Pick a distro, any distro, download and write it to a flash drive, boot and install on your drive of choice. Mess around with it for a bit getting to learn the ropes, decide you want a different distro, rinse and repeat.
Benefits over Windows: no telemetry, no spyware, your device is your own and you have full control, no requirement to have a TPM or secure boot, updates only when you want them.
Reminds me of my college days when I was installing new distros everyday but the huge sense of accomplishment, when I finally installed Arch after 2 days by building drivers one by one with the help of complete strangers on IRCs, will never be matched. Fun times!
Distro = distribution. “Linux” is a family of operating systems, and there’s a bunch of kinds to choose from. As a beginner I would suggest something well documented and popular like Ubuntu, or Mint which is based on Ubuntu.
In terms of the three main PC operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux) there’s only minor differences in functionality but sometimes the way something is achieved is different. Linux OSes are unique in that they are for the most part open source and free to use and modify. You can change every part of the OS if you want, whereas with Windows and Mac that’s very difficult. Depending on what hardware you have you may have some issues on Linux OSes though. Companies make drivers primarily for Windows, and do drivers for popular Linux distro as an afterthought or not at all, although that’s slowly changing.
In terms of not caring about the spying business… That’s your choice of course, but the argument of “I don’t have anything to hide so I don’t care if I’m surveilled, or as you say” it’s happening anyway so why bother fighting it" is very weak and leads to further erosions of our privacy and ultimately our freedoms.
Linux isn’t really a thing itself, it describes a lot of different operating systems, each with their own features. Then beyond that there is window managers. It’s very different from corporate OSes.
Ubuntu is one distro that’s very popular and easy to install. But it’s also not so popular with enthusiasts. I personally first installed Ubuntu at 12 so maybe its a good place to start and with time you can learn about the other ones.
Otherwise people like Pop OS.
Warning tho: Linux is addictive. I have 3 computers each with Linux. My favourite is Debian with i3. Be careful before you spend too much money on computers!
Pick a distro, any distro, download and write it to a flash drive, boot and install on your drive of choice. Mess around with it for a bit getting to learn the ropes, decide you want a different distro, rinse and repeat.
Benefits over Windows: no telemetry, no spyware, your device is your own and you have full control, no requirement to have a TPM or secure boot, updates only when you want them.
Reminds me of my college days when I was installing new distros everyday but the huge sense of accomplishment, when I finally installed Arch after 2 days by building drivers one by one with the help of complete strangers on IRCs, will never be matched. Fun times!
A distro? Could you send me a link?
Also, does Linux do more things than Windows 11?
I don’t really care about the spying business because, frankly, I’ve accepted that there will be a lot of that going on anyway.
Distro = distribution. “Linux” is a family of operating systems, and there’s a bunch of kinds to choose from. As a beginner I would suggest something well documented and popular like Ubuntu, or Mint which is based on Ubuntu.
In terms of the three main PC operating systems (Mac, Windows, Linux) there’s only minor differences in functionality but sometimes the way something is achieved is different. Linux OSes are unique in that they are for the most part open source and free to use and modify. You can change every part of the OS if you want, whereas with Windows and Mac that’s very difficult. Depending on what hardware you have you may have some issues on Linux OSes though. Companies make drivers primarily for Windows, and do drivers for popular Linux distro as an afterthought or not at all, although that’s slowly changing.
In terms of not caring about the spying business… That’s your choice of course, but the argument of “I don’t have anything to hide so I don’t care if I’m surveilled, or as you say” it’s happening anyway so why bother fighting it" is very weak and leads to further erosions of our privacy and ultimately our freedoms.
Eh, I hear you on the last part, but it has more to do with picking my battles.
Anyway, thanks for the rest of the info, btw!
Linux isn’t really a thing itself, it describes a lot of different operating systems, each with their own features. Then beyond that there is window managers. It’s very different from corporate OSes.
Ubuntu is one distro that’s very popular and easy to install. But it’s also not so popular with enthusiasts. I personally first installed Ubuntu at 12 so maybe its a good place to start and with time you can learn about the other ones.
Otherwise people like Pop OS.
Warning tho: Linux is addictive. I have 3 computers each with Linux. My favourite is Debian with i3. Be careful before you spend too much money on computers!
Gotcha! Thanks!