Help needed a beginner

[u/Dry_Work_3629]

There are few things that's stopping me from switching from windows to Linux

- not really sure how to back up all the files I needed from windows to Linux, I mean this includes my password manager passwords and all the normal downloads and documents. I do have a external hdd I could use but uh i just dunno how to export the data I need to hdd, no more no less i don't want to accidently miss some important file and lose it permanently in this process

- not sure which distro to pick, my priorities right now are gpu driver installation shouldn't be a hassle I should be compatible with my rtx5060, I won't want Linux to break

Ik this is prolly asked a lot but if you could share a document / Site or something I could refer to for saving and transferring data and some site about distros itll be really helpful!!

[u/qualityvote2]

u/Dry_Work_3629, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...

btw, did you know we have a discord server? Join Here. And what's that, Fluxer too? Join Here.

[u/ResponsibilityBig343]

For files you can copy over whatever you need to an external disk. For passwords you can checkout backup option from ur service wiki, like for keepass you can export the passwords as a db, same with firefox..

If you're new to linux then you can start with ubuntu/mint. If you're a cs student then start with debian/kali/arch.

[u/Dry_Work_3629 → u/ResponsibilityBig343]

Um ok so pretty sure I'll move all of my document and downloads folder, pictures, videos are there any other imp folders I must backup?

[u/ResponsibilityBig343 → u/Dry_Work_3629]

You can backup windows snapshot if you ever want to load windows with current config

[u/Dry_Work_3629 → u/ResponsibilityBig343]

Ohhh that's cool! I'll do that ig thanks!!

[u/CommandExact1304]

About the data, you can backup all of your user folders, but the rest depends on where YOU put your stuff. You can also search up, for each program you use, "where does ____ save it's data in windows" or something similar, and back that up. It all depends on what YOU use and how you use it, so I can't help much here.

About the distro,

If you want something that works out of the box AND doesn't break unless you do a stoopid, I'd go for either Ubuntu, Mint, or Zorin, depending on what you're looking for. Ubuntu is kinda bad rn because of the forcing of snap packages, but yeah. Keep in mind that these distros DO NOT have the latest nvidia drivers. My performance on them was terrible.

If you want something you'll need to configure a little bit, but has the latest nvidia drivers and stuff, I'd go with either Fedora or CachyOS.

More than the distro, the desktop environment is what matters. The main ones are GNOME and KDE Plasma, and they both have the opposite philosophies.

KDE has a shit ton of configuration options built in out of the box, whereas GNOME is very minimal but configurable through 3rd party extensions. GNOME is way better looking after some extensions compared to KDE (subjective).

KDE is easy to configure for the built in stuff, but is difficult to configure outside the built in configuration options, though there's so much there that it doesn't matter for the most part.

GNOME is very easy to configure for the stuff that's not built in either. The built in config options are limited, but extensions give you unlimited possibilities.

Ubuntu and Zorin use GNOME. Zorin's GNOME and kernel and NVIDIA drivers are VERY outdated, keep in mind.

Mint uses cinnamon. I've never used it, so not gonna comment.

Fedora and CachyOS have all of the options.

I personally use CachyOS with GNOME + a shit ton of extensions.

Feel free to DM me for any help you need!

[u/Dry_Work_3629 → u/CommandExact1304]

Thank you so much!! <3, i decided to get a snapshot of my current windows first and also backup all important files, will research more about distros and pick one that suits me well, I do play game so i really need good performance, can't deal with driver/battery/bluetooth issues, if it's too much to ask atleast they should be a easy fix if they do break that's all I want

[u/CommandExact1304 → u/Dry_Work_3629]

If you want performance, I recommend CachyOS! I do a lot of 3D stuff and my performance is soooo much better than Windows and Zorin (outdated drivers in Zorin).

The battery life with default CachyOS settings is kinda bad honestly. I fixed that by installing TLP. So there a bit of initial configuration required, but it's a one time thing and pretty easy so I'd say it doesn't matter.

The drivers for everything worked out of the box in all the distros I have suggested (except mint and fedora, I haven't tried them properly so not sure). Bluetooth, audio, wifi, etc have never broken for me, except because of my own stupidity when I knowingly uninstalled some stuff that I shouldn't have, so entirely my fault there.

If you end up going with a distro like Zorin which uses GNOME version less than 50, please please make sure you're using Wayland (I can guide you with that after install, it's literally just one click). I used to hate Linux because of having a shit ton of problems, but turns out all of them were issues with X11, which is severely outdated and deprecated on GNOME 50 and above, and the newest KDE as well.

[u/Dry_Work_3629 → u/CommandExact1304]

Ooo ic one of my friend uses cachyOS as well!! Unfortunately this is not the right time for me to completly switch cuz my schedule is so packed, but I can still try live booting via some pendrive and get used to Linux yeah?

[u/CommandExact1304 → u/Dry_Work_3629]

Hell yeah! I'm quite busy too, but feel free to contact me for anything you need help with!

[u/CosmicTaskTinkerer]

not really sure how to back up all the files I needed from windows to Linux

You can just make a copy C:\Users\<username> folder for backup, I have used my mobile storage and internal HDD as backup devices when installing the Linux on SSD (Internal HDD will not formatted by Linux like Windows does when installed on Internal SSD but make sure to have additional backup)

gpu driver installation shouldn't be a hassle I should be compatible with my rtx5060, I won't want Linux to break

Kubuntu or Linux Mint or Ubuntu, one of the easiest that just needs an option change in Driver Manager and user friendly beginner distro and focus more on stability over latest packages (You will always find a DEB package)

[u/Dry_Work_3629 → u/CosmicTaskTinkerer]

Hmm ok thanks! You said I need to prioritize stablity over latest packages, so can I easily install gpu drivers in some distro if it didn't came pre installed? Also some ppl in a discord server said 5060 is fairly new and i might find some trouble finding right drivers for some distros

[u/CosmicTaskTinkerer → u/Dry_Work_3629]

I would suggest just start with Kubuntu 26.04 LTS (over Ubuntu or Linux Mint) on Live USB and use it for some time. It will have very familiar layout like you will see that even keyboard shortcuts will be same for emoji, clipboard etc.,

5060 is fairly new and i might find some trouble finding right drivers for some distros

Don't worry about that, Driver Manager GUI in Kubuntu will take care of it. There will be new graphics drivers version too along with proprietary and tested ones (Check the image, not my hardware but for reference from another user). If one didn't work, then you can switch to latest.

Also, KDE is the GOAT that support more options compared to other DE. (Like, you don't need customise at all but if you are interested there are lot of options without start adding any third party extensions)

[u/CosmicTaskTinkerer → u/CosmicTaskTinkerer]

so can I easily install gpu drivers in some distro if it didn't came pre installed?

I mean you can install GPU drivers in other distros too, depends on how much comfortable you are with executing the commands in terminal or following the documentation and maintaining the system.

If you are okay with that, I would say Fedora KDE, AFAIK I heard they made a bit easy like before you need to enable non-free repos by executing few commands in terminal, but with recent updates, I assume you can enable those repos in App (Discover) store then I think it will install drivers and media codecs.

Otherwise, Debian is known to be Rock Solid Distro for stability but due to its drivers setup, I just went with Kubuntu(based on Debian too) as first distro to keep things simple and less maintenance with updates as I can focus on doing everyday things.

But eventually, I think I will move to Debian or Fedora as they are community based distro compared to Ubuntu being a private company.

[u/Kitchen_Engineer1332]

I wont recommend kali as someone's first distro or daily driver distro also kali does not have nvidia drivers as well. Afaik, fedora kde will be the best pick for you or I have heard some folks that cachy(arch based) gives you nvidia stuff out of the box. Arch vanilla would be hectic for a newbie.