My Linux journey / basic (probably stupid) questions

[AnneRipper1010]

Hello world, I know nothing about coding or computer shit beyond aside from the basics. I do however hate all of the useless apps on my windows.

This brings me to wanting to dip my toe into Linux. At first i was thinking of getting arch but I'm gonna get mint cinnamon to start off with so i don't ruin my pc.

How do I back up the files on my computer when it has multiple users with their own files?
How do I "restore" the users back into my pc once mint is installed?
Is there anything I can't back up and need to copy manually?
Any specific add on I need to download to optimize pc?
Anything I should know in general before i start my Linux adventure ?

 

[Almighty Space Duck]

Since the machine has multiple users I presume it is a desktop. What kind of hard drive is Windows installed on right now? And do you have a spare/money for a spare?
Since you’re completely new to all this better to install Linux on a new/empty hard drive so when it inevitably goes tits up you can just boot from the old one.

 

[brother tinfoilman]

install gentoo

 

[Nitro!]

Any specific add on I need to download to optimize pc?

Buy a Mac. This is real advice.

Anything I should know in general before i start my Linux adventure ?

It sounds like you are trying to convert a shared Windows machine to Linux. Your family will hate you for this. Buy a third-hand MacBook and don't drop it.

 

[AnneRipper1010]

Buy a Mac. This is real advice.

I have a very old Dell Laptop would that do?

 

[Nitro!]

I have a very old Dell Laptop would that do?

If it runs Windows 7, it can't be worse than any flavor of Windows 11 you're currently dealing with.

 

[AnneRipper1010]

If it runs Windows 7, it can't be worse than any flavor of Windows 11 you're currently dealing with.

I'll look into it and will be reporting back at a later date. Thank you

 

[peachlover669]

Is there anything I can't back up and need to copy manually?

depends on what you want to back up, i would just dual boot so that you can move over the files and not run the risk of just nuking the drive incase you do still need something

Any specific add on I need to download to optimize pc?

linux is practically made for old hardware so unless your pc is really new (or REALLY old) you should not have much issues in terms of performance since even if your distro comes with bloat its very hard to compete with the bloat of a windows pc in the modern day. i would look into drivers though, they can be tricky on linux especially if you have an nvidia card since they do not offer open source drivers.

Anything I should know in general before i start my Linux adventure ?

this isnt as important with something like mint but you should have a live distro installed onto a usb for fixing things if you end up fucking up your os and need to fix it

How do I "restore" the users back into my pc once mint is installed?

if you really require users on linux you have an insane amount of options and a nearly as insane amount of reading to do to learn how to setup users and their permissions, or you could install kde and let that do it for you of course, but thats blasphemy.

I have a very old Dell Laptop would that do?

linux thrives on old shitty laptops, i would just use that as a testing ground for linux to see if you really want to switch over, its worth it in the end but as always, "no pain no gain" and you should try something low risk to see if you are actually built to handle an os that doesnt do everything for you.

 

[Contra Pozz]

Anything I should know in general before i start my Linux adventure ?

Unless you have a knack for programming, you'll have to google how to do anything. Ad nauseam. Still better than Windows.

 

[herefortheactualthreads]

How do I back up the files on my computer when it has multiple users with their own files?

for the easy way, get a usb stick with alot of gigabytes and put the data on it. otherwise i would recommend dualbooting.

How do I "restore" the users back into my pc once mint is installed?

you create new users and put the data on their profiles.

Is there anything I can't back up and need to copy manually?

for windows software, you could try copying the setups and running them with wine.

Any specific add on I need to download to optimize pc?

PC Optimizer Pro. (just kidding dont do that.)

Anything I should know in general before i start my Linux adventure ?

you will be learning alot, and you will be frustrated alot. the transition will be rough because everything wont work the same way like it does on windows, but once you get there, the feeling will be amazing, especially after you type your first commands into the terminal, or even download stuff makes you feel like hackerman.

you will also be distrohopping alot probably, wouldnt hurt to try other linux flavors.

https://linuxjourney.org/

 

[Pee Cola]

I agree with everyone ITT who suggests using an old laptop as a Linux sandbox. Pretty much any x86-based laptop made in the last 15 years will do a great job. You could probably get away with a 20+ year old laptop if you're happy to use a lightweight distro and don't plan on doing any heavy gaming or watching any video content > 720p.

I have a very old Dell Laptop would that do?

Perfect. I have an ancient Dell Latitude D610 from 2005 running Xubuntu and it works surprisingly well. The biggest speed bottleneck is storage. It'd be solved with something solid state, but that would involve getting an IDE-CF converter, and I can't justify the cost for something that I play with only every now and then.

Point being that the cost of entry to Linux is basically free. Even if you didn't have that old laptop, unless you're brown and live in a third world shithole, you'd already know at least one person who'd have at least one old Windows XP / Vista / 7 laptop in a cupboard somewhere they'd probably be happy to give you.

 

[Demonslayer1776]

Linux is not Windows. It does not work like Windows, has its own distinct problem set from Windows, and has its own philosophy of doing things you will need to learn to use it effectively. Understand that on a fundamental level or you will constantly hit blockers.

Get (somewhat) comfortable with the idea of using a terminal to do some things. Linux does not have a standardized GUI and people use many different implementations. In some cases, you can look up how to do things for your specific GUI (mint uses cinnamon, but gnome and kde are the most common), but realize that if you look up how to do something on Linux, the cli is the standard interface the community uses. This is in many ways preferable if you know what youre doing, but is intimidating if you dont.

Similar to the GUI situation, understand that Linux is really a giant collection of smaller programs and components that interact with eachother and can be swapped out. This is less of an issue on a distribution like Mint that is popular and designed for new users, but realize that instructions from someone's custom Arch config may have some differences from what you have.

Just based on your questions I dont think this will be an easy transition for you honestly, but if you can change your mental model you may be able to adapt. Give it a shot on an old laptop like others have suggested, and if it doesnt work out the Mac suggestion is pretty good for people who are discontent with Windows but arent ready for the technical leap of Linux.

 

[MajorKurewsky]

Well if you skill is so low and you want to experiment with Linux the best would be to literally have 2 hard drives and swap between them. Depending on your IO connection options you could have them both together on same pc or buy a 2 dollar sata to usb adapter from aliexpress and copy the files. In this way you will preserve your original installation and could quickly go back if something goes wrong.

 

[Major Discord]

My advice to starting Linux journey is the following. Use windows subsystem for Linux (WSL2) on your windows machine. Do it for several months to get a hang of it. this is the way to learn the basics in a very low-risk environment. I would phrase it like this - an overwhelming majority of Linux problems come from the shitshow that is the graphical user interface in Linux. All the issues with scaling, wayland etc. make things highly non-intuitive. Hence my advice to use the WSL2, which runs primarily in the terminal and as a virtual machine. This allows you to learn all the basics and get comfortable with bash and how command line works. Once you hop on a distro after some time, you will feel comfortable with the fundamentals and all the GUI shit will not seem so hard.
I would also not advise you to go straight towards a machine that needs dual-booting. Use your old laptop first. You can also get yourself a VPS, at least for a few months. Host a website, check how email servers work. This all helps you to familiarize yourself with the core concepts.

 

[Won Jane]

Install MX Linux & Fluxbox on your old laptop. You can create new users and move their old stuff on to the laptop

https://linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php

 

[Rango Dango]

Buy a Mac. This is real advice.

macniggers when they need to open an opengl 4.6 program

Pretty much any x86-based laptop made in the last 15 years will do a great job.

im using an x380 yoga - 8 year old laptop with no dedicated gpu and it works great
the only real slowdowns i get are from firefox being retarded but in those cases i just switch to chromium (e.g. steam or moodle)

 

[Final K]

Buy a Mac. This is real advice.


...

For someone used to windows, a mac will be a lot more annoying and unfamiliar than mint with cinnamon. And without the ability to change the things you dislike on top of that

 

[monk]

syncthing is great for syncing files between computers
borgbackup is the best backup tool that's easy to set up (it's even better if you have a NAS running Linux where you can install the server part which makes it possible to run in append-only mode, protecting backups from deletion)
Don't bother with plain rsync, rdiff-backup (not encrypted, no guarantee of integrity), Duplicity (too slow and inefficient), the GUI backup that comes with Gnome (I think it uses Duplicity in the backend)
Automating borg backup (via one of its wrappers, I prefer emborg) via a cron job or systemd timer is easy, you just configure it as root (it saves config in root's home folder) and then run it as root.
When configuring borgbackup, you give it a path to a location to backup, which can be /home or /, and you can have a file with matching patterns for including and excluding directories and files (called a pattern file) to exclude what you don't need. Definitely include all users home directories in /home. I include other stuff from / too, but that requires a much larger pattern file.
As you'll be the admin, you'll give yourself root access, don't give anyone else root if they don't need it.
Launching syncthing for multiple users on boot I haven't tried before, it's a bit more tricky as each user would need his own instance. Can maybe be accomplished with systemd user services. Otherwise the standard way of launching syncthing is an autostart entry for the GUI so when the user logs in it autostarts the syncthing daemon for him. But if the user isn't logged in, syncing for him won't be running. It might be good enough for what you might want though.

 

[hugh mungus feed n sneed]

i was thinking of getting arch

Arch has a weight limit of 300lbs. You aren't allowed to use it if you weigh any less.

Throw mint on an old laptop and just try doing whatever you'd normally do. It'll get frustrating and you'll quit and come back a few times before you get the hang of it, that's normal and fine.

 

[AnneRipper1010]

I found an old laptop and went on the settings to see the about thing. However I know nothing and wanted to ask if the spec were fine. At the same time I didn't know if I would should too much and so I send this and ask you to tell me what I should blur before I show the full photo.

Thank you to all who have decided to help out so far and in the future.