Planning to switch to Linux for my next PC
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Ah i like that analogy, basically a lot of interchangeability with each part so you can make your perfect system that works for you
To further the analogy, most distros are pre-packaged salads. Somebody figured up a salad recipe they like and they put it in to go bowls. You know what's in it so you can grab it and go. Some distros like Arch hand you a empty bowl and invite you to fill it yourself, so each copy of Arch is at least somewhat unique. Gentoo expects you to slice your own veggies.
A lot of the choices basically don't matter to you at this point; like the process manager. There are people who are irritated with Systemd, the de facto standard one, and prefer some other. They'll all work fine for desktop use, you'll probably never notice let alone form an opinion. The main things you will experience as meaningful differences between distros are the Desktop Environments and Package Managers. The GUI and the app store.
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Thanks for the write up, based on the information from all the comments and this I might go with bazzite then but I still have to do some research
I might make a follow up post eventually with a little more specifics now that I have some vague ideas
As for the survey thing is that something I do on my current windows laptop or is it during the install process?
As for constantly restarting I always press shutdown every night before I go to bed
You can do it right now and see what happens. Go to Bazzite.gg and go to the download section. It just wants to know where you're installing it so it knows what version to give you to download. Installing to a laptop will be a different file than installing to your steamdeck.
And since you shut down nightly you'd always have the most current version when you boot up the next day. But that only applies to atomic (formerly called immutable) distros like Bazzite. If you go Mint, which isn't atomic/immutable, that won't be the case and you'll have to stay on top of updating.
It's early still, so you have plenty of time to do some research and when you're ready ask the questions you still don't understand and generally we're pretty helpful around here.
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So I think another comment talked about this but Iām having a brain fart so mint or bazzite (the distro) is like the os but how does plasma the desktop environment fit in?
the simplest way to think about is the distro is your app store
what versions of apps available and how many as well as when they're updated are determined by distro
the desktop environment is the thing you interact with aside from the installation of software, the entire gui
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You can do it right now and see what happens. Go to Bazzite.gg and go to the download section. It just wants to know where you're installing it so it knows what version to give you to download. Installing to a laptop will be a different file than installing to your steamdeck.
And since you shut down nightly you'd always have the most current version when you boot up the next day. But that only applies to atomic (formerly called immutable) distros like Bazzite. If you go Mint, which isn't atomic/immutable, that won't be the case and you'll have to stay on top of updating.
It's early still, so you have plenty of time to do some research and when you're ready ask the questions you still don't understand and generally we're pretty helpful around here.
Yeah I definitely have a lot of info here, feeling a little overwhelmed but I just need time to sift through the nitty gritty and digest this
But Iām super early in the process havenāt even thought about what hardware Iām gonna get get (at least from this post I know need something AMD probably so thatās a start lol)
Also if I swap out to bazzite on my steam deck will I have to reinstall stuff like emudeck (only thing Iāve installed in desktop mode)
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To further the analogy, most distros are pre-packaged salads. Somebody figured up a salad recipe they like and they put it in to go bowls. You know what's in it so you can grab it and go. Some distros like Arch hand you a empty bowl and invite you to fill it yourself, so each copy of Arch is at least somewhat unique. Gentoo expects you to slice your own veggies.
A lot of the choices basically don't matter to you at this point; like the process manager. There are people who are irritated with Systemd, the de facto standard one, and prefer some other. They'll all work fine for desktop use, you'll probably never notice let alone form an opinion. The main things you will experience as meaningful differences between distros are the Desktop Environments and Package Managers. The GUI and the app store.
Thanks for the explanation
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I touched on this elsewhere, but seeing your comment hereā¦ sort of.
iso image is like a .zip it's a specific type of fileā¦ one that opens into a larger image, namely your entire distro. So you could install windows with an iso file. In order to be useful though, you need to get it onto a flash drive, but not just dragging and dropping. Programs like Rufus, mentioned elsewhere, will take that iso of Bazzite and open it onto the flash drive in a way that the computer will be able to read it later and do something with it.
After you have a working flash drive, you do not boot windows like normal and run the installer from a USB. You'll have to figure out how to tell your laptop (different but similar for each brand of laptop) to boot from the USB. This usually involves having the USB in the drive, restarting your computer and hitting a specific key to tell it not to boot normally to windows, but instead boot from the flash drive.
I haven't used Windows in a while and I think there's also a way to restart windows and tell it to boot from USB as you're exiting. But that's what you'll have to figure out for your specific device. That'll be true no matter what you end up installing.
Thanks for the info, Iāll probably get more information when Iāve actually chosen hardware and do some big brain research of my own
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Flatpak (flathub) is a universal app store. You can install pretty much any app from it, but you do need to be careful of what you install, as always.
Oh thatās much simpler than I was expecting lol
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I know people have recommended Bazzite already, and I would too, but be sure to give PikaOS a look as well.
It's a gaming distro, but it's not immutable/atomic, though it uses a similar build process. Definitely one to consider if gaming is your goal.
Iām probably gonna go with bazzite first then mint if that doesnāt shake out but hey the more names I can look at the better
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Yeah I was gonna check out bazzite first then Linux mint
Another comment said that mint will wipe the windows install if I ārunā it from an external usb so would I just boot windows like normal
Also does bazzite do the same thing cus Iām probably gonna use that first
As for that Rufus tool is the demo mode something I would use on the new pc
If you start the demo mode there will be no changes to disk until you open the installer for both distros. Most distros will boot into the demo mode directly from the USB and then have a shortcut to start installing. Once you have created a bootable USB it will work with any device so you can test the distros out now with your current machined and when you get the new one you can just plug it in there and see if there are any hardware specific issues
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So all I know that the Linux mascot is a penguin and Arch users meme about using Arch. Jokes aside Iām planning on making to the jump to Linux as Iām planning on getting a tower PC. I recently got a steam deck and that kinda demystified the (unrealistic) expectation I had of Linux was all command line stuff and techno babble. This all very future oriented questions* as I havenāt even picked out hardware (probably gonna go prebuilt since I do not trust me) and thereās also the matter of saving up the money for a new PC.
As for my use case (cus I know some software is wonky on Linux compared to windows) itās mostly between games running on steam, which most of my games play fine on the steam deck, and essays and note taking for my college classes, which I use libre office and obsidian (with excalidraw to hand write my notes) saved to my proton drive and also sync those documents between my surface laptop and home laptop
My ideal OS would be plug it in, let it doā¦ thingsā¦ and itās ready to be a PC to install steam and stuff
But first question, as someone who isnāt tech inclined and tinkering is pretty much just a few VERY basic settings in the settings app on windows, so is there a Linuxā¦ idk what to call it, type? OS? Thing??? that runs out of the box without me having to install additional software manually or at least automatic setup wizards because like hardware, I do not trust me with setting it up. As for installing it after I wipe whatever computer I choose I assume Iām gonna have some OS installer on a USB and let it work its magic.
Second question, is there any specific hardware that works easier with Linux, I canāt really think of any examples cus with installers and updaters I just the computer handle it, like updating Nvidia stuff in the GeForce app for all I know itās genuinely performing dark magic during the automated updates
Anyways I probably have way more questions that I have no idea I had, but to wrap up Iām not super tech inclined since I let automated stuff do its thang on windows (if the computer can manage and install it Iām gonna let it do that) and my pc mostly just plays games and do documents on libre office and obsidian
Seems like you've got a lot of distro recommendations haha which is good - go for one of those and you should be ok (I'm on mint for the record). My suggestion if you have a bit if extra money and less time is to buy a prebuilt system with linux already installed, tuxedo and system76 are two big names but I can't comment on what to go with there.
However the advantage with buying an integrated system like that is that the hardware is all guaranteed and you can ring them for support if needed.
My other suggestion is to BACKUP your files!
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I was gonna try bazzite first any words of wisdom on it?
Yea, make sure you download the correct edition of Bazzite.
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Yea, make sure you download the correct edition of Bazzite.
Is there multiple versions or something?
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So all I know that the Linux mascot is a penguin and Arch users meme about using Arch. Jokes aside Iām planning on making to the jump to Linux as Iām planning on getting a tower PC. I recently got a steam deck and that kinda demystified the (unrealistic) expectation I had of Linux was all command line stuff and techno babble. This all very future oriented questions* as I havenāt even picked out hardware (probably gonna go prebuilt since I do not trust me) and thereās also the matter of saving up the money for a new PC.
As for my use case (cus I know some software is wonky on Linux compared to windows) itās mostly between games running on steam, which most of my games play fine on the steam deck, and essays and note taking for my college classes, which I use libre office and obsidian (with excalidraw to hand write my notes) saved to my proton drive and also sync those documents between my surface laptop and home laptop
My ideal OS would be plug it in, let it doā¦ thingsā¦ and itās ready to be a PC to install steam and stuff
But first question, as someone who isnāt tech inclined and tinkering is pretty much just a few VERY basic settings in the settings app on windows, so is there a Linuxā¦ idk what to call it, type? OS? Thing??? that runs out of the box without me having to install additional software manually or at least automatic setup wizards because like hardware, I do not trust me with setting it up. As for installing it after I wipe whatever computer I choose I assume Iām gonna have some OS installer on a USB and let it work its magic.
Second question, is there any specific hardware that works easier with Linux, I canāt really think of any examples cus with installers and updaters I just the computer handle it, like updating Nvidia stuff in the GeForce app for all I know itās genuinely performing dark magic during the automated updates
Anyways I probably have way more questions that I have no idea I had, but to wrap up Iām not super tech inclined since I let automated stuff do its thang on windows (if the computer can manage and install it Iām gonna let it do that) and my pc mostly just plays games and do documents on libre office and obsidian
Imo you should get a System76 computer, it comes with a gaming focused Distro and its the most well respected Linux brand (in the US, for EU I would reccomend Tuxedo). Their mini PCs cost $799 and for a decent full sized PC (with a GPU) prepare to pay over $1.5k.
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So I think another comment talked about this but Iām having a brain fart so mint or bazzite (the distro) is like the os but how does plasma the desktop environment fit in?
The desktop environment is just the graphical interface. The OS doesn't handle the GUI(not directly), some people run Linux without a GUI at all, opting for life in the command line. (Don't do that) Plasma is just a flavor of it that looks more windows like (but customizable beyond a windows user's wildest imagination). Gnome looks more Mac like.
You might run across the term Compositor, this sits between the OS and the DE. IT handles graphical input(mouse, game controllers) and display. Wayland is newer with modern features, Xorg is technically more reliable but legacy and missing some modern elements. You don't have to worry about this unless it comes up in a prompt when you install your distro. If it does, go with the suggested option in the prompt. Otherwise default to Wayland.
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If you start the demo mode there will be no changes to disk until you open the installer for both distros. Most distros will boot into the demo mode directly from the USB and then have a shortcut to start installing. Once you have created a bootable USB it will work with any device so you can test the distros out now with your current machined and when you get the new one you can just plug it in there and see if there are any hardware specific issues
Oh nice, I think that makes some sense to me lol
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Imo you should get a System76 computer, it comes with a gaming focused Distro and its the most well respected Linux brand (in the US, for EU I would reccomend Tuxedo). Their mini PCs cost $799 and for a decent full sized PC (with a GPU) prepare to pay over $1.5k.
So kinda standard PC prices
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So all I know that the Linux mascot is a penguin and Arch users meme about using Arch. Jokes aside Iām planning on making to the jump to Linux as Iām planning on getting a tower PC. I recently got a steam deck and that kinda demystified the (unrealistic) expectation I had of Linux was all command line stuff and techno babble. This all very future oriented questions* as I havenāt even picked out hardware (probably gonna go prebuilt since I do not trust me) and thereās also the matter of saving up the money for a new PC.
As for my use case (cus I know some software is wonky on Linux compared to windows) itās mostly between games running on steam, which most of my games play fine on the steam deck, and essays and note taking for my college classes, which I use libre office and obsidian (with excalidraw to hand write my notes) saved to my proton drive and also sync those documents between my surface laptop and home laptop
My ideal OS would be plug it in, let it doā¦ thingsā¦ and itās ready to be a PC to install steam and stuff
But first question, as someone who isnāt tech inclined and tinkering is pretty much just a few VERY basic settings in the settings app on windows, so is there a Linuxā¦ idk what to call it, type? OS? Thing??? that runs out of the box without me having to install additional software manually or at least automatic setup wizards because like hardware, I do not trust me with setting it up. As for installing it after I wipe whatever computer I choose I assume Iām gonna have some OS installer on a USB and let it work its magic.
Second question, is there any specific hardware that works easier with Linux, I canāt really think of any examples cus with installers and updaters I just the computer handle it, like updating Nvidia stuff in the GeForce app for all I know itās genuinely performing dark magic during the automated updates
Anyways I probably have way more questions that I have no idea I had, but to wrap up Iām not super tech inclined since I let automated stuff do its thang on windows (if the computer can manage and install it Iām gonna let it do that) and my pc mostly just plays games and do documents on libre office and obsidian
I'd just recommend against NVIDIA GPUs if you don't want to tinker, I'm sure it's not as bad as it was back when I had NVIDIA cards, but faffing around trying to get NVIDIA drivers to play nice was the bane of my existence (and where I was forced to learn the most about Linux).
Oh and the screen tearing was a nuisance too that went away as soon as I got an AMD card.
Looks like you got lots of great advice on the OS. Good luck, and enjoy whatever you end up doing!
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I'd just recommend against NVIDIA GPUs if you don't want to tinker, I'm sure it's not as bad as it was back when I had NVIDIA cards, but faffing around trying to get NVIDIA drivers to play nice was the bane of my existence (and where I was forced to learn the most about Linux).
Oh and the screen tearing was a nuisance too that went away as soon as I got an AMD card.
Looks like you got lots of great advice on the OS. Good luck, and enjoy whatever you end up doing!
Yeah I was probably gonna go with bazzite and it sounds like thereās some demo installer I can play around with but yeah definitely gonna break my nvidia streak (past 2 and my only gaming laptops) to finally get a proper tower with an amd gpu
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Is there multiple versions or something?
Yes, depending on your hardware.
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I'd just recommend against NVIDIA GPUs if you don't want to tinker, I'm sure it's not as bad as it was back when I had NVIDIA cards, but faffing around trying to get NVIDIA drivers to play nice was the bane of my existence (and where I was forced to learn the most about Linux).
Oh and the screen tearing was a nuisance too that went away as soon as I got an AMD card.
Looks like you got lots of great advice on the OS. Good luck, and enjoy whatever you end up doing!
I have nvidia 4 series and my linux skill is low enough that I think its insane gnome doesn't have right click-create file by default and I have had 0 issues. You just need to disable secureboot or enroll keys.
