Windows 10 to Linux - How to Plan the Transition - Chris Titus Tech
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Date: 2022-03-21
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Comments and reviews: 10
Mythmaker
I switched my mom's laptop to Kubuntu. If it weren't for the different style of icons on her desktop, she wouldn't notice the difference.
The KDE desktop environment + improved privacy/security is what sold it. She loved the wallpapers that cam bundled with it, and it looks good and functions enough like Windows on a surface level that it was an easy switch.
It was also easy enough for me to switch over on the basis that I'd been using mostly open source software my entire time on Windows. Everything I installed I was already familiar with, and Proton does a fantastic job with getting my games to run.
The part that's hard - I got a new laptop recently. It wasn't well-supported out of the box. It will be. I know that because the 5.16 kernel made everything that's baked into it work without issue. Problem is - you want a stable Pop OS installation? Good luck with that. Mine ended up in an unbootable state with the tinkering I had to do to get my hardware running optimally. My experience with Pop OS as a relative newbie is that it either works flawlessly out of the gate or you're going to break it trying to make it work. (Which is also my experience with every other Ubuntu distro, too.)
Manjaro is running like a dream on here, and it was much easier to get it where it needed to be than it was with Pop OS. (Pop OS was close - I just couldn't figure out how to get rid of the last of the screen tearing I was experiencing when using my Nvidia GPU. It wasn't system wide, just specific applications. The point where my install was borked was when I tried switching to Nvidia mode and it wouldn't boot.) Update packages. Update kernel. Update Nvidia drivers. Install Optimus (Adding the two comments needed for KDE). Turn on Hybrid graphics. Everything works perfectly.
I'd go as far as to say for most home users, the switch isn't that difficult - but it's not easy if you ever need to go deep into the guts of your filesystem or you have hardware that isn't supported out of the box. I'm lucky I got my laptop when I did as it's been around long enough to get its drivers baked into the newest kernel. Nothing else I tried worked the way it was supposed to. I'm on Linux because of privacy concerns and personal convictions at this point, so if push came to shove and my computer didn't have wifi for a while, I'd deal with it. (And keep at it until it did.)
But there's a lot of personal circumstances - including specific hardware configurations - that can make the switch complicated. I appreciate people outlining how simple it can be, but they don't do Linux any favors by pretending it is -that- easy. For your older relatives who use an office suite and web browser? Hell yeah - in fact, save yourself headaches by putting Linux on their machines. You're their tech support anyway. They won't get viruses, ransomware, none of that, and if you make it look like Windows they might never know.
For everyone else - it helps to research your personal use case and to get accustomed to free and open source software before you make the leap.
reply
I switched my mom's laptop to Kubuntu. If it weren't for the different style of icons on her desktop, she wouldn't notice the difference.
The KDE desktop environment + improved privacy/security is what sold it. She loved the wallpapers that cam bundled with it, and it looks good and functions enough like Windows on a surface level that it was an easy switch.
It was also easy enough for me to switch over on the basis that I'd been using mostly open source software my entire time on Windows. Everything I installed I was already familiar with, and Proton does a fantastic job with getting my games to run.
The part that's hard - I got a new laptop recently. It wasn't well-supported out of the box. It will be. I know that because the 5.16 kernel made everything that's baked into it work without issue. Problem is - you want a stable Pop OS installation? Good luck with that. Mine ended up in an unbootable state with the tinkering I had to do to get my hardware running optimally. My experience with Pop OS as a relative newbie is that it either works flawlessly out of the gate or you're going to break it trying to make it work. (Which is also my experience with every other Ubuntu distro, too.)
Manjaro is running like a dream on here, and it was much easier to get it where it needed to be than it was with Pop OS. (Pop OS was close - I just couldn't figure out how to get rid of the last of the screen tearing I was experiencing when using my Nvidia GPU. It wasn't system wide, just specific applications. The point where my install was borked was when I tried switching to Nvidia mode and it wouldn't boot.) Update packages. Update kernel. Update Nvidia drivers. Install Optimus (Adding the two comments needed for KDE). Turn on Hybrid graphics. Everything works perfectly.
I'd go as far as to say for most home users, the switch isn't that difficult - but it's not easy if you ever need to go deep into the guts of your filesystem or you have hardware that isn't supported out of the box. I'm lucky I got my laptop when I did as it's been around long enough to get its drivers baked into the newest kernel. Nothing else I tried worked the way it was supposed to. I'm on Linux because of privacy concerns and personal convictions at this point, so if push came to shove and my computer didn't have wifi for a while, I'd deal with it. (And keep at it until it did.)
But there's a lot of personal circumstances - including specific hardware configurations - that can make the switch complicated. I appreciate people outlining how simple it can be, but they don't do Linux any favors by pretending it is -that- easy. For your older relatives who use an office suite and web browser? Hell yeah - in fact, save yourself headaches by putting Linux on their machines. You're their tech support anyway. They won't get viruses, ransomware, none of that, and if you make it look like Windows they might never know.
For everyone else - it helps to research your personal use case and to get accustomed to free and open source software before you make the leap.
reply
Krisyan
What makes difficult move to linux for beginner is :
1. Huge learning curve.. Much2 googling for even simple things.. Not long ago i must googling just to make clock on my newly installed manjaro show right time because it's always show incorrect time everytime i restart my computer.. Yes googling is easy but for beginner, well is pain in the a-s.. Even some people don't know what they must search to fix the problem..
2. Workplace environment mostly use ms office.. If you just use basic function maybe it's quite easy (even still there must be tweak here and there first to make your college who use ms office can open it without any error).. But it's completely different story if you power user who use macro and power querry.. There's alternative but again, there will be so much learning curve and homework to do..
3. Uh ok.. It's gaming..
For my personal need i use manjaro with google docs n sheet (it's free, full feature and you can open it anywhere..).. But for work? Still use windows, ms office and outlook..
reply
What makes difficult move to linux for beginner is :
1. Huge learning curve.. Much2 googling for even simple things.. Not long ago i must googling just to make clock on my newly installed manjaro show right time because it's always show incorrect time everytime i restart my computer.. Yes googling is easy but for beginner, well is pain in the a-s.. Even some people don't know what they must search to fix the problem..
2. Workplace environment mostly use ms office.. If you just use basic function maybe it's quite easy (even still there must be tweak here and there first to make your college who use ms office can open it without any error).. But it's completely different story if you power user who use macro and power querry.. There's alternative but again, there will be so much learning curve and homework to do..
3. Uh ok.. It's gaming..
For my personal need i use manjaro with google docs n sheet (it's free, full feature and you can open it anywhere..).. But for work? Still use windows, ms office and outlook..
reply
Nelson
Okay, I've been watching your videos for a little bit now, and while I don't agree with everything you've said, I like where your head is at. I love Linux on the back-end, I hated the desktop experience (but it was 5 years ago when I tried to switch).
I'm looking to revisit the question of switching permanently. 2 potential problems. 1) I make my living writing c# code. But with .net core that is almost becoming a trivial problem. except that I have to support apps that require COM (yeah, I know). 2) and the bigger issue, Active directory, say what you want about it, until someone comes up with not only a good replacement but something demonstrably better, Windows is going to rule the business world. Frankly, I like being able to afford food.
I guess, I'm looking for advice on how to deal with #2. (yeah, that was intentional. It sums up my feelings on it).
reply
Okay, I've been watching your videos for a little bit now, and while I don't agree with everything you've said, I like where your head is at. I love Linux on the back-end, I hated the desktop experience (but it was 5 years ago when I tried to switch).
I'm looking to revisit the question of switching permanently. 2 potential problems. 1) I make my living writing c# code. But with .net core that is almost becoming a trivial problem. except that I have to support apps that require COM (yeah, I know). 2) and the bigger issue, Active directory, say what you want about it, until someone comes up with not only a good replacement but something demonstrably better, Windows is going to rule the business world. Frankly, I like being able to afford food.
I guess, I'm looking for advice on how to deal with #2. (yeah, that was intentional. It sums up my feelings on it).
reply
Grampaw
I've been with Linux now since 2012. All I can say here is: Chris has produced an excellent video. It is interesting to me to ponder how life might now be different had the IBM 5150 been released with CP/M instead of MS/DOS. I've suspected for some time that the troubles with MSFT/Windows lie in its roots. This, I think, is an interesting question to ponder, and it leads us to wonder about the future directions of MSFT. My guess is that the local o/s will be dropped and replaced with some sort of appliance that simply launches a browser package. This approach would result in users doing all their work -in the cloud-. I have, of course, no way of knowing what really the future will bring. Still, its interesting to turn this around in the mind and ponder the question -where's all this going- -- in the next few years.
reply
I've been with Linux now since 2012. All I can say here is: Chris has produced an excellent video. It is interesting to me to ponder how life might now be different had the IBM 5150 been released with CP/M instead of MS/DOS. I've suspected for some time that the troubles with MSFT/Windows lie in its roots. This, I think, is an interesting question to ponder, and it leads us to wonder about the future directions of MSFT. My guess is that the local o/s will be dropped and replaced with some sort of appliance that simply launches a browser package. This approach would result in users doing all their work -in the cloud-. I have, of course, no way of knowing what really the future will bring. Still, its interesting to turn this around in the mind and ponder the question -where's all this going- -- in the next few years.
reply
Mihai
Congrats for sharing useful knowledge about switching to Linux.
What would be a recommendation for backing up personal data when switching to Linux so that the format is compatible for both Windows and Linux?
For example:
Windows is installed on NTFS.
When we switch to Linux we might back-up our data on an external disk.
Then the Linux installation formats the disk as ext4, as this is the format for Linux.
Then when we bring our data back, the file system of the external disk must be compatible with Linux.
Some people told me NTFS would be a good format for an external disk because its compatible for both (Windows and Linux)
Other people told me to use FAT32 or exFAT for a drive used for both Windows and Linux.
reply
Congrats for sharing useful knowledge about switching to Linux.
What would be a recommendation for backing up personal data when switching to Linux so that the format is compatible for both Windows and Linux?
For example:
Windows is installed on NTFS.
When we switch to Linux we might back-up our data on an external disk.
Then the Linux installation formats the disk as ext4, as this is the format for Linux.
Then when we bring our data back, the file system of the external disk must be compatible with Linux.
Some people told me NTFS would be a good format for an external disk because its compatible for both (Windows and Linux)
Other people told me to use FAT32 or exFAT for a drive used for both Windows and Linux.
reply
Praxss
Krita, gimp, paint.net - Photoshop
Blender- maya
Inkscape- Adobe Illustrator
Kdenlive, Openshot, Davinci resolve- Sony vegas, premiere pro
Raw Therapee, Dark Table- Adobe Lightroom
ClaimAV- any paid antivirus
KeePass- Lastpass
AnyDesk- TeamViewer
Audacity- Audition
Google Docs, LibreOffice- ms office
Handbrake- any video converter
Sublime text, Leafpad - notepad, Notepad++
Gufw - firewall
-Add your favourite application from Linux machine- ....
it will help others to find alternative programs for there day to day life programs...
reply
Krita, gimp, paint.net - Photoshop
Blender- maya
Inkscape- Adobe Illustrator
Kdenlive, Openshot, Davinci resolve- Sony vegas, premiere pro
Raw Therapee, Dark Table- Adobe Lightroom
ClaimAV- any paid antivirus
KeePass- Lastpass
AnyDesk- TeamViewer
Audacity- Audition
Google Docs, LibreOffice- ms office
Handbrake- any video converter
Sublime text, Leafpad - notepad, Notepad++
Gufw - firewall
-Add your favourite application from Linux machine- ....
it will help others to find alternative programs for there day to day life programs...
reply
Michael
I switched from windows to Linux and my windows programs left Linux right
Cura (for 3d printer) - cura
OneNote - xournal ++ (way better)
Arduino - Arduino
Office 365- 365 on the web
Adobe PDF - default Ubuntu pdf (is good I don't miss Adobe )
Nebo - there is no replacement ;( but xournal is good
Minecraft Java - there is a Linux mc official
Minecraft windows 10 - idk (but I use the phone version)
Free cad - free cad
MS Teams - MS Teams
I just miss Nebo and 365 the web one meh
reply
I switched from windows to Linux and my windows programs left Linux right
Cura (for 3d printer) - cura
OneNote - xournal ++ (way better)
Arduino - Arduino
Office 365- 365 on the web
Adobe PDF - default Ubuntu pdf (is good I don't miss Adobe )
Nebo - there is no replacement ;( but xournal is good
Minecraft Java - there is a Linux mc official
Minecraft windows 10 - idk (but I use the phone version)
Free cad - free cad
MS Teams - MS Teams
I just miss Nebo and 365 the web one meh
reply
Terry
Even if you find good Linux counterparts to your Windows apps, there is still that little problem of hardware support. And I'm talking about more than just motherboard and video card. Do you use a gaming keyboard and mouse? Do you want your RGB lighting to work? What about your printer? Sound card? USB devices? Wireless LAN card? Any specialized and uncommon hardware?
One needs to do a complete software AND hardware inventory and compatibility check.
reply
Even if you find good Linux counterparts to your Windows apps, there is still that little problem of hardware support. And I'm talking about more than just motherboard and video card. Do you use a gaming keyboard and mouse? Do you want your RGB lighting to work? What about your printer? Sound card? USB devices? Wireless LAN card? Any specialized and uncommon hardware?
One needs to do a complete software AND hardware inventory and compatibility check.
reply
Lars
I'll be picking up a new to me refurb to replace my current refurb laptop running win 7. I'll probably be installing mint or pop! since I don't care. It has been about 18 years since I used linux last and used to be very comfortable in it but have forgotten pretty much everything. That said i don't do much on my machine these days since my job has me burned out on computers. In fact I still shoot film since I can't stand editing images on a PC.
reply
I'll be picking up a new to me refurb to replace my current refurb laptop running win 7. I'll probably be installing mint or pop! since I don't care. It has been about 18 years since I used linux last and used to be very comfortable in it but have forgotten pretty much everything. That said i don't do much on my machine these days since my job has me burned out on computers. In fact I still shoot film since I can't stand editing images on a PC.
reply
Jsklar492
I switched to linux friday october 11th 2019 and I love it its mich faster I havent gotton origin but other then that it works great for me I used to use and loved windows 7 then I updated to 10 I git a laptop that ran 10 couldnt downgrade to 7 was mad cus I didnt like windows 10 so I tried to make due get used to it hated the slowness and lag so im like okay im stuck on 10 remembered linux and figured ehh ill try it and I like it
reply
I switched to linux friday october 11th 2019 and I love it its mich faster I havent gotton origin but other then that it works great for me I used to use and loved windows 7 then I updated to 10 I git a laptop that ran 10 couldnt downgrade to 7 was mad cus I didnt like windows 10 so I tried to make due get used to it hated the slowness and lag so im like okay im stuck on 10 remembered linux and figured ehh ill try it and I like it
reply
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