To anyone who is doubtful, I switched fully 2 years ago and I'm 77 years old. It can be done. Take heed of DJs advice, and just take your time, back up your data and DON't dump Windows until you are totally confident. As DJ says, you have 18 months. It is NOT as daunting as some would like you to believe.
@@poppetx I started with and mainly use Linux Mint, but have MX Linux on another machine. Other distros I fiddle with in Virtual machines. It is a learning curve but it is amazing how much you learn in Linux, after all I had to learn Windows 3.11 back in the day! You WILL get frustrated but just don't give up. Remember, Linux is NOT Windows though.
Took my wife less than 15 min. Shes got xfce for desktop, but she has used kde as well..... a win95/NT style dropdown menu is easy to learn to use. True, I am her IT.... but that is mostly keeping it up to date.
@@tonywise198 Awesome, Tony. I'm glad you're enjoying your Linux journey! Linux Mint is a solid distro, can't go wrong with Mint. Thankfully I was recommended Mint back when I started dipping my toes into desktop Linux around 2014. You're right, it is surprising just how much you learn in the process. Over the years I've worked my way up to being able to manually install and maintain (so far) Arch, having pretty much no IT background. Also, if anyone else is reading this, he's right about not giving up!! If you're thinking about giving Linux a shot and you like computers; go for it!!
My dad is a developer from SunOS days and when I was a kid I wanted to do that too even though I had no idea what it was. He gave me a used Dell laptop with KDE on it to shut me up. It was fascinating to me and I got lost in it. It was like a magical land to explore, not because it was Linux but because it was accessible to me. Linux has come a long way and now even my mom uses Linux for email, RU-vid and her online games.
I'm pro windows software developer, switched home desktop to ubuntu 5 years ago and still using it. it's really pleasure to use and learn linux environment as software developer. 🙂
After trying Linux on and off for 20yrs, the Linux desktop has really come unto it's own in the last few years and is now extremely usable. I predominantly moved over to Linux a few years back, but still dual boot as I need Windows for a couple of things on occasions. Personally, I think it's more important to pick a desktop environment you're going to be comfortable with. Don't worry too much about the actual distro, just find one that has a version of the desktop environment you're comfortable with. A lot of distros are all fairly similar underneath.
Thanks DJ great prez. I first started using Linux around 20 years ago, mainly for server and appliance needs. It is only very recent that I moved all my own devices such as desktop and laptop away from Windows to a Linux platform. To be honest I've had it with big tech, as far as I'm concerned they have become part of the dysfunction in our modern world - from liberators to enslavers within a generation. I guard my online privacy very closely and this drove my personal move to a Linux environment. Interestingly, since my move to full-time Linux I'm feeling a new sense of freedom.
I agree, dealing with users can sometimes be a thankless task, even though ultimately what you are doing makes a vast improvement to their online privacy in the longer term.
😮 you're doing great job! I wish someone helped me move to linux back in the day. But doing it on my own helped me a lot, what I like about linux is that you become better at knowing how computer works.
Hi DJ, I found your content / channel while looking for Linux related videos. I am in a situation not mentioned in this video. I'm considering Linux as an alternative to macOS (which is already Unix) My iMac will be officially unsupported by Apple at the end of this year as the latest supported version will be EOL So, I am happy to report they fixed the issues I was having in Ubuntu 22.04 in 24.0.4 I am also happy to report that I have found at least 90% of my alternatives in Linux to Mac native apps. I had started using more and more open source stuff in the Mac OS to make switching easier. There are a few things such as text message forwarding from my phone that only work in macOS but that's not Linux' fault. Beyond that I'm using Ubuntu Cinnamon right now as the daily driver re-familiarizing myself to Linux as the daily OS. My plan for now is to run Linux from an external drive, and keep macOS on the internal drive for stuff I can't do in Linux so I have both worlds, at least for a while. Love the content. Have a great day!
I have been FT Linux for a 3.5 years now. I started that transition almost 24 months prior to that and would go back and forth before being fully comfortable to make the FT move in late 2020.
A couple of things helped me when I migrated to Linux a two of years ago. First, I got my feet wet by trying a few user-friendly distros on on old netbook that I didn't depend on, and used that machine for a few months to get familiar with the file system, setting permissions, installing and updating packages, using Wine, setting up Samba shares, and the like. Second, while still running Windows on the machine that I use day to day, I used apps that are supported by both Windows and Linux like Firefox, Thunderbird, Libre Office, and a couple of more specialized packages. When I did convert to Linux for everyday use, I was dealing with familiar apps (and in most cases could import my configs from the Windows versions) and was able to be productive almost immediately.
Huge thank you for this! I wanted to make the leap for quite a while now (really disappointment with how much in IT has devolved into data collection and shoving ads everywhere), but most Linux users' mentality of DIY and RTFM makes the switch sound daunting.
Been watching the channel for a while. This is the sort of series that I could have used several months ago. Apple said my hardware was no longer good enough for them, so I began to look for alternatives. Ended up patching the system with OpenCore Legacy Patcher, but the writing is on the wall. I still have one Mac app that I need to be able to use. In the meantime, I’m trying out (way-too-many) distros of various sorts. Currently, I 4-boot MacOS Sonoma, Fedora 39, Ubuntu 23.10, and Linux Mint 21.3. Once they’re out of beta, I’ll look at the new Fedora and Ubuntu, and decide on one. That will simplify things considerably.
Thank you so very much for this video. I am a newcomer to linux shores and I was feeling overwhelmed with choices, which is good at first but then you get trapped in the choice loop. A very informative video!
@@Brian-m-ji1lu man, lemme list so far what ive tried lol: debian, arch, slackware, nixos, alpine, fedora. I may have forgotten one or two but thats 90% right there hehe
I tried Ubuntu back in 2012, worked well for me then. Trying to move back to Ubuntu now, but there are a lot of things that prevent me from being able to fully switch (hardware compatibility and program support). But Dual booting for those minor cases where no solution exists has been well enough. Sending this video to someone else that is thinking of moving from windows so both of us can learn more.
As a 15 year Linux user I'd choose dual boot on your installation, so you can always go back to Windows and choose a Debian distribution, like Linux Mint or Ubuntu, because they just work out of the box. Personally, I use Ubuntu.
I have been a Unix/Linux sysadmin for 30 years; but I sometimes struggle to explain Linux and especially switching to Linux to somebody who has never laid eyes on it. I though this was a good way to start the conversation, essentially, what do you want to do with your computer? Here is some terminology you might need to know. For most people I have talked to: browse the web, write things and maybe occasionally a spread sheet. The one caveat I think is a concern is working with picky websites. One that comes to mind, because we just filed are taxes in the US is dealing with the IRS website. My solution for someone who isn't dual booting is to use your phone since iphone and Android are usually supported under the vanilla browser.
@@CyberGizmo One of the things I'm hoping to learn is the feasibility of loading a Win-8.1 OS in a virtual machine and dealing with picky antiquated government websites from there.
I’ve been planning this for a while. Chose my distro, my desktop, managed to import all software (I already used free software for the most part). Had to chose what to get native in the distro, and what from flatpack, configured most software, steam, disks, video card. It runs so fast, is like magic. Could stream, could watch videos, develop using JDK and node, even play games and edit video. However, even tho I managed to get most of what I needed, I’m stuck in a little problem: I have a piece of hardware that just won’t work in linux, which is an elgato internal capture card. That’s right now what’s keeping me on windows. I really didn’t expect it, hooked my switch and ran ffplay to test it, and it wasn’t there. Researched and, nope, it requires window’s dshow. There’s only an open source project on a different card of the same company, last updated years ago, to use windows’ drivers in linux, and it doesn’t work with my card. That Company just won’t develop for linux, and Linux users just won’t use that hardware, it seems. So I’m stuck there. Doubtful a device driver will be made in the meantime, and I am not qualified, nor sure is worth and feasible to invest the time and effort learning how to make it myself (I also doubt I’ll be able to do it in time for windows’ death) So at this point I’m just hoping to get a decent job that’ll let me just buy a new motherboard. I’ll just move to 11.
You make an absolutely valid point and there is probably no answer for you here - sometimes hardware or software is too proprietary for Linux to be able to support it. One solution might be to use a Windows VM under Linux to use the hardware that way but that may not be what you want. But let me just state that you get exactly the problems under Windows. I have a Canon flatbed scanner that is probably 15 years old now but works perfectly fine. There have been no Windows drivers for it since the days of Windows XP but it works in Linux under the SANE application. I also run Linux on some very old IBM Thinkpads from the Pentium III era with old Netgear PCMCIA wifi cards that work fine on my home network with WPA2 but could never work in Windows in any circumstance because the only drivers that exist come from the XP era again but never supported WPA2, only WEP. So, for balance, this does apply both ways.
You could have made it a little more clear that the windows manager environment has already been configured by others for many different "look and feel" designs. Showing nubes a blank screen and telling them that they can write a bunch of code to create their windowing environment will simply scare them off. You know a lot, but you still have a ways to go to communicate with the people still afraid to change over to Linux. Stick with how to pick a distro, install, and use. I think we are closer to getting more people to change, now that they are getting used to apps on their phones and doing everything as a web application. Google has moved us pretty far to a web-based usage model which will make switching to Linux possible.
In Windows, you can level up from basic user to advanced user to the administrator. In Linux, you can either be a basic user, and use point-and-click, or an administrator, proficient with CLI and knowing what terms to search for when solving problems. So the most painful switch from Windows to Linux will be for productive advanced users - professionals who use Windows for work and have their shortcuts throughout UI. These users will suffer the most from the switch.
There are two groups of PC-users who can quite easily switch to Linux: 1. Brand new users who have no or very little experience with the PC and who have not learned to work with any specific proprietary software. 2. The highly skilled users who are handy with software, they will figure out how to make it work. It is those users in-between for who it is the biggest challenge or in some cases even impossible to switch to Linux, if on their job they must use some Windows-only or Apple-only program. Of course in many cases you could run Windows or Apple its system in a VM and you can just passthrough the graphics card but that requires that you have at least 1 discrete graphics card and integrated grraphics on the CPU or 2 graphics cards (which is not ideal). But most Windows-users can switch to Linux without any problem, even if it is a bit more challenging. I myself fully switched to Linux (no Windows on my PC's) in 2019. I was stuck to using Windows because of gaming.
Visual Studio Code runs just fine on Linux. It's not as robust as the full Visual Studio IDE, but depending on your needs it could do just about anything you need. And it's free!
@@richarddaugherty8583 VS Code is free, and very good, but Visual Studio is totally different, it's a huge beast that's baked deeply into Windows, as it was built specifically for developing Windows apps. Ignoring the technical blocks with porting Visual Studio, It'll be a cold day in hell if MS ever ships a Linux version of it, C# and the Windows API are their breadwinners. Recommended approach is to use a Windows VM for it - Microsoft actually distributes free pre-made VM images with VS pre-installed, mostly for this reason.
I'm finding it almost incredible how timely this series is. I am lazy so I did not open up my 12 -year-old daily driver and give it a proper dusting after I welcomed a rescue cat into my home. Consequently, it overheated and shut down. It is likely that the fan speed management software shut it down to protect the hardware, but I had intended to build a Linux-dedicated, modern machine to replace this formerly Win8.1-based system when it showed signs of getting feeble. I think the only thing I'll keep of the original is the server-size Thermaltake HAF ( High Air Flow ) tower case. I have learned much, over my 8-year journey out of the grasp of the Windows-Slavers, from other instructors such as Chris Titus Tech, but I am eagerly waiting for the next installment to learn a so-called rightly guided path to a brand new modern machine designed to optimize Linuxs strengths. I am a virtual " Nubie ". It isn't a derogatory term if one uses it to keep me humble and, therefore teachable!
5 years ago I loaded linux mint on an old laptop of 8 years been running ever since. Recognized my printers and mouse . Zero problems using it. Of course, not doing heavy load computing
@asifshamsi, somewhere on the panel bar there is a button that shows you how the machine is connected to the internet or not. Both WIFI and Ethernet will be displayed there. You can find the panel bar on the right side, left side, top, or bottom of your screen.
Even though I've had a white long beard and white hair for over 20 years, I clicked on this video expecting a clean-shaven Dj Ware. We criticize women for war paint and other stuff, but we blokes can hide our age with a $2.50 razor and a morning habit. We digress from the Linux topic at hand. $0.02
After this Windows AI snap shot feature from Co-pilot im convince I must move to Linux. Once I have a little info on how to setup Citrix workspace for remote work i'll commit fully.
nothing new here but something i wish someone warned me about or advised (which DJ Ware does) is to have all of your stuff in your HOME directory. and if you are going to try different Linux distros, to get and running much easier and faster i would have a partition just for the home directory. when you change Linux you can then during installation select that partition as where your home is. but this is too advanced for beginners i guess. though its handy for keeping things like your settings for apps that work in many different Linux distributions. you reinstall the apps and is like you have never left the other Linux Distro.
One thing you have to get used to when starting Linux, is not having to pay for high end programs. I've had a computer company well over 30 years, and I prefer Linux to Windows.
Thank you very much for all this information! I did not even know that Windows_10 is approaching its "end of life". I will be definitely sticking around for the duration of this series! I've got a refurbished mini-PC with Windows_10 on it, which I was thinking to make into a double-boot machine. Now I am thinking why would I need a double boot, if Windows_10 will become obsolete anyways??? I am considering Linux Mint (Debian-based), as I heard that it requires less frequent updates. I would appreciate, if you could dedicate some time to software installation. I have already prepared a laundry list of software that I need / like. However, installation options seem to be overwhelming. AppImage, flatpak, Snap package, .dep file -- what is the difference? What to choose? Do I download a file from the software web-page or do I search in the Software Centre? Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Biggest issue I have had with Linux systems over the years is that hardware doesn't always play nicely with it and you have to spend time (sometimes a significant amount) troubleshooting and figuring it out. Sometimes it's as easy as using a different kernel or driver and just finding which combination of those works best. Good news is that nowadays most stuff used on Windows either also has a Linux version or a Linux-only replacement unless it's super niche and proprietary to Windows systems. Again, the biggest hassle with Linux is getting everything to work right with the hardware you're using
We are retired on fixed income, buying a new PC etc... is out of the question for so we need something for pictures, video, surfing, Facebook, juno webmail, Gmail, banking, Amazon, eBay, etc.. win 7 and 10 pro is great, but we need help, thx 🙏👍
Here's the problem that I have with moving from Windows to Linux. The user is forced to learn an entirely new vocabulary >>> "Distro", "Dual Boot", "KASM Workspaces"; how do these concepts interact. And I'm sure those concepts are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. As one sinks deeper and deeper into the Linux vocabulary, new concepts and procedures become overwhelmingly intimidating and frustrating. I know that life is a life-long learning process. But life should not be a life-long technology-learning process. At some point, the general public is going to say >>> NO MORE to "technological evolution". I, for one, would rather get outdoors, run 4 miles, and breathe fresh air than sit in a chair staring at a computer screen as a slave to conceptual learning wrought by greedy techno-masters.
I'm 83 and Linux is not giving me any problems. I use KDE Neon. It updates automatically. I installed it using BTRFS as the root file system, so backing up takes only a few seconds to create a BTRFS snapshot.
@@BaldGeek83 Well good for you. But you don't speak for the general public. As I said above >>> At some point, the general public is going to say >>> NO MORE
@@kenthompson5723 so, you claim YOU speak for the "general public"? Nice to know. KDE was offered on SuSE 5.3 in September of 1998. I've used it, now known as the Plasma Desktop, every since. IF you like Windows you'll love the Plasma desktop. The only requirement, unless you are a keyboard gutu, is to know how to use the mouse.
Folks don't go buy a low spec Computer like $500 or less. Its not going to run Windows 11 and 12 very well. Spend a $1000 and up. Or just install Linux it will run on any Computer.
Win10 is my last MS platform. It will be a pain, but I should have done it years ago. After OVER 45 years on an IBM/MS platform, I'm going to transition to Linux. No more MS. Bill Gates is only interested in injections and bugs these days anyway.
My Meteor Lake Intel works fine, everything has been working with it since Mid January with the 6.7 kernels. Can't speak about AMD, the Only AMD I own is a processor which is a 3rd gen Ryzen. NVidia....oh don't get me started...LOL
@@CyberGizmo I heard that AMD in general is more compatible than Intel, and certainly Nvidia - that is despised by Linus Torvalds! Is it true that AMD drivers are also open source?
Intel/Nvidia integrated stuff doesn't play nicely with Linux depending on what hardware you have. HDMI and audio stuff can be pretty all over the place in particular
If you have Windows 10 and you want to use Linux, can Linux modify the microcode of the computer in some way that interferes with normal Windows operation - and vice versa - Windows making mods so Linux cannot function properly?
Yes, they both occasionally update the micro-kernels which load at boot so nothing permanent from the linux camp, we don't modify the BIOS like ahem some other company does...now if there are mods to the BIOS all bets are off.
@@truthislam6481 I'm talking about a separate hard drive scenario. Even in such a case, there is still the rest of the system that all drives use and that could be the problem - regarding modification of the microcode - correct?
@@purpasmart_4831 The last time I looked, it was still firmly in experimental with very few applications even being aware of HDR colour spaces, so, it's close, but definitely not fully here, at least to the level where I can comfortably make the switch on my desktop. Make no mistake though, I'm not some Windows Andy, I'm running dual boot on my desktop and my laptop is running Fedora, I want to be comfortable making the switch completely, but like I said, the support is coming, but it's not yet here.
I agree to a point as long as one does not try to make Linux work the way one is accustomed to Windows working. It is totally different. Once you have passed that hurdle the learning curve will not be anywhere near as steep!
Yeah, the toxicity towards new users and problems they encounter is a real thing. I will say this though, it forced me to solve all my own problems myself and now I know my way around a Linux system nearly as well as a sysadmin.
1000% of the reason it took me so long to get into linux was the toxicity. Every attempt to solve a problem resulted in rebooting to my designated windows drive, while muttering, "Goddamn linux mouth-breathers".
There are so many sites with helpful information that I was just able to figure it out. I do a lot of stuff with Raspberry Pi's and I've always found that community extremely helpful. Much, not all, but much of that info is transferrable. Pi's are fun to play with, relatively cheap, and designed for learning (for 7 to 14 year olds). The maker community loves them too. I also have laptops that I've blown Windows away on and installed Linux. I'm running Fedora 39 Workstation on one of them. I generally stay away from Reddit. That's where the flame wars are. There's really no excuse to look down one's nose at someone coming over to Linux. The main distros have gotten way better over the last 5 to 10 years. You still have to learn the operating system, and you'll find that a lot of stuff is easier at the command line. I also love NOT typing backslashes as part of file paths! It's hard to go wrong with Linux Mint, Debian, Ubuntu, or Fedora. One last thing. If you have a license for Microsoft Office, almost all of what you need is available, for free!, in Libre Office. It would be kind to make a donation, but you don't have to. Libre Office can read and write Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files as well as the Libre Office native format. BTW, I'm 68. I recommend Libre Office to all of my senior friends. There's a version for Windows too.
This is not completely unwarranted! Those who are adept, already know that it takes at minimum hundreds of hours of learning basic skills, to become coachable. People who don't make the initial investment are guaranteed to fail, so why waste time answering specific questions. You've got to learn to jump before you can run.
@@stepannovotny4291 There is no excuse for being rude and unhelpful. In the long run it works against the community. Rather than being rude and/or unhelpful, one should simply not respond to a post if you deem it unworthy of one's time. Good manners have not gone out of style.
You either need emacs or you do not. I have worked with UNIX-like systems since 1989, vi and vim have been fine for my editing needs. I have never once found a need to use emacs, particularly because I work on customer Linux systems in my day job where vim is always installed but emacs probably is not. If others prefer emacs then good luck to them, they exercise the same right to choose that I and everyone else does. But the opposite of "engineer" is "fanboy" and I am the former, not the latter.
I disagree with using WINE to run windows games on linux. If playing games that important to you, it's better just to have a windows machine for games and do everything else on a linux system.
I use my Linux laptop(Debian testing) and desktop(Garuda Linux) systems for many endeavors, but mostly for gaming. And I no longer have any desire to be in MS Windows to do so! So, I disagree with you.
