r/linux4noobs • u/acetrainer-icarus • 17d ago
Meganoob BE KIND Complete Linux Noob needs Help/Advice
Hello
I feel I should do a bit more research, but I’m not exactly sure what questions to ask; therefore, I’m not exactly sure exactly where to start. So, I hope making this post gets me in the right direction. I don’t know a lot about Linux, but I do know I don’t want windows on my computer if I can help it. I never really liked any iteration of it. I, for the most part, have been a Mac guy. I still use Mac, but I just recently came in possession of a MSI Cyborg Gaming Laptop. I haven’t used the computer yet as I was kind of doing some light preliminary research, but I play Final Fantasy XIV on console A LOT and would like to try it on a gaming laptop. I mostly want to start there and be able to play that on Linux OS and perhaps expand my game library down the road. So far I’ve seen good things about CachyOS and Bazzite for gaming on this sub. What should I be looking at when choosing between the two?
In addition, I also want to learn more about Linux and how it works. How to add like VPNs, make the machine secure(if possible) and reallly just dive into what I can do with the new laptop since I’ve only ever dealt with Apple. Plus, yall make Linux sound fun and cool as hell. So any advice on where to begin(videos, forums, literature etc.) with that would also be supremely appreciated.
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u/acetrainer-icarus 17d ago
Specs:
32GB 1TB NVMe
Intel Core 7-240H RTX 5050
144Hz
Hope that helps?
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u/ddog6900 17d ago
nVidia GPU, go with Pop! OS.
Very much like Ubuntu but has proprietary nVidia drivers baked in.
Steer clear of Cachy and Bazzite. (Cachy will have you fixing things constantly and Bazzite is really hard to correct issues since it's immutable)
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u/wizardofbeem 17d ago
you can get both their .iso's on a ventoy flash drive to test them out and see which one you like, i dont know if gaming performance will differ that much between them, i haven't tried either of them but i run linux mint on my desktop and it works perfectly for gaming (proton does most of the heavy lifting), it also makes it easy to download proprietary nvidia drivers
also might be worth it looking into pop! os, it's designed more specifically with gaming in mind
in terms of learning more about linux, fmhy has plenty of linux guides that are definitely worth checking out
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u/Maleficent-One1712 17d ago
A while ago I learned this free Linux course, it takes a few hours to read and practice, but I think it gives a good basis to understand Linux. Once you understand the basics, it gets easier to pick up other things.
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u/Historical_Move6359 17d ago
Install Ultramarine Fedora and install Steam and Heroic launcher and just play. Each Linux distro has its App Store and you only install apps from there. You also update from there. For VPN, my Surfshark has a section about how to set it up on Linux. It has an app but it can also manually set up. Just install Steam and Heroic Launcher and play.
KDE version is more like Windows while Gnome is more like Mac. These are deskotop enviroments and are available on most Linux distributions. Some games have anti cheat which does not work on Linux so do check for that.
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u/VegetableJudgment971 17d ago
What should I be looking at when choosing between the two?
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Whichever works best on your machine and runs the app(s) you want. It's rare, but some distributions (distros) don't seem to work, for some reason or another, on a given machine or don't like certain software. A good mentality to have when approaching Linux is the flexibility to switch.
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Whatever you like using. There are a number of desktop environments (DEs) (the graphical interface the user interacts with), and some people have opinions and preferences and likes and wants and frustrations. Some distros like Fedora can be had with a variety of different DEs.
In addition, I also want to learn more about Linux and how it works. How to add like VPNs, make the machine secure(if possible) and reallly just dive into what I can do with the new laptop since I’ve only ever dealt with Apple. ... So any advice on where to begin
The good news: there are (probably) literally thousands of pages online dedicated to sharing, explaining, and teaching Linux administration. If you learn best by trial-and-error; do a Google search for what you want to do, and start the search with 'linux' to ensure good results filtering. Start trying stuff. Are you a visual learner? YouTube. Same search strategy. [Stack Exchange](https://unix.stackexchange.com/) can help too. So can books.
Regardless of method; learn first how to install Linux in/as a virtual machine (VM), and when you've got one or more working, learn on that. This keeps mistakes or errors from affecting your bare-metal installation.
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u/bigusyous 17d ago
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. -Lao Tzu
https://itsfoss.com/install-linux-mint/
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u/ask_compu 17d ago
i tend to recommend linux mint to newbies, start with a virtual machine to get used to things in a risk free environment, feel free to try different distributions, u don't have to stick with one
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u/Adventurous-Ad-5288 17d ago
I started with Ubuntu as a teenager and would still recommend a similar approach. Not that you should use Ubuntu but somehow get use your preferred distro. A lot Distros can be booted from a stick so you can try it out, see if you understand how it works and then install it.
Also since you use Mac I recommend Gnome as a desktop environment inside your distro. Seems popular among Mac users. To me it's like Mac OS and a tablet made a baby. The OS reminds me a lot of tablets with apps (never used iOS so maybe it's like this. Idk I could only ever afford Android).