this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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Upgrading from windows 7 to Linux is still free
I wish I had the expertise to use Linux.
If I'm honest a lot of what I learned about computers was as a result of switching to Linux. As a Windows user, breaking Windows is such a problem that you don't dare try to learn by doing. Linux is comparably easy to fix or restore.
The biggest problem with breaking windows is nobody really knows how to fix anything, it's just a shit load of random "did you try this?" Until you either find it's working again (after trying something that didn't work, then backing out that change, or it just randomly starts working again without really doing anything) or you learn to live with it.
With Linux, if you can break it, you can be pretty sure someone somewhere has broken it the same way before, and analyzed the shit out of it including reading the source, and figured out how to fix it.
I don’t see how that’s true. Windows is a more widely used Desktop OS, and Linux has way more variation in running software be it package managers, desktop experiences, etc. Even things like what version you started with may influence the version of a package you have. The odds of finding an identical setup is a lot lower.
I'm just speaking from experience - which of course is influenced by how much I am willing to pay for a solution, which is nothing. For the most part, people offering solutions for windows expect to be paid, while Linux gurus are more likely to do it for free
Software wise that’s absolutely true for MacOS, but Windows has plenty of free and open source software.
My parents use Linux without knowing it. They pretty much only need the internet browser...
Is there like a set and forget thing for Linux?
Like with windows and Mac, I just kinda boot up my laptop and then that’s it.
Yeah, often on linux the setup process is even faster and easier than on windows, and there isn't much you have to do after that to get things to work. You just boot it up, log in, and then do whatever you want to.
If you lack the bare minimum of knowledge to install a new operating system, there are plenty Youtube tutorials around which take your hand step by step.
Here is an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ua-d9OeUOg
We get plenty of new users these days, primarily because of the gaming boom thanks to Valve. Don't be shy, it's easy if you've done it once
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ua-d9OeUOg
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
learning linux is a process, but it's way easier now than it used to be. It's more of an easy to learn hard to master situation today as compared to the old "heres a box of source, compile it and hope it works, lmao" in the days of yore.
You don't need much knowledge to do the basics. Picking one to start with is likely a harder choice lol
Use Debian or a Debian fork like Linux Mint, Ubuntu, or Popos! And it should be a pretty easy transition. I recommend Debian because it's not as configured for you out of gate, but it's still easily configurable.
It really isn't that hard these days. Installation isnt harder than installing Windows and most Linux distros have a built-in store now to install apps from. Definitely takes a bit of a learning curve but it isn't as intimidating as it once was.