Hello!
I’m interested in moving my personal computer to running Linux but I’m not sure where to even begin. As background, I am a casual user and have a desktop with hardware from around 2014 running Windows. I am hoping to setup a NAS drive as a media server in the next year or so, offloading all of the files currently on the Windows desktop and have been interested in open source software such as Jellyfin. I also mostly game on an Xbox and Nintendo Switch, but have used the desktop in the past for gaming such as with an Oculus Rift Headset and some Steam games so not huge on getting games working on the computer. But, I do sometimes torrent using the computer so don’t want to lose that capability (especially with upkeep for the media server).
With all of that said, I didn’t know how to get started with choosing what Linux OS to use, setting it up, backing up my files to make sure I can use them with the new OS, etc. Making the switch seems to have great options for customization and “choosing a distro that works for you”, but I don’t know what would work for me or what will be user friendly for a beginner.
Any tips or pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
The only thing I’ll caution about dual boot is it means if you get stuck you abandon Linux all the way for Windows. Sometimes it just gets easier to go back.
When you get “settled” with your new Linux install I HIGHLY recommend you set up a Windows virtual machine (I used virtualbox but again there are… Options lol). With a VM, if you get frustrated and think “Fuck it why is this so hard?!” instead of abandoning your new Linux install you can just boot windows in a separate window and do what you gotta do. If this gets annoying you’ll figure out the Linux way instead of throwing the whole thing in the trash.
Okay so maybe ease myself in with dual boot, then Linux + virtual Windows, then Linux only. That seems like a good transition.
Keep in mind… I first installed Linux at Mandrake 7.1 (bit of digging will tell you how long ago that was) - it really did take me decades to become comfortable with it… What forced my hand was a few things, dealing with we servers remotely, writing code for them (via windows), and then android was what tipped the balance.
If I’m using a Linux like operating system in my pocket, coding for Linux remotely then what the hell am I dojng still running windows?