this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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Do I need to know Jack shit about programming to use it? Cause....I mean I really don't know Jack shit about but I'm down to jump ship!
Definitely not, I'd say the thing you need the most is the will to learn - as there are differences of course, but being willing to learn new things will go a long way.
I would say for Linux Mint Cinnamon you really only need to be able to follow directions. Just make sure you have an external backup of all your files in case it turns out you can't. You'll have to type some stuff into a command-line interface (I think) but the Mint Cinnamon website has links to step by step guides. Also, you know, make sure you're either committed to getting rid of Windows, or have the ability to re-install, in case you mess up.
But really, at this point, it's pretty dang easy.
I keep my OS on a separate partition from everything else, so all the files should be fine. Can MC read windows dism formats Luke NTFS? Or will I need to transfer my data to something more neutral?
I know it can read ext4, FAT32, and NTFS. After that, I have no idea.
No Mint pretty much just works.
Great thing about Mint (or most Linux distros) is that you can try it by booting from a usb stick - see if you like it that way.
Oh wow really? That's actually very helpful to know! Do I need to format the USB a certain way first or will the distro website go through it?
The USB boot is actually just straight-up a part of the install process. You first boot from the USB, then click on the desktop icon that launches the installer. Of course, you can always just ignore that icon and play around on the USB boot. Based on the questions you're asking here, you'll be totally fine. I don't know the majority of the words people are throwing around here, and I managed to install Linux Mint Cinnamon on a computer so old you're not actually supposed to be able to do it. I just did some searching and followed forum tutorials. As long as your computer is less than ~12 years old, it won't be any trouble at all.
You download the image (usually a .iso file) from the distro site then you have to get it onto the stick with a disk image writing program. And be sure when you figure it out that you are writing the image to the right disk!
Rufus was a good program I used, but search around. Windows may do it natively now.
The only thing that I think is a little complicated these days is make sure that you're not reliant on a particular Windows-only app. For the vast majority of common apps, you're going to be fine, and it's sounding more and more like even gaming on Linux is not only fine, but getting to the point of being the best way to do it. If you do have a particular app you rely on, I'd look into the various ways that you can get Windows apps running on Linux (which can be a little tricky, but usually not too bad.) But even like 10 years ago, I built a machine for an elderly family member, put probably some flavor of ubuntu on it, and I never had to troubleshoot that machine.
Thanks! How are open office apps these days? Now that Word/Excel is dog shit and subscription based, that's the only windows only app I think I'd need. Even my recording and video editing apps supposedly run on Linux.
I switched my computer illiterate family members to reduce the effort of helping them and they didn't notice.
As a helper..
There are distributions focussed on the latest and greatest (Arch, Fedora, etc..) and ones aiming for stability (Debian, Ubuntu, etc..). Think of them as groups with different views.
So Linux Mint is Ubuntu but it has the latest Cinnamon desktop. Ubuntu is Debian but focused on fixed releases and adds 'snaps' and includes "non-free" by default.
People have different views on how the desktop should work. The two big desktops are Gnome and KDE.
Gnome is like Marmite. Its works completely different to any other desktop and people either love it or loathe it. Its often the distribution default.
With Windows 10/11 I think Microsoft were trying to steal some of KDE's best features. By default it looks very much like a Windows desktop but lots of people mod it to look/act like macos. Some people struggle with the options it provides.
Then there are lots of other desktops, for example Cinnamon takes Gnome and turns it into a normal desktop.
Personally I would suggest Kubuntu as your first attempt. This is a fairly decent install guide.
Ubuntu tries to minimise the choices you need to make and the 6 month update cycle keeps it fairly stable.
Kubuntu is Ubuntu it just makes KDE the default instead of Gnome.
I recognize some of those words!
But seriously thanks for the write up. I used Ubuntu WAY back in like 2010 for media storage. I imagine it's come a long way since then.