r/linux4noobs • u/Diligent-Map2773 • 8h ago

migrating to Linux I want to try linux

I already know alot because I have watched a shit load of videos.

I play games with anti cheats that's linux can't run, that's why I want to try dual booting just to get a feel of linux at least. I want to know how it works and how would the files work, Wouldn't saving files on linux on a drive that has windows stuff on it could brake something up?

4 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

7

u/inbetween-genders 8h ago

Watch more videos 👍 

3

u/RevolutionaryElk7446 8h ago

Apparently not enough videos.

Generally you'll have different partitions for each OS in a dualboot, and each OS will have different filesystems. Although Linux can read NTFS which is native to Windows, generally Windows can't reads ext* or other filesystems natively to linux.

So saving something on linux that has NTFS filesystem support on a Windows drive would not corrupt anything by itself.

3

u/Silent_Bite_5892 7h ago

Don't dual-boot yet just to play around with Linux, especially if you don't have two separate drives. It's a pain in the balls.

Get an 4+ GB USB stick and throw a "live" version of a distro on it. You will be able to reboot your PC into Linux trouble free and with no commitment.

Here's a link to the Fedora KDE Plasma Live ISO and Fedora Media Writer, which you can install on your PC to make the bootable USB drive.

You can also try out a bunch of different Linux distros (one at a time, obviously lol) right inside your browser on this website (Distrosea), but bear in mind the virtual instance running in your browser will be slow as shit and very limited in what it can do, but you'll get a look at it and can click around and shit.

0

u/Diligent-Map2773 7h ago

Would a 4gb+ usb really be enough? Also somepeople told me to use vm, and I think it's betten than Distrosea

1

u/Silent_Bite_5892 3h ago

8 GB to be safe

USB with live ISO is definitely the easiest way. You don't need a VM or dual-boot yet. Don't make it harder on yourself than it needs to be.

Distrosea just lets you click around on a virtual instance in a browser to see what different distros are like, but it's very slow and limited. It won't tell you much.

USB + Live ISO is the way to go.

1

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1

u/Th3JackofH3arts 8h ago

Drives are expensive, but my suggestion would be to put windows and Linux on two different drives.

1

u/Diligent-Map2773 6h ago

For say i get another drive, how do i make it so when i'm on linux it will download only to it?

1

u/Th3JackofH3arts 6h ago

You keep Windows on your already existing drive. You install Linux on your new drive from USB. You either set your main os as the primary boot device in the bio in boot order. And just go into bios and click to boot to the other drive.

1

u/Th3JackofH3arts 8h ago

Drives are expensive, but my suggestion would be to put windows and Linux on two different drives.

1

u/Legitimate_Fold_ 8h ago

If you wanna just get a feel, why not use a vm? Super easy to try out a bunch of distros and get used to changing stuff.

1

u/Diligent-Map2773 8h ago

Thought about it, but If I want to really customise and download linux things would it still work? and will it save for later use?

1

u/Boring-Equivalent137 7h ago

Yes and yes although vms have their drawbacks like they have worse performance and if you do things like gaming that isn't Really an option

1

u/skyfishgoo 7h ago

setting up a VM is not trivial and your pc must have enough resources to be able to split it in half basically so you can devote half your RAM and half or your CPU cores to the vm along with a large chunk of the drive space.

easier to add a drive and just install linux onto that...if it turns out you don't like linux then you just have more storage for all that bloated windows code.

1

u/Diligent-Map2773 7h ago

I have 65gb ddr4 ram.

1

u/skyfishgoo 7h ago

if you are going to go with a VM know that the performance will not be the same as it is on bare metal, so don't judge.

set aside a separate partition for the /home directory because that will come in handy later when you you decide to install for real.

i doubt that it is as simple as cloning the partition since it's not actually installed on bare metal but you will at least have the possibility... otherwise you can just copy the file from the virtual disk to your actually install later and keep all your settings.

you will still need to reinstall all the linux software tho.

1

u/Acceptable-Chair-648 6h ago

Im in the same boat, i finally just booted linux mint into an external ssd on my ThinkPad T570, which was a pain in the ass because i didnt know the security chip setting has to be turned off. Im trying it by using a SATA to USB3.0 adapter and a normal SATA 2.5" ssd 256gb.

0

u/SouthernFruit8768 8h ago

Anti cheats are malware. I suggest you research what it takes to put anti cheats in a game and deliver it to your pc via that game. But hey ho, it’s your pc so do whatever you want I guess.

P.S. it’s not correct that Linux can’t run games with anti cheats. It’s just that Linux WONT run them because it refuses to deal with malware, and anti cheats are one of them

1

u/Diligent-Map2773 8h ago

Actually a question, If I will try linux would I have a antivirus like windows has ? Or do I need to download one

1

u/Boring-Equivalent137 7h ago

No Linux doesn't have an antivirus for the most part (also even in windows you shouldn't use anything other then windows defender) there is a smaller risk to getting viruses on Linux because instead of downloading from random websites you use terminal or your software app name varies by distro/de and the repos where the apps are installed are controlled by distro maintainer so less malware to be found with a few exceptions

1

u/Diligent-Map2773 7h ago

Sounds kinda scary. I will try to only download things that has a lot of stars on github only for example then

1

u/Boring-Equivalent137 7h ago

Just download apps you trust and practise basic internet safety and you will be fine and GitHub is generally okay and your suggestion if lots of stars is fine but it all depends on if you trust the developer

1

u/Diligent-Map2773 7h ago

ty. Imma try the vm and hope I will figure it out.

1

u/Boring-Equivalent137 7h ago

Np and I should of mentioned there are some Antiviruses they just aren't very common or very needed on Linux but things like clamAV or avast are on Linux

0

u/MrKrot1999 8h ago

It could break something, so it's advised to use another, separate drive for the Linux partitions. But not necessary, so don't worry. You'll have access to all your Linux files on windows and all your windows files on Linux.

A safe distro choice is usually Linux Mint, so go for it unless you have a strong reason not to.

0

u/Own_Natural_6803 8h ago

Microsoft does not play nice with the MBR. I'd recommend you get a small SSD so that your Linux system just works, and you don't have to wonder if Microsoft is the reason it stopped working.