Been a long time Windows user but with each Windows version, I hate it more. So bloated and locked in. I saw that mint is a good beginner distribution but its not supported by framework. Is Ubuntu really different from Windows with a higher learning curve?
Talk me out of wasting hours to get linux working when Windows works out-of-the-box
I’m in the same boat.
But leaving win for good (no dual boot).
Torn between Fedora vs Garuda atm. (still waiting for my FW)
Most beginner friendly distributions work ootb
I’d recommend Fedora or Ubuntu instead, Gnome is amazing these days.
Fedora works great and it’ll bring most features as it’s getting updates as soon as they are stable.
You need to know basic knowledge like setting up flatpak for your software, bottles for windows software and knowledge about not being able to use many usb devices that need software.
I’m on Linux for 2 years now because of the same reasons and I’m happier than ever. It can get annoying sometimes but it’s worth it, windows is more annoying.
I have had more issues with Linux, but I use it for everything I can. Honestly Windows is just ridiculous sometimes.
I use Linux every day inside a VM on windows 11 on a framework. I’d be comfortably happy with linux as main and only operating system but I find this setup works well for a sort of “best of both worlds” type scenario. If you run via hyper-v there is basically no performance loss.
I think windows 11 can be very nice too if you run a debloater (I used windows 10 debloater powershell scripts) and an app like ‘0&0 shut up’ — and yes it would be better if we didn’t have to do that - but we do, and after you do, windows 11 is pretty nice and I have my VM & WSL2 for even nicer work environments
Get enough storage so you can dual boot. If you’re like most people there will be a piece of software that you can’t get on one os or the other and either don’t want to find an alternative or can’t.
What would you say as a minimum storage for a good dual boot? SSDs are currently on sale, trying to decide on between 1tb or 2tb is enough or would need more
I TB is definitely sufficient, you can get a lot of linuxing done on just 100GB, but the more the merrier.
For dual boot install Windows first, its easier that way. Windows install requires around 100GB (based on future needs). On Ubuntu 20GB is fine.
My recommendation:
1.) Get a 2TB Nvme. Divide the drive into 3 partitions. 100GB for Windows, 50GB for Ubuntu, rest for your personal files.
2.) Install windows first on 100GB partition
3.) Install Ubuntu using the advanced installation. Install Ubuntu to use 50GB partition (represented by / symbol), format rest of the space and make it your home partition under Ubuntu (represented by /home)
This way even if you somehow screw your Ubuntu installation your user files are safe on different partition.
If this is too complicated after installing windows just go for install Ubuntu side by side option in the installer.
If you wish I can share a solid article which you can use as a guide.
read my username 👍
Do you use Arch btw?
Debian and Ubuntu🗿🗿🗿
What’s your thoughts on PopOS! I quite like it, its simple and easy to get going?
I think its a great choice. You get all the benifits of ubuntu plus a better customized desktop environment.
If you’re the type of person who likes simple tech and you live in constant fear of your computer breaking, keep Windows. If you don’t mind tinkering with your OS to see what tricks it can do, give Linux a try.
Mint will work on your framework laptop just fine.
Spoiler alert. Linux works out of the box. Even more so than Windows.
Yes and no. Depends. What‘s you use cases? Can Linux fulfill them? Did you check that?
Try it on a Virtual Machine first!
That way you can mess around and mess it up as many times as you like before risking anything on your daily OS.
I came from a Mac and I miss macOS a little if I’m honest but I tried HEAPS of different things on Linux on VMs first so by the time I installed it on hardware for the first time I had a good idea of what to expect :)
Linux is better.
Yes, I suggest gentoo
The first thing that you would have yourself is: Do you use any Windows-specific prgrams? Things such as Adobe Suite, the desktop version of MS 360 and if you do, how dependant are you on those. If you are then I’d say stick to Windows because not onluly does Windows programs run better on Windows (duh), making them run on Linux is a chore and very complicated, and that is on top of learning a whole new way of doing things. If you play games, well, unless you know thst your games run on Linux, I’d stay on Windows for now but if you mainly live in a web browser, you won’t have to worry.
If you don’t, the next question is that are willing to discard most of your knowledge regarding using a computer? Linux is altogether a different way of doing things than Windows, it’s closer to MacOS actually, but only a little bit. Linix does things its own way and is not interested in imitating other OSes. Some conceptual things will be different. For example, you don’t normally install programsby finding an install file on the internet, you do it through your appstore, or that tje file system is very different to Windows.
You will have much control over your system, but with power comes responsibility. It’s up to you to run the updates if necessary, it’s up to you to reach out if there’s a problem, and you’d have to keep in mind that often supporters are volunteers, not paid employees, make of that what you will.
Just like Windows, expect stuff to go wrong from time to time, not often, but sometimes you might have a light or something that only comes with Windows drivers.
I’d recommend that you learn a little bit of commandline. Yes it looks scary, and actually for daily use you might even get away with opening a terminal at all, but it’s still an useful thing to know, especially on Linux. Think of it as a direct way of talking to your computer.
If all that doesn’t deter you, come aboard! We hope that you’re have a very good time here, and we think that with some tinkering, you’d have a much better time here than on Windows. You can either jump head first or try Linux in a virtual machine. In time you’ll realise that for the most part distros are not that important, but for now, you could go with either Ubuntu or Pop!OS for a more MacOS vibe, or Linux Mint for a more traditional Windows vibe. Just download the iso, stick it in a virtual (or actual) machine and browse around! See if the programs that you need is there, if not then if you can get around it, try it out. Especially if you doing this on bare metal, see if everything works (keyboard shortcuts, trackpads, fingerprint reader…). Fingerprint reader are perhaps the trickiest, other stuff for the most part just works, but just test around.
Or you can just ignore everything I said and install Arch 🐧