Looking to try out Linux but not sure where to start

[ThatSadBoi]

So I've been watching Linus' Linux videos and I told myself that I wanted to try and learn something new for this year. 

I just don't know where to start and how to pick a Linux distro. I'm mainly going to be using it for gaming and streaming. In terms of hardware I have a 7950X3D and a 3080TI.

I have a 2i2 audio interface so thsy is something I need to get working. 

 

Also I was looking at Zorin OS and the install guide made it seem like I have to wipe Windows from my hard drive. I have a 2TB NVME SSD inside my computer. Can I not just install Linux on there and keep my windows drive? 

[MontyAthenas]

31 minutes ago, ThatSadBoi said:

So I've been watching Linus' Linux videos and I told myself that I wanted to try and learn something new for this year. 

I just don't know where to start and how to pick a Linux distro. I'm mainly going to be using it for gaming and streaming. In terms of hardware I have a 7950X3D and a 3080TI.

I have a 2i2 audio interface so thsy is something I need to get working. 

 

Also I was looking at Zorin OS and the install guide made it seem like I have to wipe Windows from my hard drive. I have a 2TB NVME SSD inside my computer. Can I not just install Linux on there and keep my windows drive? 

If you have a second drive besides the one where you have your windows os, you can for sure install it to try it out on that one, though at least for my experience I would recommend that you only have installed in your system the drive that you are going to use for each os when you are using windows or Linux 

Also, if this is your first time try to look up some information about virtualization, it might be useful to try things out before making a complete change

[Brando212]

if you're just testing the waters and don't want to mess up your windows install then I would recommend playing with distros in a VM instead of a bare-metal install. VMWare and VirtualBox are both rather easy to setup.

 

As for distros, I'd recommend the following for first time users as there's not much manual intervention needed to get them up and going.

 

• Fedora
• Linux Mint
• Pop!_OS (gaining popularity for gaming and such due to Steam being pre-installed and optimized)
• Ubuntu (Kubuntu / Xubuntu / etc)
• Zorin OS

[thegreatestarbiter]

So dual-booting is a thing, and sometimes it just works without any issue. However, I would not try it without backing up your windows install first, or without having a bootable windows usb handy just in case you ruin the boot partition for your windows install. However, I would not go this route as a beginner, as there are many pitfalls that can occur during the process (shrinking the windows partitions, troubleshooting the boot-loader...). I would find a cheap SSD to add to your system(buy one for cheap or use one laying around), add that to your system as a secondary drive, and install Linux on that.

 

For the distro, I would go with PopOS, as they have a OS version that comes with Nvidia drivers (since you have a 3080). Its a very user friendly OS, and all the Ubuntu documentation online applies to it, as PopOS is Ubuntu underneath.

(Not sure if you are familiar with this process, so pardon if this is too detailed)

 

For the install, you need to create a bootable USB, boot to that USB and install. For the bootable usb, I would use a software called Ventoy. Just download the version for windows, unzip, and run the exe. It will guide you through installing Ventoy on the usb. Once its installed, you will see in your files explorer a new usb drive called "Ventoy". Download the ISO for PopOS from the link above, and simply copy the ISO file to the Ventoy usb drive.

Now, reboot your computer and choose the usb drive for the boot. For some computers its mashing F11 or F12 when the computer boots, and others its DEL. You need to figure that out for your computer. This will take you to the boot menu, where you should see a list with Windows Boot Manager at the top, and a USB drive below. Select the USB drive, and let it boot from the drive. This should take you right to PopOS after about 30-60 sec. It will then guide you through the installation process.

 

For the install, just make sure you select the right drive to install PopOS on, otherwise you will overwrite your Windows install. Once it is done, reboot (it might ask you to remove the install usb), and press that key you used earlier to boot to the USB, but this time you should see an option for PopOS instead of the usb. That will allow you to boot to your new PopOS install. Post here if you need more help with configuring the new install.

 

Hope this helps. You might already know all those steps, but i added them here just in case.

[LvBeethoven]

On distros, I would recommend Pop!_OS for general use (including gaming) or, if you aren't afraid of asking around in the (fantastic!) discord server when things might just break sometimes (blame NVIDIA) -- which you shouldn't be, Nobara. Choose carefully! (sidenote: if you're going to be using it for gaming primarily, my heart says Nobara)

 

On the getting started part, here is a bit of advice (assuming you choose one of my two recommendations): Nobara is based on Fedora Linux, which is just about the second most supported distro(-base), only 'behind' Ubuntu/Debian -- upon which Pop! is based. I would recommend a dual-boot setup for you. Both Nobara and Pop! support dual-boot, and quite easily at that. Nobara supports resizing a Windows partition on a disk and installing it alongside with the installer, so you should be good to go with just one click. I also find the manual partitioning -- ask in the discord or read the website's 'feed' before though -- easier there. With Pop!_OS, you have to resize the Windows partition in Windows before installing. Not hard, just keep that in mind.

 

As for the i2i audio thing -- which, I must confess, I haven't heard of before --, it looks like you do not need to install anything, since it is a standard-compliant device! Keep in mind that you should (don't have to, but highly recommended) download the ISOs for NVIDIA drivers on both distros. You can use BalenaEtcher to make bootable USB drives for both. You should format the USB after installing -- assuming you don't want to keep it, which is totally an option (for troubleshooting, if need be) -- on Linux, so that Windows can use it again after (blame Microsoft).

 

One crucial thing: Neither Nobara nor Pop! supports Secure Boot, so you will have to disable that in the BIOS.

Edited January 6 by LvBeethoven
Better breaking and one accuracy change

[wasab]

Feel free to get a steam deck or many of the OEM pre install Linux computers if you don't want the hassel of do it yourself and are looking for an experience just like buying any other computer from a store/retailer. 

[ThatSadBoi]

1 hour ago, wasab said:

Feel free to get a steam deck or many of the OEM pre install Linux computers if you don't want the hassel of do it yourself and are looking for an experience just like buying any other computer from a store/retailer. 

I ended up buying a steam deck (while I enjoyed my time with the Leigon go windows isn't the best for portable gaming especially since the steam deck has suspend & resume where as with windows I have to trust hibernate mode and if the game even works well with it). 

I'll eventually buy a dock and tinker with SteamOS and get a feel of Linux with that.