How do I make the change less scary? I made my pc like 10 years ago and not looked at it since. I just use it for personal admin now and Rome 2 total war twice a year.
Ubuntu & Linux Mint have a Live-USB-Setup. So you can install it on a USB stick, boot from that and then linux is running on your computer. Use it to check if your hardware works and check out the system. If you like it, you can install it from there afterward
learn how to make and recover a windows backup. Then actually make a backup. (even if you dont switch, backups are amazing)
Test some Linux systems in a VM like VirtualBox to get a feeling which OS and desktop enviroment you like the most. Maybe start with Mint, Suse Tumbleweed & Ubuntu
See which Applications you need and if they run on Linux or if you need to get an alternative (like Office -> Libreoffice/SoftMaker)
If you play games with a kernel Anticheat like Valo you have to consider running a Windows VM or to look for an alternative. If booth options are not acceptible for you then :/
Make sure you can access everything like emails & co where you might have lost the 2 factor on the VM (at least i lost access to gmail a few months ago on the switch and its an absolute pain to get access back, luckely was not my main)
The easiest way is to buy a used ssd, and dual-boot. Ive heard, always install windows first and then linux.
Done this way, there shouldnt be any problems. If you realize you dont need one of the operating systems, you could just wipe the disk and mount it again.
I had a situation where I needed Linux and windows installed. I just used two different HDDs instead, I’ve read too many angry posts about their boot- something being messed up and not recoverable.
Hm, the the absolute least scary option would be to try it out on a live bootable USB. That’s not difficult, it’s the first step before installing pretty much any modern distro.
The second least but slightly more technically advanced would be to get a second hard drive and install Linux on that completely separately from your windows install. The technical part here is your BIOS will have a default boot drive and will boot from there on start up, so you would need to interrupt the boot and select which OS you want.
I personally went with the second option, as dual booting from the same had drive is a minefield with windows, as they have a tendency to wreck the Linux boot part. But when I swapped, I set the default boot to my Linux hard drive to get in the habit of using it, and if I ever need anything from windows nowadays (only VR) I select that on boot.
How do I make the change less scary? I made my pc like 10 years ago and not looked at it since. I just use it for personal admin now and Rome 2 total war twice a year.
If you want to try it out on your device for cheep, install Linux on an USB and boot from that.
Ubuntu & Linux Mint have a Live-USB-Setup. So you can install it on a USB stick, boot from that and then linux is running on your computer. Use it to check if your hardware works and check out the system. If you like it, you can install it from there afterward
learn how to make and recover a windows backup. Then actually make a backup. (even if you dont switch, backups are amazing)
Test some Linux systems in a VM like VirtualBox to get a feeling which OS and desktop enviroment you like the most. Maybe start with Mint, Suse Tumbleweed & Ubuntu
See which Applications you need and if they run on Linux or if you need to get an alternative (like Office -> Libreoffice/SoftMaker)
If you play games with a kernel Anticheat like Valo you have to consider running a Windows VM or to look for an alternative. If booth options are not acceptible for you then :/
Make sure you can access everything like emails & co where you might have lost the 2 factor on the VM (at least i lost access to gmail a few months ago on the switch and its an absolute pain to get access back, luckely was not my main)
The easiest way is to buy a used ssd, and dual-boot. Ive heard, always install windows first and then linux.
Done this way, there shouldnt be any problems. If you realize you dont need one of the operating systems, you could just wipe the disk and mount it again.
I had a situation where I needed Linux and windows installed. I just used two different HDDs instead, I’ve read too many angry posts about their boot- something being messed up and not recoverable.
Hm, the the absolute least scary option would be to try it out on a live bootable USB. That’s not difficult, it’s the first step before installing pretty much any modern distro.
The second least but slightly more technically advanced would be to get a second hard drive and install Linux on that completely separately from your windows install. The technical part here is your BIOS will have a default boot drive and will boot from there on start up, so you would need to interrupt the boot and select which OS you want.
I personally went with the second option, as dual booting from the same had drive is a minefield with windows, as they have a tendency to wreck the Linux boot part. But when I swapped, I set the default boot to my Linux hard drive to get in the habit of using it, and if I ever need anything from windows nowadays (only VR) I select that on boot.
Balls, it sounds like I need to go with the second option.
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