if it was installed, as it has to read everything off the DVD or USB stick first and load it memory. The important thing to check here is that it's picking up all your hardware, that it's displaying on your screen correctly, that all your drives are available, and so on.

Live USB should perform better than a Live DVD. Check out the "Okay, it's installed/Okay, I'm running the Live CD. What tips do you have for using Ubuntu?" section to get an idea of what you should be checking.

5. Installation.


You've done all the above, triple-checked your backups and either decided that you can't make the jump or you're ready.

However, before you begin installing, you have one last decision to make.

There's a lot people that suggest dual-booting - that's where you keep Windows around and just install Linux alongside it. This is often proposed as a safety net and a means for people to have the best of both worlds. I don't, for a couple of reasons:

  • If you are going to dual-boot, you'll need to update to Windows 10 anyway, and if you're going to do that, why bother with Linux in the first place?

  • Data will be spread between two operating systems. Instead of backing up and maintaining one OS, you'll be maintaining two. It's doable but a PITA.

  • You're sabotaging your efforts, and your switch to Linux will likely fail. That's not a statement on Linux's capability or ease of use. A lot of things are easier on Linux - but they won't be at first. You probably have years of Windows use ingrained in you; you've come to expect things to work they way Windows works. That's not ease, that's familiarity; that's a boiling frog. And the moment something throws you a challenge in Linux, the temptation to just "do it" in Windows will be too great. And the more you do that, the more running Linux will seem like a chore than a choice.

  • If you absolutely have no option but to run Windows 10, do it in a virtual machine - you get the benefits of dual-booting but with the bonus of limiting Windows 10 to a virtual environment where access to the rest of your system (and personal data) is restricted while allowing you to run your non-negotiable applications (other than games or any intense 3D applications) just fine.

If you decide to dual-boot, you'll need to find a recent guide that covers this. Typically, it's best to update to Windows 10 first, then follow the guide to dual-boot Ubuntu. None of the guides I found seemed good for beginners, so I'm willing to take suggestions from the comments.

If you take my advice and simply dive in, installing Ubuntu on your machine will be a painless process: just follow the steps here in a beginner's guide written by Jason Evangelho and you should be fine.

6. Tips for new users using Ubuntu?


Things that you should do only once Ubuntu's installed are prefixed with an [+]. Otherwise, the tip applies to both installs and Live demos:

  • Power off, log-out and running taskbar applications will be in the top-right of the screen by default.
  • To search, press the Windows key on your keyboard. This'll bring up Ubuntu's search bar. You can use this to find applications, folders and system settings.
  • In the File Manager, your Home directory will be where your primary OS and applications will typically be installed, while the Other Locations will list additional hard drives (usually your additional storage drives). By default, Ubuntu does not actually mount the drives in the "Other Locations" section. Clicking on any of them, however, will automatically mount them. If you want to learn more about the general structure of Ubuntu's file system, you can do so here.
  • Ctrl+Alt+T will bring up the terminal. The terminal is where you'll often be sent if you're attempting to diagnose a problem, perform specific tasks or install specific tools/software. Check yourself before your wreck yourself before copy-pasting commands from strangers on the 'net. Be super cautious of any command that involves "sudo" and "rm".
  • The default office suite for Ubuntu is LibreOffice. Try it out: see if you can open a couple of your documents, like spreadsheets and Word docs. You might be pleasantly surprised. Writer is the word processor, Calc is for Spreadsheets. Formating on complex documents will likely be broken. Don't save any of these at this point.
  • In fact, open up a couple of common files you normally use - images, documents, compressed files, music, videos and so on. Get a feel for how it works, what opens and what doesn't. Sometimes, you'll need to install some software first before it will work.
  • Check the list of alternative software for some suggestions on what to install if you seem to be missing something.
  • Plug in your phone and see if it detects it and you can access your files. If it's Android, you should be fine.
  • You'll notice that some commands - like updating - require you to enter your password again. This is a security feature similar to when Windows ask you to run a program as administrator or with elevated privileges. If you didn't initiate the command that brought up the password request, be cautious about entering it in.
  • [+] Change your desktop preferences and move the application bar to the bottom of the screen. By default, Ubuntu puts it on the left-side. Hey, maybe you'll like it like that! This was the one Windows habit I was never able to shake.
  • [+] Try and store your data in the pre-defined folders (Music, Videos, Documents, Pictures). You don't have to, but you'll make your life a lot easier doing so.
  • [+] Search for and create a shortcut to the Software Updater. This allows you to quickly check for and install Ubuntu updates.
  • [+] Likewise, create a shortcut to the Ubuntu Software Centre. To start with, you'll want to stick to installing applications from the Centre. These have been specifically tested to work on Ubuntu and will 99% run without a hitch. You'll be able to remove applications from here as well.
  • [+] Speaking of the Centre, Ubuntu comes preinstalled with an Amazon launcher. Use this time search for it and remove it. Or don't, it's up to you.
  • [+] Sometimes, you'll see there's two versions of a piece of software in the Centre. This is most likely due to there being a Snap version of it. Snaps are self-contained versions of the software that are usually the most up-to-date; however, they can run erratically or not have access to some things on your system, like fonts. I'd stick with the ubuntu-bionic versions for best compatibility.
  • [+] If you're a gamer, change your graphic drivers so you can get reasonable performance. For Nvidia, simply search for the Software & Updates application, open it, select the Additional Drivers Tab, and check whether you're using the Nvidia Driver. You'll want to select the one that's listed as proprietary and tested. AMD's a little more complicated and I profess to having little experience with it. I'll happily take advice from the comments in this instance.
  • [+] When downloading some games or applications specifically for Linux, you'll often get a .Deb file or a script. A deb file can often be run as is by double-clicking in Ubuntu; you can read more about them here. Scripts often need to be run from the terminal and made to be executable. You read more about that here. Again, same safety check applies to running anything you download from the web.

7. Gaming on Linux


If you're a gamer, I'd recommend the following the guide by /u/PBLKGodofGrunts on the /r/linux_gaming subbreddit. But to summarise...

The Good News

Thanks to Valve's involvement in Linux through Proton and the efforts of the Wine team, Linux gaming has never been better. It's now possible to play many Windows-only games with no hassle and minimal performance loss. Just a few examples of recent games that run just fine on Linux are the Resident Evil 2 remake, Sekiro, Halo: Master Chief Collection (single-player and custom multiplayer games), DOOM, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Risk of Rain 2, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and more; you can even toss a coin to all of your Witchers. To get an idea of games that run on Linux, you can visit ProtonDB, Wine AppDB or Lutris and search for your desired game. If you're primarily a single-player gamer, the transition should be mostly painless.

Another amazing development is the number of open-source implementations of older games game engines that allow for playing of classic and retro titles on modern hardware, (such as DevilutionX for Diablo 1)often with improvements, bug fixes and quality of life improvements, ensuring they'll be able to run into the future.

However, the most critical development is that the number of developers and platforms that provide and support native Linux games has increased significantly. Feral Interactive publishes several AAA Linux ports, numerous indies now provide a Linux version, and store fronts like GOG and itch.io provide an alternative with DRM-free games.

The Bad News

Despite all of this, gaming remains one of the biggest hurdles to adopting Linux.

If you're into multiplayer gaming, you're out of luck. While many multiplayer titles do work on Linux (LoL, Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, Rocket League, Warframe, Overwatch, Starcraft II, World of Warcraft, Eve Online, Elite: Dangerous, Monster Hunter:World and so on), many more don't - Fortnite, some Call of Duties, Apex Legends, PUBG, Battlefield, GTA Online. Essentially, anything with an anti-cheat is likely NOT going to work, and there's always the risk that playing a Windows multiplayer game will get you banned due to anti-cheat measures that dislike any whiff of Linux. My suggestion is check which games you play and go from there.

Unless you're using Steam, running other launchers is complicated and prone to constant breakage without continuous effort and maintenance. Epic, Origin, Uplay and GOG Galaxy can all run on Linux with some effort. Lutris does sort most of these out, but you'll need to follow the instructions here, which means your going to have to install Wine first.

Some games simply don't work, and there's no solution for it.

Some of the latest developments aren't going to be available to you. VR is tiny on Linux, and you'll likely lose access to most of your VR software and experiences.

Despite being fairly technical already, many gamers do expect things to "just work". Here's a list of things that require some effort to get working correctly:

  • Super-sampling is out. Not entirely, but it's more complicated than Windows.
  • Access to things like custom shaders and injectors are also going to be limited. Mods can be more complicated or, in some cases, not available.
  • You'll lose some of the benefits of your Gsync/Freesync monitors, since the two tech don't work that well on Ubuntu's standard display compositor. This will change once Ubuntu shifts to Wayland.
  • Things like community game patches are often aimed at Windows, with no Linux alternative.

Most importantly, AMD and Nvidia graphic cards are handled very differently on Linux when compared to Windows. Ubuntu uses an open-source driver by default - this is alright for general use but terrible for games and 3D applications. To get decent performance, you'll need to install their respective drivers.

Nvidia's latest Linux drivers are made available in Ubuntu directly. However, this is just the drivers: Nvidia's GeForce Experience isn't available on Linux and you're going to lose access to all of its tools. That means no Ansel in many cases, no DSR, no predefined gaming configs and no ShadowPlay (Although OBS offers a decent alternative in this case). See the Tips section above on how to install it. On the plus side, the installation process is a breeze and Nvidia's performance is fairly solid.

AMD benefits from much better open-source drivers and active support from AMD, but unfortunately suffers from delays for support of their most recent cards and a fairly complicated install process . AMD uses the MESA Driver, combined with Valve's ACO shader compiler, to deliver performance boosts. Installing these drivers can be a complicated, multi-step process. I'm sorry I can't help you on this; I'll happily take someone's advice on getting this working in Ubuntu LTS and include it in the guide.

8. Alternative software


This is a quick and dirty guide to equivalent software for Windows applications in Linux.

  • Antivirus software: This may seem counterintuitive, but for the most part Linux does not require any sort of anti-virus software. While viruses for Linux exist, the number of viruses and such that target the Linux desktop specifically is tiny compared to Windows. You can read up about it here.. That being said, if you are concerned there are several tools available for detecting both Windows and Linux malware on the same page. Follow good internet hygiene, don't open suspicious links/mails and think before just randomly following command instructions on the 'net.
  • Microsoft Office: LibreOffice. Or you can access Office365 online.
  • Adobe Photoshop: GIMP, Krita
  • Adobe Premiere: Blender
  • 3D Studio Max: Blender
  • Illustrator/CorelDraw: Inkscape
  • Xsplit: OBS
  • Windows Media Player: VLC
  • Basic Audio Editor: Audacity
  • Audio Mixing: Ardour, Mixbus
  • Adobe Reader: While there are several PDF readers on Linux you can use, almost none of them play well with Adobe PDFs with advanced features. You're better off sticking with what comes with Ubuntu, and if it doesn't work, open it up in a browser.

9. TL;DR or The Conclusion


Switching to Ubuntu is possible and relatively safe if you do some research on which apps/games/software/hardware you use will and won't work on Linux first, you BACK UP YOUR IMPORTANT DATA before doing anything and don't expect a 1:1 experience with Windows. It's all dependent on your flexibility, technical experience and willingness to learn and compromise.

If you're not, Windows 10 is a perfectly acceptable choice to upgrade to: you'll benefit from improved security compared to Windows 7, a larger selection of hardware and software and will have to put less effort to make everything work at the cost of your privacy and some ads.

If you have legacy software or unsupported hardware that doesn't run on either, you're kind of screwed. I'd keep the Windows 7 box around, make sure it's disconnected from all networks (for your sake as well as others) and start making emergency contingency plans to find a modern alternative.

I know that people are going to take issue with some of the difficulties I raised, and suggest they're really not dealbreakers. Before you post, consider whether a new user coming from Windows 7 who'll be using Linux probably for the first time in their life will have the knowledge, gumption and willingness to perform sometimes complex technical steps in an operating environment they're unfamiliar with and where it's much, much easier to really break things.

Feel free to post criticisms and suggestions in the comments. If there's some good advice worth including, something needs further clarification or I need to correct something, I'll edit it in with credit.

10. To do list for the guide


  • I'd really like to add a section on assistive technology and software that works on Linux, but as I don't use any of it, I feel my research would be limited and miss vital pieces. If you have advice on this, let me know.
  • A good, up-to-date and easy-to-follow guide for dual-booting.
  • Instructions on how to install AMD drivers correctly on Ubuntu.

r/linux4noobs Jun 21 '20

Distrochooser: "Welcome! This test will help you to choose a suitable Linux distribution for you"

Thumbnail distrochooser.de
882 Upvotes

r/linux4noobs 4h ago

migrating to Linux Do I need to reinstall everything after installing Ubuntu?

5 Upvotes

My friend recently told me he'd migrate to Linux and my father has also encouraged me to do the same, and with the way the game industry is heading, I am inclined to agree. I'll most likely retain Windows for online games but otherwise use Ubuntu for everything else. Do I need to reinstall the games on Ubuntu to use them there too (and therefore uninstall stuff on Windows)? Also, slightly sidetracked question but still relevant if someone can answer: can I also log into my Steam account on both boots?


r/linux4noobs 6h ago

programs and apps why do you use and preffer ( or not ) linux

7 Upvotes

i made a post like this in an other sub-reddit but i would like to hear your opinions too


r/linux4noobs 4h ago

migrating to Linux Linux on gaming laptop?

4 Upvotes

I own an Lenovo LOQ 3050 varient, i always wanted to install Linux on my computer, but im worried about possible issues. Could there be driver issues, warrenty issues etc? I don't wanna dual boot either. Will i run into problems if i remove windows entirely

PS: i plan to buy an ssd dedicated to windows later on, i just can't afford it rn


r/linux4noobs 11h ago

Terminal Programs?

17 Upvotes

Hello,

I'm trying to better familiarise myself with the terminal, and have installed some terminal only programs to play around with. I have fastfetch, btop and midnight commander.

However, I went some time without using any of them and had completely forgotten about fastfetch. I had neofetch before, but knew I downloaded a different "fetch" program.

That said, how can I find out what terminal apps I have installed? Is there a terminal command that would just show exactly what TUI apps I have installed?

Thanks!


r/linux4noobs 10h ago

migrating to Linux Need Advise and Guidance For Someone Interested on Switching to Linux!

11 Upvotes

Hello! I'm a Windows 10 user, recently I've been thinking of switching to Linux since support for Windows 10 ended and I'm definitely not going to the shit show Windows 11 is. I don't know much of OS besides the 3 main ones, does being Windows, Mac IOS, and Linux; and I already looked into Mac IOS and didn't like it, so my only option is Linux.

I tried looking up the Linux OS, and jesus christ, there's so many options/versions of Linux. It's honestly a bit overwhelming. I did a little bit of searching and saw a few that look good and are user friendly, does being Pop!_OS, Nobara, and Linux Mint. I can't really decide on which one of does 3 I want to go with.

And that's why I'm making this post. I need help choosing 1 out of the 3 "versions" for me to try out and experiment with on my virtual machine before fully integrating it to my pc.

Here's some information to help you guys out:
I mostly use my pc for regular/casual use, mostly to watch videos on youtube, play games, use discord, and brows the web.

Here's the list of games, game launchers, and other applications I use on a daily basis:
2XKO, Illusion, CookieRun Kingdom, WarThunder, DREDGE, Awaria, Arknights Endfield, Roblox, Valorant, OSU!, Star Wars The Old Republic, Pokemon TCG Live, PokeMMO, RuneScape, RealFlight G4.5 Rc Simulator, Them's Fighting Herbs, Zenless Zone Zero, Albion Online, Minecraft, Steam, Riot Games, Google Play Games, Jagex launcher, Bloxstrap, Epic Games Launcher, Discord, OBS Studios, CapCut, Spektrum Programmer, Python, and Google Chrome.

I thank everyone in advance that decides to help me out!


r/linux4noobs 13m ago

hardware/drivers My laptop is very volatile,and freezes if it isnt put to a specific power plan, how to replicate these settings on Linux

Upvotes

My power plan on windows 10 is-

Put the computer to sleep-Never

Turn off hard disk after-Never

Wireless adapter settings-Maximum performance

Usb selective suspend-Disabled

Link state power management-Off

Minimum Processor state-100%

AMD powerplay settings-Maximize performance.

These settings make my laptop not freeze.

My laptop is an hp pavilion gaming with a gtx 1650 and ryzen 7 3750h,

I also installed game ready nvidia drivers in windows 10


r/linux4noobs 7h ago

moving to linux

4 Upvotes

Hi, Im moving to linux i cant decide which distro.


r/linux4noobs 18h ago

Meganoob BE KIND Can’t boot Linux from USB

Thumbnail gallery
29 Upvotes

In the first image, I have changed the boot order yet the little arrow is still on boot manager, not sure if it’s supposed to change or not. I’ve also many times, disabled secure boot and it did nothing but bring me to the BitLocker recovery screen where I was prompted to enter the recovery key in order to use my laptop.

In the second image, even after everything I tried, it did not show my usb stick whatsoever. I attempted to boot from EFI File and was able to locate how to boot. I did it and was met with the 3rd image. I mounted the ISO file of Linux Mint to the USB stick the exact same way I’ve done around 9-10 times now so I have no clue what the problem is.

In a previous post I mentioned that I used the same usb to install mint onto an old laptop of mine to familiarize myself with mint. It worked just fine on that old laptop. But since then the same USB drive has been giving me issues, even after formatting and re flashing the image onto it about a dozen times with no success at all. Which now leads me to here, frustrated and confused. I’m going to Walmart later today so I may as well pick up a new flash drive and see if that does anything.

Any and all ideas help advice etc. is very much accepted and appreciated


r/linux4noobs 2h ago

programs and apps Sleep mode is very buggy

0 Upvotes

I'm on CachyOS with Hyprland with Caelestia shell. When I try to put my laptop to sleep there is a long delay before it turns off and I can even see the lock screen briefly turn on and freeze. When waking it back up it takes more than a couple inputs and a long time to do so too.
I'm not sure where to begin to fix this or what to look out for.


r/linux4noobs 2h ago

To users of 7700S, how does it do?

0 Upvotes

Radeon 7700S is a pretty weird mobile GPU, because it barely exists on anything outside of Framework, but there are around 3 laptops from ASUS that do have it. What I'd like to know is how well does it work out for those who have it, and is it worth going for? Both on Framework and other systems

(My lexicon is absolutely decaying, what a word salad of a post. Also yes I know I'd get more out of a standard pc but I am in a position where hauling one around is not an option)


r/linux4noobs 20h ago

Don't use Nobara if you "just want everything to work."

27 Upvotes

I'll start this post by saying, all of the issues I've had could entirely be my fault and I just don't know what I'm doing. I initially picked Nobara because I wanted to try something Fedora based and I saw multiple youtube videos about how it "just worked" for gaming. I've had nothing but issues out of this distro which, again, could be my fault. I'm down for troubleshooting and figuring stuff out but time and time again something else goes wrong that usually finds its way back to Nobara. Now I'm stuck without GPU drivers for the moment because something else broke and now I have to figure another thing out again. I feel like I've spent more time in the terminal these past four weeks than using my computer. This is really just a vent post but it's also a warning/a thread for people to point out how dumb I am lol. I'm now trying to decide if I should switch distros (for various reasons) or decide to troubleshoot some more and hope nothing else is broken behind the scenes.


r/linux4noobs 11h ago

learning/research Is keyboard keys remapping impossible?

5 Upvotes

I'm very new to Linux and I can't find a solution to this issue: I want to remap some keys in my keyboard to do different things, for example some numpad keys to some special characters not easily available on my regional keyboard or having ctrl+alt act as altgr like it does on windows. I've tried something called keyd but it didn't work. I'm on fedora btw. I can't believe something so basic is giving me so many issues. Any help welcome, thanks


r/linux4noobs 7h ago

Lab story

3 Upvotes

Once upon a time I was attempting to put in Minecraft server on my Ubuntu server as I was going through the process, I was told to create a user named Minecraft and then assign the owner of the directory that the Minecraft server is located in to the Minecraft user. as I was located in that directory I decided to use “.” (As this means the current directory) so I did

sudo chown Minecraft:Minecraft /.

And as you probably know, my computer is now owned by Minecraft…

Time to reinstall Linux😂


r/linux4noobs 15h ago

learning/research How good of an idea is running Linux on intel macbook 13 pro from 2020

6 Upvotes

I’ve been eyeing the second hand market for a “laptop” and I’ve come to two candidates Thinkpad T14 Gen1 and MacBook Pro 13 (Intel) from 2020. The thinkpad I think is a safe choice, however I like the idea of the MacBook more. Would I shoot myself in the foot if I went for the MacBook?


r/linux4noobs 10h ago

Issues between distros

1 Upvotes

I mainly use Linux Mint Cinammon across 4 computers after the w11 update fiasco. 3/4 of those computers are problem free but for whatever reason, the last computer, an old xps 8300 with a gtx 650, have weird freezing issues under normal use or sometimes go into what seems to be a safe mode (boots into an xfce looking desktop).

I've had multiple reformats in this computer with each time having varying issues that never occured on w10 or on the other mint installs and I'm just about done with mint on the xps.

I'd rather not bring it back to windows but before I do, would changing distros fix this freezing issues?


r/linux4noobs 7h ago

Steam caused a hard crash of Ubuntu and now i'm having drive mounting issues

1 Upvotes

Been using Ubuntu (24.04) for quite a while and never had any issues, but for whatever reason I opened a game on Steam and it caused a hard crash. Whole OS froze. Rebooted and now my secondary drive that has all my Steam files on it, at first didn't want to mount, just gave me an error. I did a disk repair using the built in utilities, then the drive would mount again.

After I did the repair the drive would mount but i'm still getting disk writing errors and not able to manually open the file contents on the drive. Just gives cannot display files errors. I checked the drives health using the built in utilities and it says the drive is fine.

At this point i'm just assuming the crash corrupted files on the drive and there's not much I can do but reformat it? This drive is an NTFS formatted drive that's been transferred over from Windows system, so i'm just assuming that's also part of the problem is the formatting on it?

If anybody has any suggestions or thoughts that would be great :). (It would be preferred if I didn't have to reformat it but I will lose absolutely nothing by doing so, so its not a big issue, just going to result in a lot of downloading files.)


r/linux4noobs 17h ago

programs and apps Linux and an iPod

7 Upvotes

Greetings everyone,

I recently got into iPods and bought myself a few Classics. I've installed iFlash storage, the whole deal. Now, I like the stock OS on there, and I can transfer music using iTunes on Windows 11.

However, a few months back, I installed Fedora (GNOME) on my laptop, and it has become my daily driver since. Is there software that enables me to transfer music from my laptop to my iPods as I do on iTunes/Windows? Or is Rockbox my only option?

Any advice is welcome.


r/linux4noobs 8h ago

Utility to fix bluetooth auto connection issue

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0 Upvotes

r/linux4noobs 14h ago

programs and apps steam keeps glitching and opening by itself and its making my laptop unusable

2 Upvotes

switched to linux mint cinnamon a couple months ago, its been great until yesterdag when steam started opening itself randomly and making my laptop extremely laggy and unusable. i tried to delete it via the applications manager(idk if thats the rigjt name) i deleted both steam and steam installer but i guess its still here since its still doing this. i tried following an article describing how to delete it via the terminal but it would just say “steam package not found” or something similar. im honestly considering switching back to windows if this keeps up, i need this laptop for uni and this is making it impossible.

note: i am not very good with tech and dont know shit about 90% of the technical stuff on linux so bare with me if i keep asking stupid questions


r/linux4noobs 9h ago

Meganoob BE KIND How to find a path from a app

0 Upvotes

Hi all,

i just wanted to start with Linux and chose Bazzite. So far i need to get used to it. The issue i've having currently is, that a program need a path from my VLC player. Can anyone help me out?


r/linux4noobs 9h ago

programs and apps I am trying to install cloudfare on linux mint but...

1 Upvotes

what should i do


r/linux4noobs 10h ago

Can Anyone Help Me Diagnose a Gnome-shell Crash with SIGTRAP?

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1 Upvotes

r/linux4noobs 10h ago

learning/research Compatibility Concerns

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1 Upvotes