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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Beginner's Guides for Switching to Linux? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello!

I'm interested in moving my personal computer to running Linux but I'm not sure where to even begin. As background, I am a casual user and have a desktop with hardware from around 2014 running Windows. I am hoping to setup a NAS drive as a media server in the next year or so, offloading all of the files currently on the Windows desktop and have been interested in open source software such as Jellyfin. I also mostly game on an Xbox and Nintendo Switch, but have used the desktop in the past for gaming such as with an Oculus Rift Headset and some Steam games so not huge on getting games working on the computer. But, I do sometimes torrent using the computer so don't want to lose that capability (especially with upkeep for the media server).

With all of that said, I didn't know how to get started with choosing what Linux OS to use, setting it up, backing up my files to make sure I can use them with the new OS, etc. Making the switch seems to have great options for customization and "choosing a distro that works for you", but I don't know what would work for me or what will be user friendly for a beginner.

Any tips or pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Install Linux Mint, whatever flavor you like the look of
Figure out how to install whatever you need
Enjoy!

Don't worry about customization, just figure out how to get your stuff installed and go from there. Once everything is working as you want, then try customizing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thank you! When people say "customizing" (throughout this thread and others) what are they referencing? For instance, just the desktop layout/formatting, or the way the files are structured, or the kinds of software they are using for tasks?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

The answer to that varies by person. But when I say it, I mean doing large changes, like switching your desktop environment (e.g. GNOME -> KDE or a tiling window manager) or trying out custom kernels (e.g. using a different scheduler, like linux-ck, linux-clear, etc). So I guess a little of the first and a little of the last.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

How do y'all get past the Nvidia Optimus issues? All the Windows machines in my house have Nvidia graphics, which means at least the laptops have Optimus. I would love to move my wife's laptop over to Linux when Windows 10 goes EOL, but I had a work laptop with Optimus that ran Ubuntu, and the thing was a nightmare. I didn't really mind because it was a work laptop. But it caused so many issues coming in and out of sleep that I just disabled sleep altogether. I had horrible screen tearing issues. The GPU performance was bad (probably because I had to use the open source driver to fix the screen tearing issues). It was just a horrible experience that I could look past, but my wife can't.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Linux Mint has the Additional Driver section on Settings. It'll provide you with options. For your graphic driver, select the recommended one, which would most likely be the proprietary driver for nvidia. Hit OK, and restart.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

But the proprietary Nvidia driver doesn't work for Optimus at all. It's super buggy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

What hardware do you have? I've tested it to work on Dell Latitude E6430 (NVS 5200) as well as Thinkpad W530 (K1000M & K2000M) with version 390 driver.