I’m seriously considering moving to Linux. I’m currently in the Apple ecosystem, and frankly, I’m tired of all the Apple limitations and expensive equipment, where the only innovations seem to be USB-C ports or a camera button. iOS is also getting too complex and full of useless features. macOS is heading in the same direction.
Microsoft and Android are not options for me.
I’d like to know if anyone has made this transition and if you have any suggestions to share. Thank you.
Easy to install, far more easier to maintain (one click system and app wide update)
Can be fully customized down to every app and there are several GUIs
No bloat, no viruses, respects privacy
Sine OS is slimer, it takes less resources and demands less, plus has good hardware utilization. It gives breath of life to old machines and makes new one feel OP to same hardware experience under Windows or MacOS
Gives life to even industrial boards, old PPC Macs, high end personal computers of 90s era - is very customizable
Comes bundled with great free browser Firefox and Libre Office, making 0 money needed to start using machine
Started on Motorola CPUs now is cross platform and exists for PPC32, PPC64, Intel and alike and ARM
Bad sides
Its partitions needs to be EXT4, cannot install on FAT32 or NTFS, thus needs dedicated partition that will be invisible to WIndows. Linux can see and read and write to NTFS Win partitions, but no other way around. So one partition can also serve as data exchange space too - in NTFS. Also virtual mem is dedicated separate partion (it swaps way less and partition solution is elegant)
Has its own boot loader LILO that MS hates and kills on Windows installs, so install Windows first and Linux after. If you reinstall Windows, see how to restore LILO
Even it has wide range of GUIs (I prefer MATE) some advanced operations till require using DOS (here Terminal) with UNIX commands, that is a bit different from MS DOS or AmigaDOS and needs extra learning
Abeit there are tons of free apps, they are good to small business level. Problem is major apps like e.g. Photoshop dont exist for Linux at all - real pros cant make living on Linux. Free aps have strange names and takes time to pick best for one.
However, more and more pro apps exist for Linux as payable software
There are even less games then for MacOS X but also here is situation improving. Steam exists for Linux and about 20 to 30 perecent Linux titles nowadays support Linux
There are two major formats of distributions and install files: DEBIAN (original, stable, geeks choice) and Ubuntu (fancier, easier, more down to users).
However choice of Deb/Ubuntu plus GUI limits choice of Linux world apps as not all support all install formats and GUIs (example Debian with Gnome can install all, but Ubuntu with KDE has fancy look and limited choice)
Hardware support: ATI has far better support then nVIDIA so far. Linux has smart kernel that boots and sees hardware smarter then Windows, but for some specific sound cards, printers etc. driver might not exist. Needs checking and testing. Sometimes it will work as most common hardware (printer as PCL:5 compilant).
There are many specialized distros, but for my usual user one, I vote for Debian based MINT .- LMDE plus additional of MATE or KDE GUI. Download LMDE 6 - Linux Mint
In gereneral, I advise people to dual boot first.
Only where I am for immidiate switch are people who have old XP., PPC and now Intel Mac etc,. machines I advise to cross fully to Linux as it supports their hardware better and gives them newer software.
Interesting fact: early PS3 had dual boot option to PPC Linux where you could attach kbd and mouse and have a fully functional computer. Later on slim model they retracted it. But there are ways to install Linux on PS3,PS4 and PS5 today and make them mighty computers, as by hardware they also are.
@roberto: Thanks to encouragement from some Rob Braxman videos, I made the jump from Windows 10 to Linux almost two years ago. I had a many-years-old HP laptop that originally ran Windows 8. I started by booting from a flash drive on which I had put Ubuntu. Once I realized how easy it was to use, I then replaced Windows 10 with Ubuntu on that laptop. When I heard Rob say that he used the Pop!_OS fork of Ubuntu, I then installed Pop!_OS to replace Ubuntu. Pop!_OS lets users customize various key combinations, which makes Pop!_OS comfortable for those of us who come from the Mac world or Windows world.
Interesting read on pop_OS. There were many tries to make “Windows like Linux”, but out of many distros, Ubuntus and MINT have proven to be most reliable and supported, while at same time being easier to use and better package then average other distro.
Surely, using USB stick to test and learn Linux is safe option, as most problems arise on partitioning part of installation - which needs some planning and knowledge.
Easy parts of transition
If you have used same FLOSS software like Firefox, Libre Office, GIMP etc. on Windows/Mac. Its a good start on user side, and I usually start with that - there is free Office, alike Office 2003 with MENUS not pictures - that is faster and reliable and costs 0
As home computer / Amiga lover, I appriciate everything is transparent (kernel tells everything during boot etc.) and fully user controlled.
Linux is indeed future. Many people forget Android is just nice skin and modded ARM Linux (and I always joke if someone asks what is Linux kernel version in Android info).
Rooting Android as example, is Linux root admin login and taking control.
Its interesting to note that “free 3rd player amongst OS-es” Linux has jumped from 3% to 5% global market share of desktop OSs in 2024.
On mobile devices (tablets, smartphones) its possible to fully replace Android with Linux, or to integrate them alongside - Android that can use Linux apps (so called no root Linux).
Its only OS (line) that supports multiple CPU architectures, making use of industrial boards, old hardware, consoles to modern multi threads and super computers (its scalable)
And in the end - its absolute champion of Internet in domain of important Internet servers. Linux derivates and Oracle Linux hold over 39 percent share there, no matter how hard Apple and MS try.
Where stability and security matters.
Global free and open source market, with gems such as Firefox (Netscape lives on!) and Libre Office is inspired by Linux GNU licensing model.
In the end, its nice mentioning Mudita Center exists for Linux, providing Linux users with power to use Mudita products.
I’m also interested in this but to be honest, I struggle with understanding all of the tech speak - it’s like my mind can only take in so much infotech languaging and it just kind of, switches off!
I wonder if there is some easy to understand information about this or easy way to do this for those of us who are not so infotech literate?
My concern is that if something went wrong during the changeover install I wouldn’t be able to figure out how to fix it. And what if I can’t adjust to it well enough to use the software and need to reverse it to use my Mac? How would I do that?
Is there a place in internet land I can go to find laymans terms or simple guides for things like booting up Linux on Mac from a USB?
Oh boy, it’s times like this I could really use an AI bot to do this for me, I could just say - ‘Now BotBot, please get rid of that pesky tracking privacy decimating software and put something kind and gentle and easy for me to use on there,’ and BotBot would say ‘Roger Roger’ and BAM! it would be done Then BotBot would dance a funny funky dance into the kitchen and make me some yummy food to eat
I never used a Mac, but Windows, so I’m not sure how it is on a Mac, but the majority of the well known distributions (Manjaro, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS i.e.) can be installed alongside the existing operating system. That means after installation when you restart your computer you can choose which one to load (in my case 1. Windows, 2, Linux).
But I recommend you not to install it at the first place. When you have downloaded your distro to your pendrive you restart your computer (maybe you have to set up in the boot menu to boot from USB drive, it depends on your computer setup) and ten there are two options: Install or try out. So you can try it out, and if you like it you can install it. If not, you can download and try an other one. You can find a lot of distributions aimed at “non-experts”. Anyway, in most of the cases it looks like this (this is Ubuntu, for example).
You just click on Try Ubuntu (Manjaro, Pop!_OS etc.) and no worries.
I must say that first Linux that has interested me after MINT is beta Debian version of Boddhi Linux
Beside having sanksrit and yoga references and themes, they did manage to make a bit different desktop/GUI that enables virtual desktops and is task oriented
If you want to get your feet wet without buying an entire new laptop, you can buy a Raspberry Pi 5 to try out Linux. It’s running a variant of Debian and the user interface is pretty refined.
Linux, like with Android on handheld, is now conquering the world of gaming
SteamOS 3 (basically ArchLinux with Steam and Proton gaming layer that makes Windows games playable) will be licensed to more devices with target of AMD64 devices with Radeon Gfx
There are even ways today to install Steam deck backup image of SteamOS 3 to any 64 bit Radeon PC