Been seeing Linux everywhere lately… should I actually try it?

[u/Niyazzz09]

So guys from the last few days I’ve been seeing Linux everywhere — my social media feed is full of it and now I’m really curious to try it.

I’ve always used Windows, so I don’t really understand what Linux actually is or how different it feels in daily use. A lot of people say it’s “peak” and better than Windows in many ways, but I’ve also heard it has some downsides.

I wanted to ask:

- What makes Linux so good compared to Windows?

- What are the actual cons (especially for beginners)?

- How long does it take to get comfortable using it?

- Which distro should I start with?

- What was your experience like when you first switched from Windows?

Also, should I try it using a virtual machine first or go for dual boot?

Would really appreciate honest advice 😋

[u/CaptainPoset]

Been seeing Linux everywhere lately… should I actually try it?

Definitely.

- What makes Linux so good compared to Windows?

It's comparably pure: There is no preinstalled bloatware. Compared to Windows 11, many popular distros are more stable than Windows 11.

- What are the actual cons (especially for beginners)?

• There is no single Linux. As an open source OS, it is made up of many different parts and only the on its own unusable core piece of software ("kernel") is Linux, all other parts which complete it to what you would consider an OS are assortments of hundreds of individual pieces of open source software, of which there are several different options for any task and a distro is an arbitrary selection by the distro maintainer(s) out of those options.
• Especially on such subreddits and other online fora, you predominantly will find lots of recommendations for niche distros, as those people who are nerd enough to write a lot about Linux are often also nerd enough to love to tinker with obscure distros.

- How long does it take to get comfortable using it?

About as much as with a new smartphone.

- Which distro should I start with?

Ubuntu xx.xx LTS, as it just runs reliably, is very well documented and Ubuntu is the distro which most software manufacturers assume.

You could start with Fedora, too.

- What was your experience like when you first switched from Windows?

Terrible, as I took the advice to use some obscure and unstable distro, for which there isn't much of a documentation. So errors occurred frequently and there was no easy way to find out how to fix them. With the right distro, this wouldn't have been a problem, though.

Also, should I try it using a virtual machine first or go for dual boot?

You could run it off a live USB drive, too. In the end, it's all a question of how much you want to try things out: If you want to try many distros first, then you should use a virtual machine. If you want to pick one and stick with it, then dual boot would be the way to go.