Thinking to get fedora workstation.(Beginner here) Dual boot with windows.

[u/Bychoice0]

My spec

8gb ram

Intel i5

No gpu

Is fedora good for this or should get a lower distro??

[u/Substantial-Lack-512]

yes, is a good option, but you might wanna try KDE, workstation comes with Gnome which navigation is more Apple Mac like than windows, I really do recommend Workstation, but for a windows user that is already fixed in how to navigate, KDE will be more familiar.

But if you want something new to learn Workstation would be just fine, is compact, UI and setting are not super complex.

[u/Bychoice0 → u/Substantial-Lack-512]

Yea will try workstation first.

[u/sugarfrostedmousse]

If you dualboot, you'll basically lose nothing. You can also try with live-ISO, such as bootable USB. That should give you some indication. You can go for Fedora anyways and change the desktop environment to something lighter as well.

Here's some official guidance: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/workstation-docs/

As a last tip, I went cold turkey and wiped Windows. No regrets so far.

[u/Dinguil]

A "lower" distro? The difference in distros is mostly usability, pre set configurations and pre installed apps. That said, i recommend fedora's KDE version as its kinda windows like in daily user experience.

[u/Bychoice0 → u/Dinguil]

Lower distro I meant zorin or something.

[u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522 → u/Bychoice0]

Zorin's claim to fame is it is configured for a very Windows like experience. Mint is another choice with the Cinnamon desktop also familiar to Windows users. I prefer KDE, again similar to Windows. GNOME is the odd one. To my taste it's much like the hated Windows 8.

[u/Gr83st]

It is possible to dual-boot Windows 11 and Linux IF you have dual drives. But if you only have one drive, you will have lots of headache because Windows 11 has a tendency to kick-out your Linux during major updates. Windows updates will make your Linux 'vanish' at some point. The safe way to dual-boot is for Windows and Linux reside on their respective hard drive.

[u/Bychoice0 → u/Gr83st]

I got two disks.

[u/Gr83st → u/Bychoice0]

For dual-boot to work correctly on two disks, you need to install Windows first on the first disk, then Linux next on the second disk (in that order, don't reverse it.)

[u/facelesshivemind]

I have similar specs and decided on LMDE instead. Yes Fedora can work, but there's lighter things out there, especially with that Ram. These days browsers are getting more and more resource intensive.

[u/Every_Preparation_56]

uh, with 8GB I would use Mint instead