I saw the post and comments in question earlier and thought to myself that it was dumb. Having a unique title for posts helps find them again if you’re not in the habit of saving every single thing you come across, so I’ve always kinda hated the “every post needs this exact title” rule on various subreddits.
That said, I’m also not fond of titles that are 100% emojis.
The distro you chose is important when you start to do serious things : running a web server, deploying applications for a company, etc.
At your level this is irrelevant. You want to play with Linux, get a taste of it? Install VirtualBox on your PC, create a new VM and install Linux Mint Cinnamon. Is it the best to begin with? Maybe yes, maybe no, who cares, it's one of the noob friendly distros and it is based on Ubuntu Linux (it's virtually the same minus some proprietary crap) which has TONS of documentation online, and forums filled with answers to almost any question you can think of. You run into a problem? Paste the error message in Google and a post on the Ubuntu forums will be on the top of the search results.
In one evening, you will have learned how to run and configure Virtualbox (very easy) and install an "easy" Linux distro. And you will have your playground ready.
Now just look around, try the environment. Open a console and start trying some commands. Find yourself a little project that will force you to look under the hood : setting up a basic LAMP webserver for example. That will teach you how to use package repositories to install new software, where the different components of these software end up in the system folders, how to run command lines, etc. Give it a few evenings.
Then pick up two-three other distributions with different Windows Managers and reinstall your VM (or make a new one) with them. To see the differences. Manjaro with KDE. Fedora XFCE. Endeavour i3 (an amazing Arch based distro but with a very steep learning curve. For later).
Just fool around in a VM. Don't take that seriously. Explore Linux. Give up. Come back to it. Nobody cares, just have fun and try. You won't know if you like it unless you play with it.
Then if you fall in love replace Windows with your favorite distro and run Windows in a QEMU virtual machine... :P
I’m not trans but I am gay so you should value my opinion at 50%.
how do you choose a distro? Do you just know, or do you have to try them all?
Pick a reputable one, use it for a long time, figure out what you like/don’t like about it, and see if any distros offer alternatives. Most distros offer 95% of the same thing, and the last part is usually down to the out-of-box experience, software availability, and how stable/bleeding-edge the software availability is. I always recommend Linux Mint to get started with since it’s Debian-based (wide software compatibility, stable software updates, and the most typical/“normal” type of Linux distro without any gimmicks) and has a good reputation. You can almost always customize any distro to look and feel like any other distro, and they’re more similar to “preconfigured installs” than “closed-off/unique ecosystems”.
Is there some place where you can try distros on for size without the trouble and risk of migrating multiple times?
Try installing and running distros in a VM, e.g. VirtualBox (I don’t know what the best one for Windows is). VMs act like an emulated computer and you can get the full experience of what an install will be like and how it will look/feel without giving it any real hardware.
How do I know if Linux is right for me? How do I know Windows is wrong? If I loathe my user experience with Windows, is that the fault of Windows or just me? If Linux starts feeling comfortable, how do I know it’s because I’ve made the right choice and it’s not just inertia setting in? Does that even matter?
It depends on your values, but a lot of people simply use Linux because it is open source and community-driven, whereas Microsoft wants nothing more than to track you and give you as many ads as you’ll tolerate. You can customize literally every part of Linux, and so I really like it because I’m a control freak and if I don’t like the way something works I can change it. On Windows you get what you get and every year you get less tunables.
I’m at least good with Windows, but I lack the intuition of the average Linux user. Could I really master Linux the way I have Windows, or would my awkward personality relegate me to being a permanent tourist?
You’ll get comfortable quickly if you use a newbie-friendly distro. Linux is different that Windows in a lot of ways but it’s not always in a good way or bad way, just different. My guess is that you’ll actually become much better at Linux than Windows, because Windows tries its hardest to make the computer seem like “magic” and prevent you from understanding what’s going on, whereas Linux lets you open and modify anything you want and even gives you documentation on how to do it. Nothing in Linux will ever tell you “no” (so be careful!).
Is my hardware too old to start tinkering with OSs?
Linux runs on fuckin anything. Windows is like “mmmm your hardware is 4 years old sorry you can’t run Windows 11!” whereas Linux is like “does it have a CPU?”
I know your choice of OS should take priority over your programs, as long as those programs aren’t vital, but I have a full Steam library and don’t look forward to losing any old friends. Can I partition my drive? Is that worth the trouble, switching from OS to OS depending on circumstances? I hear some distros these days can run some windows programs, and that you don’t have to leave your old programs behind the way you used to, but can I count on that trend continuing?
IMO partitioning drives and dual-booting can make things complicated for a new user but if you aren’t sure if you want to stay you might want to do it anyway. Games run very well on Linux in general, with notable games that don’t work being listed here, and specific games listed here (Gold/Platinum is good). Linux (not based on distro) is very good at running Windows programs by using a compatibility layer named “Wine”, but there are notable exceptions. Generally you should try to run very few Windows programs that aren’t games, and you’ll have the best experience by finding open source alternatives to common programs.
Will losing touch with the Windows environment make it more difficult for me to succeed in a Windows-dominated career?
That depends on how extensively your career revolves around Windows. IMO Windows and Linux are more similar than different, and if you’re just being forced to use Windows to run some normal workflows you’re not going to feel any culture shock. If your career revolves around help desk or something you might lose touch with troubleshooting tips.
All that said, I think you’ll find Linux easier to use than you think. Linux itself has very few actual flaws at the moment, and most of the friction is because some popular programs don’t have Linux versions. Make a list of all the programs you use, see if they have Linux versions, and look for alternatives if they don’t. Also make a list of all the games you want to play and check ProtonDB to see how compatible they are.
This is an incredibly uncomfortable thing for me (a CIS male) to think about - how alien it must feel to have been born with a body that doesn’t match your gender identity. I can only imagine it as an “out of place” feeling that never goes away.
Anyone who has to live like that deserves all the empathy I am capable of, and that’s why I think that chipping away at trans rights is utterly reprehensible.
yeah that’s the thing! I’ve always hated going to the beach since puberty (but went nonetheless) and I really didn’t know why. Now I know and everything makes sense!
I can only imagine it as an “out of place” feeling that never goes away.
I don’t have gender dysphoria, at least not very strongly but I do have species dysphoria and I would say that that description is kind of accurate to how it feels.
Anyone who has to live like that deserves all the empathy I am capable of, and that’s why I think that chipping away at trans rights is utterly reprehensible.
I also think it’s absolutely evil how a lot of transphobes also put down people like me with species dysphoria and try to use us to make fun of other trans people. What’s worse is how this affects how other trans people treat me and people like me. I’ve had people attack me because they thought I was trying to be transphobic when talking about this stuff but I’m not, I’m describing how it feels to me.
I’d have a beer in the car port bitching about mechanical failures. Fucking carbs always getting gummed up. People gotta stop putting cheap gas in these older engines.
i really hope that will happen to me as well :) but I guess I just don’t like taking pictures in general so I don’t expect much to change in that respect 🤣
I didn’t either. Basically the only pictures of me before were taken by other people like family for Christmas or work things.
I was a little little less than a year on when somone took a picture with me in it and I realized I didn’t feel nearly as awkward about it as I normally would.
Yeah I understand that feeling… there are very few pictures of me as well since middle school and I hate every single one of them! My family for some reason likes them so you can find them on the walls sometimes and I cringe every time!
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