How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too

How and why I transitioned to Linux, and how you can too
larrysanger.org

Ubuntu with a Mate GUI "just works", has all the software I need and lacks BS like the Windows 10 interface.

I don't really think there's any objective barrier to using Linux for a significant percentage of people - people who don't need Adobe Creative Suite or similar monopolies. But this is the same population who probably won't both doing something unusual given they have no strong motivation.

>2. Put the distro on a thumb drive or DVD so you can boot to it from there.

>3. Create a partition big enough for the Linux distro.

>4. Install the Linux distro in the partition.

>5. Configure Linux so you can use it on a daily basis.

I think there's a critical step missing from this list, which applies to the 'non-techies' reading the post.

(At first I wasn't going to post this, thinking that the article was only for technically-minded people, but the author calls out notes for non-techies at various points.)

The critical step is: Tell your support person, and your other users!

Many people have a support person. At work, this is your IT person. At home, this may often be a family member. For example, I am the support person for my father.

If you have a support person, let them know what you would like to do. Point them to the article, and to the other pages that you're looking at.

Be respectful of your support person's time. It will take at least an hour to go through all of the above steps; longer if something doesn't go exactly right. If you do this out of the blue, run into a problem, and have to lean on your support person unexpectedly, understand that you will be taking them away from something else unexpectedly.

Be prepared for your support person to say "If you do this, I won't be able to help you." If they say that, then accept it. If you need to go back to them for help, don't be surprised if they say "You're going to have to wipe everything and reinstall".

Back up your stuff! Do this before making Step 3. Make sure those backups are good.

You may also have other users. If your family shares a machine, then your family members are other users.

Talk to those people. Let them know what is going to happen. Even if you are just adding Ubuntu as a new partition, you must assume there will be a time when you have to leave the computer unexpectedly, another user will come in, and be presented with a weird lock screen or login screen. Walk people through at least the Ubuntu login and lock screens.

Let your other users know, if the machine is locked, restarting into Windows may mean that anything still open under Linux may lose data.

Again, be respectful of everyone's time. If you're the parent, then you can certainly say "I'm doing this tomorrow at 3 PM; come to me first before you try to use the computer after that time.", but if your child then comes back with "I had planned on working on $PROJECT at 4 PM tomorrow", responding with "Well, you should've planned your time better." is BS.

If you're interested in running Linux on your desktop, then you can definitely do it! But please, recognize that (most of) you have people in your life who fulfill either the 'supporter' or 'co-user' role, and they deserve to be brought into the loop.

(Source of rant: I once had my Dad upgrade several versions of macOS in one single jump, on some random weekday. Of course the upgrade took longer than expected, and also the jump of several versions caused lots of UI things to change. That led to multiple unplanned hour-plus-long phone calls in the middle of my workday, as this was my parents' only computer.)

I wonder if this can be applied to the majority of people. If the app is available for Windows then use the Windows version (e.g. Chrome at least until Edge uses Chrome engine) otherwise use the app under WSL.

Microsoft has made it easy to run GNU tools under Windows such that you don’t need to be constrained to Linux installs for that.