new user

[fudgecakes999]

Hi considering moving from windows to linux because i dont want to upgrade to windows 11, need recommendation on which linux to try, i know you can try them out using live usb but need some advice on which ones, prefer it to look at least a bit like windows and will use it for gaming and browsing and mutitasking, want it to be better privacy than windows and need a large range of apps to be able to be downloaded and easy to understand for someone that has some experience of windows but no experience of linux.thanks.

[Needfuldoer]

Anything based on Ubuntu will be well-documented and should be easy to use. I'd start with Linux Mint or Kubuntu, which have desktop environments you'll feel at least somewhat familiar with. (There will be a learning curve, don't let anyone tell you otherwise but don't let that scare you away either.)

[podkall]

What's your PC use-case that concerns you about Windows 11 upgrades and Linux switch?

 

Some things work differently on Linux than Windows, and if you care about games, some just simply don't work on Linux.

[Dr. Will0hlep]

I've been on mint for about 3 weeks now and it is doing everything I want.  Would recommend.

[TudorFinalBosz]

Go with Ubuntu. Just look around a bit to decide which desktop environment (DE) you'd like best.

You could also start with the default (I think it's Gnome), Ubuntu is quite polished out of the box.

 

Still, don't expect that you'll be able to do everything with the mouse. There is an App Centre and Software that allow you to install programs by just clicking. But you'll probably need programs that you can't find there, so you'll download something like an .appimage or .tar.gz that won't run on a simple click. In those cases you might need to use the terminal, or change some permissions, make the file executable, decompress, etc, before you can run the package.

 

Still, if you don't want to use a terminal, you could install basic apps from the App Center and use that. It will be a more limited experience, but it's possible. Until you get the hang of it.

Just make sure you pick the option for Ubuntu to install all the required drivers during its installation too, so you won't have to deal with that later.

Also make sure you have an empty storage drive and use that exclusively for Linux, don't mess with partitions.

[RollyShed]

I've set up near 100 users on to Linux Mint over the past few years. Over 60 on laptops, buy an SSD and remove the HD.

 

As I've said before, October 2018 my partner on Win10 which was wiped by MS. The backup disk had Linux Mint on it as well as copies of all the files. Win one day, Linux the next and carried on as if nothing much had changed EXCEPT it wasn't broken by MS each month.

[Lurking]

What is your use case, hardware and any special software? 

 

And what monitor(resolution. size)? Because some distros like Mint don't support fractional scaling well. if you need that, you immediately are limited to the modern distros and that saves you lot of analysis work. 

 

With more details, narrowing down should be easy. 

 

You may nave heard, not all software exists in Linux. So you need to decide where you can use a Linux alternative, or try Wine, or something else. It depends on your needs. 

 

I personally love MX Linux 25 KDE. it looks like W10. and it has the MX Tools, which should avoid Terminal use even more than most other distros. it is based on Debian stable, so it should not give you a heart attack with every update. But it also has backporting built in in case your hardware requires a newer feature. 

 

There also are Gnome version (looks more like Mac?). Some use XFCE, but tha tlaso has fractional scaling limitations. 

 

And you said you don't wnt W11, which is fine. But under the right circumstances (and some tweaking) it can be the right choice. It depends. Choose an OS based on benefits to YOU, not based on ideology. i love Linux and the idea of it, but it also is infuriating how some simple things just are hard or impossible. Every OS is a compromise, none is perfect. Don't limit yourself.

[fudgecakes999]

thanks for the replies, will try to answer any questions best i can, want to use it for games(single player mostly), and most other use is browsing with multiple browsers at once so multitasking is essential,in the process of deciding what 1440p monitor so will using that monitor on linux, dont want to use windows anymore if possible just want more control and less spying.

[TudorFinalBosz]

Tbh you can just install one per day and try it, if you got the time. With an ok system and an NVME SSD, it should install in 15 minutes.

No point in hesitating too much, because you'll change your mind after you try a distro. So might as well just jump in the water and see how it goes.

 

Because if I tell you that some distros are optimised for gaming, (like CachyOS, Bazzite) and you try them but don't like some things, maybe nobody can guess which one you'd like. And you might be fine starting with Mint or Ubuntu and then testing to see if that's ok for your usecase.

[fudgecakes999]

8 hours ago, TudorFinalBosz said:

Tbh you can just install one per day and try it, if you got the time. With an ok system and an NVME SSD, it should install in 15 minutes.

No point in hesitating too much, because you'll change your mind after you try a distro. So might as well just jump in the water and see how it goes.

 

Because if I tell you that some distros are optimised for gaming, (like CachyOS, Bazzite) and you try them but don't like some things, maybe nobody can guess which one you'd like. And you might be fine starting with Mint or Ubuntu and then testing to see if that's ok for your usecase.

thanks for your advice