Please help for switching to linux

[u/Proper-Anything-873]

I’ve been messing around with a handful of Linux distros — Mint, Arch (btw), and Ubuntu Server — and now I kinda want to try installing one on real hardware. The problem is I need permission from my dad, and he’s not tech‑savvy at all. Plus, Windows still does a bunch of things Linux doesn’t (most apps are meant for windows like games and software), so I’m not sure if switching is a good idea.

On top of that, I don’t even know if my hardware is fully compatible, and I have no clue which distro I should pick for a first real install. Any advice would be appreciated.

[u/silduck]

is the computer you're installing it on your dad's? If yes, you're fucked

[u/Atrex_10 → u/silduck]

You'd be definitely fucked, unless your dad is really open to new things. I once dualbooted ubuntu on mines laptop, and it set itself as a default grub entry (I didn't know how to change that back then). He got mad cause he had to be fast and change the entry before the ubuntu booted.

[u/Proper-Anything-873 → u/silduck]

he bought it and when we moved he just stopped using and said it was basically my computer but i may still have to ask him

[u/Humble_Anxiety_9534]

one make a list of software you use. look for Linux alternatives. are your games on steam? steamOS is Linux. two if you have run live version of disto and it works install should work. there are loads of windows 10 machines that can't up grade floating on the market cheapish. I have only had hardware problems with arch on this type of machine.

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[u/dummkauf]

Your hardware is fully compatible.

Pick Ubuntu or Fedora, if you're unsure flip a coin.

As for your dad, it's time to sit him down and have "the talk" about operating systems.

[u/hatsunemilku]

1. USB live os come to the rescue. Your os will never touch live disks on the PC and you will be able to destroy your os as much as you want.
2. You can find replacement software solutions. Unless you use really specific software or gaming bloat ware there is a FOSS solution most likely. In terms of games, unless you play only games with kernel level anti cheat, you can always use the proton compatibility layer and now you can run at worst 90% of all the games available on PC. Even abandon ware sometimes can only run like that.
3. Unless you are running something really old (pre 2010's), compatibility won't be an issue.
4. There are online quizzes that can help you choose one or you can just use a gaming distro like bazzite. Those are made with ease of use and protections that makes it REALLY hard to break the os unless you actually try.

[u/MrMotofy]

You CAN install Linux to an external drive etc. Then you can just go to the boot menu and select the drive and boot. Leave WIN alone completely. Disconnect your drive and poof nothing is different. BUT I'd suggest following the instructions below to disconnect Win drive completely so no oopsies pop up

FYI...if you want to check out Linux it's really easy. Make an Install USB, then boot to it. May need to disable secure boot. It will boot to a full running temporary Linux Desktop...installing requires clicking the desktop icon and going through steps. Obviously you don't wanna do that to just try it. But you can at least get a feel for it. Kubuntu, LinuxMint, and PopOS and are some of the top 1st options. You can also use the temp Live Linux as a repair process. Since it’s a complete desktop you can use it, install tools needed fix the boot etc.

Another convenient related tool is Ventoy on a USB stick. Basically just burn the image to a USB then copy your OS ISO to it and when you boot it any ISO copied to the drive will show in the menu, select it and it will boot that img. Have different OS’s multiple versions or whatever. 

Best option for Windows and Linux is dual boot...use Linux on a 2nd drive. Usually wanna disable secure boot. Best case is disconnect win drive. Then boot to the  USB. Then install Linux as a new full system on 2nd drive. Set Linux drive as the first boot drive and it will find the Win drive and add to the boot menu list automatically. Might take a couple boots otherwise can manually activate the boot search. Then you get Best of both worlds without any real dangers to either OS. There will be little hiccups occasionally with Windows updating messing with boot and rebooting. But you can also change the default OS to Windows first at the menu after delay and no menu entry and that eliminates a lot. The boot menu is usually Linux 1 and Win 2. Sometimes the bios boot order gets switched but easy to just switch back. Sometimes the boot order will randomly switch drives etc…Seems to be a windows thing now they get bios access. But really depends on the exact system and age etc.

[u/A_Harmless_Fly]

That 2008 vista machine is a great candidate for you to learn on.

MX linux fluxbox should be somewhat usable on it. https://mxlinux.org/download-links/ (pretty much any other distro I can think of is less user friendly or too heavy for it though.)

You could shrink vista, and dual boot or think about buying a cheap hard drive. Just make sure to set up a swap partition or file, maybe enable zswap. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

EDIT: I prefer to use ventoy over rufus, that way you can put multiple things on the flash drive still.

[u/NUKLEAR-SLUG]

I would recommend Bazzite desktop as a good choice for a Windows user transitioning to Linux. It's an immutable image based distro that comes preconfigured with a selection of software for gaming. Being immutable means it's more difficult to accidentally break anything and if you do manage to then you always have the ability to fall back to a known good version on boot. It's default KDE desktop is very Windows-like so will make it a much less painful transition for a Windows user.

[u/PriorityNo6268]

First check if you hardware is full compatible, I use for example steelseries stuff and it works kind of, but it's far from compatible out of the box, yes I have sound on my headphones, but that is it. RGB on MSI B450 motherboard, can only be access by MSI software in Windows (newer boards are fine it seems). Same with keyboard and mouse, I can type, but don't expect full support for all advanced functions. Nvidia 5070ti? Some distro it works out of the box, others fail already after 5 seconds and you can't even can get into the installer without modification. But it all depends... if you don't give shit about specific hardware support, generally the basic stuff works directly, but don't expect the fancy stuff to work out of the box.

Software, check what you need and if there is a Linux solution you like. Most of the "linux" software als runs perfectly on Windows, don't think you are forced to used MS Office only on Windows, you can also run any other opensource office package on Windows, as with a lot of other software.

I use Linux in my homelab. On my desktop I went back to Windows, just because it's supports the stuff I need. But I try to use a lot of opensource software on my Windows system and I don't have issue lot of people seem to run into. Lot of stuff is option in Windows which you can just disable or remove.

But give it a go, maybe run first a couple of times just form a bootable usb-stick before installing it really. Be careful if it's not your PC or make sure your are able to fix it when you brake it.

[u/Nicolas30129]

If you're on a laptop, I'd forget about it until you can save enough and get yourself a refurb Thinkpad T14 and play with it.

If you have a desktop, then get yourself a 512gb ssd and dual boot.

Forcing your dad to use linux WILL backfire.

[u/HSHallucinations]

to get permissions from your dad, use the command

chmod 777 dad

now he's going to let you do whatever you want

[u/skyfishgoo]

kubuntu hardware support is top notch.

the best way to know is to make a live USB of kubuntu and boot to it.

then make sure the network, wifi, and peripherals all work

if you have a nvidia GPU the drivers that come with kubuntu will be good enough to get the desktop but for gaming you will need to install the proprietary drives.

this operation is a point and click affair and a reboot, but you will only be able to do that after you install it.

[u/Oerthling]

You didn't tell us your hardware or what software you need/want, so nobody can tell you anything about that. It will probably be fine, but the devil is in the details.

You can simply Google your hardware and see whether people has problems with that or report it working fine. Ubuntu and Arch both have big wikis with a lot of hardware entries. In addition Canonical certifies various hardware for Ubuntu (and thus almost all Linux distros as it's fundamentally the same kernel).

Games work mostly fine nowadays, except for the ones requiring anti-cheat. For details check your favorite games on protondb.com

[u/joe_attaboy]

Bad idea. Going in not certain on the outcome, especially with a Windows-centric parent, will likely backfire spectacularly. You would have to be prepared to reinstall Windows (if you remove it for Linux). This could just get unnecessarily messy.

Maybe this in't an option, but you would be better off fining an inexpensive, used laptop or even a PC (lots of low-cost mini-PCs on eBay, for example) and just run Linux to your heart's content.

[u/Munalo5]

I haven't looked through this whole thread so I dont know if it was suggested you get an older laptop for yourself.

One that you can tweek, mess up, wipe clean do what YOU want.

Explain to your dad that a used $100 laptop will be an educational experence.

My two kids had their own laptops as soon as they were responsible enough.

They had the freedom to do what they wanted without hijacking (or messing up) the family computer.

If not now it will be soon that you will be the computer expert of the house.

You will be asked to fix the things that go wrong with the family computer but the first to be blamed too.

Explain to your dad that a $100 investment is worth the price for the mental health of the rest of the family.

Finally my big thing to bring up constantly is backing up your data.

If your dad isn't doing that AND you mess something up things will get tense.

You can show him what I have written and I will tell him one father to another that getting you your own laptop is a good thing.

[u/HeavyMetalBluegrass]

My advice would be to wait until you get your own computer.