Hi Sup Forums, I'm a lifelong winfag who's thinking about making the jump to Linux (GNU/Linux...

Hi Sup Forums, I'm a lifelong winfag who's thinking about making the jump to Linux (GNU/Linux, to avoid the Stallman copypasta).

I've been trying out Ubuntu on a virtual machine and I like it a lot, I've grown increasingly tired of the Windows bloat. No Macs though, I had to use one for work once and I didn't like it at all, but Ubuntu seems really good. I mostly work from home so it's important that the OS is stable. All the tools I need are also on Linux so that's not an issue, even the few games I play are also on Linux, coincidentially enough.

On my local computer shop there's a Dell laptop with Ubuntu that's cheap and has nice specs (for me, at least). What I would like to know is if Ubuntu runs smooth or if it's is a memory hog. The laptop I'm considering comes with 8 GB of ram. On the virtual machine Ubuntu sometimes lags but I guess that's a given because I couldn't assign that much memory to it, or is it just a hog overall? Does it also take a lot of hard drive space in general? I'm looking for something that's way less of a resource hog than Windows.

Also a question from Winfags who have switched to Linux, is the switch worth it or is it just bullshit, should I stick with Windows?

Thanks!

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sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/first
github.com/Riyyi/dotfiles
fsf.org/)
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

install nonfree debian xcfe just werks

Is this bait or are you just really stupid?

I was winfag years ago. I switched to linux and now browsing internet is better then ever. My first distro was ubuntu but now i use gentoo. My girlfriend left me because of that, but it was worth it.

It is enough. I have 8GB and I barely use it (even using the 4 virtual desktops).
High CPU usage is cuz I'm compiling mpv right now.

Thanks, that's great, Windows 10 is using almost 4 GB of RAM right now and all I'm doing is browsing Sup Forums at the moment.

Just really stupid, a normie looking for answers.

I switched from windows to Ubuntu 3 years ago and never turned back. Interestingly enough, Ubuntu is a lot lighter than windows. I run Ubuntu Gnome on a ThinkPad T510(2012 laptop) just fine. I think Ubuntu gnome is a bit broken though.
From my experience, Mint is also a good option for users coming from windows. It has the same user base as Ubuntu so you can get a ton of help easily.

This. Debian is the way

Stay on Windows, Linux is a piece of shit

Did you make this?

Ubuntu is the most bloated Linux. It's literally the windows of Linux. You're better off with windows

OP here, what makes Debian superior in your opinion?

> windows is bad it steals all your info
> but it's alright when Linux does it guys. They're just trying to make it better guys

No botnet

You should be fine with default Ubuntu, but as said you may want to use some lighter/better desktop such as xfce or kde plasma. You can either get a flavor of ubuntu (xubuntu, kubuntu), or (better IMO) install the DE just on top of the default Ubuntu install using the package manager. The choice of distro doesn't practically matter, but some offer a more in-depth installation and setup process or different defaults which can help learning about GNU/Linux more.

The only sensible way of doing things: Buy a mac, install Windows 10 on it, and run Gentoo on virtualbox on top of that.

FYI, OP the botnet they probs mean is that Ubuntu used to ship a default config which sends desktop search queries to Amazon (fixed). Or they might just mean the overall slightly greater complexity of a stock Ubuntu. However, I don't recommend Linux Mint because of their bad history with security.

op here is the biggest help to get you started. Linux mint is fine too. get the KDE edition

sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/first
sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/first
sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/first

Ubuntu and Mint are equally easy to use as windows from my experience since they are both GUI driven. They both are memory hogs by linux standards but nothing compared to windows 10. I would recommend trying either of those distros with either Cinnamon, Xfce, or KDE, as your desktop environment (gnome is shit). If you're a brainlet and can't figure out switching DE's they make Ubuntu flavors with them pre-installed (Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc.) so you could try those out too.

>no botnet
>systemd
pick one

You will switch to Linux and you will realize you can't change some settings, you can't make it work how you would like it to because there are no drivers, and finally you will be frustrated because that program you needed is not available. You will look up for answer on the internet and retards will tell you WINE makes the job because it's not even an emulator so you will get feature parity and extreme performance but yeah, that doesn't happen.

I installed ubuntu because honestly, the windows command line is a piece of shit but now I just use the terminal in VSCode, when I need I can use the bash with the windows subsystem but that's a piece of shit as well, because it doesn't even make sense in the first place IMO.

So, I end up only using windows for both programming and media content.

Thank you both, I'll fool around with other desktop environments on the virtual machine. I am a brainlet when it comes to this, but I like learning by tinkering before making a hard choice.

It's okay, I don't care about the botnet paranoia, if I did I wouldn't still be using Windows 10.

This is painting a pretty bleak picture. What does it mean that you can't make it work how you like because there are no drivers? I did notice the settings were very limited compared to Windows' control panel.

Nah everything is google-able and if not configurable via a GUI, at least by editing a config file or switching the piece of software for something better (even DEs). Drivers haven't been an issue on anything I've used since about 2012, these days it's kind of a challenge to find mainstream hardware that can't be made to work with Linux.

NVidia Maxwell and Pascal (gtx 900+ and 750) with stock open source driver are buggy and some Radeon r9 390 cards are buggy as well. Intel HD graphics, all other AMD cards and older NVidia will just work OOTB, at least for light workloads such as a desktop.

Even the latest NVidia cards work with the 1st party NVidia graphics driver. Google "your distro and version install nvidia"

>you can't change some settings
free software OSes like ganoo/linux are the ones where you can change literally anything. not being able to change some shitty feature/setting is far more common in closed systems like windows
>you can't make it work how you would like it to because there are no drivers
there are many drivers, but few free software drivers. life's easy if you want nvidia's closed-source linux binaries but real shitty if you choose your software for political reasons and force yourself to use the open source driver replacements
>and finally you will be frustrated because that program you needed is not available
this is a big problem/concern though, and probably the largest obstacle in the way of switching between OSes.

Debian is an incredibly stable and very clean operating system. You have a very descent amount of choice, and you can easily run it on any computer with no major troubles.

>muh up to date packages

You have three repos which each update there packages in a different schedule and way. Stable is only really worth it for servers, as all the software is frozen, but it gets security updates. You do have backports in stable, but using it too much might result in various issues. Then there is testing. Testing is amazing imo, it has relatively up to date software, it's still VERY stable, and you can either use it as a rolling release, or you can stay in the the current testing, and keep it until it eventually goes into stable, then old stable, etc. Last is unstable. Unstable is debians first line of software testing. It's updated every 6 hours. This is a very good amount of choice.

>systemd is a bad

Ya, but you can change debians init system, you can even make it have a hybrid init system. This is admittedly one of debians weaknesses, as changing the init system isn't hard, but it's not easy, and troubles can of course arise more than just have everything developed on another init system. But then again systemd is not a problem for most people, so you can ignore this whole point.

>apt is trash

No, it isn't. Apt is great and one of the most intelligent binary package managers to date. It may not be as intelligent as portage and emerge, but it's much faster and much easier to use.

>documentation

Here is one of the big flaws. Debian has an extremely shitty documentation, or at least it's not as good as it should and could be. If you have troubles with your system, you're often going to have to scour a variety of wikis, often ones which don't pretain specifically for debian. If documentation is important to you, debian might not be the right choice. However, the IRC is active, so if you are really stumped, you can find a solution there.

If you value your time = Ubuntu, If not = something else.
It's simple.

>using words like "jump" and "switch"

Why don't you just dualboot and use both as needed?

Install KDE Neon, select the dark theme and call it a day.

B-but Arch

>KDE + Arch
Fine taste, I used KDE before switching to i3.
But for somebody like OP who hasn't got the expertise, KDE Neon is a stable and easy to use distro.

>I've been trying out Ubuntu
stopped reading desu

Ubuntu is fine, it's basically the default Linux distro for better or for worse but Linux is really low on resources, if you're computer can run Windows 7 fine, it can run Ubuntu just fine. If it's like an xp or vista computer you might have to use a distro known for speed.
Ignore everyone suggesting you to install kde neon, mint, fedora, debian, arch, etc. I don't dislike them but they can be challenging if you're not even used to Ubuntu yet. It's just that sports team mentality. No matter what anyone says X always thinks his distro is the best for everyone.
Fedora user here, I'm just being reasonable

8GB is way more than enough.

>always thinks his distro is the best for everyone
Nice projection faggot but I use Arch.
And I recommended KDE Neon
I'm just being realistic here, the KDE interface works the most similar to Windows, that's why I personally used to use it. And the distro comes with an easy installer just like any noob friendly distro.

Concerning drivers:
ATI drivers are open source but kinda bad for gaming. Nvidia is better but it's iffy if your game of going to run faster or slower then before. General rule is to stick with nvidia because they tend it be better. You can also into Windows in vmware player and game. That works fine.
Intel graphics are golden. Either better or the same as Windows, but not really built for gaming so eh.

Thanks, I gotta try i3 out some day. Comfy setup you have

I use fedora and I am suggesting Ubuntu. KDE NEON is a bad suggestion. It's not aimed at normal users, it's a test bed for kde projects. It's based on Ubuntu so it's easy but the kde suite is intentionally buggy and there is little documentation for beginners if they need help. Like I said, stop encouraging people to use your hipster distro just to hate on Ubuntu. Ubuntu works, everyone knows it, proprietary software packages for it, you can Google almost any question you might have and have responses. They have several blogs dedicated to just Ubuntu.
This fighting needs to stop, we just need to agree that Ubuntu is the default distro and move on with our lives and not argue endlessly of stupid minute retarded subjective autistic details
>I use arch
Oh wait, never mind. You are just doing you.

Before I ever tried one, I was really sceptic about how useful a tiling WM could actually be, but I have say, i3 is really pleasant to use. Have a look at my dotfiles if you're interested.
github.com/Riyyi/dotfiles

>subjective autistic details
You mean like the difference between Ubuntu and KDE Neon? Because you're making it sound like they are completely different distros. My recommendation is Ubuntu + KDE, but I've heard a lot of negativity about Kubuntu, so instead I'm recommending KDE Neon.

Cool, this looks good. Thanks user

Yes, 8 GB is enough. No it won't lag. In fact, any decently assembled distribution will not lag in this laptop for the next 10 years.

The system itself uses ~8gb of disk, maybe 5gb. But you will need more for your softwares. I've never had much more than 20gb in my system partition.

I don't know which version of ubuntu you are using, but be aware that there is a major interface change happening. They are migrating from Unity to Gnome. Although you might not notice, because you are new and ubuntu devs are doing a good job.

You might want to look into Trisquel, a free software only variant of ubuntu. What is free software? (First paragraph: fsf.org/)

It is possible to install as many graphical interfaces as you want only disk space cost. Changing between them is as simple as logging out and in again. That way you can test many and see which you prefer.

Now my opinion:
I personally prefer Debian over Ubuntu and Xfce over any other desktop environment, the reasons being:
- Debian is more stable, in the sense that you can keep using the same version of a software during the entire lifetime of the release. In terms of crashs Ubuntu LTS is very stable too;
- By default Debian includes only free software;
- Xfce is lightweight (~300mb on startup), is very configurable, is easy to tweak and has a slow life cycle. This last ones means you are going to see many changes in your interface.

Welcome to the free world.

OP here, thank you for writing that, it was realy useful. I'm running Ubuntu 16.04.3 on the virtual machine. I have read that most people prefer Gnome's interface though that doesn't mean much to me since I haven't tried it out yet. It's very reassuring to know that it won't lag at all. I'll probably make the jump and get that laptop.

Intel graphics work just fine for me, I'm not a graphics whore for vidya by any means.

I'm going to try it out on a VM too, since it seems the most popular choice after Ubuntu (maybe alongside Mint).

Yeah, I thought the program thing was going to be an issue but luckily every single thing I need seems to have a linux version and it all runs well on the vm, so my only concern was regarding memory and stability.

I'm not political about software choices anyway, so if that's the only hurdle regarding drivers I'm probably good to go.

Thanks, everyone!

This is the best marketing for Ubuntu I've ever seen.

Choose Arch, it's also like Debian for lesbians , but it has the best logo and no the poo in loo swirl.

When will mods start banning whore-posters?

nvidia drivers don't work well with gnome

LXDE is the most windows like and pcmanfm is the best file manager among the simple ones

Friendly reminder to first test if the release works with your pc before you install

it's also a meme compile-everything-from-source distro
spending 10 hours setting shit up for every 1 hour you spend actually using the computer is totally worth it because it makes you feel like a ebin hacker

Do whatever you want.
I am tiered from switching from one to another, so I fucking have three fucking distros and MS/Windows my computers. And I just don't give a fuck about OS now.
I guess, I've grown up, dunno, don't think so.

No, LFS is better.
1. You can feel yourself as a supper-hakka
2. You can compile all the shit under 3-4 hours using ALFS
3. You can screw whatever package manager you want.

>Also a question from Winfags who have switched to Linux, is the switch worth it or is it just bullshit, should I stick with Windows?
it depends on what you want to do with it

in terms of web browsing, most browsers are pretty uniform across OSes (they worked really hard to make it that way). but that's all I use Linux for (secure browsing).

I think OP should dual boot if he has the hard drive space. it's not hard to shrink a partition in disk management to make space for linux. no need to shrink windows to the max (which is a bad idea anyway) you really only need about 30 to 40 GB to test drive it, so shrink it by that amount.

First thing that surprised me while trying out Neon is that for some mad reason it didn't have the driver manager out of the box. Not a noticeable problem for someone who knows what they're doing, but I'm imagining a new user would be like "wtf how do I drivers?". I suggest Kubuntu for a newbie who wants Ubuntu with KDE, it's better than it used to be.

Are you retarded that you didn't hear about the new update

I agree not to mention nsa had a hand in Ubuntu development. Systemd being unaudited is as cancerous as closed source os

how do i achieve no border desu?

There's no point in avoiding the botnet. There's literally no-where to hide. Even the satellites spy on you.
Embrace the botnet. Let lain have your info. It doesn't matter anymore.

8 GB is plenty for most use cases. The OS is stable and doesn't take up much space.

Pro tip - Install the server version + whatever UI for an even smaller footprint.

fuck europeans who use , as a .

looks and is so retarded.

We'll change after you stop using mm/dd/yyyy

Britbong here.
dd/mm/yyyy
3.14

Your move euro trash.

Brits are just the beta version of amerifats, so go to the other team

Just use W10 like a normal productive person of society who doesnt have the time or the self-hatred to rice his OS for 4 hours a day.

I'm not even European kek
But use . as ,
Looks so fucking retarded to me. You are the weird ones.

Yeah if you ever get into an argument with them, go tell them the royals are inbred figureheads and see them lose their fragile cool.

Because non-retarded countries inveted math and not burgers.

There's always that one dumbass that fucked up his first install and blames linux because he lost his porn stash.

If you want to try linux, great. Welcome to the fold. There's a lot of good info from the other anons. I'll add some things you should consider.

One thing to remember is that Ubuntu may run perfectly fine in a VM, but that doesn't mean it will work on your system when installed. You should always make a bootable Thumbdrive or DVD to test it on your system. Don't install it, just make sure your videocard, wifi, and other stuff is working fine.

When it comes to distros, Ubuntu is a no-brainer for noobs. If you want to go more light-weight, you can install Ubuntu Mate. It will hold your hand from the start, making it a lot easier. If you want more functionality right out of the box, Linux Mint Mate is great. I'd strongly advise you to stay away from distros like Arch until you've gotten a lot more comfortable with Linux in general. Maybe try installing it on a VM too so you can see what you're getting into. Stick with Ubuntu for now. And don't let the fucking trolls scare you away from Linux.