All of the risk in changing your computer operating system comes from the potential loss of data. Everything else is replaceable/recoverable, including your original Windows install if needed. You can avoid this risk by backing up your personal data to an external drive, which frankly everyone should be doing anyway because hard drives are consumables.
You can try Linux with no risk by running it as a live OS. This loads the operating system files into RAM from an external device (typically a USB drive) and makes no changes to the system hard drive. This lets you test your computer’s functionality in Linux without making permanent changes (does my graphics card work? wifi? audio? etc). The mainstream Linux installers do this already for the installation process, but you can just load one up to try things out without running the installation process.
You don’t have to completely switch off of Windows. It’s fairly easy to install Linux as a dual-boot on an existing Windows system. As long as you have some free space on your hard drive to dedicate to Linux, you can just keep your Windows install and have Linux too. You can even access your files in Windows from the Linux install. All of the mainstream Linux installers have the option for setting up dual-boot during the installation.
I think one of the biggest hurdles for switching over is knowing what software to use in Linux (how do I edit a document? watch a movie? read a pdf? etc). There are options for basically anything you might want to do, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for you might feel a bit lost. I recommend alternativeto.net for this. You can search for software like Microsoft Office and filter for Linux to get a list of compatible software options that do the same job.
I’m probably one of the dumbest motherfuckers here when it comes to not setting my devices on fire.
I know exactly how you feel. I have wrecked so many OS installs I’ve lost track. I have friends who tell me I have tech problems like no one else. I seem to stumble into edge cases on a higher-than-average basis.
My point is, when I say that everything is recoverable, that’s from experience. I’ve done it enough times to know there’s very little chance of actually making a computer unusable, though it’s relatively easy to lose your data if you’re not paying attention to what you doing - so backups. Always backups.
If you try this a couple times you’ll start to see your computer as something that you have control over, something that you can completely wipe and bring back or rebuild into a different system as you please. Feel free to reach out if you’ve got questions.
You can avoid this risk by backing up your personal data to an external drive, which frankly everyone should be doing anyway because hard drives are consumables.
This is super inconvenient. Better method is to set up a server w/ Syncthing and use that to just sync your Home directory remotely.
Better method is to set up a server w/ Syncthing and use that to just sync your Home directory remotely.
Sure, just set up a server, very convenient. Dude, this advice is for people who have never installed an operating system before.
Like, yeah, if you’re talking about keeping a living backup that is up to date within 30 seconds because you’re doing accounting as a home business and you can’t afford to lose the last 5 minutes of work, then yeah self-hosted file syncing is great. It’s absolutely a better long-term solution for personal data management. But for most people this level of backup fidelity is unnecessary, and a USB drive is a thing you can just buy and start using with no setup effort.
This would imply that you have at least two machines. In that case they could just install Linux in the other machine to try it out.
Foa people dabbling in Linux for the first time, with the anxiety of losing their data, it certainly sound like they don’t have 2 machines to run syncthing. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they just copy all their important data to the other machine to avoid the data loss risk?
And sure if that is the case Syncthing is a good solution, but it doesn’t sound applicable in this situation.
Some things that may help you get started:
All of the risk in changing your computer operating system comes from the potential loss of data. Everything else is replaceable/recoverable, including your original Windows install if needed. You can avoid this risk by backing up your personal data to an external drive, which frankly everyone should be doing anyway because hard drives are consumables.
You can try Linux with no risk by running it as a live OS. This loads the operating system files into RAM from an external device (typically a USB drive) and makes no changes to the system hard drive. This lets you test your computer’s functionality in Linux without making permanent changes (does my graphics card work? wifi? audio? etc). The mainstream Linux installers do this already for the installation process, but you can just load one up to try things out without running the installation process.
You don’t have to completely switch off of Windows. It’s fairly easy to install Linux as a dual-boot on an existing Windows system. As long as you have some free space on your hard drive to dedicate to Linux, you can just keep your Windows install and have Linux too. You can even access your files in Windows from the Linux install. All of the mainstream Linux installers have the option for setting up dual-boot during the installation.
I think one of the biggest hurdles for switching over is knowing what software to use in Linux (how do I edit a document? watch a movie? read a pdf? etc). There are options for basically anything you might want to do, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for you might feel a bit lost. I recommend alternativeto.net for this. You can search for software like Microsoft Office and filter for Linux to get a list of compatible software options that do the same job.
I know exactly how you feel. I have wrecked so many OS installs I’ve lost track. I have friends who tell me I have tech problems like no one else. I seem to stumble into edge cases on a higher-than-average basis.
My point is, when I say that everything is recoverable, that’s from experience. I’ve done it enough times to know there’s very little chance of actually making a computer unusable, though it’s relatively easy to lose your data if you’re not paying attention to what you doing - so backups. Always backups.
If you try this a couple times you’ll start to see your computer as something that you have control over, something that you can completely wipe and bring back or rebuild into a different system as you please. Feel free to reach out if you’ve got questions.
This is super inconvenient. Better method is to set up a server w/ Syncthing and use that to just sync your Home directory remotely.
Sure, just set up a server, very convenient. Dude, this advice is for people who have never installed an operating system before.
Like, yeah, if you’re talking about keeping a living backup that is up to date within 30 seconds because you’re doing accounting as a home business and you can’t afford to lose the last 5 minutes of work, then yeah self-hosted file syncing is great. It’s absolutely a better long-term solution for personal data management. But for most people this level of backup fidelity is unnecessary, and a USB drive is a thing you can just buy and start using with no setup effort.
Syncthing can be installed on anything, very easily. All you have to do to make it a “server” is to make sure its connected 24/7.
USB drive will be super slow and will be hanging out of whatever it’s attached to. There are many other better options.
This would imply that you have at least two machines. In that case they could just install Linux in the other machine to try it out.
Foa people dabbling in Linux for the first time, with the anxiety of losing their data, it certainly sound like they don’t have 2 machines to run syncthing. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they just copy all their important data to the other machine to avoid the data loss risk?
And sure if that is the case Syncthing is a good solution, but it doesn’t sound applicable in this situation.
I mean if you’re “just trying it out”, you could just use a live USB. You’re probably not saving anything valuable to it anyway.
Can’t understand any reason you would think that.
That’s…what I’m suggesting? Syncthing just automates the process.