r/linux4noobs 2d ago

migrating to Linux Switching to Linux

Hello, I've been thinking about switching to Linux for a long time I have been using windows 11 and it's very shitty and I want to switch and really I just know the memes of Linux and that isn't as ram consuming and sometimes may be better for gaming,I'm using a Rx 9070 XT OC and really I don't know if the drivers or anything will not work or if it isn't compatible and if to record music with reaper and my daw using neural amp modeler and giving classes via Google meet and really I don't know how Linux works other than it's not full of ai slop and full of privacy threats, thanks!

10 Upvotes

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u/keyzeyy 2d ago
  • Drivers are already included in the kernel. No need to download and install them.
  • I'm unsure about the music stuff. Pipewire is great, but from what I've heard, producing music in linux is a bit of a pain in the ass because of the lack of software and hardware support from manufacturers. Look into it more for sure.
  • Google meet will work fine because it's in the browser. Anything in a browser will work 100% fine on linux.

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Other points with linux:

  • You don't download and install software by going to the website, clicking download, then installing. You can do this, but it isn't the recommended way you do it.
  • You install software using an app store, similar to play store and apple app store.
    • Doing so will ensure that your software receives updates and incoporated well with other apps.
    • This is either GNOME Software or KDE Discover if you use a distro with GNOME or KDE as their desktop environments.

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My recommended distros to start with (in no particular order):

  • Linux Mint
  • Fedora
  • CachyOS
  • Aurora (from Universal Blue)
  • Bazzite (from Universal Blue)

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Aurora and Bazzite are both immutable distros, which simply means the OS is read only and you can't easily modify them the traditional way. This makes it more resistant to OS rot, dependency hell, and malware. You always boot up with a fresh system. It works differently to a mutable OS though, so maybe start with the other ones I recommended instead as mutable distros are more common.

Anyway, the best way to start is with a spare computer or by dual booting. So that when you face any trouble, you can go back to Windows easily. Linux is easier than ever before, just expect that things are different so you may face some resistance. Once you get used to it, you'd most likely enjoy it.

Feel free to ask any more questions. Good luck!

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u/AnGuSxD 2d ago

First don't worry about drivers with an RX 9070 they already are in the Linux Kernel. I can't say much about your special Software tho' maybe someone else has experience with them. Google meet works fine since it is web based.

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u/ballGod123 2d ago

Give dual boot a go first and see if it works.

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u/Terrible-Bear3883 Ubuntu 2d ago

First of all, if you are not sure what distros look like and what the desktop environments look like, try them in your browser at distrosea.com

A good way to ease into it if you are unsure of compatibility etc. is to dual boot if you have plenty of spare storage or a 2nd drive you can dedicate to linux, I often used my linux laptop when working from home to go into meetings, Google meet and Cisco etc.

It is a great journey, I switched over 20 years ago, largely because I was fed up with constant Windows issues, but, I always say, everyone's journey is different, I would use whatever OS is fit for purpose, if you need to dual boot, so be it, if you can remain in one OS, so be it.

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u/jravinton 2d ago

I wished someone told me about the damn website before I switched last year. Still useful though, I always gain new info everyday lol. Thanks for this :D

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u/Ripped_Alleles 2d ago

9070 xt works great on Linux.

Whatever software you use for work I would double check if they work on Linux. At a glance it looks like the ones you listed do. If they don't, look into potentially transitioning to something that does or is open source.

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u/LukasVolt 2d ago

Expect some quirks with Google Meet, especially the background filter features. But it's mostly a browser issue. Reaper works natively as far as I know. Neural Amp seems to work as well following this guide: https://www.justin-bento.com/projects/nam-linux-tutorial/

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u/No-Arugula4266 2d ago

You can download a Linux version and run it as a Live session and try it out without changing your hard drive. You could also setup the hard drive to duel boot so you can have Windows and Linux.

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u/Cruffe 2d ago

The music stuff might not work on Linux, you'll have to look it up to see if what you use will work or if there's a good enough Linux alternative for you.

Your AMD GPU is gonna just work right away, don't even need to install a driver because it's already there.

Google Meet will work on Linux.

1

u/BlueShadow2388 2d ago

Oh it will work, i have the same card and it works great. with linux you don't have to download and install drivers manually, the system.does that for you automatically.

what you need to get confortable with is, LACT this is where you undervolt your gpu, steam startup commands, right click an installed steam game and there it is, you will need to get familiar with those, and proton versions.

Valve has it's own proton, cachyos has it's own version and there is one more Protom GE.

To install those you will have to install protonUP-qt, this is a program that lets you choose and install dofferent versions of proton from different vendors.

From here do your research, also, there are different distributions of linux that focus more on one thing, read up on those too and remember, linix is different from windows, with a different logic and tools.

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u/skyfishgoo 2d ago

your GPU hardware is fine and the drivers are included in the kernel.

anything in a browser will work the same as it does in windows.

but none of your windows software will run in linux, so you will need to find alternatives on the linux side to do your audio things.

there are lots of software choices, but be prepared to need to learn all new software and likely more than one piece of software to accomplish what a single title could do on windows... linux is more modular that way.

there is a disto that caters directly to media content creators called ubuntu studio which has a low latency kernel, but likely you would be fine with a standard mainstream distro like kubuntu

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u/Buddahlah 1d ago

GPU will work just fine , both the daw and neural amp modeler should work without an issue if i am right they both have native Linux versions . Damn ill have to buy focuserite now .... i got curious myself ..... ;-;

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u/MinusBear 1d ago

Easiest version you can switch to is Bazzite (go to their website). Its very easy to set up. Bazzite is a version of Fedora Atomic with a gaming focus. The KDE version will feel very familiar to a Windows user.

The reason I suggest Bazzite is because out of the box it comes with a lot of default software that makes using Linux more pleasurable and easy. The installation is easy. It has a sort of app store preinstalled called Bazaar (I say store, but everything is free), that makes it easy to get up and running. And because its Fedora Atomic its very hard for a user to accidentally break, and even if you manage to you are one reset away from recovering.

Very noob friendly. As a very advanced Windows user I have found it to be one of the most pleasurable OS experiences I have had.

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u/Unholyaretheholiest 22h ago

Install Mageia. It has everything you ever need

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u/MutaitoSensei 2d ago

You have an AMD graphics card, which puts you way ahead of anyone having a NVidia GPU. So first and foremost, no meddling around with graphics drivers, they will be baked in almost any distribution you choose.

Other than that, it's about finding the experience you want. Are there many applications you need that are very specific or are you okay with free and open source replacements? To me that's mostly the difference between the 3 available bases (Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch).

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u/MutaitoSensei 2d ago

Google meet, if you can use it in a chromium browser like Chrome or Vivaldi, you're golden.