https://linuxmint.com/ is one of the easiest and straightforward ones to get into, comes with everything you need stock pretty much, pick the "XFCE" edition if you have a very old PC, otherwise the "Cinnamon" edition is best imo, most "Windows like" experience
Also I might suggest actually dumping the garbage OS from an obvious evil company, that was founded by Bill fucking Gates and just use Linux exclusively already... Can't really understand how so many awakened people haven't done that already at this point
Feel free to ask any questions about Linux you might have.
Lots of time invested already in Windows, not sure of what it take to convert all personal data, pictures, movies, games, files etc to a new OS like Linux
not sure of what it take to convert all personal data, pictures, movies, games, files etc to a new OS like Linux
Mostly it would take nothing at all, it would just work, specially when considering data, pictures, files, you can easily test this, just download the linux mint iso, burn it to a pen drive, boot from it and try and work with your stuff.
it's a fully featured desktop system, comes with internet browser, office software, image viewers, image editors, and a fuck ton of other stuff
And it should already mount your hard drive(s)/partitions automatically, linux works pretty seamlessly with NTFS (microsoft's file system)
Games take a bit more effort, but if we are talking steam here, it does the biggest brunt of the heavy lifting for you, they made it pretty seamless to use, I'm yet to find a made for windows game I can't play at all.
In fact there are a bunch of cases where you have an older game made for windows that has stopped working for windows 10+ but will run flawlessly using compatibility layers and whatnot on Linux
Seriously, unless you use some very highly specialized software that only runs on windows, there's absolutely no reason to not make the switch.
I'm not saying there won't be issues, but if there are, I guarantee you they can be worked around, and it's definitely worth it to dump the company founded by Bill Gates
Personal data & pictures should be a priority backup item at least once or twice a year. Especially if they're under a Windows User partition, as they would be very difficult if not impossible to recover if something bad happens like a complete computer meltdown or loss. This should be almost a thread in itself.
Normally, if you consider word, excel, that sort of thing: you have 4 options available, using:
LibreOffice/ OpenOffice. This is compatible, so no conversion is needed.
WPS/ AnyOffice: compatible
FreeOffice: compatible.
Why this division? Because all three have a different approach and differ in terms of functional compatibility. For instance, FreeOffice has the option of combining a database to a word or spreadsheet document natively. the applications, mentioned under [2], do not have that capability, [1] has that capability but it depends on some archaic Oracle library that may or may not work, and if it works it may break.
So in essence: the usual functions work, but the more ... unknown and hardly used functions like nameranges etc won't as the VB-script back-end is not available.
Database
Should you be using Access as a database, kexi might replace it. But a better way of using database systems would be mysql, sqlite, monodb.
Games
In terms of games: That is an issue solved by several means that may or may not work or partially work:
wine (wine HQ).
steam
COG.
Pictures
Pictures, movies,etc are no problem at all. All the codecs are available and ship with the distro, or can be installed with one click if you so choose, because many of the codecs are non-free.
Solutions
Then you have also the option to setup a dual boot of windows and linux, This means that your computer boots up and you choose each time to boot-up windows or linux.
Within a Linux setup a virtualization via boxes, virtlib or virtualbox is possible. Personally I use virtlib, that specifically works well on MXlinux. This means that windows could run within a virtual environment. This requires some resources in terms of cpu power and ram.
With the focus on games, you could setup a virtualization of a stripped down windows version to play games.
Other items
If you were to install MXlinux, there are two variants. Systemd and sysvinit. Sysvinit is the standard, and ships with torify and mullvad, which can come in handy.
Personally, I use systemd, because I also like to use lokinet, i2p and others. Then systemd works best. This means that TOR-browser, BISQ-1, BISQ-2, HAVENO, and CAKE wallet can easily be communicating via Tor.
advantages:
In general, for each matter there are opensource and free solutions. And the main difference between Linux and Windows is not about the systems per se, or the vulnerabilities, but the man, or rather attitude. You can be a user, paying through the nose, or a free man scaling the walls of the prison. If you are willing to learn a thing or two, willingness to communicate [sic], Linux is your friend and an awesome teacher.
Where to go for such a Linux option?
https://linuxmint.com/ is one of the easiest and straightforward ones to get into, comes with everything you need stock pretty much, pick the "XFCE" edition if you have a very old PC, otherwise the "Cinnamon" edition is best imo, most "Windows like" experience
https://mxlinux.org/ is also good
Pretty much 99% of all distributions are live systems you can use, just burn the ISO to a pen drive or DVD and you're golden
This is a good tool to use for burning them to a pen drive https://etcher.balena.io/
But a better, and slightly more technical solution, is this https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html
Also I might suggest actually dumping the garbage OS from an obvious evil company, that was founded by Bill fucking Gates and just use Linux exclusively already... Can't really understand how so many awakened people haven't done that already at this point
Feel free to ask any questions about Linux you might have.
Lots of time invested already in Windows, not sure of what it take to convert all personal data, pictures, movies, games, files etc to a new OS like Linux
you dont need to convert anything, just different programs same functions and files.
Mostly it would take nothing at all, it would just work, specially when considering data, pictures, files, you can easily test this, just download the linux mint iso, burn it to a pen drive, boot from it and try and work with your stuff.
it's a fully featured desktop system, comes with internet browser, office software, image viewers, image editors, and a fuck ton of other stuff
And it should already mount your hard drive(s)/partitions automatically, linux works pretty seamlessly with NTFS (microsoft's file system)
Games take a bit more effort, but if we are talking steam here, it does the biggest brunt of the heavy lifting for you, they made it pretty seamless to use, I'm yet to find a made for windows game I can't play at all.
In fact there are a bunch of cases where you have an older game made for windows that has stopped working for windows 10+ but will run flawlessly using compatibility layers and whatnot on Linux
Seriously, unless you use some very highly specialized software that only runs on windows, there's absolutely no reason to not make the switch.
I'm not saying there won't be issues, but if there are, I guarantee you they can be worked around, and it's definitely worth it to dump the company founded by Bill Gates
Personal data & pictures should be a priority backup item at least once or twice a year. Especially if they're under a Windows User partition, as they would be very difficult if not impossible to recover if something bad happens like a complete computer meltdown or loss. This should be almost a thread in itself.
Depends on what you are using.
Office applications
Normally, if you consider word, excel, that sort of thing: you have 4 options available, using:
Why this division? Because all three have a different approach and differ in terms of functional compatibility. For instance, FreeOffice has the option of combining a database to a word or spreadsheet document natively. the applications, mentioned under [2], do not have that capability, [1] has that capability but it depends on some archaic Oracle library that may or may not work, and if it works it may break.
So in essence: the usual functions work, but the more ... unknown and hardly used functions like nameranges etc won't as the VB-script back-end is not available.
Database
Should you be using Access as a database, kexi might replace it. But a better way of using database systems would be mysql, sqlite, monodb.
Games
In terms of games: That is an issue solved by several means that may or may not work or partially work:
Pictures
Pictures, movies,etc are no problem at all. All the codecs are available and ship with the distro, or can be installed with one click if you so choose, because many of the codecs are non-free.
Solutions
Then you have also the option to setup a dual boot of windows and linux, This means that your computer boots up and you choose each time to boot-up windows or linux.
Within a Linux setup a virtualization via boxes, virtlib or virtualbox is possible. Personally I use virtlib, that specifically works well on MXlinux. This means that windows could run within a virtual environment. This requires some resources in terms of cpu power and ram.
With the focus on games, you could setup a virtualization of a stripped down windows version to play games.
Other items
If you were to install MXlinux, there are two variants. Systemd and sysvinit. Sysvinit is the standard, and ships with torify and mullvad, which can come in handy.
Personally, I use systemd, because I also like to use lokinet, i2p and others. Then systemd works best. This means that TOR-browser, BISQ-1, BISQ-2, HAVENO, and CAKE wallet can easily be communicating via Tor.
advantages:
In general, for each matter there are opensource and free solutions. And the main difference between Linux and Windows is not about the systems per se, or the vulnerabilities, but the man, or rather attitude. You can be a user, paying through the nose, or a free man scaling the walls of the prison. If you are willing to learn a thing or two, willingness to communicate [sic], Linux is your friend and an awesome teacher.