Switching to Linux

By OPGman
Published on June 12, 2024
Last updated on March 9, 2025

Table of Contents

Introduction

This guide started off being used for my own purposes when switching to Linux to keep track of what programs I could continue to use and what I would have to sacrifice and find replacements for. From there, it evolved into more of a general guide for switching to Linux. As a result, almost everything you will read here is based on the things I have learned and experienced from going through this process myself. If you think anything here is wrong or could be written better, feel free to suggest improvements.

Why Linux?

You might be wondering why you should switch to Linux, if Windows or macOS is currently working fine for you. The short answer is concerns regarding privacy, security, and freedom, but I'll explain in detail what I mean by that. If I somehow already convinced you to switch, you can skip to the Linux Overview section.

Privacy

You may not realize it, but the concept of privacy in the digital world is slowly becoming a thing of the past. (This is also true for society in general but that topic is beyond the scope of this guide.) Many companies have started to realize over the past 10 years or so that they can sell your personal data for massive profits, with little to no consequence, due to the way the laws are written in the US and many other countries. Your data is primarily being sold to advertisers to give you more targeted ads, but it's also being sold to scammers and, in some cases, even governments. Have you ever wondered why you constantly get robo calls? A company you gave your phone number to either sold that data to scammers, or had that data breached by hackers. Either way, your privacy was violated.

Microsoft is doing this, as well as keeping some of that data for their own purposes, often without your consent. Windows 10 and 11 are filled with trackers and telemetry. You can turn some of it off, but it's pretty much impossible to turn all of it off, at least for the average user. Microsoft has also been known to turn these trackers back on after a Windows update. The data they collect can include things like what apps you use, the times you're most active on your PC, your search history (if using Edge or Bing), and more. If they collect enough of this data, they can paint a pretty good picture of you, which is why they sell it to anyone willing to pay for it.

With the AI craze going on, the data collected about you is only going to increase. Microsoft is already in hot water for their Recall feature in Windows 11. It takes screenshots every 5 seconds and analyzes them with AI unless you manually turn it off, assuming you can find the settings to do so, which are conveniently hidden. When this feature first released, the saved screenshots were stored in an unencrypted SQL database, allowing any program to access them. While this has been fixed and Microsoft has stated that your screenshots always remain local, people are skeptical that the data the AI gathered about those images also remains local. So yeah, It's pretty clear that Microsoft doesn't respect your privacy at all. They'll do anything to get as much data about you as possible. They're like creepy stalkers except what they're doing is perfectly legal in the US. Don't get me wrong, though. Microsoft is far from the only company that does this stuff. Google and Meta for example are just as bad if not worse, but again, that discussion is outside the scope of this guide.

Apple isn't much better when it comes to privacy. They've been proven to track user locations, record people's conversations with Siri, fail to remove iCloud files that users delete, and track app activity even when the setting is turned off. Most software made by Microsoft and Apple is closed-source, meaning nobody outside of the company knows what they're really up to. There are ways to find out without having the source code, but they're extremely technical and typically require extensive research by cybersecurity professionals.

Most Linux distros on the other hand do not have any sort of tracking or telemetry, and even the few that do have it turned off by default. Your privacy is much safer because most software for Linux (including Linux itself) is open source, so not only is it nearly impossible to hide malicious code that steals your data, there's also very little incentive for these projects to be collecting your data to begin with, because most of them are not in it for the money.

A lot of people think that online privacy doesn't really matter if they have nothing to hide. I couldn't disagree more. This section is already long enough so I'm not going to rant about that, but if you're willing to have your mind changed, this article tells you everything you need to know. This website in general is a fantastic resource for everything related to online privacy.

Security

You can't have privacy without security, and while nothing is ever 100% secure, Linux-based systems are by far the most secure out of all the mainstream operating systems for multiple reasons:

1. Security through obscurity. Simply put, Linux is significantly less popular than Windows, so malware creators have less incentive to write code that works on it. Most malware that does target Linux is made for enterprise environments, and likely won't even run correctly on home computers. This could certainly change as Linux grows in popularity among home users, but there are other factors that still limit the effectiveness of malware on Linux.
2. Linux uses file and group permissions to determine who is allowed to access and modify what. Group permissions are part of a file permission. They're useful when you need a program to access a sensitive file, but don't want any other programs or users accessing it. Basically, keeping files out of the wrong hands is much easier to do on Linux. On top of that, file permissions on Linux also prevent execution of programs by default, ensuring that files you download cannot be run unless you absolutely want them to.
3. Windows admin permissions can be used by anyone without a password, provided they're on an admin account. Not only are people accustomed to clicking “yes” for the user account control prompt without reading it, but there are several exploits that allow an attacker to completely bypass the UAC prompt without the user ever knowing.
4. Many Linux programs (and the Linux kernel itself) are open source, and created by many different people. If you have a bad actor injecting malware into a program or distro, not only are they likely to affect only a very small portion of all Linux users, those affected users also have the choice of removing that program or installing an older version to fix the issue. Windows is developed exclusively by Microsoft and is not open source, so if they want to do something malicious, it's going to affect everyone, and you likely won't be able to do much about it because of how locked-down Windows is.
5. Apps from certain package managers such as Flatpak and Snap run in a sandbox, which basically forces the app to run in its own bubble where it has limited access to system files and cannot easily interact with other apps. Many companies choose to distribute their closed-source apps through these package managers because it helps assure the user that the app is safe. While you can technically achieve the same result on Windows, it's nowhere near as straightforward as this. This isn't to say that Flapaks and Snaps are 100% secure, but the groups that manage these systems are constantly improving security and ensuring that any threats are quickly taken care of.
6. Unless Microsoft pushes the date back, Windows 10 will stop receiving security updates in October 2025. After that, you run the risk of using a compromised system if a security flaw is discovered and exploited, because it will not be fixed. You could upgrade to Windows 11 if it supports your hardware, but obviously with that you run into different issues mainly concerning privacy.

Freedom

While freedom in terms of what you can do with your software isn't nearly as important as privacy and security, it's still worth mentioning because it's a big part of Linux's identity. Unlike Windows and macOS, Linux gives you absolute control over the entire system (provided you have sudo permissions). You're free to install, modify, and remove absolutely anything, including parts that really shouldn't be touched because doing so could break the entire system. With Windows and macOS, you're stuck with whatever functionality Microsoft and Apple want you to have. There are many parts of both operating systems that simply cannot be removed or modified no matter how hard you try.

Linux Overview

This section will cover the basics of Linux as well as some of its quirks that you should be aware of to avoid confusion later on.

What's a distro?

Distro is short for distribution. When Linux is talked about, it's usually in reference to a distro, but Linux is actually the kernel. The kernel is the very lowest level of the operating system responsible for handling core tasks such as loading programs, controlling USB devices, and writing files to the disk. A distro is a customized distribution of an operating system called GNU, or GNU/Linux. GNU is simply a collection of free open-source software (FOSS) bundled together to form a functional system. Every distro has their own selection of software that comes preinstalled, and some also come with a customized kernel. Not every OS that runs Linux is GNU/Linux, however. Google's ChromeOS and Android, Valve's SteamOS, and LG's webOS are examples of Linux-based operating systems that do not follow GNU's philosophy because they contain proprietary software or are not freely available to everyone, and thus are not typically referred to as distros.

Installing Linux

Installing a beginner-friendly distro is pretty straightforward, just follow the instructions it gives you as you go. What isn't always straightforward, however, is actually getting Linux to boot. Many distros just give you the ISO file and don't elaborate as to what you're supposed to do with it, so that's what this section will be about.

There's three things you're going to need to get Linux to boot: A USB drive large enough for your distro, a working Windows, Linux, or macOS PC, and balenaEtcher installed on that PC. (Just be aware that balenaEtcher has some minor privacy issues despite being open source. If you're familiar with alternatives such as Raspberry Pi Imager or Rufus, I would use one of those instead, but for beginners balenaEtcher is the easiest to download and use on all platforms.) Once you have all of that, follow these steps:

1. Plug in the USB and open balenaEtcher.
2. Select the ISO file you downloaded from the website of the distro you want to use.
3. Select the USB drive you want to install it to.
4. Hit the flash button. It might take a while depending on the size of the ISO and the speed of the drive.
5. Once balenaEtcher says it's finished, plug the USB into the PC you want to install Linux on, and reboot the PC into the BIOS. If you're not sure how to get into the BIOS, spamming the F12 or delete key as the PC is rebooting usually works. Otherwise, you'll have to check the manual for your motherboard or laptop.
6. From here, the steps will be vague because every motherboard is different. Look around the BIOS for an option for USB booting. If you find it, make sure it's enabled. If you don't find it, don't worry about it.
7. Go to the boot section and change the first boot option to the USB drive you just plugged in. Save your changes and reboot.
8. If you did everything correctly, your PC should have booted the USB. You might see the bootloader selection screen, or it might have booted straight into the live image. If you're at the bootloader selection screen, just press enter to select the default option. From there, you can install the distro by following the steps it gives you.

Desktop Environments

Desktop environments are basically the front end meat of the operating system. They include things like the taskbar, start menu, wallpaper, desktop icons, and the alt+tab menu. Unlike Windows, there are several desktop environments available for Linux, and they all have distinct features. Some of the most popular include KDE Plasma, GNOME, Cinnamon, Xfce, LXQt, and MATE. Most distros come with a desktop environment pre-installed, and many let you choose between different ones before or during installation.

Installing Software

Native Programs

When you install a program on Windows, you typically have to download individual exe or msi files, unless you're using the Microsoft Store. Linux is similar in some ways, and vastly different in other ways. It really depends on the distro you're running and the software you want to download. For example, Debian and Ubuntu-based distros can typically install programs from .deb files, while other distros can't. Some distros also come with a GUI software manager similar to the Microsoft Store that lets you download a wide range of software without having to touch the terminal. If you are using a beginner-friendly distro, you will almost never have to manually install something through the terminal.

Whether the software manager has a GUI frontend or not, one thing that pretty much all of them have in common is that they can install and update both system files and regular programs, even automatically in some cases. It is not uncommon to update Firefox and the Linux kernel at the same time, for example. While on the topic of system files, a common misconception is that Linux never requires a restart after updating system files. This likely stemmed from the enterprise world where Linux servers are meant to have very little downtime, but home users should always be shutting down their PCs at the end of the day, and restarting after a system update.

Where do these updates come from though? Who maintains them? When a program is downloaded through the software manager, it comes from a file server called a repository, or repo for short. These repos are typically hosted by the maintainer of the distro. Many distros offer multiple repos that hold different types of software, such as new releases that are being tested for stability. To ensure that everyone has a fast and stable connection to the repo, they are typically hosted by a bunch of different servers around the world, called mirrors. Different organizations not directly affiliated with the distro maintainer might also host mirrors. Most beginner-friendly distros will automatically choose the mirror with the lowest ping to ensure that you have a fast and stable connection.

There are a lot of options for installing an updating software on Linux, and talking about everything would make this section extremely long. It's best to read up on the documentation provided by whatever distro you end up choosing to figure out how to use the software manager. Even distros with very little documentation should mention it since it's a core feature.

Windows Programs

One of the main reasons people stay away from Linux is that the programs they use or the games they play on Windows don't run on Linux, or so they think. Over the past few years, there have been significant improvements toward this. Many Windows apps are capable of running on Linux through pieces of complex software called compatibility layers. These layers basically translate code written for Windows into code that Linux can understand, in real time, with little to no performance loss (and sometimes even an increase). There are three main programs you can use to run Windows programs on Linux:

• Wine - Main compatibility layer for running generic Windows apps, though certain games work fine with it too.
• Proton - Based on Wine. It was created by Valve to be mainly used with games inside Steam, but it can also be used with programs outside of Steam, even if they aren't games.
• Mono - Not a compatibility layer, but it will run most .NET apps even if they were built for Windows.

File System

There are several things you should note about how files work in Linux, as some things are vastly different from Windows:

• NTFS is the file system mainly used by Windows. While Linux supports it for non-system drives, I do not recommend using it, as you might run into performance issues and write errors. You should format all of your drives the same as your main drive, which will usually be ext4.
• Drive letters don't exist. The root (aka the very first level) of the system drive is identified by a single forward slash /. All other mounted drives are accessed through either the /mnt or /media directory, depending on how it was mounted. Removable drives (USB,CD,Floppy) are typically found in /media, while permanent drives (HDD,SSD) that get mounted at startup are found in /mnt.
• User files are located in /home/[username]. Similar to the Windows AppData folder, user-specific program data is located in hidden folders inside the user folder called '.config' and '.local'. The /home directory can sometimes be located on a separate partition or physical drive depending on how it was configured during installation, but this won't change how you access it inside Linux.
• Extra disks are not automatically mounted on Linux unless you specifically tell it to. The easiest way to do this is to download the GNOME Disk Utility, click the target disk, click the partition you want to mount, click the box with the play icon in the middle, click Edit Mount Options, then disable the toggle for User Session Defaults. You can change the mount point to a different name like /mnt/Disk2 to make it easier to find if you'd like. Just don't use spaces or special characters. You might also have to click the Take Ownership option to allow other programs such as Steam to write to the drive.
• Disk cleanup isn't as necessary on Linux as it is on Windows, so most distros don't come with any sort of cleanup tool. If you want to clean up unnecessary system and app files, I recommend BleachBit. Most software and update managers will automatically clean up unnecessary files related to that, if not they usually give you an option to do it manually. The only files you might need to clear manually are caches and core dumps in the root folders.
• Defragging hard drives in Linux isn't needed due to the way the ext4 file system works. It scatters files around the disk to leave plenty of space for them to increase in size. Fragmentation only starts to happen when the disk is around 80% full.
• Hidden files and folders are created by adding a period to the beginning of the name.
• Folder and file permissions are treated differently than Windows. Users and groups can have separate permissions, and apps can belong to groups. Executable files will not run without giving yourself execute permissions on that file with the `chmod +x [filename]` command. Certain apps might require you to add yourself to a group to work properly due to how permissions work.

Security

I already discussed a lot of the security features Linux has in the previous section, so this subsection will only be discussing a few things that weren't covered there.

• Some distros give you the option to encrypt your home folder and/or entire drive. I personally don't recommend it unless you're using a laptop that you travel a lot with, or live in an area where burglaries and thefts are common. It can cause issues with certain programs (including Steam) and slow down older systems. It also makes data recovery more difficult in the event of a drive failure.
• Giving a program admin rights in Linux is much different than Windows. Running something as sudo gives that program or user full control over the ENTIRE system, including system files, the bootloader, and every connected hardware device. One of the easiest ways for a virus to gain access to the system is to trick the user into running it as sudo. Only run things with sudo if you 100% trust it to not do anything malicious with that power.
• Additional security risks are introduced when Wine (the software used to run Windows programs) is installed on your system. As Wine continues to evolve, more and more Windows programs have the ability to run out of the box on Linux, and running programs through Wine bypasses the file system's executable permissions. Furthermore, neither Linux nor Wine come with any sort of anti-virus, so there's no system in place to scan programs for viruses before they're opened or while they're running. This isn't meant to scare you out of using Wine, it's a very useful tool that I highly recommend, but you need to be careful about what you run with it.

Graphics

• If you're using a laptop or a small screen with a relatively large resolution for the screen, be aware that Linux has weird DPI scaling. 100% feels too small and 125% feels too big with most desktop environments. You might be better off lowering the desktop resolution.
• Linux has 2 graphical backends: X11 and Wayland. X11 is slower and less secure, but also more stable. Wayland is faster and more secure, but not as stable. X11 is likely going to be phased out at some point by most distros. This doesn't mean much for you because your distro will likely handle the transition through an update, but I figured it was still worth mentioning since some desktop environments support both and let you switch between the two pretty easily, and if you want max performance when gaming, switching to Wayland might be ideal.
• Multi-monitor support is weird. If you have multiple monitors with varying refresh rates and/or resolutions, you might have issues with all monitors being stuck at the refresh rate or resolution of the monitor with the lowest one. Some desktop environments handle this better than others, but none of them seem to be perfect. If you're using X11 instead of Wayland, you might have to disable the compositor, which basically enables vsync on the desktop, to get the proper framerate.
• Nvidia GPUs require the installation of a proprietary driver to work properly. Most beginner-friendly distros allow you to do this, and many will even guide you through it, but be aware that some of the more advanced distros don't let you do it by default. AMD and Intel GPUs do not require a proprietary driver.

Misc Notes

• Much like Windows, out of the box printer support is very hit or miss. I've had a USB printer from 2001 work out of the box, but a network printer from 2010 and a USB printer from 2024 both required a manual driver installation.
• The Linux kernel has built-in drivers for a LOT of USB devices, much more than Windows, but sometimes they still need manual tweaks to work properly.
• The Linux community is pretty divided, and it's not hard to end up on the toxic side. Some people (especially Arch users) love to gate keep and belittle newbies for not being as knowledgeable as them, so just keep that in mind when searching online for answers to something.

Choosing a Distro

If you're brand new to Linux and want to jump in right away without having to worry about picking a distro, skip this section and just go with Mint. It's a good general-purpose OS with a clean and minimalist desktop environment that'll feel familiar if you're coming from Windows. You can always live boot or dual boot before fully committing to a distro, so if you don't like it you can just try another one.

If you're interested in seeing what's out there and what the differences are between popular distros, you can continue reading through this section. Just note that I won't be covering niche or obscure distros here. Anything that isn't already popular isn't worth using for most people, since you're much more likely to run into problems regarding usability, stability, software availability, and documentation.

Also note that all of the distros here are ordered by a beginner friendliness ranking that I personally chose. A 10/10 doesn't mean it's the best overall, it just means beginners will likely have a very easy time adjusting to it.

Zorin OS

Zorin OS is a very simple OS that is ideal for someone who only needs basic apps and doesn't like to tinker with their OS outside of basic personalization. It can certainly be used by those who are more technically inclined, just be aware that it is tailored toward people who are new to Linux.

• Beginner friendliness: 10/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes
• Includes GUI software manager: Yes
• Base distro: Ubuntu
• Default desktop environment: Customized GNOME (multiple variants available, some locked behind Pro version)
• Release type: Irregular
• Notes
• The "Pro" version, which is $48, is advertised as coming with a suite of professional-grade software. While this is true, they fail to mention that these programs are not exclusive to Zorin OS and can be downloaded for free on Linux, Mac, and Windows. Some of the programs include Blender, Inkscape, GIMP, FreeCAD, Krita, OBS Studio, and VirtualBox. The only exclusive things you're paying for with the Pro version are the extra desktop environments.

elementary OS

Elementary OS is another very basic OS, though this one is catered more toward macOS users. It comes with a lot of basic but useful apps, and provides a decent amount of settings. Much like Zorin OS, this is ideal for those who are not technically inclined and only need basic functionality.

• Beginner friendliness: 9/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes
• Includes GUI software manager: Yes
• Base distro: Ubuntu
• Default desktop environment: Pantheon
• Release type: Irregular
• Notes
• When downloading the ISO, the download page will try to get you to pay for it. You can get it for free by entering 0 for the price.

Mint

Mint is an excellent general-purpose OS that comes with a wide variety of software pre-installed. The Cinnamon DE feels similar to Windows while also being lightweight and minimalistic. While the personalization options aren't as in-depth as you might expect, it's a solid choice for most Windows users.

• Beginner friendliness: 9/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes (After installing)
• Includes GUI software manager: Yes
• Base distro: Ubuntu
• Default desktop environment: Cinnamon, Xfce, MATE
• Release type: Periodical, roughly every 12 months

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is another general-purpose OS. It comes with a small amount of software, mainly tailored for office use. The DE is more similar to macOS than Windows. Overall it's simple but robust, which is why it's used as a base for so many other distros.

• Beginner friendliness: 8/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes
• Includes GUI software manager: Yes
• Base distro: Debian
• Default desktop environment: GNOME
• Release type: Periodical, every 6 months
• Notes
• If you want a different desktop environment, you'll need to get Lubuntu (Lxqt), Kubuntu (KDE Plasma), or Xubuntu (Xfce), which are different distros not directly associated with Ubuntu

Pop!_OS

Pop!_OS is like a more specialized Ubuntu. It's tailored for power users who do a variety of tasks such as programming, gaming, and creative works.

• Beginner friendliness: 7/10
• Includes starter guide: No
• Includes GUI software manager: Yes
• Base distro: Ubuntu
• Default desktop environment: Customized GNOME (Soon switching to COSMIC)
• Release type: Periodical, roughly every 6-8 months
• Notes
• Full-disk encryption is enabled by default and applied during installation.

Debian

Debian is a very stable and robust distro. Software versions are typically held back until it's been verified to not cause bugs or other types of compatibility issues. It offers a wide variety of desktop environments but comes with a minimal amount of software, making it not as straightforward to use as some other distros.

• Beginner friendliness: 7/10
• Includes starter guide: No
• Includes GUI software manager: Yes
• Base distro: None
• Default desktop environments: Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce, LXDE, Lxqt, MATE
• Release type: Irregular
• Notes
• The main ISO doesn't support live booting and is only for installing. If you want to live boot Debian, you will need to download a separate ISO.
• The desktop environment in the screenshot is Cinnamon with pre-installed themes applied.

Manjaro

Manjaro is another general-purpose OS that comes with a variety of software pre-installed, but it's a bit more complex due to how it works under the hood. The distro is based on Arch Linux, but it uses its own repositories. The Manjaro team tests software updates being pushed to the Arch repos before pushing them to their own repos, for the sake of stability. This is a great idea on paper but in reality Manjaro isn't much more stable than Arch.

• Beginner friendliness: 6/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes
• Includes GUI software manager: Yes
• Base distro: Arch
• Default desktop environments: KDE Plasma, Xfce, GNOME, Cinnamon
• Release type: Rolling
• Notes
• On top of Manjaro having general stability issues, having separate repos also creates another problem where the Arch User Repository (AUR) can require a package version that's available on Arch but not Manjaro, which can prevent users from installing, updating, or launching affected apps, sometimes for several weeks.

openSUSE

openSUSE is catered more towards technical people but it's not insanely complex to get into. It offers two separate versions that differ in the way the distro receives updates. Tumbleweed is a rolling release and is always running the newest software, while Leap receives one major update per year and does not constantly push new software versions. Despite being a rolling release distro, Tumbleweed packages are tested to ensure stability, similar to Manjaro but it's actually stable.

• Beginner friendliness: 6/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes (After installing)
• Includes GUI software manager: Yes
• Base distro: Debian
• Default desktop environments: KDE Plasma, GNOME, Xfce
• Release type: Rolling (Tumbleweed); Periodical, every 12 months (Leap)
• Notes
• Only the Tumbleweed version supports live booting, and only as a separate ISO that you can find below the main Tumbleweed downloads.
• The desktop environment in the screenshot is KDE Plasma.

EndeavourOS

EndeavourOS is similar to Manjaro but uses the Arch repositories for most packages and does not come with as much software pre-installed.

• Beginner friendliness: 5/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes
• Includes GUI software manager: No
• Base distro: Arch
• Default desktop environment: KDE Plasma
• Release type: Rolling

Fedora

Fedora is also similar to Ubuntu but with a much larger focus on open source software, privacy, and workloads. It's backed by Red Hat, creator of RHEL, so some functionalities that are commonly seen in the enterprise ecosystem such as virtual machines and containers are included by default. Unless you work with Linux for a living, Fedora probably isn't for you.

• Beginner friendliness: 5/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes (Not very detailed)
• Includes GUI software manager: Yes
• Base distro: Ubuntu
• Default desktop environment: GNOME
• Release type: Periodical, every 6 months

CentOS

CentOS is a more advanced OS catered towards users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, similar to Fedora but more in-depth and less casual.

• Beginner friendliness: 4/10
• Includes starter guide: No
• Includes GUI software manager: No
• Base distro: Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
• Default desktop environments: Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE Plasma, MATE, Xfce
• Release type: Rolling
• Notes
• Despite being a rolling release distro, CentOS won't always have the most recent software versions due to it receiving updates downstream from RHEL and Fedora. The plus side of this is that the distro will generally be more stable than the other two.
• The main ISO doesn't support live booting and is only for installing. If you want to live boot CentOS, you will need to download a separate ISO.
• The desktop environment in the screenshot is Cinnamon.

Slackware

Slackware is a very old distro (in fact, one of the first), that is still being maintained to this day. It's extremely lightweight and will run on just about anything that has at least 64 MB of RAM, making it ideal for 15+ year old machines that struggle to run modern distros. Setting up and maintaining this distro might not be easy for beginners.

• Beginner friendliness: 4/10
• Includes starter guide: No
• Includes GUI software manager: No
• Base distro: None
• Default desktop environments: GNOME, KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, Xfce, MATE
• Release type: Irregular
• Notes
• The main ISO doesn't support live booting and is only for installing. If you want to live boot Slackware, you will need to download a separate ISO.
• The desktop environment in the screenshot is Xfce.

Kali

Kali Linux is a highly specialized distro focused around cybersecurity. It comes with a huge amount of tools used for password cracking, forensic analysis, packet sniffing, network attacks, and much more. It's not a distro meant for daily driving by any means, I'm only including it here since it's popular and you might have heard of it before, even if you're brand new to Linux.

• Beginner friendliness: 3/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes
• Includes GUI software manager: No
• Base distro: Debian
• Default desktop environments: Xfce, GNOME, KDE Plasma, LXDE, MATE
• Release type: Rolling

Arch

Arch Linux is an extremely barebones and lightweight distro. By default, you get a terminal and a couple utility packages pre-installed, that's it. If you're new to Linux, you should probably stay far away from this distro until you're ready to go down that rabbit hole.

• Beginner friendliness: 2/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes
• Includes GUI software manager: No
• Base distro: None
• Default desktop environment: None
• Release type: Rolling
• Notes
• Arch and all Arch-based distros have access to a special repo called the Arch User Repository (AUR). It features unofficial community-submitted packages, many of which give you the choice to either compile it yourself or download a pre-compiled binary. If you need a very specific piece of software that you can't find in the normal Arch repo, the AUR probably has at least one version of it. The downside to the AUR is that submissions aren't verified before being published, so it's possible for someone to do something malicious with it before they're caught.
• The desktop environment in the screenshot is Budgie.

Gentoo

Gentoo is a very unusual distro. It ships with it's own unique software manager that compiles all programs from source rather than downloading precompiled binaries. This is supposedly for optimization purposes but I have my doubts that it's worth the compile times. Much like Arch, Gentoo is also extremely barebones and does not come with a desktop environment by default. If you're reading through this guide, you have absolutely no reason to use this distro, but I figured it was still worth pointing out since it's interesting.

• Beginner friendliness: 1/10
• Includes starter guide: Yes (Online only)
• Includes GUI software manager: No
• Base distro: None
• Default desktop environment: None
• Release type: Rolling
• Notes
• This distro might support the most CPU architectures out of all of them. There's a ton and half of them I've never even heard of. I guess if you need to run Linux on a very specialized device with an unusual architecture, Gentoo will be your best bet.

SteamOS

SteamOS is a specialized Arch Linux-based OS developed by Valve, for use with their handheld gaming PC, the Steam Deck. It is not a GNU/Linux distro because it comes with proprietary software, but I think it's still worth mentioning here since it's been in the news a lot recently. Currently, it's technically possible to install SteamOS on a regular PC, but it's not at all straightforward or officially supported by Valve. This will likely change soon, however, and I will update this section with more details as they emerge.

FreeBSD

FreeBSD is NOT Linux, but I'm putting it here to avoid confusion because some people think it is. It's actually based on Unix, which is a much older OS made by Bell Labs (now owned by Nokia), that started development in 1969 and released publicly in 1973. Linux is Unix-like but not directly based on it, so naturally there are some similarities but many more differences.

These days, Unix itself isn't in development anymore, but several Unix-based operating systems are. FreeBSD, macOS, and Solaris are just a few examples. If you're reading through this guide, FreeBSD or any other Unix-based OS probably isn't for you, but again I figured I'd mention it to clear up any confusion.

Software Compatibility

The following list contains popular Windows programs and how they run on Linux (if at all). Good alternatives that are confirmed to work on Linux are also listed where applicable. Steam games are not listed here. For those, you should visit ProtonDB.

Program List

Getting Around Compatibility Issues

If you'd really like to switch to Linux but can't due to an app that isn't compatible, theres a few things you can try:

• Double check to make sure the app 100% doesn't run on Linux. Look for a Linux port and try to run the app with different versions of Wine and Proton.
• Look for a Linux alternative to the app and use that if possible.
• Dual boot Windows when you need to use that software.
• See if the app will run in a Windows virtual machine on Linux. VirtualBox is the easiest one to setup, just be aware that most programs with advanced 3D graphics aren't going to work properly due to restrictions in the VM.

Conclusion

If you're wondering whether or not you should switch to Linux, my answer is YES! Windows 10 will no longer receive security updates after October 2025, and Windows 11 is getting worse with every update. Meanwhile, all aspects of Linux are constantly improving, and there's a ton of different options to choose from. I only made the switch in early 2024 after being a life-long Windows user because it was evident to me that Microsoft wasn't interested in actually making Windows better; they're just looking for more excuses to collect and sell your data. They've already overstepped their boundaries with Recall, so who knows what they're going to be trying throughout Windows 11's lifespan.

Despite being a Windows user for so long (and even liking Windows 11 at one point), I haven't looked back at all since I switched. Seeing what Linux and the rest of the open source community has to offer really changed my perspective. Take the tabbed file explorer in Windows 11 for example. I was hyped for this feature, not realizing that various file browsers for Linux have had it for years. Unlike Windows, you don't have to wait several years for useful features like that to be added because of company politics or bureaucracy. The only limitations when it comes to Linux are your free time and technical skills, which brings me to my final point.

Some people argue that Linux isn't good for people who aren't familiar with computers due to its complex nature. While there is some truth to this, Linux doesn't have to be complex to the average user. Choosing the right distro and configuring it properly can make them feel right at home. Mint, for example, has an option for auto updates, which is critical for people who don't know much about computers because it would otherwise never get updated. No matter what your technical background is, I think Linux is at least worth trying. Theres many ways to do it, it doesn't take much to get started, and most importantly, it's free!