As Microsoft Windows continues to require more and more access to your data, your identity, and anything on your laptop, many people are questioning what the options are.
I sure know I did!
I was a longtime Windows user as a result of a set of professional/technical tools exclusive to that platform, so whilst comfortable on Windows, I thought the Linux thing would be a bridge to far for this old bear. Not so :-)
I started by installing Ubuntu on an old laptop I had. The first thing that I noticed was that it was very fast and snappy - even on an old laptop. By doing this I could keep my old windows machine going until I felt comfortable in this new Linux world.
The second thing I noticed as that the interface was really simple to use and navigate. And when it came to questions, there is loads of help readily available and I was very quickly comfortable on there.
Now there's a new aspect that can help further. Now, I say "new" but really it's just because I only found out about it.. lolz .. the Cinnamon desktop on Linux Mint is designed to look and behave like your familiar windows interface - and just like Ubuntu .. or Debian .. or any of the Linux distro's it runs like greased weasel shit and is definitely worth a try.
If you're thinking about making the switch, or curious about what that would be like, dig out an old machine and give it a go .. most probably like me .. you won't look back!
Same here. I posted about this a while back: #126179
I bet I'm older than you. I started with Ubuntu, and I still use it a lot on the old laptop where I first loaded it. Then I moved to NixOS, which is great once you play around with it for a while.
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Sir... I still run a Win 3.11, just for fun :)
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Have you also customised and compiled your kernel? 🙂
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Ha Ha! The only kernel I'll be messing with is this guy (Colonel Klink):
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Welcome to the Linux community! To get yourself familiar with the operating system (whichever distro you choose), I would start looking at basic terminal commands that can help you in several situations. Later on, you can explore different distros and DEs (don't distro-hop on your machine, it takes a lot of time! Use quickemu) and package managers (snap, flatpak, appimage, native ones, etc.), moving to more exotic concepts like immutable distros and filesystems (btrfs, zfs, etc.). Welcome to the rabbit hole, down we go!
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I did the same and installed linux (also ubuntu) on a laptop. It looks great, it's fast; twi things, of course: installing things is an absolute pain. Also, my VPN has no native app for it and runs through a command window, which is to say, I get the "connected" notification, but unlike in the app, I don't get a constant "you're connnected" screen for the paranoid. well...
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Once I found out that installing software on Linux is not only safer, but at least as easy as on M$-Windoze, then I realised it was all a bunch of FUD to keep you in the M$ ecosystem. No looking back.
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Linux is our common future
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Enabled dualboot between Windows and Mint on my primary laptop recently. Nice to have the optionality to use a privacy respecting OS most of the time, while keeping Windows around just in case I need it for something
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virt-manager can help you virtualize windows and is generally suitable for most situations.
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For some reason Ive had a tough time navigating VMs on Linux. Using Windows and VMing into Linux has been easy but not the reverse. Will look at this later
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Please use Remmina's rdp protocol to login to virtualized windows, and you will find that everything is natural.
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Exactly what I do. Kind of embarrassing, but my 11 year old laptop (which I got second hand even then) runs Linux Mint pretty well. A lighter distro might be better, but it runs fine. However, when I boot Windows 10 (which is actually rare), it's pretty sluggish.
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By far, the best decision I made. No going back to M$-Windoze once you have seen what Linux can do. When I switched, a few years back, it was the crazy tax software that was holding me back. Since then, this is all web-based, so not an issue anymore. You really only see just how obscene things have become when you step outside of it and look back. Then you just kind of wonder, what was I thinking. Sometimes, change is really good.
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I adopted Linux last year with my new laptop, I also chose Mint. I initially wasn't having a good time because updates wouldn't install, but it functions smoothly enough for normie stuff like web browsing.
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The first thing I do when buying a new laptop (actually, I only buy refurbished ones) is to uninstall Windows and install Linux. I used to be a SuSe fan, but now only run Ubuntu.
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