My plan is to buy an NVMe today, install linux as a dual boot, but use linux as a daily driver, to see if it meets my needs before committing to it.
My main needs are gaming, local AI (stable diffusion and oobabooga), and browser stuff.
I have experience with Mint (recently) and Ubuntu (long ago). Any problems with my plan? Will my OS choice meet my needs?
Thanks!
Gaming depends on your game choice. It gets better every year, but gaming is always the category that Windows slightly wins on. Everything else is dramatically easier in linux.
Ubuntu (or variants) is always a solid option. Apt is just the best (imo) packaging system, and since Ubuntu is #1 in popularity, you’re more likely to get support for issues there than any other linux variant.
I read this earlier and you convinced me to try Ubuntu. Initially not a fan of the way it looked, but customization seems limitless. It’s been less than 10 hours, but it’s already starting to look like ‘mine’. I’m sure that will evolve plenty in time.
For Sure! Ubuntu has my favorite “default” Look & Feel, so it’s easy to get somewhere nice with it.
Once you get your system stable, I suggest taking a backup and then playing around with some window managers. I’m stuck in Windows these days and I miss that the most.
Keep in mind that OP never mentioned what kind of geaphics card they have. From what I’m aware, updating Nvidia drivers on Ubuntu is still an awful experience
I haven’t had Nvidia issues in Ubuntu since the aughts. Optimus OTOH, is even worse on Linux than Windows.
I had to update my drivers a few months ago, and it was awful for me. Granted, I started having issues after a power outage, but just updating the drivers shouldn’t have been as hard as it was
Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but I haven’t had any bad experiences updating nvidia drivers.