• Landless2029@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    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

    • trivial_wannabe@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      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.

      • c10l@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I second Debian. Stable is excellent.

        Testing has newer packages and is generally almost as stable.

        I published my Debian gaming setup a few days ago. Haven’t tried VR on it either as I don’t have a headset, but I assume it works.

        https://lemmy.world/post/9543661

      • Zamundaaa@discuss.tchncs.de
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        6 months ago

        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

        • trivial_wannabe@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          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.

    • lhamil64@programming.dev
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      6 months ago

      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.

      • Landless2029@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        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.

    • catastrophicblues@lemmy.ca
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      6 months ago

      Linux Mint with Cinnamon. Easiest transition. If you want customization, use KDE. If you want your desktop environment to make choices for you, GNOME.

      • Landless2029@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        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.

    • jack@monero.town
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      6 months ago

      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

    • HubertManne@kbin.social
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      6 months ago

      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.

    • HATEFISH@midwest.social
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      6 months ago

      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