EDIT: I am thrilled with so many awesome responses! I’m taking notes and looking into all the recommendations. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to help me out (and many others, i’m sure), i’m glad i asked!
Hi,
I’m getting ready to switch to Linux. I’m looking for a kind of checklist of what to do beforehand. When i search online, there is a lot of advice on which distribution to choose and how to set it up, which i already know, but my question is the step before. I made a list of which programs i currently use (almost all have a linux variant or i can use them in the browser) and i am making screenshots of their settings. I have basically everything important backupped, both on my ProtonDrive and on a private server in the house. Is there anything else i need to prepare before switching? I wouldn’t want to overlook something.
(I already have the distribution and am trying it out, but my plan is to actually install debian and without dual boot. Also, many, many years ago i already used debian but then i had the luxury of someone who basically arranged everything for me)
Currently, i run windows 10 with Nvidia GeForce. I already am in the process of degoogling and de-microsofting so to speak, so i don’t use google drive or onedrive, or MS Office anymore (nor a lot of other things).
Apologies if this is not appropriate for this community. Have a great day :-)
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In my opinion you’re overthinking it.
Just get a live distro, put it on a USB, and boot into it. If it meets your needs, then install it.
Nah you’re all good homie, and clearly an A+ student. Let the good debs roll!
Lol, thanks. I have some perfectionist tendencies, but good to know i’m not missing something glaringly obvious!
The fun part comes later on, when you get a bit laissez-faire with the backups and kick yourself for missing something and having to configure it from scratch. Then you start tinkering and remember that you actually like configuring things.
So far, everything gets backupped automatically, but on top of this, i already am in the habit of backupping important documents by hand in files that don’t get synced. So, as soon as i’m editing important files, i backup them, on top of the sync folders. I will need to switch to manual backups anyway, since proton drive - which syncs automatically - is not yet available on linux, but they do have a web app where you can backup manually.
I found I love poking around in settings and config files etc. Which I think is why I prefer KDE. Lots of settings to mess around with.
Yes, i’m switching to KDE too. One of the first things i do when installing anything, whether on my phone or pc, is taking a peak at the settings
I love poking around in good settings menus. I can’t stand Windows 11, and even Windows 10 and 7 are rubbish - there shouldn’t be two layered styles of settings menus, and I shouldn’t have to click through multiple pages to get to the function I want. Android, too, has gotten a bit crap, but at least the search function works well.
More important would be to have another device where you can go to internet to google or to download binaries for the time if you get stuck.
My first time I couldn’t connect to internet because I was missing firmware for the laptop. I had to use the computer at my work to troubleshoot it and download the necessary package to get it working. That took a lot of days.
Yes, that would not be a problem; i have a tablet, phone and i can borrow a laptop if needed.
Sounds like you’re all prepared. I’d just bookmark Debian’s NVIDIA page as the drivers are proprietary and not included in the base install. Typically, you can install using the generic Nouveau driver and then switch to the proprietary driver after the install; however, should you run into problems such as a blank screen, google “Debian nomodeset” to get around the graphics driver.
Before I made the switch, I did something similar to what you did. To enumerate my steps: 1 - Learned about Linux in general(I learn a lot at university) 2 - Picked a distro 3 - Adapted to the Linux workflow in Windows, for example using more terminal, updating packages via winget/chocolatey, using wsl etc. 4 - Used FOSS alternatives in Windows 5 - Made a list of all the programs I needed to find a replacement for that don’t have a Windows version to try out 6 - Made a list of things to try out, like themes, tiling windows, desktops, etc 7 - Live distro for a day 8 - Completely removed Windows from my life forever
Thanks for the list! Most points i already did and there are only two programs that not have an alternative, but i almost never use them. I will try to run them through Wine or something, and if it doesn’t work it would not be a big deal. Can’t wait to get rid of windows. I can’t remember why i left kubuntu behind and got back to windows in the first place.
You should make a detailed check list of things you do on windows. Down to every details as much as you can, so that there’s very little surprise when you switch to linux.
For example, if you use MS Office Excel and you tend to use specific formula or expect something specific when you export to PDF or print things out. So that you can test these out on Libre Calc to see if it works for you.
We tens to gloss over these tiny details when switching to linux and sometimes it makes or breaks adoption.
Will also work to just dual boot and trybto do everything in linux. Might be tedious at first. Try to resist booting into windowsif you’re stuck for a while.
Thanks, i already did that. Also, i don’t use MS Office, i use LibreOffice, so no surprises there :-)
As many people mentioned backups before, I would only add this: Maybe check -in your favourite search engine- if the very same model of computer that you use doesn’t have know quirks (hardware needing some tweaking, not being fully recognized, etc.) with gnu/linux, like for instance searching “$model linux” or “$model $distro” (with the distros you plan on trying, etc.
Also maybe if you connect only via Wifi, check that wifi chip for compatibility first, and maybe get as a backup a USB wifi dongle that is know to work on gnu/linux… juuuust in case ;)
Good points, hadn’t even thought about this, particularly the Wifi!
If you dont know what to do, then dual boot it with Linux
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