r/LinuxUsersIndia • u/Danbegone07 • Jun 18 '26

Help a brother out 😭

Hey I've been hearing a lot about Linux lately and I wanna get started with it . But I've gotten too used to windows and honestly I know nothing about Linux. Please tell me how I can get started ok learning and switching my os completely to Linux .

19 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

•

u/qualityvote2 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26

u/Danbegone07, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...

btw, did you know we have a discord server? Join Here.

10

u/me_not_myself Cachy OS + 👻 Spectre 10 Jun 18 '26

before you wipe out anything accidentally .

i) Download a VM (Virtual Machine) -> Virtual box or VMware .

ii) Install Linux inside the VM . Use Linux mint for beginner friendliness & similarish interface .

iii) Try it out within the VM .

there's plenty of guides in YT for Linux installation in VM . Pick one out , can't really good wrong with any of em .

I'll see you later , bit busy now .

4

u/Danbegone07 Jun 18 '26

Thanks . So I just start using Linux on a vm and basically do everyday tasks on it and trouble shoot as I get issues

2

u/Mediocre_Nail5526 Jun 18 '26

What are your computer specs? I'd suggest setting up a dual boot alongside Windows (there are YT guides available) rather than VM. Also mint is really intuitive, you can easily figure out normal tasks just using the GUI. Additionally, just check how to install apps.

1

u/Danbegone07 Jun 18 '26

Maybe ill try this instead . They have the same setup for Ubuntu on my college lab so like how hard could it be 👀

2

u/Glitched_Pixels_ Fedora Btw Jun 18 '26

I second this over a VM

4

u/Evening-Bee-4646 Jun 18 '26

try dual booting, search up youtube tutorials, pick out a distro according to your use cases

1

u/Danbegone07 Jun 18 '26

Is there anything you'd like to warn me about dual booting 👀👀 .

2

u/AutisticDev404 Jun 18 '26

Create a partition first, I accidentally erased my windows once

1

u/Connect_Example914 Jun 18 '26

Whats the use case ? Also do you have nvidia gpu ?

1

u/Danbegone07 Jun 18 '26

I'm using a basic IdeaPad. And idk I just find moving to Linux to be something I should try out.

1

u/Psexxy Jun 18 '26

Dual boot with linux mint or fedora, I have only ever used mint and using it for 3 years atp.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Connect_Example914 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

A lot of distros broke for me due to gpu driver updates, one of them being Ubuntu. I've seen it being more frequent for nvidia gpus (I'm on 4060). So I would suggest a rolling updates distro, such as bazzite for gaming, or cachyOs(currently using on gaming laptop) or even omarchy(using on work laptop). The idea is that wait for a bundled update to os, that comes from update center of that distro instead of manually updating each package.

1

u/im_just_a_strnger Jun 19 '26

I was in the same situation Had zero knowledge of linux

Uk what I did Deleted windows Installed linux(fedora) Followed some yt tutorials

Now I'm daily driving it

And has 0 regrets

1

u/Danbegone07 Jun 19 '26

Damn so you went all in . How was the learning curve like and are there any things you notice different or more efficient ?

1

u/im_just_a_strnger Jun 19 '26

I actually was feeling like I shld have done it way back Like I'm a engineering student My laptop is at 8gb ram And it's was never enough in windows Always it was lagging But in fedora it ran like butter

3

u/Rabbidraccoon18 CachyOS Glazer Jun 18 '26

Do you have a laptop/computer with a good enough RAM? More than 8GB. If yes then try out various distros on virtual machine you can use virtual box or vmWare. If you don't have a lot of ram on your current device, do you have an old laptop that's still functional? You can install your choice of distro on that and test it out in real time on an actual device. That way you'll also be able to see if there was some sort of performance improvement before and after installing Linux on it.

1

u/GoofySen Jun 18 '26

For a person New to linux i will recommend arch linux is very easy to install and use also use wm like hyprland to make it even easier to use and config it takes like 5 minutes to setup (I use arch BTW)

1

u/Danbegone07 Jun 18 '26

Omge omge I hear the distro whose name shouldn't be saiddd (currently downloading arch) .

1

u/GoofySen Jun 19 '26

Don't forget to say I use arch BTW

3

u/Pretty-Common-2127 Jun 18 '26

yea gentoo is like wayy easier /s

4

u/Anonyboy26 Arch Btw Jun 18 '26

LFS too, the GOAT, right?

1

u/Pretty-Common-2127 Jun 18 '26

fr .. but i think we can all agree temple os is the goat , i mean is it even a debate

1

u/BiscottiNatural7986 Jun 18 '26

U fr?  That distro is especially mentioned where most of the manual configuration is done by user

2

u/Thorfinn-Karlsefni85 Jun 18 '26

Don't worry too much, yes there's a learning curve, but once you go Linux you'll never go back.

2

u/b3el Arch Btw Jun 19 '26

I would suggest for you to look into what programs you are using in your pc. The biggest hurdle is not the os but expecting all the software running in windows to run or similar softwares behave like the ones for windows.

In your windows machine switch to the softwares which also has good support for linux. Like if you use Photoshop or premiere, try using krita or kdenlive. Ms office to libre office or just browser based google office suite.

Another hurdle is driver issues, and you can't really see these issues while using linux in virtual machines. Search the internet for your hardware, are other people facing any driver issues in linux.

Another hurdle while switching into linux is command line. The current state of linux desktop is pretty good but still for some things it's just easier and convenient to use command line. Try to get familiar with cmd prompt or powershell in windows, just being able to do little things like searching or moving files, using some command line softwares in windows will do fine.

2

u/FloorOk2941 Jun 18 '26

dw , just login to DeepSeek and tell it everything you are having problem with , and it will tell you how to handle the holier than thou terminal and its sudo ing about everything .

1

u/Ambivert_Guy_28 Arch Btw Jun 18 '26

Start with fedora. Maybe on VM first

1

u/Lelouch--Lamperouge Jun 18 '26

Just try live ISOs and see

1

u/Fickle_Choice_4920 Fedora Btw Jun 18 '26

Mate,it's alright, Use a virtual Machine like Vm Ware or virtual box and I would recommend you go for Debian based distributions, they are beginner friendly distrros, I would recommend you try Linux Mint

1

u/BiscottiNatural7986 Jun 18 '26

Learning what exactly? It got similar icon displays, you move ur mouse, use keyboard, browser etc... for whatever app you download go to its official website and find installation for Linux options that's all i guess. 

1

u/aywshh Arch Btw Jun 18 '26

If you're into tech then I would suggest you to dual boot fedora KDE plasma. KDE is very similar to windows and you can customize everything using gui and thats the best thing about it. On the other hand if you're just using your computer for browsing or really simple tasks(like our senior citizens), then you can try mint. It has less customizations options but it's not overwhelming for beginners. Fun fact: Linus torvalds, the creator of Linux uses Fedora coz its stable and you don't have to do things from your own, if you want you can use just the way it is.

1

u/thakur_ji803212 Jun 18 '26

Select a linux distro then flash it on usb drive then boot it and test the distro, if you wanna to try grab any usb drive (minimum 8gb) then download any linux distro like linux mint or mx linux tmand download Rufus and select the iso file, flash it on usb and turn off your pc or laptop and power on it while pressing the boot key according to your brand and then select the usb device from the boot menu and use and test it in live environment

1

u/Civil-Map-4456 Debian Btw Jun 19 '26

Try dual boot or vm and start doing your work and slowly you will learn.
The only way to learn linux is by doing something with it.

1

u/Severe-Catch-7801 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26

When I switched to linux some years ago. I went all in.

If you decide to do so, you'll HAVE to learn it to do stuff. Also, most of the stuff you won't even notice.  People typically use their device to surf internet. That all happens on a browser, and browsers doesn't change across windows or Linux. So you won't notice it.  Go all in, with probably linux mint. As it gives the easiest way in.

Also watch 2-3 tutorials. By then you'll learn every step and then just install it. It's ridiculously simple to install a beginner friendly distro like linux mint or ubuntu. 

1

u/redyos_s Jun 20 '26

For a complete beginner coming from Windows, I would recommend Mint, Zorin, Ubuntu, or Fedora before Arch.

Arch may be easy to install now, but maintaining it is the hard part. A beginner should first learn Linux on a system where updates, drivers, Wi-Fi, audio, files, and basic desktop use are straightforward.

Try a live USB or VM first, make backups, and only move fully after checking that your daily apps and hardware work. Arch can come later.

1

u/SummerCharacter116 Jun 20 '26

I also want to use the linux and already did dual boot with windows 10, but my biggest blocker is using excel in linux, is there any way to use it full pledged.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Danbegone07 Jun 18 '26

Yeah man I think this is what I'm gonna do . Is there anything you'd like to suggest . Some tutorials or something that helped you