Hey, so I just put this part up first because this is the one I urgently and importantly need answered even tho I wrote that hideous text block first (sorry English isn’t my first language ).
1 So the question is I have live booted mint from a USB and everything is working like I can use internet on it , play YouTube video , the sound is working etc . But I’m afraid if I wipe windows and install mint as the main OS and the WiFi stops working I’ll be fucked as I don’t have a second machine except a phone to even fix it . There is no repair shop near and the ones I have to travel to go to charge very high for services and all the people I know are " just phone people" . Is it guaranteed that everything that works on a live USB will also work as the main OS ? Also is there a chance that updates could break the functionalities like WiFi, sound , rendering etc ? Cause I’m a layman and idk how to go about installing the correct kernal manually or some shit . And if its something like WiFi that got fucked I’ll be extra fucked as I don’t have a second device and can’t even do it manually . Also as I said I can’t afford servicing now . Also how do I switch back to windows lol ? I’m just running mint of the USB o don’t know how to go back to windows, do I just pull the USB out ? Then what ? What are the steps on BIOS ? Shit I should’ve probably searched all these up before bit oh well as long as I’m making a post do feel free to answer idk if I should close my lap or not .I read a post on reddit of a guy whose WiFi stopped working after he made it his primary and he said that it worked on live USB . He was running mint too I believe, same as me with no other device .
Do try and reply to 1 (1 is the most important ) , 2 and 3 importantly and 4 you can do or not according to your free time .
2 Also what is the message on mints website talking about having to do something else for newer devices ? I now use an old thinkpad and it isn’t an issue but I’m planning to do an upgrade real soon
3 Also how does the process vary with RISC-V architecture ? Is it there yet ? Any laptop to lookout for or is PC the only way ? I was thinking about switching to risc-v when upgrafing if any company manufactures components or laptop which they do fully as Foss . I am open to building a PC for RISC-V if I can buy full open source parts and if the Linux support is good .
4 I was thinking about switching to Linux for a long time cause I’m paranoid as fuck and always thought I should switch to mint as I’m a layman of all layman and recently got enough time to make it . But then I came to know of zorin OS which too seems to appease to begginers and the conseus between mint and zorin online vary a lot so thought I should just ask here as Lemmy seems to be crawling with Linux users . I mainly just want the drivers or hardware or kernal and all to just work perfectly all the time and not break after updates . I have also heard of some people having kernal issues and having to do it manually in which case I’ll be fucked as I’m not savy . I mainly want good privacy and security . Zorin seem to have a paid version and I’m afraid devs will cut back on other version to promote that more and I have no plan to buy premium as i’m just getting into Linux and don’t wanna make a big commitment maybe if I used it and settle on it I’ll buy to support devs . Also mint is more popular and here to stay kinda shit right ? I don’t care much about looking like windows or running window compatible apps and games I’ll be just happy with the OS I’m choosing running all Linux shit . Also which appstore is better ? I heard mints software repo holds closed and outdated apps and don’t have much idea about Zorin’s . fdroid is one of the reason I grew to love android a place for all the good apps with no blobs and have everything I could ever need from galleries to browser . I would also like a that kinda app store supported distro with similar focus and policies on keeping apk updated , and building without proprietary blobs (like fennec ) and only foss .etc .
Sorry for the block of words , mistake grammer etc . English isn’t my first language.
If you booted a usb and are running it: Turn the computer off with whatever the graphical menu is (mine is menu button > leave > shutdown) or the command “shutdown -h now” and take the usb out then turn it back on. Your old windows install should boot right up.
Once you’ve done that, make a backup and some install media for windows. Those are both very well documented and I won’t bore you with them here but if you need help, ask.
Once you have a backup, an install media and you’ve tested it to make sure it works, turn off any drive encryption like bitlocker. This is also well documented but may involve rebooting or going into the bios. Ask for help if you run into any problems.
Once you have done that, defragment your drive and run “chkdsk”.
Now you’re ready to set up mint for dual booting.
Boot the mint installer and click through until you get to the option to “install Linux mint alongside windows”. Pick that. Then just keep on clicking through.
When it’s all done you’ll be presented with the option to boot windows or Linux every time your computer starts, so when something doesn’t work in mint you can just reboot back into windows.
Windows updates regularly kill the software that does this, so get used to doing the process outlined in this article or something like it.