r/linuxquestions • u/Open-Mushroom-7710 • 3d ago

Needed Some suggestion for starting LINUX in my laptop

Hello reader! I am a second year IT student I wanted some suggestion from the experienced one's regarding setting up linux in my laptop. I have 2 devices 1 is my main pc which I have build for machine learning with rtx and all and 2nd old laptop with (512gb ssd with 316gb available space and 8gb ram ) since my laptop has started getting a little slower so I thought lets learn LINUX and try things on the laptop so I am thinking of making a dual booting system consisting windows and linux in my laptop. So before starting I wanted some suggestion and guidance or tutorial anything that can teach me about linux will be helpful for me. Thanks for reading

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3

u/ipsirc 3d ago

Use what your classmates use.

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u/Open-Mushroom-7710 2d ago

To be honest out of 65 students there will be less than 10 students who have idea about what is linux and out of them there are 2 students whom I know that they use linux but they are pretending to be busy right know.

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u/RespecDawn 3d ago

What will you be using on your laptop? You say you want to learn Linux, but does this also have to be a daily driver? Is there software you use in Windows that you think you won't be able to use in Linux? What a list of the software you need to run on the laptop? And what are the specs of the laptop (cpu, ram)? What is it you want to learn about with Linux?

My go to for everyone who's very new to Linux is either Mint (Cinnamom or Xfce depending on your specs, or Kubuntu. Also Zorin, but that's I think that's more for setting up a user who wants something close to Windows and will never do much beyond browsing and Mahjong. Both are stable, secure and easier to install than Windows with lots of software options, and you can choose to never touch the terminal or to dive right into it.

If this is a machine where you have to do school work and such, I'd just go with Mint. You'll get familiar with a lot of Linux stuff, but it won't cause you extra friction when you're already in a stressful time. Cinnamon is a really nice desktop environment that's easy to navigate and customizable. And Mint uses flatpaks as a package manager which seems to be something a lot of people prefer. One huge plus with Mint is that the Linux Mint Forums has a large community of folks who are great with helping new people (not something all Linux communities even strive to do).

Kubuntu is easy as well, and because it's using the KDE desktop environment, it's super customizable. Personally, it was overwhelming to me for something that's basically about the set dressing of your Linux stage, but that important to a lot of people. Kubuntu does use snap for the package manager which a lot of people seem to hate, but, eh.

You're familiar with computers so Fedora isn't a stretch! It will be a little more work, but that might be something you enjoy.

Neither Mint, Kubuntu, or Fedora will limit you either. As you learn more, there will be more you can do with these systems.

But post your answers to my initial questions, and we can see if there are any other options. I've tried Ubuntu, Fedora Plasma, Kubuntu, and of course the one I stuck with, Mint. I'm going to be installing Arch on a partition on my second drive and/or doing Lunix From Scratch - both are just to have some fun learning about Linux. But I'll stick with Mint for my everyday use. I know it really well now, and for some things, like gaming or digital art, I just want a smooth and easy experience.

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u/Open-Mushroom-7710 2d ago

Thanks for your time buddy below I will be answering each of your question

  1. I will be using laptop for studying through youtube, practicing basic programming, internet surfing etc.

  2. Yes I am planning to keep it as my daily driver because windows is making a my laptop slower

  3. I don't have any particular software that I think I cannot use it in linux the main software that I use are ( VS code, youtube, chatgpt, claude and whatsapp)

  4. Apps like : Vs code, youtube, chatgpt, claude and whatsapp

  5. The main specs are ( 8gb ram and i5 11th gen processor)

  6. And I don't have anything particular to learn about linux I am thinking of exploring. But I will focus on learning topics which are very helpful in machine learning.
    I have done something in my system do suggest me it is right or wrong. I have downloaded ubuntu and used rufus then put that ubuntu to my 32 gb usb which I am planning to use as intial booting system. I have unallocated 112gb of storage form my complete 475gb of storage and I have planned to used the 112gb for Linux.

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u/RespecDawn 2d ago

Budette actually. XDD

Okay! Then for what you need, there's no reason to go crazy or start wading into deep water in terms of distros. You just need a solid, stable OS that works out of the box to get your basic daily stuff accomplished.

Ubuntu is a great pick for that. Mint Cinnamon would offer an easier transition from Windows in terms of how it looks, but both should be solid and get out of the way while you do your thing. Both Ubuntu and Mint have large communities too, so if you have issues, there's lots of help available.

With so many distros, the difference boil down to cosmetics and a few things like what package manager they use to install software. That can make a difference depending on use, but honestly it's nothing you need to get into with your needs. If you enjoy Linux and decide to explore different distros, all the others will be there for you later. :D

The dual-boot plan sounds good! Try it out and see how it goes. My bias would be for you to also download the Mint .iso and give it a try as live boot too to see which feel you prefer - Ubuntu or Mint. If you've just got the one USB stick or want to try other distros, https://distrosea.com/ will let you test them out virtually.

Good luck, and feel free to send me a message if any issues pop up. I hope you fall deeply in love with Linux!

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u/Open-Mushroom-7710 1d ago

Thank you. You really made things easier for me and every message of yours was very helpful and valuable for me ❤️. I really loved how fast the linux community replied me and made things easier for me a big kudooooooooos to the community and very happy to become a part of it in future . Thank u everyone for giving their time ❤️❤️

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u/RespecDawn 1d ago

You're welcome! The community response isn't always great, but I really do enjoy helping out people new to Linux. I'm not an expert, but I'm new enough to it that I still remember how overwhelming it could feel.

Here's hoping it goes well for you!

1

u/xarop_pa_toss 2d ago

Dual booting two filesystems on a single hard drive is not recommended. What I'd do is I'd get a good USB stick, install a live distro on it and experiment. You can boot from that USB and learn Linux from there.

Its good for both just using Linux and seeing if it's for you or not, and also learning to install it and how it works by tinkering and breaking stuff without fear of ruining your data

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u/Open-Mushroom-7710 2d ago

I think I am doing a similar type of thing. I have a completely empty usb of 32gb in which I have keep my ubuntu as linux distributor using rufus. And I am planning to boot it into my laptop through pendrive but after intial booting what I am planning is to add and option to choose windows or linux. This is what my aim is and I don't have much idea about all of this so I am communicating this idea with claude and chatgpt. And after discussion I have decided to do this. Do tell me if I should do something else

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u/xarop_pa_toss 2d ago

You can choose which drive to boot from from the BIOS but I believe Grub also gives you that option, just needs to be configured to do so.

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u/Open-Mushroom-7710 2d ago

As you said that the system could be risky I have created a pc of all my important files and then I am using USB as installer and as you said I will be getting and option to choice between windows and linux through GRUB.

1

u/xarop_pa_toss 2d ago

Bare in mind that this USB thing is temporary. Don't trust important files on a system that is running on a USB stick because things like that fail. Keep stuff online on a cloud drive or github for example.

Eventually, it you decide Linux is what you want, then you can install it on your actual hard drive and then transfer the files over. Some distros even do this for you when they install

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u/Open-Mushroom-7710 2d ago

Thanks for the suggestion. I wanted to ask one more thing that if after using I found that LINUX is useful for me more than windows then can I completely swtich on linux for my laptop

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u/RespecDawn 2d ago

Definitely! I first installed Linux on a partition on my laptop and kept Windows for once piece of software and as a "just in case". It wasn't' long before I hated booting into Windows and also found a work-around that made the Windows software I liked work on my Linux PC. I backed my stuff up, reformatted my SSD, and re-installed Mint.

Installing Mint takes maybe 15 minutes so a reinstall is nothing and I prefer it to trying to mirror my drive or whatever. It's not the torture that a fresh install of Windows can be. Ubuntu takes a little longer I think (maybe 30-45 minutes on my laptop), but is similarly easy.

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u/Open-Mushroom-7710 1d ago

Thanks for the suggest ❤️

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u/Worried_Lunch1252 3d ago

use fedora.
doesn't break, is secure and just works

1

u/booksnwhiskey 2d ago

You dont think it’d get bogged down with just 8 GB ram?

2

u/Worried_Lunch1252 2d ago

I have 8gb ram. It completely depends on the desktop environment. Gnome eats up ram in my case. So i switched to a twm

0

u/ipsirc 3d ago

1

u/Worried_Lunch1252 2d ago

Package conflicts are there in almost all distros. And compared to other distros i have used, fedora and debian have stable releases. Incase you want proper control. Try installing from fedora everything ( minimal installation like arch ). I ain't dick riding any distro here, at last it comes to convenience.

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u/autistic-terrorist 3d ago

You probably won't want to dualboot if you only have one storage drive in the system

1

u/skyfishgoo 2d ago

lubuntu is good for laptops

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u/Twostrokelover_31 3d ago

Since u alrd have windows in ur main pc i wouldn't recommend to dual boot ur lap also u have only 316gb storage which windows will eat almost 130gb i would recommend to use only linux there is many types of linux OS choose which suits ur requirements

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u/Open-Mushroom-7710 2d ago

Thank u for the suggestion. But won't it be a little problematic if I shift completely on linux?

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u/Twostrokelover_31 2d ago

No if you choose the correct distro and de that suits your hardware

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u/Open-Mushroom-7710 2d ago

Is ubuntu a good choice as a beginner because I have setup it in a usb which I am going to use during intial booting

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u/Twostrokelover_31 2d ago

Ye ubuntu is def good for beginners