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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Linux Mint is a good one to try out for starters. It is Ubuntu based so most of the time if you have an issue you can find tons on it in the Ubuntu help searches.
As for a browser, Firefox is likely pre installed and pretty excellent. All major browsers have a Linux client.
For gaming, steam had great support for windows games running on Linux. There is also Lutris and Heroic launcher which all have support for running games under a comparability layer.
Good luck and have fun!
Everyone reccomends Linux Mint, but I personally use Kubuntu. You can use Discover to install apps such as Steam and you'd probably not need the terminal
Mint (cinnamon) is really nice, has a Windows like look and feel. Stable and friendly 👍
You grab your biggest usb stick and install a tool Ventoy2Disk into it: https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_ventoy2disk.html
Then you never re-format again, but just drag and drop any .iso-file you want to try. You can try any Linux distro in live mode without installing anything into your computer before you found your favorite distro.
Try at least these, Pop_OS!: https://pop.system76.com/
Linux Mint: https://linuxmint.com/download.php
If you don't have Nvidia gpu, then try LMDE5 instead and here's why: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=374128
Fedora KDE: https://spins.fedoraproject.org/kde/
If you want something totally different and fully keyboard driven distro (docs reading is mandatory), Manjaro Sway: https://manjaro-sway.download/
At this point it is only about the looks you like the most.
People usually recommend Linux mint or some Ubuntu version. I recommend neither.
Ubuntu is a proprietary-solution-ridden piece of hot garbage that tries to hinders what you do at any chance. I use it daily for work, unfortunately.
It’s been a few years since I tried mint. It looked good and felt nice for the first few hours, after that I don’t remember what happened, it was maybe lack of configurabilità or lack of support, but I noped out very quickly and I just remember that my thoughts were “never again”.
I never tried it, but it looks like Pop!_OS might be the thing to look out for in this space.
Besides that, know that Linux is different from windows starting from its very philosophy. Keep an open mind, it can be a confusing journey for a beginner (which is why I am holding back about telling you about the many possibilities).
One thing to keep in mind is that some software that you were used to will not be available, and that you might need to look for alternatives. But as far as the things you mentioned go, these are my recommendations:
Linux Mint felt like a really good start for me. Its a nice transition from Windows because you still get a lot of functions that can be done outside of the command line. There's a GUI for system updates, driver updates, and an app store of sorts. The interface is also just generally not all that different from Windows.
In my experience, I didnt have any issues running games on Mint. I was using a pretty powerful rig with AMD hardware, which tends to play nicer with Linux, but from what I've heard Mint seems to do well with gaming.
To play games, you'll obviously need Steam with Proton enabled. I picked the latest full release version and it generally worked pretty good with most games. Some games that wont work with Steam might need a separate app called Lutris. For me this was just Battlefield 4, which also worked fine through Lutris. You can check ProtonDB to see if the games you wanna play will work.
If you use Nvidia, I've heard good things about Pop!OS but i havent used it myself.
Good luck finding a distro that works for you!
No, it's a different OS not intended as an alternative to Windows in any other sense that it's a desktop OS too.
But it won't be hard if you start with something common, like openSUSE or Debian.
Linux Mint is the obvious recommendation. It looks pretty similar to windows and is really good for those unfamiliar with Linux.
I personally use fedora which is also pretty good for beginners but the installation process is pretty confusing and setting up dnf fusion might not be what a new linux user wants to fiddle around with right away, which is why I think mint might be better.
Have you considered steamOS? It runs a fair number of games and the Linux kernel.
I think it still isn't officially out yet. At least the new version and I wouldn't recommend the old one.
On integrated graphics (which I assume op has) gaming should work generally the same across ditros. I use mint personally and that's a great way to start off. Simple, similar layout to windows, and I have run into any issues with games.
Just wanted to add that the OS running on Steam Deck is SteamOS 3 (aka Holo). Valve says it will be open source, but hasn’t released the code yet. Meanwhile, you can try HoloISO if you have an AMD GPU.
Have any experience with it ? I considered it but some comments seem to indicate it's still really rough to be used as a computer OS
First, welcome to the Linux family! I switched completely to Linux on all my computers about 3 years ago and I've been super happy :)
I would recommend trying out Linux Mint first. Cinnamon edition, which is their default version, is designed specifically to look and feel similar to Windows and be easier for people moving from Windows to Linux.
It's built off of Ubuntu, so you have all the compatibility with the general Linux world that an Ubuntu distro gives.
It should be fine for all the things you list. If you want to try a different Debian based distro (like Ubuntu) that's user friendly, Pop_OS is another good one. It's less Windows-ish, but still has a very nice user experience and is a little better out of the box for gaming, because of their app store.
hello and thanks, hopefull things fo well fo the both of us, idk im running out of things to say.
Linux Mint
which version of mint would you suggest? for 8gb of ram on an old laptop?
I run Mint 20.3 on a 10 year old laptop with 8gb with absolutely no problems for the basic stuff I do with it. Upgrading the hdd to an ssd made a huge improvement though.
I would however suggest you install mint 21 (current version)
The only reason the above laptop is on an older version is I'm worried about what I'm going to break if I do (I have a bunch of "non standard" stuff on it) and it currently just works and is still in support...so if it ain't broke...
Cinnamon should run fine on that. If not, mate will, but I'd try Cinnamon first.
just go with something like fedora. It'll be easy enough and you can do almost anything through graphical user interfaces.
I highly recommend trying Manjaro. I haven't moved past Windows 7, so I can't compare doesn't to Win 10/11, but it's the only Linux distro I've found that was Close Enough (TM) to Windows to make it possible for me to switch.
Like any Linux, things aren't going to Just Work (TM) as often as in Windows, but this is the closest I've gotten.
Like any Linux, things aren't going to Just Work(TM) as often as in Windows, but this is the closest I've gotten.
Lol, that's not a Linux thing, it's a manjaro thing.