How and why to move to Linux
I purchased laptop a couple of years ago running Windows 10 which was great for the first 3 or 4 months, but it soon started to slow down, despite having only minimal software installed. After a couple more months it was taking over 5 minutes to start up and get itself into a usable state. I needed my laptop to work and the performance was just not fit for purpose. Now I don't know whether this was Windows 10 or the brand of laptop that had some bloatware installed. Whatever the reason, the entire experience was totally frustrating.
At the same time my old laptop had been experiencing continual crashes using an earlier version of Windows so I decided to wipe it and have a go at installing Linux. I tried a number of different flavours (distros) of Linux before choosing to use Ubuntu studio to support my music production ambitions.
Why use Linux?
For me, the primary reasons was speed, reliability and security.
Security
Linux is rarely impacted by viruses due to the architecture design and so virus software is not necessary under normal circumstances. A built in firewall is available and can be enabled. This is not to say that Linux is 100% secure and there are security measures that you can take to make it even more secure should you need to.
Speed
Compared to Windows and Apple I have always found Linux to be unbeatable, not just in terms of providing fast start up and usage, but in terms of consistency. After 2 years my Linux installation is just as fast as the day I installed it. It just works like it should with fast start ups and lightning fast shut downs. My laptop shuts down completely in about 10 seconds, where my Windows laptop often used to take 15 minutes while it installed and configured updates. Updates in Linux are quick and simple and don't usually require a reboot.
Reliability
I've had the occasional niggles with Linux, most of which can be fixed by doing a quick search online and following simple instructions (you will get used to using the command prompt or terminal which is a quick and easy interface to make changes to the OS). The niggles that I've had are so insignificant they they are hardly worth mentioning and have all been easily fixed without much trouble.
Usability
The GUI is really a matter of choice. You have many to choose from. I personally prefer Linux Mint as the OS is similar to what I'm used to with Windows. The biggest change is the use of Terminal. Although you will use code to make changes you don't actually need to know the code, you can just find the answer in a forum and cut and paste the required code to make changes. You are unlikely to be using Terminal much anyway, most things can be done using the GUI. It's just occasionally Terminal is used to make configuration changes. Otherwise the operating systems are fast, slick and attractive. I've used many of them, and Mint still remains my favourite.
Other reasons
It's 95% compatible with everything I need to use, the remaining 5% not causing me much of a problem or otherwise I've found workarounds. As a business machine it works beautifully, as a gaming machine you might find some compatibility issues, thus a dual boot option would be better.
I also like the fact that Linux is not run by large profit making corporations. It's open source and free to download and use, although I recommend making a donation to your desired distro team to help with the ongoing development of the platform.
It's fun learning about the platform and how to use it more effectively. Over the last couple of years I've learned a bit about using Terminal, and while it's not necessary, it is fun to understand more about your operating system and how to get the most out of it.
The support community is really positive and helpful. The forums have been really good in helping me understand and learn more about Linux as well as solving the odd minor problem.
The best Linux distro's
An installation of Linux is called a distribution of distro for short. There are many different flavours of distro based on slightly different Linux architecture. Ubuntu and it's derivatives (including Linux Mint) seem to be the most popular and have the most support.
Some of the most popular Linux distro's and their homepages are listed below:
- Mint – Easy to use and loads of support - https://linuxmint.com/
- Ubuntu – Easy to use and loads of support, slightly alternative desktop - https://www.ubuntu.com/
- Ubuntu studio – Based on Ubuntu but focused on creative professions including video production, music production and digital design - https://ubuntustudio.org/
- Debian – Excellent support available - https://www.debian.org/
- Fedora – Highly secure, often used as server OS - https://getfedora.org/
- Elementary – Stripped down version of Ubuntu with a nice OS - https://elementary.io/
- Lubuntu – Lightweight and suitable for older laptops and PC's - https://lubuntu.net/
How to try out Linux
It's really as easy as downloading a distro to a USB with sufficient space (2GB should do it) and then booting from the USB. You can then see if the laptop or PC will function properly with the distro and have a play around to see if you like it. Your changes and configuration can be saved back to the USB so that should you decide to install from the USB you can. What you will probably find yourself doing though is building a few different distros to the USB and trying them out one at a time before you decide.
To build a Linux USB distro I recommend using https://unetbootin.github.io/
This will create a bootable USB using the linux distro of your choice. If the one you want is not available in the list you can download a separate distro disk image from the distro website, save it somewhere, and then default UNETBOOTIN to use that one instead.
Once you've built your USB you will need to amend the BIOS on your PC to read the USB first as a boot disk so that it bypasses the hard drive to boot up. If you don't like it, just change it back and boot as usual.
How to dual boot Linux
You will probably want to dual boot Linux once you've chosen your desired distro and decided to install it to the hard disk. This will require some disk partition configuration, which is easy if you follow some simple guidelines. In Linux Mint and most other distros this partitioning will be done during the installation. For more detailed instructions relating to Mint see below (there are other instructions for different distros available online but most installations are similar):
https://itsfoss.com/guide-install-linux-mint-16-dual-boot-windows/
Disclaimer – Make sure you back up everything before you begin!!!! Just in case. You might also want to have a boot repair disk and a Windows recovery disk should things go wrong. I've never had a problem but it's good to be prepared.
My experience of using Linux
I now dual boot my new laptop with Linux Mint 17.3 (later versions are available) and Windows 10, although I rarely use Windows 10 on it. I think I've used it 3 times during 2017, just to back up my phone using the phone synch software which is only available on Windows 10 at the moment. Otherwise I only use Linux Mint 17.3. It hardly ever crashes and it starts up quickly and reliably.
I've even built my Mum's old and broken laptop as a Linux Mint PC which she seems to be able to use without any problems, which is a testament to how intuitive the operating system is. The Laptop was completely unusable when it was Windows XP, but as a Linux Mint clean install it works perfectly.
I recently bought another small laptop for business purposes using Windows 10 but I'm already regretting the decision. The disk has run out of space and I've had all sorts of memory and crash problems with it. Although I can't justify rebuilding it yet as a Linux machine because I run Microsoft Office on it, primarily to run presentations, in the future I might well rebuild it and just get by with LibreOffice which is compatible with MS file types.
In summary though, I doubt I will ever go back to using Windows or Apple as my primary machine unless they make some radical improvements to their architecture. I also like the open source community which has no desire to profit from you and thus will provide much better support.
Linux distros are awesome and once you stop fearing about terminal commands, you will understand why..
I agree, I knew nothing about terminal commands when I first started and very little now. The truth is you don't really need to. Everything is available online.
I have been wanting to take an old desktop or laptop and give Linux a try, thanks for this article as it gives me that inspiration to finally get around and give it a try!!!
If you don't already have one you could pick up a really cheap laptop. Otherwise just use a live USB and boot on your existing machine if you just want to give them a try. It's only booting from the USB so it won't change anything on your HDD.
Linux has many options - freedom to choose, which is great but beginner gets overwhelmed with the choices. There are over 100 Linux flavors to choose from but even if you focus on say first 10-20 each comes with many different desktop and windows managers such as KDE, Gnome, Mate, Cinnamon, Xfce...
If your computers are older & slower, you want to choose lighter desktop manager such as Xfce that is lighter on resources. If say Mint Xfce is still to slow and lagy, check out Antix full:
http://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-17/FAQ/index.html
https://antixlinux.com
I'm running it on one slow, 32 bit netbook and it runs great
Maybe most important reason to stop using windows is, because microsoft created operation system that makes you their product - snooping and tracking you.
When I started using Linux 2 years ago i stopped using windows altogether. I'm using Manjaro, MX and Antix. For beginners, Mint is probably the simplest. For weaker, slower computers Antix is probably one of the best options, no bloated systemd.
What about chromebook?
As a tablet I understand Chromebooks are pretty good in terms of performance but I don't have much experience of them. Linux is great for building old laptops or Windows laptops to make them perform better.