Switching to Linux - How to adapt to Linux (fast?) and Dual boot help.

[McLpOP]

Linux: Getting started
Any guides or methods to get the hang of the operations system better/quicker? The best advice is probably to choose a distro, install it and get going with it which is fair advice. If doing that, what's something one might do that is generally useful for a Linux user/developer but considered "hard" to do? I could get some practice that way in trying to figure it out.

I am a CS student and have had to use the CLI for uni here and there but wouldn't say I know my way around it, not really. University work is also the reason I am scared to change OS mid-term without knowing much about it u know? I am trying Linux Mint in Hyper-V for now (which has a lot of annoying problems such as a lack of a GPU, audio output etc so I tend to not use it regularly). While using Mint, when trying to do even the simplest of tasks, I get distracted and go down rabbit holes and end up achieving nothing/wasting a lot of time which is the main reason for this question. Having something to follow (e.g. a guide or tutorial or tips from regular Linux users) is helpful for me in avoiding distraction. Any advice or help is greatly appreciated here. 

Summary of why I am thinking of switching to Linux:

• Lighter - better on the PC and I think better for remote work
• (Supposedly) More secure
• (Supposedly) Better for developers
• Experimentation (with CLI or just development experience on Linux in general) 
• (?)Setting up a VPN for remote access to my home PC and local resources from outside
• Bragging rights

 

Dual booting

I play games and from a quick search, Windows is still better for gaming. I also have an extra SSD so I could set up Linux on that and keep windows on my current drive. Last I searched, windows can cause a lot of problems with dual booting and may also require boot managers or other software. Is that true, especially considering I am using two separate drives? How do I go about setting up a hassle-free dual boot on my PC to avoid running into problems later?


I apologize if this is an insanely newbie or a stupid question or maybe even the wrong way to go about all this. I am just afraid if I go straight into it and run into trouble, I could lose uni work thus very hesitant. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[Needfuldoer]

Try running a couple distros in virtual machines inside VirtualBox before committing to running it on hardware. 

[McLpOP]

6 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Try running a couple distros 

Oh, a couple? I have Mint because I heard it's the most beginner-friendly, what other would u recommend I try? Running VMs gets really annoying (e.g. lack of audio pass-through) so I am forced to change back to Windows or remoting into Linux (using RDP) and using it that way. Is that a common problem when running VMs on Windows or is that limited to Hyper-V and I should consider switching?

[Biohazard777]

8 minutes ago, McLpOP said:

especially considering I am using two separate drives? How do I go about setting up a hassle-free dual boot on my PC to avoid running into problems later?

Either disable secure boot or pick a distro that plays well with secure boot.
Don't wanna go into too many details here, look it up.

Setup Windows 1st, without plugging in your 2nd drive.
Plug in 2nd drive and install Linux on it, then update GRUB (it will detect your Windows and add it to boot menu).
In your BIOS set your 2nd drive (the one with Linux on it) to be the primary boot option.

Each time your computer starts you will be presnted with a menu: which OS you wanna boot, for ~5 seconds (typically, you can change that), last used OS will be autoselected if you don't pick.

 

On Windows: disable hibernation & fast startup because:

- Data loss can occur if Windows hibernates and you dual boot into another OS and make changes to files on a filesystem (such as NTFS) that can be read and written to by Windows and Linux. It can happen the other way arround, corrupt Linux FS by changing it from Windows while Linux is hibernating, but Windows doesn't know how to handle most Linux FSs, like EXT4 (unless you install drivers for it)... so chances of that happening are smaller.
- With fast startup, Windows is leaving the hardware in a post-initialized state, which Linux drivers may not account for. They expect the hardware to be un-initialized. So disable fast startup to avoid potential headaches, also on modern HW the difference between having it on or off is negligable.

 

Your clock will most probably be set to the wrong time zone each time you switch between OSs.
To fix that either tell Windows to use UTC instead of localtime, or tell Linux to use localtime instead of UTC.

I typically tell Windows to use UTC.
Some more info: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System_time#Multiple_systems

 

If you are using BT devices/peripherals, don't forget to copy pairing keys.
Here is some info to get you started:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/bluetooth#Dual_boot_pairing (arch)
https://gist.github.com/madkoding/f3cfd3742546d5c99131fd19ca267fd4 (ubuntu/debian)

[McLpOP]

@Biohazard777 I see. The Dual Boot stuff, the way u described, seems straightforward so I'll follow that. Lots of other info I didn't realize I needed to consider, thank you!

[Eigenvektor]

48 minutes ago, McLpOP said:

Any guides or methods to get the hang of the operations system better/quicker? The best advice is probably to choose a distro, install it and get going with it which is fair advice.

That would be my advice pretty much. Install it, use it as a daily driver for some time. For common tasks like browsing the web and writing emails it's really not that different from Windows. You have most of the same programs available, like Chrome, Firefox, Thunderbird and even Steam for gaming. How easy it is to set up can vary a lot based on the hardware you have.

 

If you want to get into the more technical stuff, maybe find something you're interested in (e.g. hosting a website), set up a small Linux server that you sign in over SSH, try setting that stuff up over the terminal. You should be able to find guides for these sorts of things pretty easily. That should give you some more in depth knowledge.

[McLpOP]

@Eigenvektor Sounds good, gonna do as you said by dual booting first. I tried using a VM and daily driving that way to get used to it but the lack of a GPU and audio output forced me out of regular use. Running it natively should fix all that.

Thank you!

[Eigenvektor]

Just now, McLpOP said:

@Eigenvektor Sounds good, gonna do as you said by dual booting first. I tried using a VM and daily driving that way to get used to it but the lack of a GPU and audio output forced me out of regular use. Running it natively should fix all that.

Yeah, VM is good if you want a quick look, but it becomes somewhat cumbersome to use as a full OS. Dual boot on actual hardware is more likely to give you a better idea how it works for you.