Yo linux team, i would love some advice.
I’m pretty mad at windows, 11 keeps getting worse and worse and I pretty done with Bill’s fetishes about bing and ai. Who knows where’s cortana right now…
Anyway, I heard about this new company called Linux and I’m open to try new stuff. I’m a simple guy and just need some basic stuff:
- graphic stuff: affinity, canva, corel, gimp etc… (no adobe anymore, please don’t ask.)
- 3d modelling and render: blender, rhino, cinema, keyshot
- video editing: davinci
- some little coding in Dart/flutter (i use VS code, I don’t know if this is good or bad)
- a working file explorer (can’t believe i have to say this)
- NO FUCKIN ADS
- NO MF STUPID ASS DISGUSTING ADVERTISING
The tricky part is the laptop, a zenbook duo pro (i9-10/rtx2060), with double touch screens.
I tried ubuntu several years ago but since it wasn’t ready for my use i never went into different distros and their differences. Now unfortunately, ready or not, I need to switch.
Edit: the linux-company thing is just for triggering people, sorry I didn’t know it was this effective.
If you want to test several Linux distributions Ventoy can be useful. You can have 10 or more different Linux distributions on one USB stick depending on the size of the stick. This will also save you time “flashing” an image iso to the stick each time because with Ventoy you’d simply copy the image iso files to the stick, quick and easy.
Huh I always thought ventoy was just another iso to usb writer. I’ve been totally sleeping on the fact it can hold a bunch of isos and installs them directly. That’s so handy
Ventoy has changed my life. No more having to find a unused usb key to format then flash.
Just drop the ISO, boot on the key and choose whatever you want to try/install.
I just discovered it last week and feel frustrated with the time I wasted sleeping on it
Or try them for a while in a VM, VirtualBox may not provide the best performance out there but it’s very easy to set up. This way you don’t have to commit and install the OS over your main machine or anything like that.
Yeah, well just go ahead and see if it works for you now. I doubt much has changed, but some bits are probably more polished these days.
Most distros support some kind of LiveCD, so you can try it out without having to reinstall your machine, it’s painless and quick to evaluate before you take the plunge.zenbook duo pro
A quick search reveals this. Might be helpful. https://davejansen.com/asus-zenbook-duo-and-fedora-linux/
I didn’t find this link before, thanks! Yes, i was in doubt between maybe mint, fedora or popos, but my knowledge of linux stops about here ahah
Nothing against Fedora, but generally I’d steer a noobie to mint or popos before Fedora. It has been some time since I tried Fedora (years) but not very long since I’ve seen someone complaining about dependency/repo issues (which is where I always ran into problems with Fedora eventually)
Having said that, folks who don’t run Arch tend to say it breaks far more often than it actually does, so my opinion on Fedora may be just as uninformed. (I don’t run Arch BTW, but I do run a derivative.)
I dunno if it’s already been mentioned, but there’s VSCodium, it’s vscode without Microsoft
In all honesty, you should decide between Debian and Fedora. If you’re new to this, stay away from Arch Linux, Gentoo, or Manjaro. Simplicity is key. The two systems I mentioned are known for their reliability, so you should be fine with either one.
- Affinity Designer can be run under Linux with Bottles translation (forum post how to set it up)
- Canva does not support Linux
- GIMP is natively supported on Linux (official website / flatpak)
- Adobe is not supported on Linux at all
- Blender is natively supported on Linux (official website / flatpak)
- DaVinci Resolve is natively supported on Linux (offical website)
- VSCode is natively supported on Linux (official website / flatpak)
- almost every DE has a file explorer
- no ads included 😀 👍
I use Canva in the browser, but I gotta say that it works better in Microsoft Edge than in Firefox. I think it may be a Chromium thing, but I haven’t tested other browsers.
Microsoft Edge works great on Linux. It is my second browser after Firefox.
Imagine switching to Linux and installing Microsoft Edge 💀
If you are made out of matter stay away from manjaro. Other than that I agree, and would recommend debian slightly over fedora but that is just personal preference. Also I feel like opensuse deserves an honorable mention. Maybe not tumbleweed, but leap could be suitable for a new user and yast rocks.
Edit: Also vscodium can be good alternative to vscode. It is vscode without Microsoft’s tracking, but an exact copy otherwise.
Indeed, I use VSCodium on my Fedora system every day, but since the question was about VSCode, I provided information specifically related to VSCode.
Debian rigorously tests its packages over an extended period before they are released in the official version, ensuring a very stable system. This approach means the software is generally older, but it’s been thoroughly vetted. Fedora, on the other hand, provides newer software while still maintaining a good level of stability.
On the other hand, Arch Linux — and its sub-distributions like Manjaro and Gentoo — releases software much more quickly, sometimes almost immediately which can kill your system during updates.
I’d go so far as to say that Arch Linux is less stable than Windows.TL;DR: If you don’t want to find out five minutes before an online meeting that your system won’t boot — avoid Arch Linux.
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I ran Linux on a Zenbook Pro Duo. Fedora’s KDE distribution was the only release I ever found that worked out of the box with both touchscreens as I’d expect. You’d think a big release like Ubuntu would work, but whatever they have set up for touchscreens is slightly out of whack. For example, touch and drag would select text instead of scrolling the page.
By default, your laptop might try to stay awake all the time. The second screen is treated as an external monitor, and there’s a setting you can find in the configuration menu that forces the laptop to stay awake when an external device is connected.
Some other things to note. If you’ve got an older model, you might be able to find a third-party software suite such as this one that will allow you to use your laptop almost normally.
However, if your laptop is new enough, you might be unable to find any software (third party or otherwise) that supports the built-in features such as quick screen swapping, numpad, or turning off the lower screen. The lower screen is LCD anyways, so you won’t get burn in. If you’re worried about power, I’ve found that despite the lower screen being on full-time, Linux still doubled or tripled my battery life compared to when I ran Windows. I think the biggest immediate drawback is that you may not have any on-board audio due to a lack of drivers, though that might have been fixed in Fedora 40. I know they were working on that in the newer version of upstream Linux (which may not have arrived yet), but I haven’t been following it. And finally, you won’t be able to adjust the brightness of the lower screen without some configuration. Again, some of that might be mitigated if you can find some compatible and reliable 3rd-party software for your laptop.
I will say that despite all the limitations mentioned above, I still vastly preferred Linux to Windows. The battery life alone was enough to warrant the switch.
Thanks, I was hoping to find someone who did this before. And apparently not the first time I read that fedora is my best/only option for the type of laptop. Great tips!
Hey OP, I just installed Fedora KDE as dual boot on my desktop (slowly transitioning from Windows) and I can vouch for what the person above you is saying. Good luck, and feel free to ask anything. I’m no expert, but I can at least listen.
I generally have 2 recommendations for beginners who don’t want something specific, one of which is a community favorite, the other is my own favorite.
The community generally recommends Linux Mint for new users. It’s based an Ubuntu, so it had a lot of great support, but it has the enshittification of Ubuntu (snaps, tracking, pro subscription ads, etc.) removed. It’s a great, simple distro for beginners that generally works all around without tweaking. It’s basically the #1 recommendation for new users, and I gladly support that recommendation.
My personal favorite recommendation is Fedora, through I understand why there may be frustrations for those with Nvidia graphics cards who need to install their drivers. The process to do it on Fedora isn’t very complex, and can be looked up easily, but new users tend to feel intimidated by the command line, and I must admit that the installation of Nvidia drivers and media codec are more difficult than something like Linux Mint (for Fedora, this is a copyright issue, since their main sponsor is Red Hat, a private company). In every other area, I’d say Fedora is great for beginners, and provides a great way for users to get new features quickly without having to worry about any of the instabilities or quirks of something like Arch.
You couldn’t go wrong with either, but you’re certainly going to see more recommendations for Linux Mint in general (especially on Nvidia hardware).
Just stay away from Manjaro, Gentoo, and Void (there’s a long list of complex distros, but it really isn’t going to help to list them all). Gentoo and Void have their place, but are not a great place for a beginner to start. Manjaro simply has no place, just avoid it like the plague.
You could also recommend the Linux Mint Debian Edition!
Just grab yourself some Linux Mint, and try to ignore Arch and Gentoo crowd here.
Half of the apps you mentioned have Linux version right in the system package manager. Davinci has Linux version on their website.
CorelDraw might be a problem, WineHQ lists it’s compatibility for the latest version as garbage, so you will probably need to switch to Inkscape.
Anyway, I heard about this new company called Linux
Pedantic explanation about GNU/Linux is coming in 3… 2… 1…
As a fellow Windows user tipping ever further towards finally making the switch, this resonates on a lot of levels. Also I saw what you did with the “company called Linux” thing and thought it was funny 🙌
I heard about this new company called Linux
I thought it was funny at least, so you gave me a good laugh.
I’d say Linux Mint or Ubuntu (you’re familiar with this one) would be good “Out of the Box” options. They run an environment known as “Debian” so they’re super similar and are pretty similar to what Windows offers in all honesty. You just burn them to a USB, run them from your desired computer’s BIOS, and the rest is through a GUI interface you can follow along with. I have no experience with a touchscreen as I’m running Linux Mint XFCE (lightest weight version) on a laptop from the early 2010’s with an Intel N2820 in it, but I’m assuming some workaround can exist to implement that. You also seem somewhat familiar with the alternative programs for different purposes, but rest assured both Ubuntu and Mint come with file explorers (Mint XFCE uses one called Thunar which is pretty effective) and you can easily swap out/install a different file manager to get jobs done as needed.
Plus - any programs you used with Windows which may not have Linux alternatives or versions - can be run through Wine. I’ve encountered a few hiccups when doing this (like a program I needed for school which was unable to pass the initial installation and actually run the program).
I’ve run Linux Mint XFCE as my daily driver for work and school tasks on my laptop for about 2-3 years at this point and it’s been pretty great. Full disclosure: I still run Windows 11 on my main PC at home and have Windows 10 on a HTPC/Server with docker on it (though I’ve been debating switching to Ubuntu for this as well) so I still know there are benefits to a Windows system (while working to remove any and all advertising and AI garbage) but if I were to recommend someone a distro it would be as I’ve said above.
Good luck! Hope you find one that works for you!
Can Mint read files from a Windows partition or is it a different filesystem?
I’m waiting until there’s a good sale on Hard drives to set up a dual-boot.
Reading filesystem is not about which distribution you have but drivers on disc. If you have FAT the defaults should work, for NTFS you might have to install the ntfs driver. I don’t use mint but it’s the linux way so either it’s already there or you can install it. Once you have driver just mount it like a normal drive and it’s done.
Good to know. Thank you.
Thanks, I feel like Mint could be already a valid one but maybe Fedora kde could be more useful. I’ll check both for sure asap. It’s crazy how bad windows is honesty and still so necessary for some jobs.
For people coming from windows i think linux mint is the best choice.
Gimp, blender and vscode works well on linux
U can code dart/flutter with no problems on vscode on linux, android studio also works fine if you need to export to android.
For file manager i use nemo (default on mint cinnamon).
Other software mentioned i have no idea.
Linux is not a company! Its a community driven open source project made by people like you who don’t want to be under a corporations thumb!
There are many such open source programs, and they should be your first choice when looking for alternatives.
I suggest trying the Fedora OS, and using the site alternativeto.net to find open source alternatives to any programs you need.
Don’t forget to always use the packge manager to install sotfware!
Isn’t Google dismantling the flutter team?
I’m still recovering from the news.
Doesn’t mean your company didn’t bet on the wrong horse. Luckily we stay far away from anything Google touches, but I have friends in other companies who weren’t as lucky.
So far we’ve been lucky. But, we are concerned with some of our stack. We help where we can, but it’s a bit of an unknown. The google graveyard basically screams to keep away from any of their tech.
Edit: the linux-company thing is just for triggering people, sorry I didn’t know it was this effective.
Heh it really was wasn’t it? Been on Linux for near to twenty years now and I’m still surprised to see it. :D
First of all Linux isn’t a company, but the name some dude named Linus gave his code he put for free on the internet.
Most modern Linux distros are still not run by companies, that’s why they don’t force the data collection, ads, ai etc down your throat.
That said: Linux is made from thousands of interlocking programs, scripts, services and libraries, made mostly by some guys or gurls in their free time. So with a lot of stuff you need to fit it to your needs, as granular customization is to troublesome to have working out of the box for every different usecase there could be. So with most stuff you should not be afraid to learn the basics of terminal commands (packet manager, editor, foldermanagment)
Some OS like Ubuntu and manjaro do a lot for you, but if you have weird double monitors, you may need to manually do some stuff.
If you want as much as possible easy install options I would go with manjaro - then you can install everything where users made an AUR (arch user repository) package. Check if they have all programs you want, if not look for alternatives.
If you want a more stable system but with a bit less possibilities, go for Ubuntu, debian, popOS or something like that.
Some things may never run, for example for my music daw(ableton) with low latency and not native support on Linux or the htc vive wireless (where there isn’t a driver for the PCI card for Linux) I keep a win machine around. Day to day use is on debian on my side
No sorry man, it’s my british humor coming out. I needed to bait some linux users :) I’m one of those evil people who works in marketing. But thank you for the tips, I do appreciate it!
Don’t be sorry, the joke was funny, it’s just that you’re talking to this kind of crowd
This is so apt, I’m not a Linux user but I’ve seen so many on Lemmy this fits. One day I may join y’all… One day.
I wasn’t sure myself honestly, thought I’d check if someone else brought it up first
I think people get super excited to share the good news that it’s not a company behind it and all the benefits that come with that
I’m one of those evil people who works in marketing.
Yet here you are, complaining about the ads in Windows. Are you sure that you can go without them? :-D
Ahah correct! But in all seriousness, i believe ads are drastically changing right now (ai is just fuel on the flame). Good advertising is great, fun and builds community, which is the end goal in my humble opinion.
If you force me to use/install a product without telling me why, just because “trust me bro I’m Microsoft”, you are just pathetically insecure about your product and deserve 0 users.
How much of the question was sincere and how many of my time was wasted? XD
if you have weird double monitors
Is having more than one monitor “weird” to most Linux distros? I guess I’m a huge weirdo for having 3 then…
Nah, but it sounded like its integrated in his notebook somehow AND having double touchscreens, which could have proprietary drivers or some dumb caviot. Normally having multiple monitors is not a problem (if you don’t mind windows spawning with their top bar out of frame and stuff in wayland kde)
Linux is made from thousands of interlocking programs, scripts, services and libraries, made mostly by some guys or gurls in their free time.
That’s not entirely true: Most work is paid for in some way, eg. by foundations, employees of companies which need a feature or freelancers commissioned to do some work.
OK, point given What I meant was, that most distros and programs depend on some level on code written by individuals or at least without profit incentive --> therefore for those bits of code the developer isn’t liable in the same way. Sure, the core of libre office is written by programmers payed by the document foundation, but it nevertheless uses libs which are not, and therefore have not the same level of customer support or liability as Microsoft word would have, where they build most stuff in house and get played handsomely
Fedora will always be my go-to, and the KDE spin should be pretty familiar layout wise for former windows users.
Since you have an nvidia gpu, Pop OS will probably be your best bet if you need it working immediately.
I wouldn’t recommend Ubuntu anymore, as it’s been pushing snaps (package manager) MS-style, and it’s gotten some shit from the community for various reasons over the years.
Linux Mint is also good, too. It’s very easy to just get up and going, perfect for people who aren’t familiar with Linux, too.
The worst part about snaps isn’t the fact that their packaged like Windows files, it’s that it makes updating everything on your computer confusing as fuck when you don’t really want to ever think about it.
Me updating my system then updating Flatpak because the gpu driver difference breaks everything
