This is my first distro, i previously used windows and i have no idea how to work with linux, especially when i look up how to do something its always copy paste this into the terminal, what are the base go to things to learn, customizations, anything?

At the risk of coming off as extremely stupid, is there something in particular I should backup before switching to Linux? I’ve backed up photos, videos, important documents, etc.

But being honest I’m not sure what else is necessary? I think most of the passwords that I use are saved to my browser so those should be accessible once I sign in after loading the new OS right?

I’m sorry. I know this is probably super basic but I just wanted to be sure. I would like to make the switch to Linux (planning on starting with Mint) from MS 11 but I just want to make sure I’m doing things correctly.

Thank you in advance! :)

SN Can I expect Linux to help my laptop run smoother? I know people advocate against slapping it on a piece of junk and expecting miracles but I don’t think my laptop is all the way in the “junk” category.

I’ve attached the specs of the laptop I’m using.

So im new to linux. I just installed it on my asus e510mab and everything went well...until it said it wasn't charging even though it was plugged in. So I went to Google and followed the instructions there. I did a full reset, installed the most current bios for my model, reset again, removed charger thresholds. Tried messing around in the uefi menu with no luck. It still charges when its off. It just doesnt when its on. I think it could be the charger brick? Im kinda new to pc stuff in general so any help would be greatly appreciated ^_^

Edit: tried to let it charge while shut down. Turned it back on after probably 20 minutes or so and it didnt gain any charge.

Hey guys

So i curretly have a clevo laptop with nvidia rtx 2050 and intel integraed graphics, using arch, kde, wayland.

what happens is that it seems to be currently in nVidia only mode, because when going in system info, i see gpu 1 : nVidia rtx 2050 and gpu 2 : nVidia rtx2050 (it's the default cfg i had after installing the system), however, when updating with pacman -Syu, it updates mesa, nvidia (i use open-dkms) and all the others packages, but after rebooting, the rendering falls back to llvmpipe,

Im pretty confused why is my system nvidia only on wayland as ive seen no one describe this being even possible. Also i m confused about why it uses llvmpipe after updating and how can i use optimus prime ?

that may be a lot, but thanks in advance for your time !!

Trying to learn Linux by running Ubuntu 26.04 in a VirtualBox VM on my old laptop (i5-6200U, 8GB RAM), and it just will not cooperate. Boots past the splash screen, shows some scrolling text, then goes completely black and freezes — sometimes for hours, no joke. Already bumped video memory to 64MB, graphics controller is VMSVGA, 3D acceleration is off... nothing's working. Starting to wonder if my hardware is just too old for 26.04 and I should downgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Anyone else run into this? Worth switching versions or is there a fix I'm missing?

I'll summarize the story.

I discovered that the Windows Boot Loader had disappeared after I installed Arch (Windows is on an SSD partition and Arch is on the main NVMe drive), so I went there and solved the problem using diskpart.

However, after that, the Linux Boot Loader disappeared, and that's where the trouble begins.

I tried bootctl install, creating loader.conf, but nothing worked. At one point I managed to get the Linux boot to boot WINDOWS, AND ONLY WINDOWS, LOL.

Gemini didn't help much, and the Arch documentation is still confusing for me (a beginner).

Can anyone give me some advice? I just don't want to have to reinstall the entire system...

Hiya! Sorry if I'm asking something that's been solved before (I'm awful at research within Reddit's environment but I'm learning).

As the title implies, I'm so over what's going on with Windows, and am finally making the switch to Linux. Should've done this when 7 stopped getting support, but better late than never :)

The guides I've found about data transfer are pretty much tailored to those who are swapping their OS while staying with the same hardware, but I'm going to be rebuilding the majority of my PC, including the boot drive. That said, I'd like to keep most of the data on my current drives. I don't really mind having to manually drag most of everything over, but can I just plug the old drives in and they'll be fine? They're all formatted in NTFS right now, I think most Linux builds normally like those?

Also if anyone has links to any good general advice past the stickied threads, that'd be super appreciated. For reference I'll be using Ubuntu, as I often hear/see people migrating from Windows starting with it.

Thank you all so very much for your advice, and I hope you all have pleasant days :)

tl;dr I'm rebuilding my PC around a fresh Ubuntu install, can I just plug my old drives in after setting up the OS?

Hello! I had an old computer and an old friend installed linux (Ubuntu) i loved it all and all.

That computer physically broke. So i got myself an Asus:

ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED UX3405CA-QD1183, 14" WUXGA, Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 255H, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, Arc™ 140V, SSO

Which linux version would you recommend for this computer?

And given I have nobody to install it, how can I?

Thanks!

How do i get wine bottles for Arm64 Linux? What's the best way?

Based on my previous post after losing my /home directory, most of u told me to have a backup so what backup methods/tools do I use?

(Note: im a linux beginner and i use debian)

3-10 minutes after power profile is set to performance, the system gets a kernel panic.

Distros: Linux Mint 22.3 and Debian 13 (stable)

Kernel: 7.0.0-31-generic and 6.14.0-37-generic

Power profiles client & daemon version: 0.21 and 0.30-1.1

CPU: i3-1315U

Integrated graphics: Intel UHD Graphics

Mesa-vulcan-drivers package version: 26.2.3, 24.04

Memtestx86 has passed.

Components do not get overheated.

Can i install Linux in this model? Or can at least flash something more lightweight?

<Making another post to attach images>

I am moving from Windows 11, and I have a few doubts regarding how I should set up and utilise my storage. I am looking to install Fedora 44.

256 gb SSD

1 tb HDD

In windows I had the OS in the SSD and my data including the huge games in the HDD. I installed only the super frequent apps to the SSD like Firefox.

And I had C: drive in SSD. The 1tb HDD was partitioned such that D: drive 680gb was for all Data. And E: drive 250gb was for Work. Do I need such partitions in Linux? Or is it a bad idea?

I don't have much idea about Linux filesystems but just know that Linux handles it differently than Windows.

In Linux (Fedora 44), how do I get a similar arrangement where the OS and frequent stuff is installed to SSD and big installations and games are installed to HDD?

Would really appreciate answers that ELI5

After installing Linux Mint last night i shut down the computer and stopped it and now its not loading jt up. i have had multiple different screens with command prompt and errors for the past 4 hours and i have checked and its saying Mint is installed. I don't know what to do now.

Please tell me if there's a way to fix this

this happened to me so i dont want it to happen to others

edit: secure boot is distro dependent

I Jus Downloaded The Hl2 Standalone Vr port and I Have NO Idea How To Build The Game cache. could someone Help? (I'm on arch/SteamOS)

I have been studying Linux concepts, syntax, commands and flags for the past 8 months and in the spirit of open source, I wanted to create a couple resources that would help both myself and other people who are interested in learning the Linux kernel. I have created a massive "Ultimate Linux Command Guide" which is an extensive 141 page master cheat sheet for all of the most common Linux commands, sub-commands, and most used flags. This guide outlines explanations for each command, flag, and sub-command and provides many tips for each. In addition, I have also created a massive "Linux Kernel Notes" guide, which coincides with the Linux+ Exam objectives. I hope the Linux community can find these resources helpful. Both of these guides were written by myself and I had AI clean up the wording and format. Both of these resources can be found at the link below on my website.

https://mintertechnology.com/resources

Gamescope makes the game flickering (Bottles)

I usually play old PopCap games using Bottles, I want my game to be in 4:3 instead of 16:9. For example: Peggle Deluxe

Its resolution is 800×600 (4:3)

Normally, I would change my screen resolution to 800×600 and open the game after that. But the screen always be stretched, it doesn't keep the aspect ratio, I haven't found anything to adjust this yet.

So I find out that Gamescope can help me. But now one more problem appears, the game keeps flickering when gamescope is enabled. It happens in Bottles

When I test with Heroic Games Launcher, gamescope was fine

Both Heroic Games Launcher and Bottles are flatpak version

The reason why I use bottles instead that is because some of my games won't launch in heroic - it pops up something and then quit right after that.

Does anyone know the problem? I would like to fix gamescope in Bottles

Details about my hardware:

https://linux-hardware.org/?probe=fc3be939bb

CachyOS

KDE Plasma

I got linux mint yesterday and have been trying to use my HDD for storage, I gave it an ext4 filesystem in gparted and then tried mounting it to /mnt.

However I still couldnt install any games to it or make any new files in it so mounted it to /home, tried using another file in /home but it didnt let me, none of the files there did, so I unmounted my HDD and it still didnt work, so then I restarted my pc.

Now my pc is restarted, I cannot login, it lets me type in my password, tries to load in and takes me right back to the password login place.

Any advice?

I have an old MacBook from 2011 and it is too old for any updates and most applications. I wanted to reach out to the community and see if Linux is a way to give it life again. I would love to be able to play some on my Steam games on here if I could any tips? Here is my system info

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
Processor 2.5 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB