I’ve been a Windows user all my life and had dabbled in the Apple ecosystem for a bit. With the upcoming end of support for Windows 10 in Oct 2025, I figured I’d put myself through a huge challenge of cutting over completely to LInux without a secondary backup drive with Win 10 on it. If I could survive the struggles for a few months, I’d be golden, and if I couldn’t, then I could switch to Windows 10 LTSC and be good until 2029. The intention was to completely force myself in without a backup plan - the only way out would be to install a new Windows OS. I chose Linux Mint after careful consideration, especially considering that there’s tons of resources and help with this distro, and it’s a great onboarding ramp for Windows users. I need the familiarity since I’m in tech full time and just don’t have the energy to hassle with my PC after a long stressful day at work.
I also used this as a good excuse to upgrade my PC a bit, too. 😀
After switching in mid December, I’m happy to report that I’m still alive after 30 days. My computer hasn’t killed me. And I’ve been able to do work and game on my PC without too many hiccups. Marvel Rivals still crashes ever since the Season 1 update. Overwatch works perfect. My other games, on both Steam and GOG, work perfectly fine. But I haven’t been able to test every game out there, but I know I can use Proton DB if needed.
I even edited this screenshot in GIMP after being forged in the fires of Macromedia Fireworks and Photoshop all my life! I even stripped exif data using command line tools! I even installed this cool neofetch thing that I always saw in people screenshots of their PC or whatever, every time I saw someone’s Linux build with their thigh high socks and neofetch on the terminal!
But so far, switching to Linux Mint has been great! I’m excited to deep dive more!
Note:
- I backed up all my data from Windows into a USB drive. I’m slowly bringing all that stuff over to my Linux Mint computer and rebuilding my music, video, photos, etc. Lot of work, but it’s so cool feeling so liberated!
- I may also want help from you Linux nerds from time to time. I’ll make posts/memes begging for help when I get desperate. But so far, almost every issue I’ve had has been resolved via an internet search!
- I pray that I won’t come crawling back to Windows. I don’t expect that to happen with how great my experience has been thus far.
Specs:
- Linux Mint 22
- Ryzen 7 9800x3d
- Thermalright Phantom Spirit
- MSI X670e Carbon WiFi
- Sapphire Nitro+ RX7900 XTX
- Corsair Vegeance 64 GB DDR5-7200
- Gen 5 Crucial T700 (?) M.2 x 2
- Corsair 5000d
- Noctua case fans (Lian Li too problematic on Linux based on all the research I did in advance)
- Seasonic Focus Gold 1000W
Old Specs Everything the same as above apart from:
- Windows 10 Pro
- Intel i7-12700k
- Noctua NH-U12A
- MSI Pro Z690-A
- MSI RTX 3080 Gaming Z Trio
- Samsung Gen 3/4 M.2
- Corsair Vengeance Pro 32 GB DDR4-3600
- Lian Li AL120 case fans
I’m thinking of doing the jump this weekend but I’m scurred. I don’t want to spend hours debugging an OS like I did over a decade ago. Any reassuring words?
I’m sure others have mentioned this and you know it by now. But just in case, it is possible to run a complete Linux desktop from DVD or USB without installing. It is a good check to make sure your hardware is compatible and everything works for you.
I think one failure of the Linux community is not communicating that this feature has been around for two decades now.
A direct hop is usually not the best way to move into the Linux world. The best way I’ve heard (and wished I did myself) is slowly start migrating to programs that will be available and you’ll be using, while still on Windows. Get used to how new things work and if an emergency comes up, you can fall back to your tried and true tools. Then, just keep migrating apps until most of what you use is open source stuff, or stuff widely available. (Spotify, Discord, Zoom, etc.) Once you have your workflow worked out, you’ve found substitutes for things you can’t get on Linux, then is a good time to take the plunge.
Going cold turkey is going to be really rough. I had Fedora on a side piece laptop for years before my first try on my workstation and it was a disaster. Less than a week later I had to go back to Windows. But, now I’m familiar with the tools I use and I’ve been a full convert for a few months now and it’s been great.
You can do it! Just…take it slow.
Can second this strategy. I still dual boot W10 and LMDE, but every day I find myself booting Windows less and less. All I really use it for is Roblox and Playnite, and Playnite isn’t even necessary because I’ve been getting more and more used to Pegasus on Linux.
You just gotta get comfy with a bit of program migration, for example I used to use programs like Word, Brave browser, and Playnite, and learned LibreOffice, Librewolf, and Pegasus one at a time until I didn’t need the often worse Windows version.
I’ve been migrating to Foss and cross-platform software recently, so that’s good to hear. My only concerns are kernel-level anti-cheat games not porting over and issues with drivers. Nvidia has Linux support for somewhat older video cards, right? I guess I’m about to find out. lol
E: Extra words, how’d they get in there?
Yes, the older drivers are just proprietary.
Linux Mint has been set and go for me personally. You will thank us later.
Ohh, I think I’m gonna make a list of a few distros I want to try out before I settle with one. This one’s next after Pop!OS. Thanks for the suggestion!
It depends on what kind of software you usually use. You should look up the programs you use regularly/can’t live without to see if they have Linux versions or if they have decent replacements. If everything there checks out, find an LTS distro. Debian/Ubuntu and derivatives (PopOS or Mint) or fedora and derivatives (I don’t know any fedora derivatives) would be good.
I started using PopOS last year for a gaming machine and all the tinkering I did, I did because I’m a nerd and I wanted to. If I wanted an easy experience without even looking at a command line I think I could’ve.
One more thing. Most (maybe all?) Linux distros can be booted and viewed in a live environment from a USB without having to erase your whole drive (just make sure you don’t go through the setup and actually erase your drive (unless you want to))
I mean, it’s not like I haven’t spent hours debugging windows. Why is the sound crackling? WHY?
Never solved it and Linux just worked
I had bunch or games start working and stop crashing once I moved to linux. Also my graphics tablet and audio devices stopped having driver issues. Even simgear works. Only thing missing is vr support but seems I am the odd one out in that case.
Hmm, my only issues with Windows over the years have been hardware-related, although cryptically, so maybe that’s why I’m not as upset. But I feel you, not knowing what the problem is drives me nuts.
I’m crossing all my appendages! 🤞
I had the same issue, it was a security update that made some wireless sound devices get rice krispied. Took me way too long to debug and when I found out Microsoft was responsible, I reverted my Windows and have been waiting for a solid jump off point. I might just back everything up on a HDD, then format my boot drive and go Linux. I’m tired of being tired of Windows.
Agree with both commenters.
Make a live USB, see if you like it, and then install Linux alongside Windows in a dual-boot configuration. Note that it is recommended to use two different physical drives for the respective operating systems, but one will do as well.
Then do everything in Linux while feeling safe that there is still Windows to fall back to.
Oh, that’s perfect! I have two SSDs ready for that, and a third HDD where I’ve kept all my media. I feel like I accidentally set myself up for success on this one. lol
This is 100% the way to do it, you can dabble as much or as little as you want, with familiarity one reboot away, and that takes all the stress off the distro selection.
Initially, treat the Linux OS as just fully disposable, which you may realize you have some subconscious resistance to, I think I did. Plan to try a few just to compare the overall experience, you may find that one really just feels more intuitive or smooth than the others, and there are many worse ways to select a longer-term distro to use.
Amazing! Then you’re all set for sure 😊
I recommend using windows tools to shrink windows partitions if you only have one drive and read about manual partitioning for your Linux install - though the “use free space” option should work fine after windows shrunk itself.