Hot Take Escaping Windows: The Ultimate Guide to Migrate to Linux

[lokamoka820]

@Miravi, did you have an NVIDIA GPU on your device? If so, did you install the proprietary driver or use Nouveau instead? How is the performance? Is there screen tearing? Thanks.

 

[Miravi]

@Miravi, did you have an NVIDIA GPU on your device? If so, did you install the proprietary driver or use Nouveau instead? How is the performance? Is there screen tearing? Thanks.

Yes, I've always had an NVIDIA GPU.

Nouveau drivers have come pre-installed for years. They're sure to get you up and running.

If you want to tap every drop of performance and advanced features, then you install the NVIDIA proprietary drivers. On Fedora, you add an RPM Fusion repository to gain access to non-free software. The installation is straightforward when you follow a small guide, but now has an extra (but totally manageable) hurdle if Secure Boot is enabled on your computer.

After you download the packages, the driver modules are built against your specific kernel on the fly. You build them and wait just a few minutes before rebooting. Secure Boot will require a PIN password to finalize the initial installation.

After the initial installation, rebuilding the modules is completely automatic when you update to new versions of the kernel.

 

[lokamoka820]

Yesterday, I used Pop!_OS as my daily driver for my daily tasks, and I must say that I was really impressed by how much it had improved in many ways. It was very responsive, even from a USB drive, and there were no lags, glitches, fan sounds, heats, or CPU spikes. The NVIDIA proprietary driver was preinstalled, so there was no screen tearing, and it detected my screen resolution and set the proper fractional scaling by default. Even Linux Mint is not that ready out of the box. Kudos to the developers of Pop!_OS.

 

[Miravi]

I decided to try out GE-Proton—the community enhanced version of Valve's gaming compatibility layer—and play a casual game. User-friendliness, performance, and compatibility have improved tremendously. I'm extremely impressed.

Installation was a breeze. I used a Flatpak of ProtonUp-Qt to give myself an easy GUI for guiding the installation of everything needed. The latest GE-Proton and Heroic Games Launcher were downloaded and installed. Heroic Games Launcher allows you to use a few different gaming stores natively, so you can log in to browse your online game catalogs like normal for seamless downloads and installations.

Everything worked out of the box , and it automatically configured the necessary anti-cheat emulation in the background, which can be a pest. The image was sharp and lag was minimal. It was much closer to a perfect, seamless experience than one might expect.

The release of Wine 11.0 in January is quite an asset. With the irreversible migration to Wayland and moving beyond old X11 layers, I can see Linux gaming increasingly becoming a solid standard. There's a lot of talent still creating major shifts in this domain.

 

[piquiteco]

Yesterday, I used Pop!_OS as my daily driver for my daily tasks, and I must say that I was really impressed by how much it had improved in many ways. It was very responsive, even from a USB drive, and there were no lags, glitches, fan sounds, heats, or CPU spikes. The NVIDIA proprietary driver was preinstalled, so there was no screen tearing, and it detected my screen resolution and set the proper fractional scaling by default. Even Linux Mint is not that ready out of the box. Kudos to the developers of Pop!_OS.

Hearing you talk like that makes my mouth water. But I’m also torn—there are so many distros for me to install and test now, and I don’t even know which ones to choose. Pop!_OS has always been highly praised over the years. Now I’m eager to install it.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Yesterday, I used Pop!_OS as my daily driver for my daily tasks, and I must say that I was really impressed by how much it had improved in many ways. It was very responsive, even from a USB drive, and there were no lags, glitches, fan sounds, heats, or CPU spikes. The NVIDIA proprietary driver was preinstalled, so there was no screen tearing, and it detected my screen resolution and set the proper fractional scaling by default. Even Linux Mint is not that ready out of the box. Kudos to the developers of Pop!_OS.

Does it still open all apps in the middle of the screen? It doesn't load something like my browser or file explorer in maximized view. Everything is always a certain size in the middle of the screen. I found that very annoying. I prefer the default behavior that we have on Windows, KDE, GNOME, and so on. In settings, the other option was tilling which PopOS is known for but not my preferred way.

 

[LinuxFan58]

@Miravi

I read that M$ Office 2024 Word and Excel ran fine with Wine 11, interesting to know how well powerpoint works. Did you try M$ Office?

 

[lokamoka820]

Hearing you talk like that makes my mouth water. But I’m also torn—there are so many distros for me to install and test now, and I don’t even know which ones to choose. Pop!_OS has always been highly praised over the years. Now I’m eager to install it.

The exciting thing about Pop! OS is how well-prepared and configured it is for laptops with two GPUs right out of the box, especially with NVIDIA drivers. It has built-in power profiles, the most recent proprietary drivers, and makes switching between GPUs simple. Although you are welcome to test it out, I do not advise installing it just yet because COSMIC desktop still has some bugs and lacks features like a night light.

Does it still open all apps in the middle of the screen? It doesn't load something like my browser or file explorer in maximized view. Everything is always a certain size in the middle of the screen. I found that very annoying. I prefer the default behavior that we have on Windows, KDE, GNOME, and so on. In settings, the other option was tilling which PopOS is known for but not my preferred way.

I'm not really sure about that because my main goal was to test the NVIDIA proprietary driver's performance without installing it on bare metal, and Pop!_OS provided a live ISO with NVIDIA already installed. If you prefer KDE or GNOME, stick with them. I tried MX Linux with KDE Plasma 6 today, and I have to say that the KDE experience was more thrilling than COSMIC. The Wayland session was the real deal after my tests; it's fantastic now, and anyone who wants a comfortable experience without screen tearing or other issues should use a desktop environment that supports Wayland and forget about X11. I am currently searching for a better KDE distribution to test, as it has the potential to become my preferred desktop environment; if not, I will test GNOME distributions next.

 

[simmerskool]

I am currently searching for a better KDE distribution to test, as it has the potential to become my preferred desktop environment; if not, I will test GNOME distributions next.

I installed openSUSE Tumbleweed with KDE_Plasma and the installation was a breeze! I plan to use as daily driver the next several days, and hope the delightful experience continues. Having said that, I really have no reason & no plans to leave fedora 43 with gnome as it just works, rock solid and per chatGPT my most secure distro.

 

[lokamoka820]

I installed openSUSE Tumbleweed with KDE_Plasma and the installation was a breeze! I plan to use as daily driver the next several days, and hope the delightful experience continues. Having said that, I really have no reason & no plans to leave fedora 43 with gnome as it just works, rock solid and per chatGPT my most secure distro.

My favorite distribution was openSUSE Leap, but it was almost going out of support. OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is similar, but it will receive updates every day. I'm looking for a distribution that isn't too outdated like Debian, but also not cutting edge. Do you typically reinstall Fedora or upgrade when a new release is available? I'm searching for a distribution that also allows me to upgrade to new releases without any problems.

 

[simmerskool]

My favorite distribution was openSUSE Leap, but it was almost going out of support. OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is similar, but it will receive updates every day. I'm looking for a distribution that isn't too outdated like Debian, but also not cutting edge. Do you typically reinstall Fedora or upgrade when a new release is available? I'm searching for a distribution that also allows me to upgrade to new releases without any problems.

without stretching my memory beyond its current capacity, iirc fedora 43 upgraded over 42 ok. I don't mind daily updates, eg with fedora. gives retired user something to do.

 

[LinuxFan58]

I should start a poll how many distro's Linux users have tried. My distro count number is impressive exactly 1

When my LTS ends in 2029 I will try Fedora Silverblue

I tried to incorporate tripwire into logcheck but that caused to much noise, so I think I am better of with an immutable distro.

 

[lokamoka820]

I should start a poll how many distro's Linux users have tried. My distro count number is impressive exactly 1

When my LTS ends in 2029 I will try Fedora Silverblue

I tried to incorporate tripwire into logcheck but that caused to much noise, so I think I am better of with an immutable distro.

In the world of Linux, distro hopping is an incurable disease.

 

[simmerskool]

I should start a poll how many distro's Linux users have tried. My distro count number is impressive exactly 1

When my LTS ends in 2029 I will try Fedora Silverblue

I tried to incorporate tripwire into logcheck but that caused to much noise, so I think I am better of with an immutable distro.

I've been running fedora 90+% of the time since 39, 40, 41, 42, now on 43, soon 44. I also ran Silverblue -- a different beast imo. I ran it for a short period and happily returned fedora / gnome. reading about Silverblue and running it are two different things... (your upcoming experience may vary...?)

 

[piquiteco]

I should start a poll how many distro's Linux users have tried. My distro count number is impressive exactly 1

I think it’s because you found a Linux distribution you really like, and from what I can tell, you spend most of your time using Linux. I spend more time using Windows than Linux, but I want to turn that around—I want to use Linux anytime, anywhere, without it feeling strange, whether I’m in the terminal or doing anything else. You know what I mean?

In the world of Linux, distro hopping is an incurable disease.

Of course, because Linux has several distributions; it’s not like Windows, which has only one version—although there are Pro and Home editions of Windows, the graphical interface is identical, with practically no difference in the GUI. In Linux, also known as “flavors,” it takes a while to find the exact distro you like and stick with just that one. Another thing—call it what you will—is that users are curious to try out different Linux distros. Because in Linux, you can test most distros in Live mode. This type of test isn't possible on another operating system running on a different platform. You have to install the OS on the SSD/HDD to see how it works.

 

[LinuxFan58]

I've been running fedora 90+% of the time since 39, 40, 41, 42, now on 43, soon 44. I also ran Silverblue -- a different beast imo. I ran it for a short period and happily returned fedora / gnome. reading about Silverblue and running it are two different things... (your upcoming experience may vary...?)

Could you explain what made you return to Fedora? You guessed right, I have not tried Silverblue, but I am drawn to it because of the many positive and even raving reviews about it. So I am curious about your experience and verdict (since you have much more Linux mileage experience than me).

 

[LinuxFan58]

I think it’s because you found a Linux distribution you really like, and from what I can tell, you spend most of your time using Linux. I spend more time using Windows than Linux, but I want to turn that around—I want to use Linux anytime, anywhere, without it feeling strange, whether I’m in the terminal or doing anything else. You know what I mean?

I am using Linux 100% at home and using Windows at the university and I am really happy with Linux Mint Xfce.

I had fine tuned Libre Office using old school icon bars, but felt back to the ribbon again because Windows Microsoft Office became so annoying (using the ribbon), so I degraded Linux Libre Office in useability because the gap became annoying.

 

[piquiteco]

I am using Linux 100% at home and using Windows at the university and I am really happy with Linux Mint Xfce.

How cool. Even though I sometimes try out different Linux distros—even if I like one or the other—in the end, I always end up going back to Linux Mint. And the funny thing is, a lot of people say the same thing I do I don’t know why, but Linux Mint has a special place in my heart. I guess it’s because of how smooth Mint runs—it uses few resources, the interface is user-friendly and very similar to Windows, and also because of the huge community with forums and blogs if you ever need help.

I had fine tuned Libre Office using old school icon bars, but felt back to the ribbon again because Windows Microsoft Office became so annoying (using the ribbon), so I degraded Linux Libre Office in useability because the gap became annoying.

That's a pretty bad experience—it takes a lot of work to customize. This is one of the areas where LibreOffice needs to improve or bring itself more in line with Microsoft Office.

 

[Sorrento]

This thread though is the reason most people use Windows or Apple on PC's, they just don't want anything but a fit & forget solution like like buying a TV - Myself with hi-fi for decades have used separates, not an in in one, few now want the hassle of concerning about which cables to use, leveling turntables & when doing so have to use an expensive special level, the units need to be supported on often spikes, loudspeaker cables that cost more than some spend on the entire system the list goes on & on & on.

Apart from myself & my nephew there is no one I know would consider Linux for home PC, should they venture into it there is a plethora of distros & few users stick to one, for me its great, but not for the fit & forget brigade otherwise known as most people on earth, others use this PC & they really think I ought to be interned against my will & prevented from escaping if presented with Linux

 

[Miravi]

@Miravi

I read that M$ Office 2024 Word and Excel ran fine with Wine 11, interesting to know how well powerpoint works. Did you try M$ Office?

No, I haven't tried anything else in Wine. I also have a Windows VM around if I need to run anything with strict compatibility.

Honestly, though, since migrating I find myself adopting native, open-source alternatives and being pleasantly surprised by performance and quality. Researchers and engineers really do release cutting-edge software for Linux users.

I'd spent so much time away from the FOSS sphere that I'm really noticing improvements.