Unplug it and plug it back in.
>>25779Why don't you clone your harddrive first
which software are you needing to use? make sure it either runs on linux or there's a linux equivalent you believe to be suitable before you make that switch; same for games. while it's come a long way, make sure whatever you play is compatible on protondb
as for noob friendly distros, if you want something familiar to windows, use linux mint. if you want something fresh feeling, check out ubuntu.
>>25781Dont know what you mean. Its already formated anyway, had to do it to get my computer working along with re-download and clean install of windows. It appears to download not Windows 10 I had but Windows 11. Pure fucking cancer, wouldnt let me set itself up without creating microsoft account, cant customize its moronic taskbar layout, and it appears to be unable to truly shut down, my mouse light is kept on as if the computer is in sleep mode. Hate, hate, hate.
>>25782Is it possible to, I dont know, partition my hard drive and run Windows on one portion of it as a sub-OS for the purpose of gaming? Or the WINE thing I heard about? Other than video games, I already relied mostly on open-source software, so there shouldnt be much issue there with transition to Linux. But again, I know nothing about programming, I just want a safe, secure, simple operating system that lets me run bunch of video games and handful of other programs. I am willing to learn more IT stuff, but my free time is limited and I dont want to fight with my computer over basic tasks.
>>25783>Dont know what you meanCopy the files to a USB or external harddrive but since you formatted anyway it doesn't sound like you had anything important
>>25783>Is it possible to, I dont know, partition my hard drive and run Windows on one portion of it as a sub-OS for the purpose of gaming? yes
>Or the WINE thing I heard about? yes
you can also run windows in a VM
>>25785Are there downsides to that? As if not all windows games can be run like that, or questionable performance, similar to console emulators?
>>25782Did little reading on Mint and Ubuntu, from what I understand Mint is build upon the latter, is there any advantage to using Ubuntu?
>>25786use lutris and proton (built into steam) instead of wine directly. it's at least as fast as windows but will be broken for some things
https://www.protondb.com/windows VM will be slightly slower and cannot share a GPU with the linux host, so you need at least 2 gpus
don't use ubuntu, it has snaps, which are terrible
>>25787Which Linux OS do you use?
>>25786Linux Mint is a safe bet for any noob and they try to keep out any of the shit Ubuntu pushes (see the telemetry situation). Debian is the base on which Ubuntu is built and has similarly good support. You can select a working base system and desktop with moderate effort. I would also recommend a systemd-free alternative, but you probably won't appreciate it until the day systemd fucks you over personally.
I installed pop_os for my old dad who hates computers and he likes it so it's very noob friendly, you could give it a shot although I have no idea what the purists think of it. I personally use EndeavourOS which is a user friendly version of ArchLinux, if you go with that you will have to learn and use the console for some things but on plus side you will be able to say "I use Arch btw" on the internet.
>>25792fellow endeavourfag here, i endorse this 100%.
Which Linux is the most popular one? Or alternatively which of the user friendly ones is the most popular? Im asking because if I search for "how to fix X", "how to change Y", with which system I have the highest chance of someone already dealing with the same issue and figuring out the answer?
Also gaming wise, I have a Lenovo laptop with Nvidia Geforce, is that all right driver-wise? Any issues with Linux there?
Another option, dual boot, so Ill just use Linux and switch to Windows for gaming, is there any downside I should be aware with this method?
>>25794>Which Linux is the most popular one? I would imagine Ubuntu is the most popular Linux Distribution (distro) for both websites/servers and personal use.
>Or alternatively which of the user friendly ones is the most popular? Im asking because if I search for "how to fix X", "how to change Y", with which system I have the highest chance of someone already dealing with the same issue and figuring out the answer?I believe PopOs is the best candidate for user friendly. It has a nice desktop environment, which somewhat resembles the look of Windows 11. It comes with a store and tries to minimize spooky scary command line actions as much as possible.
>Also gaming wise, I have a Lenovo laptop with Nvidia Geforce, is that all right driver-wise? Any issues with Linux there?I haven't heard of any, although I hope another Anon more knowledgeable than me can speak to this.
>>25795Another option, dual boot, so Ill just use Linux and switch to Windows for gaming, is there any downside I should be aware with this method?
Some minor downsides- Less avaliable storage space for your Linux system, since you have to allocate some for Windows. However, my question is what games are you looking to run? With the compatibility of WINE, most games (and apps!) made for Windows can run on Linux, the issue is if the game employs an anti-cheat, which may cause the game to crash. I'ce had experiences with this in games such as Valorant, Helldivers 2, and Destiny. But I've ran other games, such as Borderlands 2-3, Metro Exodus, Overwatch 2, with no problems.
>>25796Solid choice aswell Anon.
>>25794>Also gaming wise, I have a Lenovo laptop with Nvidia Geforce, is that all right driver-wise? Any issues with Linux there?Linux should support nearly all available pc hardware. The quality may vary though, especially for cheap laptop components. Bluetooth firmware sometimes refuses to work while wifi is running. The only point of contention might be power management. Be aware your system can become unresponsive if you try hibernating.
>>25796Dude, go with LMDE. It's Debian based therefore more stable and future-proof.
I'm also a fan of Cinnamon. It has almost no customization but that's kind of the point, it just works out of the box. KDE is more powerful if you wanna customize your shit but I'm not about that
>>25800Functionality wise, what is the distinction between LMDE and standard Mint? Why is Debian better, or what actually is Debian and Ubuntu for that matter? If I get used to one of them and wanted to switch in the future, are those skills translatable? In some article I read that Ubuntu is more user-friendly, and more compatible with mainstream propertiary software.
>>25801LMDE is mint+debian instead of mint+ubuntu. both ubuntu and debian use apt package manager so it doesn't really matter. if it were me i'd choose LMDE because i really don't like ubuntu
For fucks sake, already running into issues, something with secure boot. During instalation there was a window during which I was supposed to pick if I want to set up some MOK key or something, I dont even know because I went to kitchen and by the time I returned the menu timed out and continued with instalation. Then during Nvidia driver installation its asked me for temporary MOK key, which I was supposed to put in during boot after restart, which I didnt do, just clicked continue to boot, which appereanlty just too that option away forever, so the Nvidia driver is now blocked by BIOS. The only way to get around it is to disable secure boot, which for some bizzare reason makes me unable to connect to wifi. Ill have to do OS reinstal again. I really miss Windows XP.
>>25806All right, solved that one, I think, I can use Nvidia driver, so I guess its solved.
Immediately encountered 3 additional problems: 1st - cant change my monitor refresh rate
2nd - cant switch between integrated and dedicated GPU
3th - on Windows, I had Lenovo Vantage limit my battery charging to 60%, which it did though BIOS, so now even after clean install of Linux the battery never goes above 56%, and I dont even know if its because its actually charged to that level, or if Linux now displays fully charged as 56%, or how to change it.
I am going to waste an entire Saturday trying to fix this thing, but if its still broken come tomorrow, fuck it, I am going back to Windows.
>>258272nd problem appears to not be problem at all, I do have both cards functional, I was just for so long used to my old laptop with Inter integrated card I didnt even realize the current one has AMD.
The other two still persist, for first one I had to beg forum to spoonfeed me solution, 3th one is technically working how I want it to, so Im just going to deal with it later.
Now the question for all the big-brains here: How do I update BIOS on Linux for Lenovo laptops?
>>25836you can install fwupd and use the fwupdmgr command to install firmware updates for various devices including UEFI updates. it uses signed firmware from vendors
you can check the documentation for it at fwupd.org:
https://fwupd.org/lvfs/devices for supported devices
https://fwupd.org/lvfs/vendors for supported vendors (including Lenovo)
also check
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Fwupd for the basic commands and GUI options for updating firmware
>>25836Had to reinstall Windows to update BIOS.
>>25827Problem 3 solved, it was just matter of changing value in conservation_mode file. The refresh rate issue though seems unfixable, plenty people posting about refresh rate issues online, but they fix them by updating drivers or other things I already tried.
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