New to Linux

[Noctosphere]

Hello fellow tempers,

I'm finally ready to make the move. After 25 years using only Windows as my main OSes (first 95, then XP, then Vista, 7, 10 and now 11), I'm finally ready to permanently install Linux on my main PC.
I have barely ever touched Linux stuff in my life, I only used Android-based stuff (Samsung Galaxy, Fire TV) and for the past week, TrueNAS.
Let's just say that I am completly noob to all this.

I intend to use Linux mainly for gaming (Steam, emulation), but also for general (web browsing, youtube, facebook) and creative purpose (Stable Diffusion, Blender, Unity/UE, coding).
I know there are A LOT of different distro (OS variant?) and can't figure out which one would be the best for me.
Since most people will say "This one is the best" "no that one is the best" "You guys are fool, it's actually that one", without ever saying why it is the best, I just can't figure out an answer.

Anyway, if you guys have an idea of what would be the best, I'm all hear.

 

[RopeShooter9000]

First thing any newbie should do is use Ubuntu. Do not use Arch or Fedora-based systems (at least, until you've gotten the hang of Linux in general).

Ubuntu has everything: a built-in package manager, the Snap Store (which technically acts as a Linux and open-source version of the Microsoft Store), Firefox is installed by default, and the distro has support for many drivers and different kinds of DEs (as in GNOME, KDE, et cetera).

You can also use Linux Mint if you want a more Windows-esque desktop environment.

 

[Viri]

Hello fellow tempers,

I'm finally ready to make the move. After 25 years using only Windows as my main OSes (first 95, then XP, then Vista, 7, 10 and now 11), I'm finally ready to permanently install Linux on my main PC.
I have barely ever touched Linux stuff in my life, I only used Android-based stuff (Samsung Galaxy, Fire TV) and for the past week, TrueNAS.
Let's just say that I am completly noob to all this.

I intend to use Linux mainly for gaming (Steam, emulation), but also for general (web browsing, youtube, facebook) and creative purpose (Stable Diffusion, Blender, Unity/UE, coding).
I know there are A LOT of different distro (OS variant?) and can't figure out which one would be the best for me.
Since most people will say "This one is the best" "no that one is the best" "You guys are fool, it's actually that one", without ever saying why it is the best, I just can't figure out an answer.

Anyway, if you guys have an idea of what would be the best, I'm all hear.

Start off with Ubuntu, Kubuntu or Mint, and you'll be fine. Mint is extremely user friendly for people who came from Windows.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, you can install a Linux distro to a usb flash drive, and take a "test drive" without even installing anything to your hard drive.

 

[Noctosphere]

Thanks guys. Linux Mint is installed and it already feels like home

Quick question, I'm keeping windows in back up just in case. But if I ever want to fully move to Mint, can I easily uninstall Windows and allocate the Windows SSD partition to linux?
And also, everything I currently have on my other hard drives, can I still use them on Linux? I heard about WINE (and proton) that allows to run Windows programs on Linux, but are they able to run anything?

Also, if there are any "must have" software when starting with linux mint, i'm also all hear
Thanks again

 

[DragonMals]

or Fedora-based systems

is there a reason as to why not to use Fedora for once? i can get using mostly debian-based distros but i want to know why you think of this

Post automatically merged: Nov 22, 2025

everything I currently have on my other hard drives, can I still use them on Linux?

i can access my entire windows drive on Linux just by using a bootable USB. I also have a NTFS-formatted 1TB USB Drive that can still be accessed on Linux

 

[VinsCool]

Quick question, I'm keeping windows in back up just in case. But if I ever want to fully move to Mint, can I easily uninstall Windows and allocate the Windows SSD partition to linux?

Yes absolutely, very easy to do through Gparted or similar Disk Utility.
Or you can just keep Windows in a partition just in case, like I did.
It could be useful sometime when Virtualbox isn't enough when Windows is needed for certain things.

And also, everything I currently have on my other hard drives, can I still use them on Linux?

If you mean files and NTFS partitions, also yes.
You can mount them to your own path and stuff, and also make it do so automatically.
I'm personally using 2 NTFS partitions on Linux for storage purpose, and I've used them for years with absolutely no issue.
The only thing to be wary about is that sometime Windows likes to make them Read-Only when it is not rebooted correctly, but this is usually easy to avoid by rebooting Windows then rebooting again back to the other OS from it.

I heard about WINE (and proton) that allows to run Windows programs on Linux, but are they able to run anything?

It might be able to run most things just fine, but some things might be a little broken, it's a case by case situation.
From experience, I would say about 90% of the stuff I threw at it worked perfectly, but you experience might be different, especially if you plan to run games that have not been ported to Linux, or sometime there are edge cases you won't have any idea how they would perform.

Also, if there are any "must have" software when starting with linux mint, i'm also all hear
Thanks again

I think most of the basic stuff comes preinstalled, but you can always look at the App Store to find more things you would like to install.
That is up to you, once again.

 

[Noctosphere]

Alright, thanks again guys

 

[RopeShooter9000]

is there a reason as to why not to use Fedora for once? i can get using mostly debian-based distros but i want to know why you think of this

Fedora is buggy as hell. That, and it's (to me, at least) absolute shite.

 

[Reualed]

Fedora is buggy as hell. That, and it's (to me, at least) absolute shite.

For me it was just fine, what where you running on it? As in hardware wise?

 

[RopeShooter9000]

For me it was just fine, what where you running on it? As in hardware wise?

Twice on a late-2013 MacBook Pro, and once on a low-end Lenovo IdeaPad (the specs for the IdeaPad can be seen in my GBATemp signature).

 

[Noctosphere]

Well... right now, it feels like everything just wants to be more complicated. I thought "Linux Mint is just like Windows" because that's what I read, but I just can't run anything. I can't install anything, and it seems like to get acces to basic stuff (like installing programs) I have to go through shit tons of documentations and try dozens of lines of codes (most of them failing to do anything) which is exactly what I wanted to avoid.
So, how do I get acces to... well... basic stuff? How can i just install programs (appimage)

 

[Reualed]

Well... right now, it feels like everything just wants to be more complicated. I thought "Linux Mint is just like Windows" because that's what I read, but I just can't run anything. I can't install anything, and it seems like to get acces to basic stuff (like installing programs) I have to go through shit tons of documentations and try dozens of lines of codes (most of them failing to do anything) which is exactly what I wanted to avoid.
So, how do I get acces to... well... basic stuff? How can i just install programs (appimage)

So you have an app store on Linux mint.
Most of the online guides are distro agnostic. which means terminal, and skip over mentioning the graphical way of doing things.

So yeah check if you have an app store on Linux mint. From there it should be very easy to get whatever apps you want.

Post automatically merged: Nov 22, 2025

Regarding formats. There is 4. Why is there 4 different ones?

Because at one point we had 2. Then someone tried to create a definitive format, which ended up just becoming the 3rd format and etc.

Binaries
package manager
Appimages
Flatpaks
Here's the run down.

Binaries are the most problematic (they don't have a extention. Or are started with a .sh file)
These are prone to depency rot, meaning that they likely will stop working after a long enough time.


The package manager

The package manager is mandatory on all Linux distros. This could be apt or pacman or dnf.
Their main goal is to make sure that as you install applications through it, it updates the depencies for you and keeps a configuration that keeps all your applications working.
More importantly system package manager is what is responsible for your Linux kernel updates. Their problem however is that they are all different, naming conventions, how the backend is designed etc. arch for example rarely if ever keeps older packages. Debian will keep many older packages, even if a newer version is available.


Appimages

Appimages are as close (in functionality and reliability ) to a normal windows .exe. just double click and run. If it doesn't work like that for some reason. Install fuse2.
Their problem however is that they include every dependency, bloating up the file size, and it also means it's on the developer to make sure up to date depencies are shipped with the file. Otherwise you might get a security exploit.

Flatpaks

Finally we get to flatpaks, which have gotten the closet in fixing the package manager issue. A graphical way of installing apps are supported (meaning app store or discover can graphically display and browse them)
But the main problem with flatpaks is they are not designed to be system processes. Aka, anything as a flatpak must have a graphical window. And because they are sandboxed, they can cause additional hassle if the developer set overly restrictive permissions. (Which you can change them with a graphical tool called flatseal)

That's what's up with the format situation, and trust me. Every Linux user is just as annoyed with it as you are.

 

[Taleweaver]

Well... right now, it feels like everything just wants to be more complicated. I thought "Linux Mint is just like Windows" because that's what I read, but I just can't run anything. I can't install anything, and it seems like to get acces to basic stuff (like installing programs) I have to go through shit tons of documentations and try dozens of lines of codes (most of them failing to do anything) which is exactly what I wanted to avoid.
So, how do I get acces to... well... basic stuff? How can i just install programs (appimage)

Well... It just wants to be secure, to be precise. Windows is all "yeah, sure... Just click ok and I'm install everything"... Linux isn't like that. .exe files can't be run on there directly. As a result, it's something that works fine once you've got what you want, but isn't exactly easy to just throw some extra tool on there.

I'm not going to repeat everything @Reualed wrote but +1 on all of that: if a tool has a Linux version, go with that. If there isn't, take it as a learning experience. Sorry, but something like finding and using proper drivers for a 20 year old printer is n' t easy, and I can't even recall the hoops I took on mine to make it do something.
The good thing is that it's more robust. I've upgraded 3 or 4 Linux mint responds now and on the surface it's like it's just a ui interface skin upgrade.

I've wanted to add an extra tip on exe files, though I'm not sure if it's the best way: run it through steam. That is: there's the option to install non steam games. You can point it to any. Exe and it'll do the entire wine song and dance for you in the background. I've pointed it to installers (with Crack), let it create an entire virtual drive, use that as if it's windows to move files and threw the actual game. Exe in steam's non steam game as well to get things to run. It's messy, but eg solsuite still defies both Linux trends and valve, but straight up works this way.
No, I'm not going to try this with office 365 or something adobe, but ymmv.

 

[CMDreamer]

First thing any newbie should do is use Ubuntu. Do not use Arch or Fedora-based systems (at least, until you've gotten the hang of Linux in general).

Ubuntu has everything: a built-in package manager, the Snap Store (which technically acts as a Linux and open-source version of the Microsoft Store), Firefox is installed by default, and the distro has support for many drivers and different kinds of DEs (as in GNOME, KDE, et cetera).

You can also use Linux Mint if you want a more Windows-esque desktop environment.

I'm a Fedora Linux user since I started using a Linux Distro after using Mandrake (really loved that distro).

I tried using Ubuntu and its just meh, for newbies is "fine", plainly fine.

In all the years I've been a Fedora Linux user I've never had an issue with it, so I can't agree with your statement that its buggy.

Just recently I've installed MX Linux on a budget laptop of mine and I'm liking it too.

 

[DragonMals]

I'm a Fedora Linux user since I started using a Linux Distro after using Mandrake (really loved that distro).

I tried using Ubuntu and its just meh, for newbies is "fine", plainly fine.

In all the years I've been a Fedora Linux user I've never had an issue with it, so I can't agree with your statement that its buggy.

Just recently I've installed MX Linux on a budget laptop of mine and I'm liking it too.

I too have used Fedora for quite a while and I think that if it wasnt for its continuous updates, its seriously the prime successor to any debian/ubuntu based distro. It's just so clean and versatile and Fedora's package managers rpm and dnf feel exactly similar to debian/ubuntu's but just done better and have a much simpler way of adding more repositories. Fedora allows you to even get Discord with openasar automatically installed within it but you can't with Debian

 

[Flame]

Well... right now, it feels like everything just wants to be more complicated. I thought "Linux Mint is just like Windows" because that's what I read, but I just can't run anything. I can't install anything, and it seems like to get acces to basic stuff (like installing programs) I have to go through shit tons of documentations and try dozens of lines of codes (most of them failing to do anything) which is exactly what I wanted to avoid.
So, how do I get acces to... well... basic stuff? How can i just install programs (appimage)

No. just no.

You can install the program very easily. You can use the software centre. Not only that, but you can use a download file. Which ends with deb file extension.


Which software do you want to install?

 

[Noctosphere]

So, at first, I tried to install Citron emulator, but the downloaded file just wouldn't do anything (an .appimage)
This morning, I tried installing a game from Steam, but it wouldn't run (the game launches, but stops immediatly)

But now, when trying to look for solution, someone said to uninstall Steam (from the app store) and install it from the .deb files from steam website. So I did uninstall it and... Steam is still running? Is that supposed to be a normal behaviour from Linux Mint?

 

[AncientBoi]

Scroll down to New to Linux

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/linux-unix/linux-commands/

I'm using it also.

 

[Reualed]

So, at first, I tried to install Citron emulator, but the downloaded file just wouldn't do anything (an .appimage)
This morning, I tried installing a game from Steam, but it wouldn't run (the game launches, but stops immediatly)

But now, when trying to look for solution, someone said to uninstall Steam (from the app store) and install it from the .deb files from steam website. So I did uninstall it and... Steam is still running? Is that supposed to be a normal behaviour from Linux Mint?

Also can you inform of us of what commands you used earlier? On most file managers control + h should show hidden files.

And you can see a .bashhistory or something like that. And that should show everything you ran.

Asking in case it changed something important and none of us know

 

[AncientBoi]

sudo enough

Before he gets even More confused. lol