Linux & Windows

[Lipcot]

Hi there people! so, i've got my new computer and im doubting between linux and windows.

I am a total noob with linux, used it only a couple of times.

Used windows always.

if i were to start using linux, what would you reccomend? ubuntu, lime? or should i just stick with windows and have to format the pc every now and then?

PD: im going to use it for college stuff (excel, word, nothing fancy) and some gaming (bf4 and that kind of stuff)

[i luffs yeww]

Personally, I feel much more comfortable with any *nix distro than Windows, but I'm still using Windows right now. Sometimes if you want to play games, for example, you just can't avoid Windows. However, no matter what your situation, I'd recommend dual booting. It's not very difficult to do, and it gives you the best of both worlds. I also personally constantly have a vm of ubuntu running on my windows machine that I ssh into via putty so I can still use it for quickly messing about in an environment I'm more comfortable with.

I'd start off with Ubuntu as your first taste of Linux. It's a decent flavor with some of the best support out of all distros. I don't much care for the UI changes that have been happening to it lately, but I also don't have a desktop environment. I like Linux Mint and Arch, although Arch is not a great start for beginners unless you really want to get into the Linux world (it's really fun!).

Hope that helps. Good luck.

[King]

Linux is going to be better on resources and gives you a bit more control over the computer a little easier. I honestly do not mind Ubuntu, however I would stick with windows for the basic college stuff, excel, gaming ect.. I do not have nay experience with linux gaming.

I am running OS X Yosemite, so I do not really like windows, I have thought about installing linux on a separate portion of my Macbook.

Linux is great every time I have used it though.

[Rlp]

If you are going to go with linux then linux mint or ubuntu would be a good choice. I dual boot ubuntu and windows but I have used Linux Mint in the past and many other distros too.

[Frement]

If you are going to play BF4, then you'd better go with installing windows and linux.

[Lipcot]

im probably gonna do double, i've done it some time and it was cool ! The noobiest friendly stable linux choose would be ubuntu then ? Ubuntu + windows 7 (or 8?) ?

[akarigar]

im probably gonna do double, i've done it some time and it was cool ! The noobiest friendly stable linux choose would be ubuntu then ? Ubuntu + windows 7 (or 8?) ?

Windows 8 + Ubuntu would certainly be a good setup to game and learn Linux. If you set things up properly, you can have all your files saved in a third partition that is shared between both. I used to do something like that.

[Incurable]

im probably gonna do double, i've done it some time and it was cool ! The noobiest friendly stable linux choose would be ubuntu then ? Ubuntu + windows 7 (or 8?) ?

I prefer Windows 7, personally, so whether you choose 7 or 8 is really up to you. If you've never used 8 before, stick to 7, it's better anyway (imo). As for Linux, I haven't used it yet myself, but I've been recommended Mint as a total beginner to Linux, and I'll be installing it on a spare HDD I have laying around when I have some spare time. If you don't want to install Linux on a partition (not a lot of HDD space), just buy a cheap 1tb HDD and install Linux on that instead.

[anonymity]

undorak7, I mostly agree with things that luffs and other members said (why not both?).

Here are some things to consider and keep in mind:
- Did you just get this machine for college? Is it brand new? Are you in college yet (or at least registered)?

1. A lot of colleges/universities have some sort of contract or MSDNAA license with Microsoft - that include FREE Windows 7/8 keys for students.
- you should totally ask your school

2. If you're new to Linux (*nix, etc) there are many more things you GET to decide when choosing which distro you are going to use for what purpose. That is you have the ability to choose an Operating System & Environment more tailored to your wants/needs.

I normally try to get a gauge of what people have available and want out of a setup before I start suggesting things, but this being the internet - let me just lay out a few cases:
- When choosing a Linux distro, what you're really picking is a combination of the kernel, pre-configured window manager (desktop), application/package manager, and the community + docs (wikis). (in a nutshell)

a. Single boot Windows and use a virtual machine (like Virtual Box)
- this is suggested before choosing to dual boot, that way you can try out some of the great distros out there - with very little hassle

b. Dual boot & use Virtual Machines
- If you have a new laptop and don't have access to a new Windows key
- Like luffs said, it's great to have both - for the times you don't want/need Windows slowing you down and for the times you're using Windows and just need to pop into a VM to feel safe.

For Distros:
Debian is a strong place to start. Ubuntu will require more resources. Mint will require less resources. Fedora can be pretty cool. Arch will gain you street cred. Manjaro is easy Arch and totally worth checking out.

For Window Managers (desktops):
Ubuntu/Unity (I'm not sure what they call it these days - I haven't used Ubuntu in years) is good for larger screens and can be a resource hog. Openbox can be really sleek. KDE and Cinnamon and Mate can feel pretty comfortable for Windows users. XFCE is nice and light weight.
If you want to go HAM and build your own environment, consider/remember: Arch + Awesome + Tint2 +Urxvt + Conky

I don't own the Microsoft Office suite and have gotten by just fine over the last few years without it, by using LibreOffice and LaTex.

Yea, so my biggest suggestion would be to get some live CDs/Thumbdrives and/or just try different distros in Virtual machines. Once the ISOs are downloaded, they take 3 minutes (max) to boot live and try out.

[Lipcot]

thank you all, and thanks anonymity for the incredibly detailed answer , you've given me a lot of info to start investagating/choosing with!

...

[Ian]

If you have an android device you should get DriveDroid, it allows you to easily/quickly boot from an .iso stored on your phone. That way you can quickly test out many different types of linux without having to format and burn an iso to a usb each time.

[KeepBotting]

I'd like to vouch for Debian's awesomeness, if you choose it and need any help, I can provide. Incidentally, it's very easy to run Simba on Debian.

Ubuntu is really excellent but slightly overrated in my opinion, it overshadows a lot of other flavors just because it's so prominent. It also introduces things that I dislike such as an overly intrusive graphical environment (Canonical's Unity), and a "software manager" that moves a lot of activities away from the command-line.

If you want to start out in a more comfortable environment, Zorin OS is an Ubuntu-based distro with the look and feel of Windows 7. Little-known but really great if you want to get on your feet with Linux.

From a quick overview of DistroWatch, it seems like Linux Mint (based on Debian + Ubuntu) has overtaken Ubuntu as the #1 distro. I have no experience with Mint but statistics don't lie.

If you want to screw around and have a lot of fun, look into Kali (Debian-based). It can be daunting but the 1337 hax0r aspect of it is really cool.

As others have said, it's really hard to go wrong with a dual-boot. Most flavors use GRUB, which is very good at letting you choose what boots when.

Keep Windows around purely for compatibility reasons.
There are alternatives for Linux to nearly everything, but cross-compatibility is still a huge issue.

I've lost important data when trying to edit the same file in Microsoft Office + OpenOffice/LibreOffice. Notepad can't read gedit's formatting properly.
Simple stuff, but a huge setback if you plan on porting important documents from system to system. That's not to say that either OS is "bad", they just don't play nice with each other 100% of the time.

anonymity went over the basics of window managers, but he didn't mention GNOME (specifically GNOME Classic). It's not as flashy as Cinnamon or KDE, but I love it because of its simplicity and ease-of-use.

Someone mentioned Linux gaming. My take on that is that it's possible, but hard, and impractical. The vast majority of modern games just aren't available for Linux. Between PlayOnLinux and Wine, you can get some of them to run, but what you'll have access to is definitely a minority.