Moving from Windows to Linux - Help Thread

While Windows is deteriorating day by day, Linux has become a viable option even for people who have never used an operating system other than Windows before. If you miss Windows 7, are tired of incessant pop-ups urging you to update to Windows 11, weary of uninstalling Candy Crush after every update, occasionally find yourself meddling with regedit, or simply want to use your choice of browser without being disturbed by the default one and don't know what to do, this might be your chance to discover that everything is possible in the world of FOSS (freE and open-source software).

You don't need Windows, unless you require specific software (I'll address that later). Since we're on SteamGifts, you're here because of gaming, and the Steam Deck has demonstrated that you can game without Windows (Thanks GabeN). My goal here is to create a simple guide about what you should expect and answer your questions if you have any, even help with your problems if you decide to pass the river. SG has many Linux users and the ones I personally know are quite helpful, if not me you might get your answers from some other fellow penguin. :)

1. You want to install Linux but there are too many options

If you checked before or simply searched the internet for beginner's Linux, it is possible that you came upon to the articles where they mention ten different Linux operating systems. There is a reason for that. The main reason is the code is open source and everyone can make their own distro (short term for distribution), and of course every distro has a certain use case. Some of them are similar and there are very specific builds like where you can use your machine as a retro gaming device, a home multimedia server or a hacking tool. If you can imagine a use case, it's probably already exists.

Anyway, I'm going to focus more on gaming related distros here but I'll also mention real beginner-friendly distros.

2. You cannot leave Windows entirely because of a specific program

This is possible and may happen to some of us. Yes, there are many alternative software to what you use daily, most of them are free and you can even use Windows programs on Linux (that's how Steam Deck mostly works too). However some programs do not run well, or do not run at all. In this case, if you are unsure about Linux, you can install it alongside Windows. Your PC will ask which OS you want to use at the boot and you can select either one from the list.

3. Practice makes perfect

Before installing Linux to your computer, practice it somewhere else if you can. Most of the installation medias can run on your PC when you plug it in and choose it from BIOS so you can test what that distro is about before installing. But what I'm talking about is, if you have an old laptop (or a spare one), install Linux there first and try to get familiar. You may not need this, it's just a precaution for beginners. Another precaution before starting your installation is, disconnect your other disks and only leave the one you're gonna install. AgaiN, you don't need this either if you follow a guide without haste but sometimes mistakes can happen so it's better to eliminate them before the possibility.

You can also try a lot of distros with VirtualBox before deciding which one to use.

4. Finally you have installed Linux. The journey starts

It's time to taste the freshness of your new operating system. It's like a new machine.

THE GUIDE

This won't be a "from the scratch" or a "walkthrough" kinda guide. However I'll try to mention as many things you might expect, so you won't get caught by surprise if something goes wrong.

1. Choosing a distro

Many people who are trying to find a distro for themselves get overwhelmed by the number of distros. That's quite normal and there is nothing to worry about. There are no wrong answers (unless you are trying to use Kali as a daily driver. OK maybe there are, anyway). Since we're on SG, your main criteria will be gaming, so I'll focus on gaming-related distros more. Not to be misunderstood, you can game on any distro if you know what you're doing. Gaming distros are just an out-of-the-box experience.

You can choose a distro by being cutting edge, being stable, has big user base so you can find more support on the internet, has a nice default theme, you like the name... Basically these are endless, and if you ask me all of them are fine.

A tip before starting: We have many Wikis in Linux world but Arch Wiki is one of the best. Highly recommended to bookmark it, or just know the name and go for it when you search for a problem on a search engine. There are minor differences between distros but once you learn about the basic structure, you can adapt almost everything from Arch Wiki to your needs.

Standard distros for daily usage (that you can also use for gaming):

There are way too many options out there but it's a good idea to stick to the most known ones.

Linux Mint: If you ever heard about Ubuntu, as THE Linux distro, to the newbies Linux Mint is the same for these days. You can easily use it as your daily driver without worrying about anything. There is also LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition), so if you're looking for something closer to Debian, this is it. You'll expect a traditional desktop computing here.

Pop!_OS: Same as Linux Mint, Pop!_OS is also based on Ubuntu. If you primarily used Windows before, the user interface might feel different. However simplicity is a strength here. And once they release their own desktop environment, it'll be a much more smoother user experience. If you want to try something new with the same benefits that Linux Mint have, Pop!_OS is a great choice.

openSUSE (Leap): Another robust distro that can be good for beginners. You'll have more advanced options here while installing, so it is good if you want more things to tinker (like choosing a desktop environment).

Gaming-focused distros (that you can also use for daily tasks):

Nobara Linux: Despite this is a one developer project, the developer is a one-man-army. He is mostly known by Proton-GE (Glorious Eggroll) and he went straight and even made a distro, where everything you might need is already installed or easy to install. Pretty much everything is cutting-edge here.

Garuda Linux: While this is an Arch-based distro and I tend to keep them for the advanced distros part, Garuda Linux made things easy for a newbie. Since it's Arch-based, you still have a lot of options to tinker it. If you don't feel confident, go with Nobara or Bazzite.

Bazzite: This is probably one of the best gaming distros out there, but Bazzite has a one different feature from the other distros in this list. It's immutable (or atomic), meaning the operating system part of the file system is read-only. You can't modify it even with a root user. Kinda similar to Android in that regard. Does this important for a Linux newbie? Absolutely not. But it's good to know. It also has a back-up feature by default, so if something goes wrong with an update, you can easily rollback to its previous state.

Gaming distros (only for gaming):

ChimeraOS: This is basically a copy of SteamDeckOS. You can either use this on your desktop (only recommended for a living-room PC), or you can buy SteamDeck-like devices and install this to use it like SteamDeck.

Drauger OS: A performance focused gaming distro. It might look like any other distro from a distance but the developers of this project don't recommend to use it for other than gaming purposes. If you want to squeeze the most performance out of your gaming PC, this might be a good choice. If you have a good PC, you probably don't need this though.

Lakka: An interesting project, this distro can turn any of your device into a retro gaming console, from Raspberry Pi to old netbooks. It provides you RetroArch as an out-of-the-box retro gaming console experience and that's it.

Advanced distros that a newbie can use (if they are willing to learn the terminal):

CachyOS: You probably won't need terminal if you don't want to, but since it's an Arch-based distro, it basically offers everything Arch Linux has. If you are ready to get familiar with terminal, this distro most likely has every flexibility you might need.

openSUSE (Tumbleweed): Tumbleweed is rolling-release version of openSUSE. It features cutting-edge software with powerful GUI tools. This one also can be used without the need of terminal, however like any other advanced distro it would be wise to get familiar with it.

Debian: Yes, the good old Debian. You probably won't need terminal, after you set everything up. It also has a graphical install option so everything can be done with GUI. Debian has a lot of options to select, so it is recommended if you are at least familiar with Linux. Note that Some users here recommend to use Debian Testing for a more cutting-edge usage, so it might worth to check.

One last tip in this section: There is a project called DistroSea where you can try many different distros without leaving your browser. They basically allow you to run these distros in their server, so note that sometimes there can be queues, especially for popular distros. If you want to check how they look without downloading them, this is a really nice way.

Now that I recommended 3 distros for every category, I can continue with the next step:

2. Installation tips

I won't get in too much details here, just follow the installation steps for the distro you chose and you should be fine. However I'll try to explain some terminology comparing them to the Windows equivalents if possible.

Most of the distros nowadays use Calamares Installer as their installation tool. So explaining it should cover most of the things you'll encounter. Though once you learn one tool, you'll get the basic idea of installing Linux and other graphical tools are more or less the same, or at least similar.

Before the installation, you'll need 3 things: The ISO image of the distro you chose, a flash drive (anything bigger than 4 GB suffice, though Bazzite requires 8 GB I think), and a flashing program. I'll recommend two different programs and either of them is fine. These programs will turn your flash drive into Linux installer drive and wipe everything in it, so backup your files before doing this or use a spare one. There is also one more thing to mention here: Checksum. You might not need this (and most of the time you won't) but it's always a good idea to check if the ISO you downloaded is corrupted or not. It's an encrypted hash and you'll see it next to download links most of the time. If the one on the website and your ISO's are the same, you're good to go.

I don't know if there is a graphical program for this on Windows but Windows provides a commandline tool for this. Open Powershell or the good old CMD as administrator and type Get-FileHash, then drag the ISO file into this window (this way it'll get its location without you typing) and run. Then check both checksums.

Now, the flashing tools:

1. balena Etcher:
   Etcher is pretty straightforward. You plug your flash drive, select the ISO you're gonna use, select the flash drive from the list and start flashing. When it's done, you'll be ready to install Linux.

2. Rufus:
   Rufus does the same thing but it has options to control. I'm not gonna explain them since you only need to know three things to do here: Select your flash drive, select the ISO file and select GPT as partition scheme (assuming you're gonna install on an SSD and have UEFI BIOS. If your BIOS is old -must be really old at this point- go with MBR). Then start flashing. When it's done, you'll be ready to install Linux.

Boot into BIOS (to select the flash drive)

Every PC is different and there isn't a standard enter to BIOS button so you'll need to learn what's yours. It's easy on newer PCs since they usually tell you this button when it started to booting. However, this button is usually one of these: F2, F6, F10, Del, Enter, Esc. Find it and press it many times until you're in BIOS. Some BIOSes have a dedicated boot selection and it's easier with this if you have it. It's usually F9 or F12, press it (many times) in the first boot process and it should open a popup where you select your flash drive, easy peasy. If you don't have it, continue to Boot tab in the BIOS. You'll see a boot order list here. Move your flash drive to top (your BIOS will have the instructions to do this). Usually it's F5 and F6 to move it up or down, or it's - and +. You can also directly select it as #1 if your BIOS allows it. Press F10 (save and exit) and your chosen Linux distro should boot up next.

When you first boot, you would usually see a list, saying "Start XYZ", "Try XYZ" or "Install XYZ" etc. Selecting start or try option is usually better because you can actually continue to use your computer while installing Linux. Once the desktop is loaded, start the installer. Depending on the distro, it might automatically start as well.

Before starting the installation process, check your internet connection.

Finally we're in the installer. Let's start!

1. Language: Choose your prefered language to use the system.
2. Location: Choose your timezone. You can even select this on a world map.
3. Keyboard: Choose your keyboard. You can test it right there.
4. Depending on the distro you're installing, this step could be different. Usually it either asks for multimedia codecs (if that's it enable it), or it could be a desktop environment option for a bit advanced distros. If you downloaded a XYZ Edition, you probably won't see that step because that ISO most likely already has a desktop environment in it. Desktop environment is the user interface you're gonna see after the installation.
5. Partitions: This step can be a tricky one if you're seeing it for the first time but fret not! Usually the options are "Install alongside", "Erase disk", and "Manual partitioning".
   If you're gonna install it alongside with Windows, "Install alongside" option will let you to steal some disk space from Windows so you can install your distro there. "Erase disk" option is the most straightforward one. It will install the distro without you doing any setting and everything will be preset. However, this option will use the whole disk. If you want to spare some partition (like adding a D drive on Windows), you should go with manual partitioning. You can see this option as "something else" too, mostly on Ubuntu-based distros.
   Although I do not suggest you to go with manual partitioning if this is your first time, you can still successfully do it after reading installation documentation of your distro or by watching installation videos.
   If you want to use dual-boot with Windows, I suggest you to not install Windows and Linux on the same drive though. Because Windows might mess around with the bootloader and you may not login to Linux after a Windows update.
6. Users: Create your user at this step. Username + password. It also asks for a root user (or administrator) password, you can just enable the "use the same password" option for it, so it will be easier to remember for you.
7. The installer will ask you to check what's gonna happen (this partition will be deleted, that partition will be created etc). It's a good idea to have a one last check. Then after your confirmation, the installation will start. It will end shortly, but some installers also download the newest updates with the installation. If that's the case, it might take a little longer.

Advanced tips for dual-boot installations

If you are going to install Linux alongside Windows, which is a good idea for a transition stage rather than a leap of faith, you might want to consider these tips.

1. Like I mentioned above, it's better to keep Windows and Linux separated. If you only have one drive to install both, then it's probably better to use only one of them. Otherwise, good luck with the invasive Windows updates. If you have two different drives, let's continue.
2. For this, I suggest you to install Windows first on one of your drives. Windows doesn't let you select where to install its bootloader, and it usually goes for the biggest drive. So before installing Windows, unplug every other hard drive and leave only the one you're going to install Windows on. With this way, you'll keep both Windows and its bootloader in the same drive.
3. After installing Windows, plug the other drive you're going to install Linux on. When you reach the partitioning stage on the installer, go for "manual partitioning" or "something else" option. There, you should choose your second disk. You'll also see the one that has Windows on it. After choosing the disk, you can delete and create partitions. Delete all the previous partitions on it so you can create the ones you need.
4. Normally you'll only need one partition that rules them all. It's better to separate them but it's definitely fine to do this for beginners. That one partition is / which is the main directory on Linux. Though if you want hibernation, you'll also need a swap partition. Windows version of this is hiberfil.sys, you can check it if you're curious. Usually people want to delete it because it consumes a relatively big space, but it's required for hibernation on Windows. It's fine to delete it if you don't need hibernation. However, swap is much more than that. Swap is basically a partition from your hard drive and used as RAM when needed. So if you have more than 16 GB RAM, you probably don't need it. Though If you want hibernation on Linux, you'll need a swap partition twice the size of your RAM.
5. Another important thing you should be careful about is, installing the bootloader on the same disk that will have Linux on it. Usually there is an option for that below. This way, Windows won't be able to mess around, hopefully. And you'll be able to select Windows or Linux from this bootloader when you power up your computer.

3. After-installation tips

Congratulations! You have installed Linux. :)

• Before start to do anything, update your system. You can use the software manager that came with your distro. You can usually find these in the menu by searching "install programs", "update system" etc.

• Different distros may have different tools that do the same thing. It's a good idea to get familiar with these tools. If your distro's desktop environment is GNOME, the names of these tools are very simple. Like Files for file manager, Document Viewer for pdf reader etc. These programs have their own names under the hood but they are simplified like this for the sake of ease. Though once you get familiar with all these programs, you probably will start to prefer the actual names, but it's not a concern right now.

• Keep this in mind that you can only use a one instance of package manager. Meaning, either you use a graphical software manager or install programs directly on the terminal, you cannot run both at the same time. It will cause problems and you'll get warnings about it since the one you open later won't let you. If you do eveything via graphical tools only, you won't see these issues. So until you learn what is what, keep using the graphical tools that your distro provided.

• Search alternatives for your favourite programs you used on Windows. Unless it's a specific program, there are alternatives for almost everything. There are many lists for this and this is an example for it. You can learn a lot of useful programs here. If you have chosen a mainstream distro, most of these programs are already in your distro's repository and can be installed via its software manager.

• If your distro doesn't have that program, there is a good chance you can find it on Flathub. You can think of it as some kind of app store, but there is no shopping here. To use it, you need to enable / install flatpak. Some distros have an option for this in their software manager. There are also instructions for your distro directly on Flathub. This is distro-agnostic and you can use it on any distro.

• You've manually downloaded a program and it has a .run or .sh file. To be able to run it, you need to give them a run permission. You can do this by either, right click on it, go to properties and enable the "allow it to run as a program" option, or right click on the folder, open terminal here, and use this command: chmod +x NameOfTheProgram.sh. This does the exact same thing with the first option. By the way, unlike Windows, the file names on Linux are case sensitive, so file.jpg and File.jpg will be two different files.

• After you installed and ran Steam (unless it's already installed), go to settings >> compatibility and activate "Enable Steam Play for all other titles" option. And choose a normal release of Proton instead of experimental, like Proton 9.0. You can install different Proton releases if you need. You can check ProtonDB if you have a problem with a certain game.

• I'm pretty sure I forgot something to add here. I would be appreciated if you know what it is and write it. :)

There is also something "special" hidden in this thread. (LV3+) Ended