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Thinking about ditching Windows, finally. Thoughts? (hexbear.net)

submitted 3 days ago by joaomarrom@hexbear.net to c/technology@hexbear.net

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Hey comrades, I've just purchased a new motherboard and an MP44L SSD to put my OS and my currently-playing games in. The thing is, I also thought that this would be the perfect time to finally make the switch into Linux and a more FOSS-based approach to the time I spend using my computer.

I tried Linux like twenty years ago and did not adapt to it at all. Nowadays I'm much more knowledgeable about computers in a general way but I have a massive blind spot when it comes to Linux. I want to ditch Windows but frankly don't even know where to start the switch.

So I have the following questions, I hope you can help me figure things out:

1 - Is dual-boot a plausible thing? Like, having a Linux distro installed for everyday usage, and Windows for gaming only?

2 - Speaking of which, I've heard good things about gaming on SteamOS. What's going on with that? Honestly, I'm completely clueless and I thought it was a proprietary OS for the Steam Deck. Is it already available for PCs? Also, is it safe? I don't want to just switch the company that has me under their thumb from MS to Valve.

3 - Are there any pages / youtube channels / other kinds of resources you would recommend, so that I can do some learning?

Thanks!

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[–] Owl@hexbear.net 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

1 - Yeah you can do this. It's slightly more complex to set up, and uses a bunch of extra hard drive space. Also sometimes Windows just decides to fuck it up. Also my experience with dual booting is that I never open the Windows partition and it ends up a year behind on security patches.

2 - You shouldn't install SteamOS. It's great that it exists though, because it's been pushing everyone towards better Linux support. Most games just plain work on Linux now.

3 - https://distrosea.com/ will let you run the installer for a bunch of distros remotely on someone else's computer. Most Linux distros just run the whole desktop in the installer, so you can experiment with that. Take five minutes to boot up Linux Mint on this and poke around; it'll make you feel kind of silly for waiting this long. Then use it to try the stuff other people recommend.

I always recommend Linux Mint (no bullshit, very well supported, Windows-like UI, easy setup, yes it runs all my games). But there are plenty of good options.