Linux OS for a new user

Hello users,

This question may be offtopic here, but i need your kind suggestions. I am now going to reinstall an operating system in my computer.
I had Windows 10 earlier. Now I am thinking to use Linux. I have not used it before so I have a few doubts.

Will it be difficult to use and understand Linux?
Will Linux be faster than Winodows 10?

Thanks

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bkdroid13 wrote:

Hello users,

This question may be offtopic here, but i need your kind suggestions. I am now going to reinstall an operating system in my computer.
I had Windows 10 earlier. Now I am thinking to use Linux. I have not used it before so I have a few doubts.

Will it be difficult to use and understand Linux?
Will Linux be faster than Winodows 10?

Thanks

You're probably about to receive a lot of suggestions about which distribution to choose and a lot of conflicting opinions about Linux vs Windows. Regardless of what may be said here, you should try the OS for yourself. Moreover, you should try different distributions to see which, if any, appeals to you.

As for your questions:

"

Will it be difficult to use and understand Linux?

If you can navigate and understand Windows you can use Linux.

"

Will Linux be faster than Winodows 10?

The question is not going to be easy to answer. You really need to identify what you intend doing with the OS first.

For me personally, I just use Windows 10 to play this game and Grim Dawn. Everything else I need to do, I do on Linux. If I had better hardware, instead of a seven year old system, I'd probably use Linux to play those games too.

My distribution of choice these days is Solus although I have used most major and some less well known distributions over the years.

Incidentally, we have a thread dedicated to playing PoE on Linux here

"

bkdroid13 wrote:

Hello users,

This question may be offtopic here, but i need your kind suggestions. I am now going to reinstall an operating system in my computer.
I had Windows 10 earlier. Now I am thinking to use Linux. I have not used it before so I have a few doubts.

Will it be difficult to use and understand Linux?
Will Linux be faster than Winodows 10?

Thanks

To be honest, you should really run both Windows and Linux as a completely new user. You will have a lot of things to get used to in Linux, you will have frustrations, and you will more than likely encounter some brick walls that you just can't get past. Especially so when it comes to gaming.

Mint is a really good starting distro for a new user trying to switch over from Windows. Some, such as Arch, should definitely be avoided by the uninitiated. Just do some research. It's not hard to find websites with reviews and comparisons.

Whichever distro you choose, install Linux on a USB or in a VM or even as a multi-boot setup on your HDD. Installing it on a USB stick is probably the easiest and cleanest way for a new user to go about it. That way you can tinker around and figure out how stuff works and see if it's a good fit for you, without cutting yourself off from Windows.

As for "faster"...yes, no, maybe, maybe not are all valid answers. Way too many things to consider to really be able to answer that meaningfully.

PS: Even on a really good machine, PoE is uhhh generally not great in Linux. It's workable, but it borders on self-torture. That's not the case with all games though.

"

bkdroid13 wrote:

Hello users,

This question may be offtopic here, but i need your kind suggestions. I am now going to reinstall an operating system in my computer.
I had Windows 10 earlier. Now I am thinking to use Linux. I have not used it before so I have a few doubts.

Will it be difficult to use and understand Linux?
Will Linux be faster than Winodows 10?

Thanks

What is your planned use for this computer and how willing are you to figure out issues on your own? There are a lot of Linux distributions. Generally they will be faster than Windows 10 and many have modern GUI for you to use.

The answer to many Linux-related questions is 'it depends'. Linux can be very easy to work with, or it can be quite a convoluted and unpolished experience. Different distros have different goals.

You can think of a Linux OS as being comprised of two parts. There's the distro which determines the ease of installation for both Linux itself and software you wish to use on it. Then there's the DE or 'Desktop Environment', which you can think of as mostly determining aesthetics (this is an oversimplification).

When looking at distro choices for new users, one of my priorities will be the ease of installation for compatible software. Just about any program that supports Linux will have a .DEB available. Think of them as a .msi or setup.exe file created for some distros, including Ubuntu. Other distros, such as Solus, do not have innate support for .DEBs.

When looking at DEs, I'll usually suggest similar to the user's previous experience. As you're familiar with Windows, DEs you're likely to be comfortable with include Cinnamon, KDE, and Budgie.

To comment on the distros people have mentioned;

• Solus is a great distribution. The main pain point of the distro is that a lot of Linux-compatible software is made available in the form of either a .DEB or a .RPM, and Solus supports neither of these. While there's ways around that, it harms my impression of the 'out of the box' new user experience. I've Solus installed on my laptop and am personally a fan of it, however new users may find it frustrating.
• Linux Mint is the first distro I tried, and I enjoyed my time with it. As with Solus, the developers are much more focused on the desktop experience than some others (e.g. Ubuntu is also used on servers & IoT devices). However, it is fundamentally Ubuntu with a lick of paint, and less up-to-date software. I think other teams do a better job of offering this experience.
• Arch is not a good choice, as said by Aggromagnet. The goal of Arch is to give the user more control over their PC by adopting a minimalist approach. It thus requires a lot of knowledge of both computers in general, and Linux in particular, to be a pleasant experience.

I'd tend to recommend Ubuntu Budgie for first-time Linux users.

When people recommend Solus to new users, I think the Budgie DE is a much stronger argument than the Solus distro itself. Ubuntu Budgie combines the modern, enjoyable desktop experience of Solus with the software compatibility of Ubuntu. Additionally, Ubuntu is one of the most widely used distros - so if you run into any problems, you're likely to find help resolving them.

On my desktop I spend the majority of my time on Manjaro. It's not a bad distribution for new users, but I'd tend to suggest that people get their first taste of Linux either with Ubuntu or something based on it. When you're more familiar with Linux you'll be in a better position to decide for yourself which distros have goals that align with what you want from your system.

Peppermint is my favorite, they just released 10. You can install it on a usb drive and try it before you install. You can do that with many other distros as well, there is an option "try *** before installing"

https://peppermintos.com/

Linux is much easier to use because you dont need drivers for most things. Its also really fast to install. Uses like 200meg of resources idle, much less things running.

"Lutris" is something new to play games with, it used to work for me before poe went dx11.

I guess Im old school, I dont run any graphics shell over linux distros. command line only. but then I dont use it for consumer tasks such as browsing the net or game playing. so centos/rhel (subscription for rhel can be a bitch I guess) is where it's at.

if I want graphics over a NIX sys, I just use my mac. I do have some old ubuntu installs with some interface, but I dont really use them.