This is awesome. I switched from Windows to Linux a month or two ago and don't regret it. I only keep an offline local account in Windows 11 around for gaming. I now do all my daily tasks like programming, school, and other personal tasks on Linux. Started off with Mint after testing a bunch of distros in multiple VMs. Now I'm getting into Arch while keep Mint as a backup.
Well unless the only games are all games that you play require easy anti-cheat technology, they're really aren't any games that don't work in the Linux world anymore save for a very shrinking few one way or another and I'm not even talking using a virtual machine Wine Lutris Heroic launcher Steam
@@motoryzen You got advice for Nvidia GPUs? I tried to get it to work with Steam and Proton, but it keeps using my integrated graphics on my CPU instead.
That sounds awesome, glad you’re enjoying linux. I started with mint, which I still use k. my gaming PC, but now I have fedora on my laptop which is nice too. For your GPU issue in games, double check you have the nvidia driver loaded properly in the driver manager. If you do, you might need to modify the launch properties of the game to force it to use the GPU. It’s odd, I have a 3060 and it’s been very smooth for my entire steam library. If you’re still stuck, I’d recommend posting on the mint forums where someone will be happy to help you.
if you only have one drive, you can partition if you still want to dual boot don't worry if you don't know how to do this, the mint installer will do it automatically for you if it detects you also have windows installed. just make sure to read everything very carefully when going through the formating disks section of the installation to make sure you don't accidentally delete windows
Definitely possible! But I would never recommend doing this because of the risk involved, especially for new users who may not be familiar with these concepts.
It's possible yes, but generally not recommended because I believe I heard sometimes windows can mess with the boot partition and mess up grub or something. I haven't heard the exact reason or situations where this might happen, but it can apparently make you unable to boot. Having separate drives is safer and you don't really need a large expensive drive to run linux generally, though I suppose you'll want to have a drive big enough to store all the programs and apps you're going to use, because unlike windows Linux does /not/ prompt you on installing a program about /where/ you want to install it, which means you can't say install steam on a second drive, or if you can you have to do things in a roundabout manner that I'm not familiar with. You /can/ set a steam library to be on another drive though, but I had a little trouble with a drive not having permissions and having to figure out how to mount it with execute permissions. Generally it seems Linux /really/ wants all the code and programs on /one/ logical drive/partition. You can use other drives/partitions for documents, but packages are all installed on the partition with the OS. This was a problem for me when I tried installing lightweight linux on a hp stream which only has 32 GB of soldered on storage and the only way for more space is SD cards/external drives. So the drive filled up rather quick with steam/proton/WINE and I don't know if there's anything I can do about it except uninstall stuff to free up space.
@@MindCaged Windows really does think it's the only os in existence. If you reinstall it, the installer flushes your BIOS Boot options and inserts itself at the top (as the only one) making your Linux unbootable 🗿
I can really just recommend everyone to at least dual boot and just try Linux out. Did it 2 years ago and my only regret is that I didn't start earlier!
Definitely! Though, I rarely recommend that to people. It's useful if you're really struggling but rarely the best option. It also carries a higher risk of messing things up.
Yes, and it is arguably the worst thing to do if you decided that this is not the way you wanted to go. Most machines in the recent past have been 500G system drives; a new system drive, like a 500G or 1 TB NVME is about $75. If I, or someone else was pondering the move, I'd suggest buying a new NVME disk, assuming it uses NVME, then using a program like DiskGenius to clone the old drive to the new drive, then leaving the new drive in the system, and yanking the original disk, and storing that in a drawer or cabinet. Then install Linux side by side. If things go wrong, yank the new drive, then reinstall the old drive and back in business, on Windows.. I can skin this cat, using different methods, about half a dozen ways; but that's me; but I've been using various personal computers since 1982.
Something I should say about using Mint. If you're concerned about how the layout of the OS is, think of it as a brand new Windows operating system where things are typically where they are, but other things are different. And think about simply exploring the OS instead of worrying where everything is, you'll figure it out. Trust me. I myself are considering using a secondary SSD to install Mint, and the best part is, if I don't like the OS at least I have a second drive to use for Windows. Windows 11 sucks though, even with the Professional version that I have. So Linux Mint will probably stay for a long time (maybe even be my main OS if I prefer it over Windows.)👀 Well hey, at least Windows 11 Pro never crashed on me, although I've needed to restart the OS a few times to serious driver issues. Particularly graphics drivers.
Also, I think you should mention that they shouldn't skip first boot window with options, which pops up on most distros. People think that this pop up is invaluable (like on windows XD), but it often contains really important tools. Also you are showing not the best thing about downloading a deb package, of course it's the way to download that people know the most, but most websites just give a command which they need to paste to a terminal instead of deb package/app image. It's better to use built in app manager. They are usually using flatpaks, so they will likely find the needed app. And there will be no auto-update in deb packages.
Good points! The welcome splash is actually good on most distros. I love that about linux. I must admit though, I always advocate that people can download packages however they want. Prebuilt deb files aren’t ideal but they’re really familiar to a windows user, which is why I gave them particular attention here. I also did another video where i covered apt and flatpak. :-)
I have a question, does nvidia drivers compatible with linux? ive been searching for linux distro compatible with nvidia drivers and it says Ubuntu, mint and Pop!Os. Should i do it? I Want a full installation of Linux. Thank you for your response.
Hello. I need help, Balena Etcher doesn't want to install on my computer and instead keeps giving me the warning "There was an error while installing the application Check the setup log for more information and contact the author." And despite this warning the app still opens up but doesn't take the linux mint iso 21.3 I have downloaded...
What operating system are you trying to install Balena etcher on? (It might be that you're missing another program that it depends on). If Balena won't work, a great alternative is Win32DiskImager if you're using Windows.
Take some time and build a USB flash disk with Ventoy; then drop the ISO on the ventoy disk, and reboot. Far easier method of selecting ISO's, and a 128G/256G flash drive can store a lot of ISO's
@@MrPir84free I wouldn't recommend ventoy to a newbie unless they were already distro hopping. it's really not worth setting up ventoy for a single iso
I'm planning hopping on LMDE when Win 10 support will be discontinued (or behind paywall). I have experience with Linux (I have a server; Old PC with LMDE), I know how to exit VIM (lol) and I have checked for app compatibility... which failed successfully as I switched, even now on Windows, to programs which are native to Linux. I'm planning on buying SSD for dual booting to show commitment, but i know Windows likes to fudge up GRUB, so that'll be interesting...
That sounds great! LMDE is a really solid choice. Buying a new SSD is a good idea. To minimise risk you could just unplug your windows drive when you install LMDE on your new drive. Then plug it back in when LMDE is installed correctly. :-)
@@QuinsTechCorner I don't think I heard about it fudging grub on a secondary drive, but I think it's why it's not recommended to install windows and linux on the same drive. I believe I heard having windows on one drive and linux on another is generally safer.
I would switch to linux but kde and gnome still suck in terms of performance on my chromebook (yes i daily drive a hacked chromebook running windows 10)
@@chellastation In my opinion it's worse than windows 10 in every possible way. I believe it's harder to use, very hostile to users, and feeds into the awful microsoft ecosystem that they've started setting up. Cannot stand it.
I kinda spent like a few weeks trying to get past the grub menu until some boot option I found online works (noapic) anyway it’s been a few weeks and it’s been great, started with mint but using Debian testing now. Anyway maybe one day I’ll use arch but I somehow bricked Debian like 3 times trying to switch from stable to testing so it’s gonna prob be a long time lmao Btw Debian stable is just well more stable less updated packages, Debian testing is less stable more updated packages.
I’m glad that you’ve got some kind of Linux up and running! Interesting info with the debian stable vs debian testing. I started with mint on my gaming desktop, which I still use, and now I have fedora on my laptop. :-) Enjoy!
@@QuinsTechCornermints honestly great but I don’t like cinnamon as much as something like kde, Debian also just comes with less packages if I’m correct Haven’t customized my desktop yet, but like just by looking online it makes me so excited
Absolutely. It depends how you switched. Was this on a laptop, a desktop? I'd also need to know where (physically) you installed Linux, to know how to get back to Windows.
This is awesome. I switched from Windows to Linux a month or two ago and don't regret it. I only keep an offline local account in Windows 11 around for gaming. I now do all my daily tasks like programming, school, and other personal tasks on Linux. Started off with Mint after testing a bunch of distros in multiple VMs. Now I'm getting into Arch while keep Mint as a backup.
Well unless the only games are all games that you play require easy anti-cheat technology, they're really aren't any games that don't work in the Linux world anymore save for a very shrinking few one way or another and I'm not even talking using a virtual machine
Wine
Lutris
Heroic launcher
Steam
@@motoryzen You got advice for Nvidia GPUs? I tried to get it to work with Steam and Proton, but it keeps using my integrated graphics on my CPU instead.
That sounds awesome, glad you’re enjoying linux.
I started with mint, which I still use k. my gaming PC, but now I have fedora on my laptop which is nice too.
For your GPU issue in games, double check you have the nvidia driver loaded properly in the driver manager. If you do, you might need to modify the launch properties of the game to force it to use the GPU.
It’s odd, I have a 3060 and it’s been very smooth for my entire steam library.
If you’re still stuck, I’d recommend posting on the mint forums where someone will be happy to help you.
You're missing a crucial part: start using software with a linux version waaaaay before you ever consider switching the OS
Definitely a nice way to do it.
Great point.
Thanks for the video I have been starting to try Linux
Thanks for watching!
Glad to hear it.
if you only have one drive, you can partition if you still want to dual boot
don't worry if you don't know how to do this, the mint installer will do it automatically for you if it detects you also have windows installed. just make sure to read everything very carefully when going through the formating disks section of the installation to make sure you don't accidentally delete windows
Definitely possible!
But I would never recommend doing this because of the risk involved, especially for new users who may not be familiar with these concepts.
@@QuinsTechCorner that seems like good practice
It's possible yes, but generally not recommended because I believe I heard sometimes windows can mess with the boot partition and mess up grub or something. I haven't heard the exact reason or situations where this might happen, but it can apparently make you unable to boot. Having separate drives is safer and you don't really need a large expensive drive to run linux generally, though I suppose you'll want to have a drive big enough to store all the programs and apps you're going to use, because unlike windows Linux does /not/ prompt you on installing a program about /where/ you want to install it, which means you can't say install steam on a second drive, or if you can you have to do things in a roundabout manner that I'm not familiar with. You /can/ set a steam library to be on another drive though, but I had a little trouble with a drive not having permissions and having to figure out how to mount it with execute permissions. Generally it seems Linux /really/ wants all the code and programs on /one/ logical drive/partition. You can use other drives/partitions for documents, but packages are all installed on the partition with the OS. This was a problem for me when I tried installing lightweight linux on a hp stream which only has 32 GB of soldered on storage and the only way for more space is SD cards/external drives. So the drive filled up rather quick with steam/proton/WINE and I don't know if there's anything I can do about it except uninstall stuff to free up space.
@@MindCaged Windows really does think it's the only os in existence. If you reinstall it, the installer flushes your BIOS Boot options and inserts itself at the top (as the only one) making your Linux unbootable 🗿
I can really just recommend everyone to at least dual boot and just try Linux out. Did it 2 years ago and my only regret is that I didn't start earlier!
Glad you're on the Linux train now! 🙂
A lot of distros have an option to automatically install linux alongside other system on the same drive
Definitely!
Though, I rarely recommend that to people.
It's useful if you're really struggling but rarely the best option.
It also carries a higher risk of messing things up.
Yes, and it is arguably the worst thing to do if you decided that this is not the way you wanted to go.
Most machines in the recent past have been 500G system drives; a new system drive, like a 500G or 1 TB NVME is about $75.
If I, or someone else was pondering the move, I'd suggest buying a new NVME disk, assuming it uses NVME, then using a program like DiskGenius to clone the old drive to the new drive, then leaving the new drive in the system, and yanking the original disk, and storing that in a drawer or cabinet. Then install Linux side by side. If things go wrong, yank the new drive, then reinstall the old drive and back in business, on Windows..
I can skin this cat, using different methods, about half a dozen ways; but that's me; but I've been using various personal computers since 1982.
Something I should say about using Mint. If you're concerned about how the layout of the OS is, think of it as a brand new Windows operating system where things are typically where they are, but other things are different. And think about simply exploring the OS instead of worrying where everything is, you'll figure it out. Trust me.
I myself are considering using a secondary SSD to install Mint, and the best part is, if I don't like the OS at least I have a second drive to use for Windows. Windows 11 sucks though, even with the Professional version that I have. So Linux Mint will probably stay for a long time (maybe even be my main OS if I prefer it over Windows.)👀
Well hey, at least Windows 11 Pro never crashed on me, although I've needed to restart the OS a few times to serious driver issues. Particularly graphics drivers.
@@zlette Great comment!
Hopefully you get Mint running on your second drive and enjoy it. :-)
@@QuinsTechCorner Of course! I'll come back here if and when I do manage to get Mint installed and how I feel about it.
@@zlette Sounds good!
Also, I think you should mention that they shouldn't skip first boot window with options, which pops up on most distros. People think that this pop up is invaluable (like on windows XD), but it often contains really important tools. Also you are showing not the best thing about downloading a deb package, of course it's the way to download that people know the most, but most websites just give a command which they need to paste to a terminal instead of deb package/app image. It's better to use built in app manager. They are usually using flatpaks, so they will likely find the needed app. And there will be no auto-update in deb packages.
Good points!
The welcome splash is actually good on most distros. I love that about linux.
I must admit though, I always advocate that people can download packages however they want. Prebuilt deb files aren’t ideal but they’re really familiar to a windows user, which is why I gave them particular attention here.
I also did another video where i covered apt and flatpak. :-)
I have a question, does nvidia drivers compatible with linux? ive been searching for linux distro compatible with nvidia drivers and it says Ubuntu, mint and Pop!Os. Should i do it? I Want a full installation of Linux. Thank you for your response.
Yes absolutely!
You can google your specific GPU, but I have an RTX 3060 and use linux mint happily. :-)
am prob going to use linux on a old intel 512 gb sata drive
and am keeping windows for apps that dont work on linux using wine/proton
That sounds like a great idea. :-)
@@QuinsTechCorner yeah
i tried dual booting and i could not expand the partition
@@Totallynotmwa Yep, I never recommend dual-booting to anyone - it's just so much worse than using a dedicated drive.
@@QuinsTechCorner agree
Hello. I need help, Balena Etcher doesn't want to install on my computer and instead keeps giving me the warning "There was an error while installing the application
Check the setup log for more information and contact
the author."
And despite this warning the app still opens up but doesn't take the linux mint iso 21.3 I have downloaded...
What operating system are you trying to install Balena etcher on? (It might be that you're missing another program that it depends on).
If Balena won't work, a great alternative is Win32DiskImager if you're using Windows.
instead of balena, you could try using rufus if you're on windows, or fedora media writer if you're on linux
Take some time and build a USB flash disk with Ventoy; then drop the ISO on the ventoy disk, and reboot. Far easier method of selecting ISO's, and a 128G/256G flash drive can store a lot of ISO's
@@rerereuj Rufus is a great option!
@@MrPir84free I wouldn't recommend ventoy to a newbie unless they were already distro hopping. it's really not worth setting up ventoy for a single iso
I'm planning hopping on LMDE when Win 10 support will be discontinued (or behind paywall).
I have experience with Linux (I have a server; Old PC with LMDE), I know how to exit VIM (lol) and I have checked for app compatibility... which failed successfully as I switched, even now on Windows, to programs which are native to Linux. I'm planning on buying SSD for dual booting to show commitment, but i know Windows likes to fudge up GRUB, so that'll be interesting...
That sounds great!
LMDE is a really solid choice.
Buying a new SSD is a good idea.
To minimise risk you could just unplug your windows drive when you install LMDE on your new drive. Then plug it back in when LMDE is installed correctly. :-)
@@QuinsTechCorner I don't think I heard about it fudging grub on a secondary drive, but I think it's why it's not recommended to install windows and linux on the same drive. I believe I heard having windows on one drive and linux on another is generally safer.
@@MindCaged Absolutely, fully agree with this.
Separate drives always.
How to swtich back
Same kind of idea, except you download a windows ISO instead.
Start here; www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10ISO
I would switch to linux but kde and gnome still suck in terms of performance on my chromebook (yes i daily drive a hacked chromebook running windows 10)
Achh, that’s frustrating.
How about trying Mint Xfce?
It’s a bit lighter on the resources. :-)
@@QuinsTechCorner or a i3 window manager
I am going to try or ask someone to help. I cannot take too crazy of a risk
If you think this is a crazy risk, I would advise not doing it at all, or committing to do some learning before thinking about it. :-)
@@QuinsTechCorner what are your thoughts on Windows 11?
@@chellastation In my opinion it's worse than windows 10 in every possible way.
I believe it's harder to use, very hostile to users, and feeds into the awful microsoft ecosystem that they've started setting up.
Cannot stand it.
I kinda spent like a few weeks trying to get past the grub menu until some boot option I found online works (noapic) anyway it’s been a few weeks and it’s been great, started with mint but using Debian testing now. Anyway maybe one day I’ll use arch but I somehow bricked Debian like 3 times trying to switch from stable to testing so it’s gonna prob be a long time lmao
Btw Debian stable is just well more stable less updated packages, Debian testing is less stable more updated packages.
I’m glad that you’ve got some kind of Linux up and running!
Interesting info with the debian stable vs debian testing.
I started with mint on my gaming desktop, which I still use, and now I have fedora on my laptop. :-)
Enjoy!
@@QuinsTechCornerthanks : D
@@QuinsTechCornermints honestly great but I don’t like cinnamon as much as something like kde, Debian also just comes with less packages if I’m correct
Haven’t customized my desktop yet, but like just by looking online it makes me so excited
@@bluealt4936 I love both cinnamon and KDE, but that's the beauty of linux, you can make it work for you!
Theming and customising is so fun. 🙂
I want to switch back to windows, is there any way?
Absolutely.
It depends how you switched. Was this on a laptop, a desktop?
I'd also need to know where (physically) you installed Linux, to know how to get back to Windows.
I'm using desktop, I don't know where it is installed. It was installed by someone else and I'm just reusing that computer. How to check that
i will eat my shit when windows 11 start up repair works
, windows just shut down black screen and wont boot anymore
Classic
vid title is incorrect :)
Do you propose I switch it around to be: "How to switch from Windows to Linux?"
I thought about that, if so.
@@QuinsTechCorner Oh! I misread the title LOL
In that case, it's great as it is
@@QuinsTechCornerI think it would be easier to understand. Not that much easier but just a little
@@bluealt4936 Hmm, yeah I think I might change it - thanks both!