A lot of open source projects do have windows versions, and the big projects that come to mind like blender or Firefox definitely do… but there’s a a lot of little pieces of software that don’t. One example that comes to mind for me is the Dino XMPP client… Linux only for now, unfortunately!
I have no idea as I’ve never been a windows user, haha. Dino is one of the examples I know about though, because I know I can’t recommend it to windows users.
WSL is Windows Subsystem for Linux. It allows you to use Linux from within Linux. Though there’s probably some major thing I’m missing which makes it fundamentally different from just running a VM.
Guitarix was one of those for me. I know there are better virtual amps on windows but I quite enjoyed guitarix for its open and free nature. Plus audio routing on windows is a nightmare.
Yeah, last time I checked it suggested you just use a live install if you wanted to use it lol. I don’t think it even works in macos despite macos having Macports, quartzx11 and jackctl support.
I like the idea of switching to Linux to break the strangle of windows on my hardware but I don’t know if all my games on Steam, Wargamings launcher and Automatic1111 will work properly if I made that switch. I installed Mint for a friend because I’m semi-literate and feel like messing with that…cmd window “terminal” to do…literally anything installation wise would get irritating.
I want a Linux that is as easy to use out of the box as windows. Will Mint be that way or will I have to spend 5 hours figuring out special words for commands any time I want to install something?
Not all of your games will work on linux but thats not a linux problem but a game developer fault. You cant do anything about that by switching to a different distro. Especially those fps games with intrusive kernel level anti cheat will never be supported. Go to protondb and look up all the games that you need and see what works. I personally made the switch and simply stopped playing those that doesn’t as for each that doesnt work theres a dozen of them that does. Proton really is a godsend.
And installing anything on linux isnt such voodoo magic that you have to worry about. For example flatpak lets you do “flatpak install something” and everything is done without you opening your browser and downloading stuff, going through a lengthy annoying installer. If you want to completely avoid opening terminal then some have appstore like discover on nobara which is simply microsoft store but actually usable. For those that arent on repo you can still download a package and install like windows. Linux really isnt that hard and i would even say its easier than windows if you get one of stable ready to run distros that simply works without any tweaking. It took you years to get used to windows so everything different looks difficult when it just takes a month or 2 to get used to it. If you dont want to make the jump then dual boot it and use it for a while till youre ready to remove windows completely.
You can install Mint alongside Win in a dual-boot configuration … then you can switch to it to figure out the gaming situation. (You just need to learn how to do that dual-boot install carefully. I recommend reading in the LM forums to learn that: forums.linuxmint.com ) OR you can install LM on a second drive, as many have.
As for stuff in the terminal, if you ever need to use it, you’ll probably be able to find what commands you need online and copy/paste. There are a lot of thing you can do in the terminal, but it isn’t required much. As for installing software, it’s significantly easier and more convenient than in Windows. It works more similar to Android or IPhone, where there’s a shared place to get them from and they will all be updated through that as well, instead of having to launch the application and have it check for updates, download/install them, then relaunch.
Steam itself works fine on Linux. I don’t think I have a single game in my library that doesn’t work. I’m using Arch (btw) and I’ve found that for my use case (internet browsing and video games) that I haven’t had any major issues.
The two issues I do have are:
If I go too long without updating then package dependencies get screwed and its a headache to fix. -Downloaded applications need the console to allow them to be run. (This is just a single command I have sticky noted to my monitor.)
I still have my Windows install (dual boot) as a just in case backup, but its been months since I’ve used it.
I’ve been using Linux Mint as a daily driver for ten years now.
I personally find Linux Mint to be easier to use than Windows out of the box. For example, you probably don’t have to worry about drivers at all; AMD Radeon drivers for example are built right into the kernel, they “just work.” In Windows, you have to go out to AMD’s website, download and install them.
Linux has an app-store like system called a package manager. Most–including Linux Mint–have graphical ones that work just like the Play Store on Android does, except everything that’s in there is free. On a Mint machine, you open the App Menu, go to Administration > Software Manager. To install Steam, you search for “steam” in the box in the top right, and you’ll recognize the logo.
This same task can be done from the terminal. You can open the terminal and type sudo apt install steam
I will use both approaches depending on what I’m doing at the time. Like for example, it’s faster to install multiple programs via the terminal. sudo apt install steam obs blender audacity gimp shotcut inkscape would install all those apps in one big thing, no need to sit there clicking through the app store.
Linux Mint won’t require use of the terminal very often, it has GUI menus and utilities for most things you’ll likely want to do. Sometimes, using the terminal is faster, easier, or more convenient, or just more fun. Yeah there’s fun to be had in the terminal. Get on Youtube and look up what “cowsay” does.
It seems like I can get borderlands games and tanks up and running on Mint, I’m ok with LibreOffice over Office 2010, but how does one begin to move any of this to a new OS? do I need to like take an entire day re-installing everything? Can I open it, as other have said, on an external hard drive, move stuff to the new OS, and then let it have most of the rest of the PC? (keeping maybe 500gb for windows in case I can’t find something working) how does dual boot work then? Can I just have it boot Mint all the time and then “switch user” over to windows?
How is mint day to day? This is my big concern. Something going wrong and not having the time to go digging across a dozen pages to figure it out. (I’m savvy enough to know how to work Google and get answers, but I’d rather things just work you know?) Do Nvidia drivers work the same as windows as far as manually searching for them? Who do I turn to if I have a question noone has asked before? Is there like a catalog of commands and how do I learn how to use them?
How does oen begin to move any of this to a new OS?
Your apps won’t move; the Windows version of say LibreOffice won’t transfer to Windows. Instead, you’ll install Linux, then install LibreOffice (and all your software) from the Mint Software Manager. Your personal documents and such you’ll want to save on an external drive and then copy over once Mint is installed.
Do I need to take an entire day re-installing everything?
So one thing I’ve noticed about my computing habits with Linux: I install and uninstall software much more casually than I ever did on Windows. I’ve told stories before about how my father spent about two weeks moving from one Windows machine to another, while I moved into my Linux machine in a few hours, most of which was just letting the computer run while I did yard work.
How does dual boot work then?
Assuming you have a machine that already has Windows installed on it, you will either install a new unoccupied drive, or use Windows’ tools to shrink the C:/ partition to make room for Linux. You then shut down the computer and boot to a thumb drive with the Linux Mint ISO on it. During this process, Linux will detect the Windows MBR and can automatically install Linux in dual boot mode. It’ll basically shove the Windows bootloader aside and replace it with GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) which includes a menu for multi-boot machines so that you can choose an OS each time you boot the machine. Choose Linux, GRUB will boot Linux. Choose Windows, it’ll launch the Windows bootloader. There are several tutorials on this, follow one.
How is mint day to day?
I find it quite reliable and stable; I have had Mint Cinnamon Edition installed on at least one of my computers continuously for ten solid years now, it does what I need it to do. It doesn’t “just break.”
Linux is different than Windows. The file system works differently, things are done in different ways, some concepts have different names. It will take some getting used to. Sure, the Cinnamon desktop looks pretty Windows like at first glance, but there are differences. I have seen folks try Linux, go to do some task, find that it isn’t done the way they’re used to doing it, immediately rage quit, and then show up on the internet saying obviously false things like “you can’t even rename a file in Linux.” Sure you can, you’re just used to the Windows way of doing things, the Linux way might be different. It will take some getting used to.
One thing I’ll note is Linux Mint has a pretty good onboarding process, the Welcome screen shows you how to customize the look and feel and guides you through things like a system update. Definitely do a system update pretty soon after install, before even installing any software.
Do Nvidia drivers work the same way as windows as far as manually searching for them?
This can depend on the distribution. For example, Pop!_OS ships two different ISOs, one with the Nvidia drivers already installed, one without.
On Linux Mint, there is a utility called a Driver Manager. It’s included with the OS, you’ll open that up, and click the “Nvidia” drivers instead of the 'Nouveau" ones. It’ll probably say “Recommended” next to one in green letters. Click that one then click Apply, it’ll download and install them for you. AMD is even easier; there’s nothing for you to do at all, official AMD drivers are built into the kernel.
Who do I turn to with a question noone has asked before?
You can ask in Linux communities on Lemmy, Reddit, or on your distro’s forums. Linux Mint’s forums (found on linuxmint.com) are a wealth of knowledge.
Is there like a catalog of commands and how do I learn to use them?
Linux terminal commands are just programs. “steam” is a Linux terminal command, it launches Steam if installed.
There is a built-in manual which you can access with the man command, For example, if you want to read about how to use the list command, ls, you type man ls and it’ll tell you all about it. There are commands like which and apropos which can help you find the commands you need.
There are lots of great tutorials on Youtube to get you started learning the basics, like how to move around the file system, create and delete files, etc. It can be pretty fun. You might want to spin up a Linux distro in something like VirtualBox and try one of those tutorials out before you fully install Linux on real hardware.
Appreciate you taking the time to break it down and explain it like this. I might convert an extra ssd into Mint and start there. Another user mentioned Proton, if I don’t like Linux, do I just use Disk Management in Windows to “delete” the Linux partition and then re-allocate it and install proton?
If you do want to delete your Linux partition and return that space for use with Windows…Yes I think you can just delete them via Windows disk management utilities, though there may be some task you need to do for the boot manager…I’ve actually never done that.
About Proton: You will be using Proton to game in Linux Mint; it’s not another operating system.
Proton is a compatibility layer written by Valve that allows Linux to play Windows games. If my understanding is correct, it’s a modified version of WINE that also translates Microsoft DirectX API calls to Vulkan calls on the fly so that the Linux kernel can understand them. This opens up almost every game in Steam’s catalog to Linux users. Some online competitive games intentionally still don’t work with Linux mostly because Anticheat on Linux is a whole other ball game.
Proton comes with Steam. You install Steam, you’ve got Proton.
on my office machine: I have Ubuntu(23.10) in its full glory. it is a good distro. I really enjoy gnome shell with Wayland.
on my home machine: I won’t let a single proprietary prpgram exist on my Debian. and the only wm would be i3(with xfce as a backup, and as a source of other common programs like terminal).
I’ve used mint in my university(default distro there), which I also enjoyed for its familiarity to users coming from proprietary operations systems.
my foray into GNU/Linux(from w*ndows) was thanks to Tails, which made me appreciate how different an OS can be(actually, my first computer had Ubuntu 4.10. the computer lasted for less than 2 years. hence I don’t count it).
and I’ve also helped many friends set-up distros like zorin and peppermint.
at the end of day, no matter the distro, it’s GNU/Linux. and that’s all that matters.
Just a few days ago I wrestled with the overzealous sandboxing and security of the Chromium snap. Had to get a Flatpak and even then had to use some flags to get the proper permissions enabled. Next time I do a refresh I’m going with Debian.
With all respect I’d like to ask, why most people in comments avoiding Debian like plague? It’s good OG distro, stable as fuck, i know about old packages and all, but after daily driving arch BTW™ for 5 years straight all i can say is, I’m tired boss, I’m tired of nonstop updating, I’m tired of dependency hell that coming if you didn’t updated your system for half a month, I’m tired of resolving repeating dependency hell when you’ll have to reinstall half of your system to get it work another week, I’m tired of modern filesystems that locking themselves up completely when something goes wrong, so I’m just decided to give Debian a chance, and you wouldn’t believe it, it’s heaven, when you can just power up your system and it just works, without any trouble, yes, i have dated software, but it’s worth it, and yes, 8 years ago, my first distro was Linux mint, and it broke when i used OFFICIAL GUI updater tool to update version of my mint, also I’ve upvoted your comment and don’t mean any bad
Probably different experiences for some people. I don’t currently use my computer for anything time sensitive. I’m studying web development and some minor programming on it and play video games by myself generally. I like to tinker and mess with stuff as well, so Arch and KDE for me is fine. I like getting new features quickly and I don’t need or have a huge desire for the most stable system. If it breaks i just research how i can fix it and I’ve learned a lot doing that. When I do start actually working in development I’ll probably use a more stable release with Gnome. So really just comes down to different strokes for different folks.
Are you me from 8 years ago?) Keep it up) it’ll help you to gain knowledge and as you’ve said someday you’ll want your pc to just work) 8 years ago I’ve started to use Linux and did alot of distro hopping, and 5 years ago i installed arch, and now i trying Debian)
I used Debian for a bit many years ago. It was great for all the reasons you are tired of Arch (I had tried Gentoo before Debian). When Ubuntu came out, I was quite happy with it. It had the stability of Debian, but was a bit more polished and had better support for new stuff without sacrificing stability.
I’m moving on from Ubuntu at this point, and have tried Mint, but not Mint Debian. It’s nice enough. I’m curious what Debian is like these days though. I haven’t used it in a decade at least.
Debian became more polished and user friendly, you can check YouTube reviews of Debian 12, and yes) i think you should try mint Debian first because of mint flavours i only tried standard mint and don’t know how mint Debian edition do
There was at one time a group pushing to make a more active up to date. User friendly plan 9. Distro if I remember correctly called Harvey OS. They may still be at it. But such a small group means that it’s going to take a long time combined with a lot of effort. And at this point so many things have moved on and become rather linux specific even. That the task only keeps getting more and more difficult.
Honestly, in the interim, many of plan 9’s better features were adopted in some small part or completely by other operating systems. Definitely not quite as elegantly.
What I really want to know is why is nobody here talking about inferno. It’s what came after plan 9.
Sounds like my experience with QNX 6. It was fun for a while, especially with the microkernel novelty. I could kill the mouse driver and bring it back to life. It was interesting to have that on a 486 with memory corruption issues.
I really like Debian, but for some reason my not-new-laptop didn’t liked it. Issues with suspend, the WiFi and the NVME drive made me to nuke it last Wednesday and in its place I installed Fedora, which seems to play better with the hardware. At least I don’t have problems with it in my desktop.
If you’re running Debian stable, your hardware was probably too new for the kernel. Unless they changed their development paradigm when I last ran it, stable is always 2-3 years behind mainline Linux software aside from security patches. It’s one of the key reasons why it’s so stable.
That’s surprising. Dell should have good Linux driver support, seeing as they offer Ubuntu pre-installed in some markets.
Saying that, we have work issued Dell Precision mobile workstations and there are constantly hardware and driver issues under Windows, where you’d expect things to work just fine…
the internal microphone not working (handy for meetings!)
the 3.5mm combo jack not working (ah, great, no backup for when the internal microphone stops working)
the battery handshake failing, causing the machine to not charge, stay stuck in a low performance mode, and constantly pop up Windows notifications saying the battery is not genuine
the presence sensor locking the laptop while you’re literally working it
Now I use a USB headset, disabled the presence sensor, and reboot the laptop repeatedly until the battery is detected as genuine
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