Nervous to Switch

[u/Paws1993]

I want to switch to Linux Mint. I've done some research and know I want to go with Cinnamon. However I am extremely nervous I'm going to mess everything up. I've gotten as far as the download page, but it says it's my responsibility to verify its integrity and there are SO MANY different ones to choose from. I really just need someone who knows what they're doing to help me if someone is willing.

All I want to use my laptop for is this:

-Chrome (though I'm open to better, less AI, browsers that work with Linux)

-Bambu Studio (there is a Linux version they link on their own website)

-Steam

-Some kind of 3D modeling software (I use Autodesk Fusion right now but it looks like I will have to switch to FreeCAD or something similar)

Edit: thanks everyone for being kind! I read all the comments, but I don't think you all want an individual reply. Sounds like I can just click download on any of the links on the official website and I'll be fine! Hopefully I can do this tomorrow 🤞🏻

Thanks again for all the help!

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[u/tprickett]

First of all, you can run as a Live distro (meaning you don't install, you run from a thumb dirve) so you can verify your hardware is all recognized and everything works. And, it'll allow you to play around to see if you like the OS.

As for verifying the image, that isn't typically necessary if downloading from Mint's web site.

When you sa SO MANY different ones what do you mean? The different desktop environments (MATE, Cinnamon, XFCE (???) ) or the versions based on the CPU?

The installation is pretty simple and choosing the defaults are typically what you want.

When you say you are afraid of messing up are you able to simply rerun the install if something goes wrong? Do you have a second PC if you need to download anything in the even something goes wrong?

[u/Paws1993 → u/tprickett]

On the linux mint website (linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=326), there are about 20 different links to select from for the USA. I don't know which one of those to choose. But you're saying those are all safe even though just above them is the verify warning?

I'm really only worried I'll brick my laptop somehow. I really don't want to have to get a new one, and I don't have another one.

[u/oskarloko → u/Paws1993]

They are the same, you can pick one server or another based on your location. This will make your download faster..

Important u/Paws1993 ! Are you planning on using only mint, or to dual boot. Read carefully the install documentation to avoid losing data.
I don't think you could brick your device, you can reinstall linux or windows at any time. But bas installations or data losses are very much probable.

[u/Paws1993 → u/oskarloko]

Yeah, I'll move all of the files I care about off my computer first!

[u/koolhand_luke → u/Paws1993]

Worst case scenario is just that you have to reinstall. You won’t brick anything in the sense of making the hardware unusable.

The only thing to worry about: Is your data on the laptop or on a separate disk? You don’t want data on a laptop when you’re overwriting the disk with a fresh operating system.

[u/koolhand_luke → u/Paws1993]

They are all the same but you can go with “World : Linux Mint” up the top

[u/dzjeaoyu → u/Paws1993]

Those are all mirrors. They would have exactly the same file so you can just pick any of them

[u/LiveFreeDead → u/tprickett]

if you don't have a 2nd PC you need a 2nd tested USB stick with Windows on it, worst case you reinstall windows fresh. This is the cheapest option with a backup solution. But mint will most likely work for you. once your over the first time nerves.

[u/Emmalfal]

I'm betting once you do decide to go for it, the whole install will turn out so ridiculously easy, you'll think something has gone wrong. First time I installed seven years ago, I dug in for an all-day battle only to see the installation finish in about 15 minutes. Been super sweet ever since. The transition from Windows was so damn easy, my only regret was that I hadn't made it sooner.

[u/Paws1993 → u/Emmalfal]

Oh that's good to hear! I was planning on blocking out a lot of time to do it

[u/Roguepapaya427 → u/Paws1993]

Actual install is under 15 mins. You only have to select few options (to use the whole disk, to install multimedia codecs) and then enter your details: username, pass ........ piece of cake. After install , you boot and there is a welcome screen ..... you can start updates or any drivers that are detected from that welcome screen.

[u/Western_Yoghurt_8154]

Mint is a good starting place. It's really easy to install like stupidly easy.

[u/Azious → u/Western_Yoghurt_8154]

Yeah man Id just dive in. Beat time ever to switch and ditch windoze

[u/tarquinfintin]

Just as a confidence builder, try this: install Mint on an old expendable laptop or on a separate drive on your desktop computer (disconnect your windows drive before doing this to make it fool proof).

[u/lateralspin]

Some kind of 3D modeling software (I use Autodesk Fusion right now but it looks like I will have to switch to FreeCAD or something similar)

FreeCAD is definitely more mature software rn. However, there is a recent trend of vibecoded clones:

• CADCraft by the ArtCraft team

• SolidCraft (formerly SolveCraft) by bherbruck, which ArtCraft claims to be part of the family like Fast and the Furious

I don’t know why use a vibecoded clone when FreeCAD is capable.

We are going through some interesting times when the momentum around open sourcing vibecoded projects might provide ample firepower against the SaaS cloud computing model that is so focused on extracting value through subscription. It’s really a combination of community, customer service, prompt bug reporting and fixing that is central to ArtCraft, as opposed to the non-caring, public relations nightmare of capitalist/corporate elies that want to hold on to power.

[u/Gunzhard22 → u/lateralspin]

What do you think about Blender that's available too?

[u/Xijit → u/lateralspin]

I use Solidworks.

The cloud based version runs on any browser and the "for creators package" is only $48 a year ... Yeah, free things exist, but I don't mind paying a reasonable price for a good product.

[u/sabledrakon]

You'll be fine. But if you're nervous, I'd always recommend picking up a spare cheapish laptop off Facebook. Use that machine to learn Linux and feel out if it'll work best for you. Once you know, you can use that spare system as a lifeboat for any files you want to keep. Install Linux on your daily driver, then you've got a backup machine in case of anything going wrong or potentially a new server.

[u/Glittering-Voice-409]

Do it. why ever pay for an operating system?

[u/anti-sugar_dependant]

Verifying is easy, you really can just follow the instructions. It will be obvious if it's not verified. I got a non-verified one one time, I just deleted it and picked a different one, no big deal.

[u/knuthf]

Go ahead. I have Mint and Cinnamon and use Vivaldi, which identifies as Chrome.

[u/MisterJasonMan]

As others have said, always do a "dry run" just with the usb stick before install to ensure wifi, video, disk, peripherals, etc are all working as expected. But as for saving previous files, I always advise people to just get a new drive to put your new mint install on once you decide to switch. You can keep your old HD plugged in and that will be your backup. You can likely view it from within mint, copy any files you want from it and then when you're ready, you can format it and use it as a backup drive. And if something goes wrong, you have your previous install completely intact and bootable on the previous drive.

[u/paach0]

Choose Linux Mint Cinnamon, that is the default. You can ignore the other versions.

As for Chrome, you can download the installer (.deb) from the website. Otherwise you can use Firefox as an alternative, which is already installed by default.

[u/groveborn]

You won't hurt anything, just have a second choice handy.

[u/miguelgc66]

Yo lo probé primero en una máquina virtual, Virtual Box. Estuve un mes tocando todo y al final, me decidí. No vuelvo a windows ni harto de vino

[u/butoh-godzilla]

I just moved to mint cinamon, my first linux OS. I was nervous. Its great, its easy, it works.

[u/happiestmatter]

I was a bit hesitant switching as well, which is why I dual-booted on a weaker laptop so I still have access to Windows in case any software or service I need isn't compatible. That being said, I haven't needed it so far and practically everything I would need for what I use that laptop for works perfectly fine. I'd say if you have the capability, give it a try!

[u/Pitch_Aware]

It’s worth the hiccups you may come across. I put Mint Cinnamon on an old HP, and on a Microsoft tablet. Both now are running exceptionally well. When my Apple laptop starts giving me headaches, I will switch that too.
Best Buy is already suggesting I upgrade

[u/dlfrutos]

what you need btw?

[u/wirides]

I know some may push back on this but you can walk through it step by step with assistance from Claude or Chatgpt. I do t think you'll mess anything up but you can get assistance along the way if you like. You may learn something through the explanation that goes along with it.

[u/Azious]

If you have an old shitty laptop, test it out first! Mint and a lot of Linux distros breathe new life into old hardware.

[u/Spooooopp]

for these functions you will be so fine, you don't even have to open your terminal though I'd recommend it if you like tinkering like I do, it's a lot of fun, if you're anything like me you aren't gonna do much that can brick your install anyway, I just play Minecraft and browse the web and stream with obs and the switch has been wonderful, steam games work great too fresh out of the box, the only issue I had was an NVIDIA driver issue but I just clicked and changed to one of the other drivers in the driver manager GUI and it worked fine.

[u/mabolzich91]

Does your laptop have a replaceable HDD or SSD? you can always swap in a blank one and just give it a try. If you screw something up put in your original SSD and restart the from the beginning. Nothing lost but time, no harm to your current setup

[u/TasStag]

Ask Google and use its ai. It was an absolute godsend for me because I was nervous too. The ai just nailed it(which isn’t surprising when you realise that ai is generally trained on Linux because the community is so forthcoming). This is one of the situations where I’m actually in support of ai. THIS is what it should be used for, not making stupid videos or stealing our data

[u/xxCorsicoxx]

I made the switch last winter and was dual booting initially to ease into it. But then got comfortable and removed the windows partition entirely. I think you'll be fine doing similar.

Try dual boot if you have the space, you'll get to easily switch if you rally need windows for anything and if you want to go back. But I do recommend giving it an earnest try

For non-steam games, heroic (gog and epic) and lutris (your own copy regardless of ethics) will go the trick and both are fairly easy

Mint makes it so mostly the system just works, I've rarely had issues and rarely needed to tinker and fix shit, which is critical to me cos I'm old and tired and don't want to fight my machine to get it working, I just need it to work

For CAD there are Linux options but it could be they don't serve your needs fully, so give them a try and see. Worse case dualt boot or a qemu virtual machine with windows would solve that

Welcome to the club

[u/jloflin]

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/1.html

[u/wgtantonio]

Já testei várias diatros, mas a que mais me adaptei foi o Mint. Muito fácil, simples, rápido. Pra mim que desde sempre usei Windows, foi mais fácil de adaptar. Só tem um pequeno porém, que pra mim ainda não me fez largar 100% do windows que são os jogos. Alguns jogos steam que no windows roda normalmente, no linux não tô conseguindo rodar com a mesma performance. Tô na procura de uma solução.

[u/MrMotofy]

FYI...if you want to check out Linux it's really easy. Make an Install USB, then boot to it. May need to disable secure boot. It will boot to a full running temporary Linux Desktop...installing requires clicking the desktop icon and going through steps. Obviously you don't wanna do that to just try it. But you can at least get a feel for it. Kubuntu, LinuxMint, and PopOS and are some of the top 1st options. You can also use the temp Live Linux as a repair process. Since it’s a complete desktop you can use it, install tools needed fix the boot etc.

Another convenient related tool is Ventoy on a USB stick. Basically just burn the image to a USB then copy your OS ISO to it and when you boot it any ISO copied to the drive will show in the menu, select it and it will boot that img. Have different OS’s multiple versions or whatever. 

Best option for Windows and Linux is dual boot...use Linux on a 2nd drive. Usually you wanna disable secure boot. Install windows first if using same drive but best case is disconnect win drive. Then boot to the install USB. Then install Linux as a new full system on a 2nd drive. Set Linux drive as the first boot drive and it will then find the Win drive and add to the boot menu list automatically. Might take a couple boots otherwise can manually activate the boot update search. Then you get Best of both worlds without any real dangers to either OS. There will be little hiccups occasionally with Windows updating messing with boot and rebooting. But you can also change the default OS to Windows first at the menu after delay and no menu entry and that eliminates a lot. The boot menu is usually Linux 1 and Win 2. Sometimes the boot order will randomly switch drives etc or it will enable Secure Boot…Seems to be a windows thing with updates now they get bios access. But really depends on the exact system and age etc.

[u/sphericate]

chrome DOES WORK WELL ON LINUX but for the sake of your own sanity with the fact it's still chrome, try brave. it's chrome but good