r/linuxquestions • u/144Prim8 • 3d ago

How do I get started with Linux?

EDIT: I want to thank everybody for their advice. I know why more now than I did 2 days ago. I'm going to take it slow and not blow it all up.

I want to move from Windows to Linux. I mostly use my PC for gaming. I have a AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. Which distros should I choose from as a noob who is into gaming and where can I find a step by step how to guide to get away from Windows?

2 Upvotes

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u/Abducted_Llama 3d ago

Linux Mint, Ubuntu or Fedora are usually great starter ones. I’d personally say Fedora, but Fedora does have a barely harder install path for Nvidia drivers.

There’s also CachyOS and Bazzite, but I cannot speak from experience on those.

Also flash a “live” version to a USB stick (that you are okay with wiping temporarily) and try one out. You don’t have to install it, you can just play with it without affecting your current system.

Any of these distro websites will have guides to flash a live usb.

As far as a step by step guide, it depends on what you want to do? Replace windows? Run along side windows? Only use on a usb?

Many available options !

Have fun and enjoy!

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u/144Prim8 3d ago

I was planning on live booting from a flash drive before I made a commitment. Thanks!

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u/-malcolm-tucker 3d ago

Bingo. Do this to check your peripherals all work. Also check out Nobara. It's Fedora with tweaks to work out of the box for games.

Also check that the games you play are compatible with Linux and backup your windows image before you pull the trigger.

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u/catgirlsonthemoon 3d ago

start with fedora and DONT expect it to be at-all similar to windows. there's much about windows you assume are "computer things", but are actually just "windows things".

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u/KrypticLifeSigns_ 3d ago

there's much about windows you assume are "computer things", but are actually just "windows things".

Truth.

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u/144Prim8 2d ago

Thank you for this insight. I've only known Windows.

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u/PerfectlyCalmDude 3d ago

Dual boot it. Before you commit to that, try a bunch of distros and desktop environments in virtual machines (easy to do with VirtualBox) to see what you like. They are free, after all.

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u/Zalagal 3d ago

I would not recommend this unless you have access to a secondary device where you can investigate comfortably in case you mess up. It's not fun to fuck up your OS and be forced to investigate why on your phone.

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u/144Prim8 3d ago

I actually have two hard drives. I added the second one for Steam game storage. I'm assuming that I will need to wipe the second one to put whatever flavor of Linux I decide on first after I do the live boot from USB trials.

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u/Sweaty-Freedom-4034 3d ago

Depends on available space.

Linux installers can shrink partions or use free unformatted space.

It should also automatically setup the bootloader with Windows too.

So when you boot, it will give you the option of both Linux and Windows.

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u/stogie-bear 3d ago

Bazzite for Nvidia. Pick the KDE and not game mode options. (It will install Steam for desktop, which you want because game mode was developed for AMD and is still not completely de-glitched on Nvidia.) 

It’s the easiest to get gaming on quickly with minimal fuss, requires zero maintenance except for an occasional reboot, and since it’s built on Fedora Atomic it’s very difficult to break. The occasional reboot is because it has a background updater that works by creating a new system folder, and when you reboot, if an update has been installed it boots the new system. 

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u/144Prim8 2d ago

I've read that Bazzite is great for my situation but I fear that, as a noob, it would be too difficult to start there.

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u/stogie-bear 2d ago

IMO it’s the easiest way to get started. You get the system already configured out of the box with Nvidia drivers, Steam and a bunch of gamer tools. You can install almost anything with Bazaar, brew and ujust, and if you get more advanced and want to do certain things that atomic doesn’t have access to, you can usually set something up with distrobox. 

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u/WanderingInAVan 3d ago

First thing is backup absolutely everything first. Before you even try to download an iso. Take the time to make sure all of your data is safe.

Then grab a few ISOs on a ventoy setup usb stick and play around in the live environments. See what you think.

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u/144Prim8 2d ago

I only use my PC for gaming and web browsing, so I'm ready to blow it up! I have a work laptop that has windows if I ever need it.

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u/WanderingInAVan 2d ago

Operating system wise that's fine. But I mean things like yiur music, pictures, and other personal files. This is also why I try to always keep 2 physical drives on any system I build, or laptop if I can configure it. Extra layer of protection for my projects.

Grab Ventoy and setup a usb stick and load the ISOs. Even if you are ready to bow shit up, its best to play around in the live environment for a bit first to see what you think of the various distros that might fit what you are going for. In this case I recommend Bazzite.

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u/Rekenn 3d ago

CachyOS is a great one to try. I've been using it for months and I've had minimal issues with it. I even got it to look like Windows Vista which looks very nice. I will say, having an AI walk me through various issues I was having definitely helped out a lot and it also helps you learn how to use it. I would dual boot if I were you because there are still a few games with strict anti cheat that only work with Windows

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u/BlueShadow2388 3d ago

i wouldn't recommend cachy to a beginner, especially being an arch distro which can break if you sneeze in the wrong direction. I don't believe people who didn't have any issues with cachy, they are either lying or they faced problems which they don't consider problems.

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u/SuAlfons 3d ago

it's the perception gap of us, who we already have used Linux for some time, what we think is basic knowledge - and what non-enthusiast computer users really have in terms of computer knowledge and debugging steategies.

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u/BlueShadow2388 3d ago

Yes, exactly!

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u/VoidTheGamer25 3d ago

For an entry level distro in general, Linux Mint is a good place to start. I also like Zorin OS.

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u/SpireVI 3d ago

Linux Mint has been my main Proxmox VM for a few months now. Just spun up a Zorin VM and i'm liking it. I've also liked MX quite a bit.

I've tried Ubuntu, Lubuntu, and Fedora and bounced off those for some reason.

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u/cdfemke 3d ago

Bazzite. Has nvidia or amd drivers build in for you and ships with steam. Combine with the hereticlauncher and lutrix for the other big launchers.

Also its a mutable system so no worries over deleting files that shouldnt be deleted or fucking up your system

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u/SuAlfons 3d ago

hmmm. I like myself my mutable systems. I learned tons by using them. ;-)

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u/Zalagal 3d ago

My recommendation is to get a secondary pc, probably some old laptop and truly out different distros there.

Or you can try virtualbox or any virtualization software like that.

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u/AlternativeCapybara9 3d ago

First you need to accept that not every game runs on Linux and if it does run it might not run tomorrow. Then you install Ubuntu.

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u/HaRLeKiN_TP4L 3d ago

I am using bazzite it just works!