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The update last month somehow both moved every single file I have back into one drive (I've had to remove them and turn off one drive multiple times now) and then a few hours later delete EVERYTHING. Windows help said there was no options, once it's gone it's gone.
Thankfully I had just backed everything up recently. I had been meaning to dual boot this computer for awhile all I just installed Mint and haven't looked back. Screw windows.
For a new user - Ubuntu LTS. In a few years move to Debian.
Fedora all the way.
I’ve generally found that while there is almost always package equality between deb and rpm distros, when there isn’t I’m more likely to find a deb. I’d recommend Mint for you, followed by Debian Stable.
I'd recommend Linux Mint Xfce. It's the closest to an "it just works" situation while being open to tinker and quick to respond, this last part as the micro delays from Linux Mint Cinammon for most things being what pushed me away from Windows in the first place.
Both Mint versions are made by the same people and found in the same site.
Obviously, the best solution is to just move to Linux, yes.
But...
Today, lovely Windows 11 installed an update. And since then I don’t have internet access because Microslop Wincrap 11 can somehow magically no longer connect to the DNS server - to any DNS server. No other device in my network has the same issue. I’ve been bugfixing for over an hour and haven’t found a solution. setting the DNS manually, resetting the network adapter, flushed all DNS entries (I used the commandline tool on Windows!). nothing works.
I have the exact same issue occasionally on my Windows gaming PC. The only way to resolve it is to restart the computer and restart the internet router at the same time. Restarting either one alone isn't enough.
(Yes, it's mind-boggling that the router needs to be restarted, given that all my other devices (phones, Linux PC) can still access the internet through that same router just fine. But that's what works.)
It is some years since I ran Fedora. Ubuntu is still predominant at work. But I run Debian on my ThinkPad and all my laptops for many years. I think this ThinkPad is my third laptop that I have installed Debian on: they don't last forever. Before that, I was running Mint. They all run well, so there's not much to choose between them, from my perspective. Neither Fedora nor Ubuntu would be a bad choice.
Fedora is great but I did hit some really annoying snags a couple of times. Ubuntu is easiest and generally is most supported. I don't like snaps and some other Ubuntu things so I go Ubuntu-based instead, with pop os. I really like it.
I 🎮 on Bazzite
Wait till you learn about Distrobox and Distroshelf.
Make a Fedora and Ubuntu box to install .rpm and .deb apps to your Bazzite host, when you need to install things not available as flatpak or homebrew. Since layering apps with rpm-ostree can get messy/ugly.
Have all three. 🤯
For various ways to install apps on an atomic image based OS:
Also checkout Project Bluefin and Aurora.
Ubuntu and Fedora are both great choices.
I will also recommend OpenSUSE Leap (NOT tumbleweed as it's a rolling release vs long term support model) and Linux Mint.
So far I've only tried Pop!_OS and Mint, and I much much much prefer Pop!. I even got my wife to start using it.
Edit: Pop!_OS is also Ubuntu based.
I didn't really like Mint at all.
Delete and reinstall your nic. Check your firewall. Test connectivity over port 53 to your dns server.
If you have any 3rd party software that messes with dns, disable or remove it.
I'm on Win10 LtSC IOT.. The only reason I moved from Win7 to that operating system was so I could keep steam alive. My steam account is 18-19 years old. Any one have step by step instructions on how to get the nicest, easiest to use Linux distro for a guy who uses 5 different windows keyboard shortcuts entry 5 minutes?
I've been with Windows since 95, I've been working in IT support since XP.. I just want to get away from Microsoft, keep all my games, keep a file explorer and be able to quick change my brain to learn new (just as easy ) keyboard shortcuts like Crtl-C, Ctrl-F, Win-R, Win-E..
these days computers are fairly cheap. just have two, one for games and such, the other for browsing and wotnot
Having multiple OSes is such a boon for doing… everything hahaha. Last night Windows was playing games and my MacBook was taking a long while to copy a huge folder over from server to server in my house, so I initiated the transfer from a Debian machine that was just playing media for our cats and let that run for a few hours. I had to walk over to it, though—my machine didn’t wanna RDP into it. What kinda world do we live in where I have to GO TO IT?! Wild.
With most Linux OS's you have a choice of what desktop environment to use. The desktop environment controls most of what I would call the OS experience. Most linux distros will have KDE or Gnome installed as the default desktop environment, though there are often some more minimal or power-user focused desktop environments offered. I've heard Cinnamon is another good choice.
Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V, Ctrl-F, F3, F11 generally behave the same on most Linux desktop environment and software as they do on Windows.
Alt-Tab, Alt-F4 are commonly supported
For the run menu, Alt-F2 opens a similar menu in KDE and Gnome. I can only go into the specifics with KDE, but I can also run commands with the regular Windows key start menu. Though when I personally run commands, I generally open a terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T) so I can get tab completion. On KDE, Win+E opens a file explorer. Almost all the keyboard shortcuts are customizable on KDE, but I prefer to swim with the current whenever possible.
For some distros, you can write a "Live" version to a flash drive to try it out before installing, but opening applications will be slower than running on an SSD.
Thankyou! You've given me a lot to look into
I prefer Fedora over Ubuntu because Canonical's direction has been worrying, not that Fedora's leads have been doing any better in certain areas. Depends on how old the Thinkpad is, a lot of the rolling release distros tend to support a certain range of devices out of the box (not super old, but not also super new hardware). If the Thinkpad is from 2021 or later, you'll probably be okay! There are distros that you can research for better compatibility with older hardware.
Yeah, going down the rabbit hole of Arch isn't for everyone, learn, and explore, decide your comfort levels before deciding on that (in the further future). I personally use Garuda Linux (which is based on Arch, not as difficult).