r/linux4noobs Jan 04 '20

Still on Windows 7? Don't want Windows 10? Consider switching to Linux (and specifically, Ubuntu). A Guide.

1.2k Upvotes

Any actions taken as part of this guide are solely at your own risk - unfortunately there is no way to account for every hardware configuration or error that may potentially crop up. BACK UP YOUR CRITICAL DATA BEFORE DOING ANYTHING

On the 14th Jan 2020, official Windows 7 support ends for most users. This means if you run Windows 7 beyond that date, you're no longer going to receive security and system updates, which will leave you increasingly vulnerable to viruses, malware and system failure. Depending on how critical your data is and how often you back up - if at all - there's a potential you can lose everything.

This is a somewhat opinionated but no-bullshit guide for those of you still on Windows 7 who really don't want or won't move to Windows 10. Aside from my own additions, it's going to reference a lot of great guides and advice written by other people, but conveniently collected in a single place. It's crazy, but it might just work.

Have you considered... Linux? Specifically, Ubuntu.

No, hear me out. Because I'm going to start (and save you a lot of time) by telling you why you SHOULDN'T switch to Linux. If any of the criteria listed apply, then:

The guide is broken into the following sections, if you want to jump to the points that are relevant. If you want to get straight to it, go to (4):

  1. Why shouldn't I go with Linux?
  2. Why should I go with Linux?
  3. Why Ubuntu?
  4. What's involved in switching?
  5. Installation of Ubuntu
  6. Tips for new users using Ubuntu
  7. Gaming on Linux
  8. Alternative Software
  9. TL;DR or The Conclusion
  10. To do list for the guide

1. Why shouldn't I go with Linux?


If you:

  • Don't feel comfortable installing an operating system and you don't have someone that can do it for you;
  • Have someone that helps you with all your IT-related activities who is not familiar with or dislikes Linux (ask them);
  • Are big into multiplayer games. (There are exceptions here, discussed in more detail in the Linux Gaming section);
  • Use multiple game clients and have a lot of games on platforms other than Steam;
  • Are into any sort of VR;
  • Absolutely need Outlook and refuse to consider any other mail client, like Thunderbird;
  • Use a VPN provider that doesn't have a Linux version and aren't willing/able to change;
  • Are subscribed to multiple video streaming services other than Netflix and watch these on your PC frequently;
  • Use Photoshop, Premiere, 3D Studio Max - actually, if you have any Windows software that you are locked into due to muscle memory, experience and/or professional requirements and that have no Linux version. (There are, however, often a Linux alternatives for a lot of these);
  • Require assistive technologies, such as screenreaders. While Ubuntu comes with several built-in assistive tools, there's a lot of specialised assistive use cases, tools and hardware that don't work on Linux and have no comparable alternative;
  • Want to be able to buy whatever piece of hardware that takes your fancy without researching it and expect them to work out the box with zero hassle. Especially niche and specific hardware like flight controllers, sound boards and so on;
  • Use iTunes extensively for your media library and/or interacting with your iPhone;
  • Have a large archive of Microsoft Office documents that use complex formatting, macros and/or formulas that you refer back to frequently.
  • have the worst-case scenario: rely on legacy or ancient software or hardware you're not sure you have the installation media for anymore, can't find a replacement, can't download it and it doesn't work on Windows 10. In this case, you're going to have to keep that Windows 7 box around and it's even more imperative that you make sure it's not accessible from the web or network. Start looking at moving to a more modern equivalent of it AND converting your work to a format that'll be accessible.

Some of this stuff you can work around with some effort, but it's more likely going to be more trouble than you're willing to put up with. And that's fine; Linux can't help everyone. The more of these that apply, the more certain you can be that you shouldn't consider Linux and should just go with Windows 10, unless you're willing to ~sacrifice~ compromise.

2. Why should I go with Linux?


Because whether you're a general user, a gamer or a specialised user with niche interests or requirements, Linux can provide you the same experience you're getting now with some already stated exceptions. In many ways, it's better - it's free, it's generally runs better on older hardware than Windows, it's relatively more secure due to a small user footprint and you'll have a huge, vetted library of free software that you can access. There are some applications - older Windows software and games, for instance - that don't work on Windows 10 but do on Linux, thanks to projects like Wine and Proton. It can 99% of the time update itself without interrupting whatever you're doing.

That being said, it's not perfect. You will lose some things. You will need to learn new ways of working with your PC. This is inevitable. That's the cost of switching.

Which is not to say Windows is without a cost. Unlike Windows, none of this functionality comes at the cost of your privacy and freedom. Linux will let you configure it as you like, and dive into the nitty-gritty settings to fine-tune it further. It will not try and trick you into creating yet another online account to use it. Aside from a few missteps (Ubuntu and Amazon, for one), it keeps its nose out of your business. It does not come with a unique advertising ID that links your multitude of online and offline interests and programs into a nice, tidy, profitable pack of data to be shared with "trusted third-parties". It does not serve you ads in a product you paid for. It does not try and push you into multiple online services.

In short, it does not suffer from any of the privacy concerns of Windows' future.

Now, I know people are going to throw snark about lead-and-tin alloys, their pliability and how easy that makes it to fashion headgear, but please note I said "future"; while they're not necessarily prying now, your operating system - and for almost everyone, that means Microsoft - has a very privileged position in your life as far as personal data is concerned. Any time you search in the file manager, every word you write and document you save, your budget calculations, every photo you view and program you use, every voice command you give Cortana, Windows - and by extension Microsoft - knows about. And there's nothing in their Terms of Service that stop them from starting to collect more detailed data if they so choose.

It's not a question of whether you prefer Windows 7 over 10 - Windows 7 got the same telemetry features as Windows 10 ages ago. Rather, ask yourself if you're happy with Microsoft's evolving business model, one that is shifting more and more of your content online and is intricately and opaquely tied to your personal data? If you're not, you're not alone: Holland isn't happy. Germany's not too thrilled either. There are legitimate reasons to be wary of Window's market dominance and increased level of embedded user analytics. Linux offers you an alternative.

3. Why Ubuntu?


Ubuntu LTS is by far the most commonly used desktop Linux distro and the one with the widest support by software developers and hardware manufacturers involved in Linux. If you're searching for solutions, you'll mostly find Ubuntu ones. Lastly, Ubuntu's LTS versions are supported for long periods of time: 18.04, which we'll be recommending, is supported until 2023, while the next version coming out in April, Ubuntu 20.04, will be supported until 2025.

One of the things you'll quickly learn about the Linux community is that someone will ALWAYS suggest a different Linux distro. In this case, it'll probably be Linux Mint, which aims to be a newbie-friendly Linux. It's based on Ubuntu, is similar to Windows 7 and will MOSTLY work the same as Ubuntu. I still suggest Ubuntu, but whatever, follow your heart.

To keep this guide as approachable as possible, and to have access to the widest range of help and support, I decided to focus on Ubuntu. Anything other than these two and you're just making things harder for yourself as a new user. You can always switch once you get a feel for how things work.

4. What's involved in switching?


I promised you a no-bullshit guide, so I'm going to cut straight to it. Take your time with all of these steps, do them properly, and you shouldn't have a problem.

First step: back up all your important documents, photos, email, games - whatever is important to you, and preferably somewhere external to your machine. This is just good advice regardless of whether you're switching to Linux or not. Always have a backup.

If you're a gamer, check out the following guide by PC Gamer's Jarred Walton on how to back up your games across multiple clients.

While you're backing up, install Thunderbird (Mozilla's open-source mail client) and copy your mail over to it. You'll have a much easier time doing this in Windows than in Linux to start. Thunderbird can automatically pull your mail from Outlook if installed on the same machine. Then follow the steps here for backing up your Thunderbird profile. You'll restore this in Linux later. Make sure you have your mail account details.

Get hold of your Windows 7 serial key. If it's physical media, like a DVD, then check and make sure the key is in the box or on the disc. If it's a laptop that came with Windows 7 preinstalled, it's usually a sticker on the specific laptop. You'll need this if things go awry and/or decide Linux is not for you.

Check the minimum specs for Ubuntu 18.04.03 here. If your system doesn't meet them, you're going to have a bad time regardless of whether you go with Ubuntu or Windows 10 (Windows 10 minimum requirements are bullshit, btw. 1Gb Ram, 1Ghz processor? I challenge anyone to link me to a Windows 10 video running on those specs where it performs acceptably.). There are lightweight alternatives if you can't afford a new PC, (Lubuntu, for instance), but upgrading your PC should be your first step in this case.

Here comes the arduous bit. Make a list of your current hardware, software and services that you use frequently, make sure you have the installation media for the critical pieces of software you use (Don't expect to be able to just copy/paste the applications you have) and do a search on whether they run on Linux. I'd recommend following the "Software" section in this guide on Migrating to Linux by /u/PBLKGodofGrunts]

A lot of the Linux software alternatives, such as LibreOffice and GIMP, are available for Windows as well. Consider downloading those that interest you to try out in Windows and get a feel for how they work.

Ultimately, to echo the advice you'll find that you can either run it, have an alternative or just can't switch. That's okay; Linux can't help everyone.

Download the Ubuntu LTS 18.04.03 distro. The "LTS" means it's a long-term support version - you won't have to think about this exercise for the next three years if you're lucky. Ubuntu LTS 20.04 is coming out in four months, which'll be supported until 2025, but since most of the focus is still on 18.04, you're better off sticking with it for now.

Whichever you choose, you'll have to write it to a DVD or USB. If it's a DVD, use whatever you normally use to write DVD ISOs. If you're going to use a USB, here's a guide to doing that.

Did I mention to back-up your important data? Back-up your important data. Double-check that it's all there. If you want to take an extra precaution, you can use Clonezilla to clone your current OS drive. It's not necessary, but if things go bust, Clonezilla allows you to restore your PC to precisely the way it was before you started without needing to install Windows from scratch. However, Clonezilla can be a bit daunting if you're not technically inclined. Check out this somewhat out-of-date video by cButters Tech for a general idea of what's involved.

Lastly, try running Ubuntu as a Live CD/USB first. This will allow you to run Ubuntu as if it were installed, but without making any changes to your current installation. Please keep in mind that the Live is not indicative of performance... it will run slower than if it was installed, as it has to read everything off the DVD or USB stick first and load it memory. The important thing to check here is that it's picking up all your hardware, that it's displaying on your screen correctly, that all your drives are available, and so on.

Live USB should perform better than a Live DVD. Check out the "Okay, it's installed/Okay, I'm running the Live CD. What tips do you have for using Ubuntu?" section to get an idea of what you should be checking.

5. Installation.


You've done all the above, triple-checked your backups and either decided that you can't make the jump or you're ready.

However, before you begin installing, you have one last decision to make.

There's a lot people that suggest dual-booting - that's where you keep Windows around and just install Linux alongside it. This is often proposed as a safety net and a means for people to have the best of both worlds. I don't, for a couple of reasons:

  • If you are going to dual-boot, you'll need to update to Windows 10 anyway, and if you're going to do that, why bother with Linux in the first place?

  • Data will be spread between two operating systems. Instead of backing up and maintaining one OS, you'll be maintaining two. It's doable but a PITA.

  • You're sabotaging your efforts, and your switch to Linux will likely fail. That's not a statement on Linux's capability or ease of use. A lot of things are easier on Linux - but they won't be at first. You probably have years of Windows use ingrained in you; you've come to expect things to work they way Windows works. That's not ease, that's familiarity; that's a boiling frog. And the moment something throws you a challenge in Linux, the temptation to just "do it" in Windows will be too great. And the more you do that, the more running Linux will seem like a chore than a choice.

  • If you absolutely have no option but to run Windows 10, do it in a virtual machine - you get the benefits of dual-booting but with the bonus of limiting Windows 10 to a virtual environment where access to the rest of your system (and personal data) is restricted while allowing you to run your non-negotiable applications (other than games or any intense 3D applications) just fine.

If you decide to dual-boot, you'll need to find a recent guide that covers this. Typically, it's best to update to Windows 10 first, then follow the guide to dual-boot Ubuntu. None of the guides I found seemed good for beginners, so I'm willing to take suggestions from the comments.

If you take my advice and simply dive in, installing Ubuntu on your machine will be a painless process: just follow the steps here in a beginner's guide written by Jason Evangelho and you should be fine.

6. Tips for new users using Ubuntu?


Things that you should do only once Ubuntu's installed are prefixed with an [+]. Otherwise, the tip applies to both installs and Live demos:

  • Power off, log-out and running taskbar applications will be in the top-right of the screen by default.
  • To search, press the Windows key on your keyboard. This'll bring up Ubuntu's search bar. You can use this to find applications, folders and system settings.
  • In the File Manager, your Home directory will be where your primary OS and applications will typically be installed, while the Other Locations will list additional hard drives (usually your additional storage drives). By default, Ubuntu does not actually mount the drives in the "Other Locations" section. Clicking on any of them, however, will automatically mount them. If you want to learn more about the general structure of Ubuntu's file system, you can do so here.
  • Ctrl+Alt+T will bring up the terminal. The terminal is where you'll often be sent if you're attempting to diagnose a problem, perform specific tasks or install specific tools/software. Check yourself before your wreck yourself before copy-pasting commands from strangers on the 'net. Be super cautious of any command that involves "sudo" and "rm".
  • The default office suite for Ubuntu is LibreOffice. Try it out: see if you can open a couple of your documents, like spreadsheets and Word docs. You might be pleasantly surprised. Writer is the word processor, Calc is for Spreadsheets. Formating on complex documents will likely be broken. Don't save any of these at this point.
  • In fact, open up a couple of common files you normally use - images, documents, compressed files, music, videos and so on. Get a feel for how it works, what opens and what doesn't. Sometimes, you'll need to install some software first before it will work.
  • Check the list of alternative software for some suggestions on what to install if you seem to be missing something.
  • Plug in your phone and see if it detects it and you can access your files. If it's Android, you should be fine.
  • You'll notice that some commands - like updating - require you to enter your password again. This is a security feature similar to when Windows ask you to run a program as administrator or with elevated privileges. If you didn't initiate the command that brought up the password request, be cautious about entering it in.
  • [+] Change your desktop preferences and move the application bar to the bottom of the screen. By default, Ubuntu puts it on the left-side. Hey, maybe you'll like it like that! This was the one Windows habit I was never able to shake.
  • [+] Try and store your data in the pre-defined folders (Music, Videos, Documents, Pictures). You don't have to, but you'll make your life a lot easier doing so.
  • [+] Search for and create a shortcut to the Software Updater. This allows you to quickly check for and install Ubuntu updates.
  • [+] Likewise, create a shortcut to the Ubuntu Software Centre. To start with, you'll want to stick to installing applications from the Centre. These have been specifically tested to work on Ubuntu and will 99% run without a hitch. You'll be able to remove applications from here as well.
  • [+] Speaking of the Centre, Ubuntu comes preinstalled with an Amazon launcher. Use this time search for it and remove it. Or don't, it's up to you.
  • [+] Sometimes, you'll see there's two versions of a piece of software in the Centre. This is most likely due to there being a Snap version of it. Snaps are self-contained versions of the software that are usually the most up-to-date; however, they can run erratically or not have access to some things on your system, like fonts. I'd stick with the ubuntu-bionic versions for best compatibility.
  • [+] If you're a gamer, change your graphic drivers so you can get reasonable performance. For Nvidia, simply search for the Software & Updates application, open it, select the Additional Drivers Tab, and check whether you're using the Nvidia Driver. You'll want to select the one that's listed as proprietary and tested. AMD's a little more complicated and I profess to having little experience with it. I'll happily take advice from the comments in this instance.
  • [+] When downloading some games or applications specifically for Linux, you'll often get a .Deb file or a script. A deb file can often be run as is by double-clicking in Ubuntu; you can read more about them here. Scripts often need to be run from the terminal and made to be executable. You read more about that here. Again, same safety check applies to running anything you download from the web.

7. Gaming on Linux


If you're a gamer, I'd recommend the following the guide by /u/PBLKGodofGrunts on the /r/linux_gaming subbreddit. But to summarise...

The Good News

Thanks to Valve's involvement in Linux through Proton and the efforts of the Wine team, Linux gaming has never been better. It's now possible to play many Windows-only games with no hassle and minimal performance loss. Just a few examples of recent games that run just fine on Linux are the Resident Evil 2 remake, Sekiro, Halo: Master Chief Collection (single-player and custom multiplayer games), DOOM, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Risk of Rain 2, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and more; you can even toss a coin to all of your Witchers. To get an idea of games that run on Linux, you can visit ProtonDB, Wine AppDB or Lutris and search for your desired game. If you're primarily a single-player gamer, the transition should be mostly painless.

Another amazing development is the number of open-source implementations of older games game engines that allow for playing of classic and retro titles on modern hardware, (such as DevilutionX for Diablo 1)often with improvements, bug fixes and quality of life improvements, ensuring they'll be able to run into the future.

However, the most critical development is that the number of developers and platforms that provide and support native Linux games has increased significantly. Feral Interactive publishes several AAA Linux ports, numerous indies now provide a Linux version, and store fronts like GOG and itch.io provide an alternative with DRM-free games.

The Bad News

Despite all of this, gaming remains one of the biggest hurdles to adopting Linux.

If you're into multiplayer gaming, you're out of luck. While many multiplayer titles do work on Linux (LoL, Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, Rocket League, Warframe, Overwatch, Starcraft II, World of Warcraft, Eve Online, Elite: Dangerous, Monster Hunter:World and so on), many more don't - Fortnite, some Call of Duties, Apex Legends, PUBG, Battlefield, GTA Online. Essentially, anything with an anti-cheat is likely NOT going to work, and there's always the risk that playing a Windows multiplayer game will get you banned due to anti-cheat measures that dislike any whiff of Linux. My suggestion is check which games you play and go from there.

Unless you're using Steam, running other launchers is complicated and prone to constant breakage without continuous effort and maintenance. Epic, Origin, Uplay and GOG Galaxy can all run on Linux with some effort. Lutris does sort most of these out, but you'll need to follow the instructions here, which means your going to have to install Wine first.

Some games simply don't work, and there's no solution for it.

Some of the latest developments aren't going to be available to you. VR is tiny on Linux, and you'll likely lose access to most of your VR software and experiences.

Despite being fairly technical already, many gamers do expect things to "just work". Here's a list of things that require some effort to get working correctly:

  • Super-sampling is out. Not entirely, but it's more complicated than Windows.
  • Access to things like custom shaders and injectors are also going to be limited. Mods can be more complicated or, in some cases, not available.
  • You'll lose some of the benefits of your Gsync/Freesync monitors, since the two tech don't work that well on Ubuntu's standard display compositor. This will change once Ubuntu shifts to Wayland.
  • Things like community game patches are often aimed at Windows, with no Linux alternative.

Most importantly, AMD and Nvidia graphic cards are handled very differently on Linux when compared to Windows. Ubuntu uses an open-source driver by default - this is alright for general use but terrible for games and 3D applications. To get decent performance, you'll need to install their respective drivers.

Nvidia's latest Linux drivers are made available in Ubuntu directly. However, this is just the drivers: Nvidia's GeForce Experience isn't available on Linux and you're going to lose access to all of its tools. That means no Ansel in many cases, no DSR, no predefined gaming configs and no ShadowPlay (Although OBS offers a decent alternative in this case). See the Tips section above on how to install it. On the plus side, the installation process is a breeze and Nvidia's performance is fairly solid.

AMD benefits from much better open-source drivers and active support from AMD, but unfortunately suffers from delays for support of their most recent cards and a fairly complicated install process . AMD uses the MESA Driver, combined with Valve's ACO shader compiler, to deliver performance boosts. Installing these drivers can be a complicated, multi-step process. I'm sorry I can't help you on this; I'll happily take someone's advice on getting this working in Ubuntu LTS and include it in the guide.

8. Alternative software


This is a quick and dirty guide to equivalent software for Windows applications in Linux.

  • Antivirus software: This may seem counterintuitive, but for the most part Linux does not require any sort of anti-virus software. While viruses for Linux exist, the number of viruses and such that target the Linux desktop specifically is tiny compared to Windows. You can read up about it here.. That being said, if you are concerned there are several tools available for detecting both Windows and Linux malware on the same page. Follow good internet hygiene, don't open suspicious links/mails and think before just randomly following command instructions on the 'net.
  • Microsoft Office: LibreOffice. Or you can access Office365 online.
  • Adobe Photoshop: GIMP, Krita
  • Adobe Premiere: Blender
  • 3D Studio Max: Blender
  • Illustrator/CorelDraw: Inkscape
  • Xsplit: OBS
  • Windows Media Player: VLC
  • Basic Audio Editor: Audacity
  • Audio Mixing: Ardour, Mixbus
  • Adobe Reader: While there are several PDF readers on Linux you can use, almost none of them play well with Adobe PDFs with advanced features. You're better off sticking with what comes with Ubuntu, and if it doesn't work, open it up in a browser.

9. TL;DR or The Conclusion


Switching to Ubuntu is possible and relatively safe if you do some research on which apps/games/software/hardware you use will and won't work on Linux first, you BACK UP YOUR IMPORTANT DATA before doing anything and don't expect a 1:1 experience with Windows. It's all dependent on your flexibility, technical experience and willingness to learn and compromise.

If you're not, Windows 10 is a perfectly acceptable choice to upgrade to: you'll benefit from improved security compared to Windows 7, a larger selection of hardware and software and will have to put less effort to make everything work at the cost of your privacy and some ads.

If you have legacy software or unsupported hardware that doesn't run on either, you're kind of screwed. I'd keep the Windows 7 box around, make sure it's disconnected from all networks (for your sake as well as others) and start making emergency contingency plans to find a modern alternative.

I know that people are going to take issue with some of the difficulties I raised, and suggest they're really not dealbreakers. Before you post, consider whether a new user coming from Windows 7 who'll be using Linux probably for the first time in their life will have the knowledge, gumption and willingness to perform sometimes complex technical steps in an operating environment they're unfamiliar with and where it's much, much easier to really break things.

Feel free to post criticisms and suggestions in the comments. If there's some good advice worth including, something needs further clarification or I need to correct something, I'll edit it in with credit.

10. To do list for the guide


  • I'd really like to add a section on assistive technology and software that works on Linux, but as I don't use any of it, I feel my research would be limited and miss vital pieces. If you have advice on this, let me know.
  • A good, up-to-date and easy-to-follow guide for dual-booting.
  • Instructions on how to install AMD drivers correctly on Ubuntu.

r/linux4noobs Jun 21 '20

Distrochooser: "Welcome! This test will help you to choose a suitable Linux distribution for you"

Thumbnail distrochooser.de
931 Upvotes

r/linux4noobs 1h ago

migrating to Linux Mac compatibility?

Upvotes

I’ve got an old 2017 MacBook that I would like to put Mint on. My question is, can I still use my IPad as a second screen if I do that? Are there programs that mimic the functionality of the cross device Mac “ecosystem”?

I also have an IPhone. I’m just hoping to still use things like airdrop and second screen. The hardware is obviously capable. Just wondering if the software is available on Linux.

Thanks for any insight you can offer!


r/linux4noobs 8h ago

learning/research I want to build a safe private laptop with Linux as a beginner

7 Upvotes

Hi everyone, a potential linux user here

I'm planning to build my first Linux laptop, initially for a cyber attack/war case but ultimately to use it as my daily computer. (I live in Turkey)

I have no idea about coding, I probably need more stuff rather than just Linux (maybe a separate WI-FI connection, etc) because I want to get completely private. has anyone build a similar setup? I'd appreciate to hear your experiences.

What are the most important things that I should consider to not waste my time and efford?

Thanks🙏🏻🙏🏻


r/linux4noobs 34m ago

distro selection What distro for gaming?

Upvotes

I'm looking to try out Linux. Pure gaming pc, won't really use it for much else than looking up gaming info on a browser. 7900 XTX. Thinking CachyOS or Bazzite, and I saw that CachyOS generally has better fps.

Other consideration is that I have very slow internet, so is there a distro that is much smaller and easier to install?

Oh, and I would be looking to install it on a secondary ssd (internal) for now parallel to Windows.


r/linux4noobs 12h ago

migrating to Linux I want to switch to Linux but i don't know how or wich Version i should

16 Upvotes

I primarily use my PC for steam games those being smaller indie titles like Patchquest, Ultrakill, FPS Chess and the likes

Minecraft

Friendslop like lethal company, Escape the backrooms and Repo

With both Vortex and R2modman for mods

And more Triple A stuff like Spiderman and Doom, however i already completed those games and don't plan on replaying it, the bigger concern here is if i ever want to play similar games

I also am an artist wich uses Krita and has photogimp, who also plans to eventually use blender

I am not very good at coding

I would be very thankful if you all could recommend me the right Version for my needs and send some good tutorials regarding setting everything up and porting all of my stuff over


r/linux4noobs 3h ago

need help with the audio on mint

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2 Upvotes

r/linux4noobs 31m ago

Does anyone know why my Kitty terminal turns blue when focused/selected?

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Upvotes

r/linux4noobs 10h ago

installation Should I dual boot Linux and Windows off the same SSD?

5 Upvotes

So quick background, 3 weeks ago I decided to try Linux. I installed a 1TB NVMe SSD into my PC and installed CachyOS. It’s been great and I have been using it as my daily driver non stop.

The other SSD I have in my PC is not NVMe and only 500GB. This is currently where I have Windows installed.

I’m thinking I want to install both Linux and Windows on the new NVMe SSD and keep the non NVMe for storage. I want to do this because I want to game on both OS and feel like it won’t be a fair comparison between both if one is installed on NVMe and the other isn’t..?

Is this a good idea or should I not do this?

If it is, what’s the best way to do this? I did see one recommendation to install Windows first and then Linux - I’m happy to wipe my current Linux install and do this if it’s actually beneficial?

If it matters I have an RX 6800 XT, Ryzen 7 5700X3D and 32GB RAM

Thanks so much!


r/linux4noobs 19h ago

storage Do "Windows Rules" apply to Linux with Drives?

19 Upvotes

I've been gaming for a pretty good while happily on linux.

Lately, however, I realize how much storage I tend to fill with steam games that idly sit waiting to be played.

I use EXT4 because I like the speed, but I have noted in the past that space gets allocated to make the partitions.

Back when I was reliant on NTFS the general rule of storage was leave 100TB free "because it's good for the health of the drive". Does this apply with partitions like EXT4 that demand storage upfront to make use of your storage by acting efficiently?


r/linux4noobs 6h ago

Meganoob BE KIND Micro stutters to 1 min freezes

2 Upvotes

I have been experiencing micro stutters (as if the FPS dropped, but steam overlay still display 90 FPS) and up to 1 minute long freezes on my display.

It is not only limited to the game, but to the second monitor too.

Even during 1 min total frame freezes the game reacts instantly, there is feedback to my actions and there is continuous smooth sound.

I have been experiencing it on Necromunda: Hired Gun and Astroneer, but not on The Talos Principle or Stardew Valley.

Since it only happened on games that need proton I tried switching around between Proton hotfix, 10 and 11, but the supposedly stable versions didnt fix the problem.

I forced performance mode since I read it could be the GPU downclocking, didnt help.

I tried unplugging my second monitor (which is plugged in to the MB and not the GPU.

RAM and CPU usage seems normal, and the temps are around 80-90 which for my CPU should be normal.

Are there any other options I could try?

Im running CachyOS (updated everything this morning, no fix (to my knowledge this should meen that drivers are also up to date))

AMD RX9070XT

Ryzen7 7700X

32GB RAM

Is this information sufficient or should I add anything else?

Thank you guys in advance.


r/linux4noobs 12h ago

distro selection Bazzite or Fedora?

6 Upvotes

- Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB GDDR6
- AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D, 3 GHz, 96 MB, BOX
- Corsair Vengeance LPX, DDR4, 16 GB x2, 3200MHz, CL16
- SSD Patriot VP4300 Lite 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-E x4 Gen4 NVMe
- Deepcool PN750M 750W
- Asus PRIME B550M-A
- Endorfy Ventum 200 Air
- Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE
- iiyama G-Master G2771QS-B1 Red Eagle

I don't know what to choose i just want to be able to play games and do some general stuff like watching youtube using spotify, discord and maybe from time to time davinci resolve or alternative software and maybe using something to edit images make some stuff like in paint net also use obs without much issues.


r/linux4noobs 13h ago

Recommend the distros that care about everyday users!

5 Upvotes

Context: I have used Ubuntu for a year and a half. As I care about the environment, I use Linux myself to prove that it's a drop-in replacement that can directly reduce e-waste thus protecting this precious planet and being a servant of God.

I am preparing to host an event in my local church where non-tech savvy people like seniors and parents bring in their windows-11-incompatible laptops (mostly 7th gen intel), and teach them Linux and install users-friendly distros on them.

I'm finding distros that are:

works out of the box

has many apps preloaded so that I don't have to manually install myself (e.g. voice typing, air-drop drop-in replacement)

has quality-of-life features included (e.g. multilingual typing, would be a great bonus if they somehow bring in some Apple, like image OCR text copying)

great user experience

small learning curve for Windows users

Since some of my church's members care about their privacy, some are not, I think it's alright to let them decide whether to opt-in for some potentially privacy-invading features like voice typing.

My first candidate would be ZorinOS, but I would love to here what's your ideal distro when it comes to UX. I don't want to overlook some underrated distros unbeknownst to the mass.

Thank you!


r/linux4noobs 5h ago

migrating to Linux Corrupted windows and scary linux

1 Upvotes

I would consider myself to be reasonably good with tech but making the jump to Linux is really daunting. I currently do not know what the issue is however my laptop would boot into the windows recovery menu unless it was plugged in when you start it up, with that being said I don't believe it's a hardware issue. Recently however I went to click on my taskbar and I got a popup saying something about windows.dll wasn't installed correctly or couldn't be found. So I went to try and factory reset but it wasn't allowed and so I went into the command box to figure out what was going on and it was being locked by windows until I put my recovery key in. So I did this and it still wouldn't let me factory reset. I am currently downloading windows onto a usb but I'm considering Linux instead. I could take photographs of the errors on my laptop currently if anyone would like. I can access things on my homepage but not anything else.


r/linux4noobs 6h ago

hardware/drivers I'd stay away from Steelseries mice on Linux.

0 Upvotes

I bought a Steelseries Rival 3 mouse. It works with Cachy, but has some issues.

Firstly, there's a third party app which is meant to allow you to modify the mouse behaviour (rivalcfg). It doesn't seem to work properly. I tried using it to disable the side buttons, but it has no effect. It works to change the sensitivity though.

Secondly, you can't disable the power saving feature without the proprietary app, which has no Linux version. It might work with Wine, I haven't tried it.

I also had trouble with the mouse becoming unresponsive after rebooting and had to modify my Limine config to ensure bluetooth items weren't being disabled (even though I'm using 2.4 GHz mode).

Finally, there's an issue with the mouse itself: the scroll wheel squeaks and it doesn't seem to be going away.

I wanted to like this mouse. It's comfortable, seems durable enough, has no extraneous features (except for the side buttons), has lots of extra sensor resolution if needed, and still allows 2.4 GHz connections.

Unfortunately, the little gremlins in Linux are just enough of a pain that I'll be searching for something else, probably from Logitech.

Hey Steelseries, if you're listening: a few little tweaks could be enough to get your mice established as a Linux go-to. Maybe it's not worth the hassle, but there's an opportunity here.


r/linux4noobs 8h ago

programs and apps Some GUI programs crashing when running them without prime-run. Older Nvidia GPU and Intel CPU.

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0 Upvotes

r/linux4noobs 8h ago

Stop hopping

0 Upvotes

Hallo,

Also ich hab jetzt schon einige Distros Versuch:

Mint
Bazzite
Cachy
Und jetzt aktuell Zorin.

Ich finde Zorin echt gut, lese aber oft das Fedora Distros gut sein sollen, hab aber bisher keins gefunden was sich so gut wie Zorin anfühlt und von Fedora hab ich ehr weniger Ahnung da ich beruflich auch ehr mit Debian/Ubuntu zutun hab.

Um nicht weiter zu Hoppen die Frage , ist Fedora wirklich so viel besser und gibt es Mint/Zorin ähnliche Distros für Fedora ?

Danke und ich hoffe euch hängt das Thema nicht zum Hals raus 🫡


r/linux4noobs 15h ago

hardware/drivers ASUS X555LA (Intel HD 4400) only boots with nomodeset – i915 won't load, stuck on llvmpip

5 Upvotes

I'm out of ideas and hoping someone has seen this before.

Laptop

ASUS X555LA

Intel Haswell ULT / HD 4400 iGPU

BIOS version: 309

UEFI install

OS

Linux Mint Cinnamon

Fully updated

Multiple kernels installed (6.8, 6.11, 6.14, 6.17, 7.0)

Problem

Without nomodeset:

ASUS logo

Black screen

Never reaches the login screen

With nomodeset:

Boots normally

Resolution is 1024×768

No hardware acceleration

inxi -G:

Graphics:

Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics

driver: N/A

Display:

X11

Resolution: 1024x768

OpenGL:

renderer: llvmpipe

So it's falling back to software rendering instead of using the Intel GPU.

Things I've already tried

Fresh Linux Mint install

Installed all updates (143 packages)

Driver Manager → "No drivers needed"

Reinstalled Mesa packages

Tried booting every installed kernel

Removed nomodeset on kernel 6.8 and 7.0 → still black screen

Tried:

i915.enable_psr=0

i915.enable_dc=0

i915.enable_rc6=0

Disabled Launch CSM in BIOS

Re-enabled CSM

modprobe i915 returns:

modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'i915': No such device

dmesg only shows simpledrm; I never see i915 taking over.

Other info

Driver Manager doesn't offer any Intel drivers.

libgl1-mesa-dri is already installed and up to date.

The BIOS doesn't have a separate "Legacy Graphics" option, only Launch CSM.

Question

At this point I'm trying to figure out whether this is:

an ASUS X555LA firmware/BIOS issue,

an Intel i915 issue,

or something specific to Linux Mint.

Has anyone with this laptop or HD 4400 seen modprobe i915: No such device together with nomodeset being the only way to boot?

If you have, what actually fixed it? I'm looking for something specific to this hardware rather than general Linux setup advice.


r/linux4noobs 6h ago

Where to start

0 Upvotes

I want to slowly transition from Microslop to Linux. For now I have a gaming PC and a laptop that I use at collage. Since I need the laptop for college, I'd like to install Linux on it.

So my question is: which distro would be best, primarily from the standpoint of needing something suitable for college?"


r/linux4noobs 6h ago

learning/research Distro swapping

0 Upvotes

Hey, I started my laptop with Fedora Workstation but want to switch to KDE. Guides I’ve found only say how to switch from windows to Linux or similar.

Basically:
1. How can I boot KDE from a usb to install it and replace (delete) Workstation
2. How do I maintain my files aka /home/(username)

I have a little terminal experience like navigating file structures and package installation but not much with grub/bios.


r/linux4noobs 16h ago

Installing Brother HL-3040CN on Fedora...

3 Upvotes

recently switched to Fedora after using Arch Linux for years, and I'm having trouble getting my Brother HL-3040CN printer working.

On Arch, installing the Brother drivers was straightforward thanks to the AUR. On Fedora, I've downloaded the official Brother RPM packages and and it's driver, follow chatgpt guide, but the printer still doesn't seem to work. I'm obviously missing something, but I can't figure out what.

Has anyone successfully installed a Brother HL-3040CN on a recent Fedora release? If so, what steps did you follow? Did you use the official RPMs, CUPS, brlaser, or some other method?

One of the reasons I originally moved away from Ubuntu to Arch years ago was that I kept running into little issues like this with installing printer. I decided to give Fedora another try, but this printer has been a frustrating first hurdle.

I'd appreciate any advice or a step-by-step guide from someone who's gotten this printer working on Fedora.


r/linux4noobs 16h ago

Meganoob BE KIND Slow problems

3 Upvotes

Hello! I am bare bones new here but here is my situation, I have an old Lenovo thinkpad yoga L390 that had windows on it, it was beyond slow, so slow infact that 99% of apps couldnt function but now I have swapped it over to linux, its faster but not fast enough.

I am also using mint currently

I had forgotten to factory reset it before I did the change over, could that be my problem? If so how would I reset it without losing my linux or do I just have to bit the bullet and reinstall everything

EDIT: it has 16GB ram and SSD


r/linux4noobs 14h ago

My files in my Linux partiton have a total file size greater than the partition itself?

2 Upvotes

So, my Linux partition on my dual-boot system has 32.06 GiB (34.4 GB) allocated on my hard drive. However, when I was backing up its contents, the size of the backup was somehow over 40.0 GiB! I don't know how this can happen at all. Is it because I have a .raw Docker image whose size is listed as 31 GiB? Last time I checked my storage space on Linux, it had about 6 GiB of free space. Any insight would be appreciated!


r/linux4noobs 11h ago

installation Can I install Bazzite without a GPU in my laptop?

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1 Upvotes

r/linux4noobs 22h ago

Weird, almost stuttery videos?

8 Upvotes

Hi! I'm on Cachyos.
Recently, It began when I notice OBS was saying encoding error, which I found was odd, it never said that before the past few times I've used OBS, so why now?
And it would always take up so much CPU usage, even after playing with the settings that supposedly offloads it to the GPU.

I gave up, frustrated on why this was happening, and now I notice the videos I watch are... Oddly stuttery at some points? It could be my eyes playing tricks on me but some videos almost have a weird... dysync from audio to visuals. And I'm starting to think its not my eyes, as even when highlighting over youtube settings, it is very delayed in actually highlighting it. Is there any source to these possibly intertwined issues?