this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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I'm considering switching to linux but I'm not a computer savvy person, so I wanted to have the option to switch back to windows if unforeseen complications (I only have 1 pc). Is it just a download on usb and install? And what ways can I get the product key or "cleaner" debloated versions.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

If you want to test out Linux, try running a virtual machine instead. There are a few good free software programs to do this. VirtualBox used to be a good option. It's a free and harmless way to dive into Linux.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

If you have a flash drive and an external disk you can boot into Rescuezilla (a disk cloning/backup/restore distribution) using the flash drive, save/backup your OS disk as an image in the external disk, and restore it as needed. After restoration, you will have your OS disk as it was at the time you saved it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

recently I have encountered a problem with this, it is indeed not so straightforward to create a bootable windows 10 USB instillation media under linux.

The media created by fedora media writer is not bootable and the media created by ventoy lacks drivers. I was then able to create a media quite easily with the last windows machine in my household. I don't know if it is a temporary bug or fundamental incompatibility.

So I would suggest you to keep a windows installation media at hand in case you need to switch back, or make sure at least one of your friend has a windows machine you can borrow.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Just buy a new SSD to install Linux on. If you decide to switch back just plug the old one in.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

So I will get some flack from this I am sure but my daily drivers since about 2004 are Linux I have always had a Mac laptop up to a few years ago in that time frame and Windows work laptops.

Honestly Windows 11 has a lot of nice creature features that KDE has had for a while and with WSL I can use a lot of my Linux commands. Can tell you how many times I have used egrep for things along with having native ssh built in. Powershell is a very powerful shell language especially if you want to go down the .Net rabbit hole but that’s not usually needed

Still my main desktop is Debian stable with distrobox for apps I need more modern versions of. But it’s not hard to switch back and forth

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

When I first wanted to try Linux out I made a small 50gb partition for it. the logic was that this was the size of just one game and it was an entire operating system, so I wasn't losing much. As I continued to use Linux I kept expanding that partition to correspond with the priority I gave the OS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

If you could install the linux then you can re-install the windows

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