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Switching the gf to Linux (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by lost_faith@lemmy.ca to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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Tonight I am installing Kubuntu on the gfs machine. Once she is comfortable with that, and the support ends for our version prolly going with Debian. Going to remove her windows drive (256 or 512GB) as there is only 1 m.2 port on the board, and replace it with a 1tb.

Her needs are simple, make Logitec G13 work (works and tested on my machine for months), Make ESO and addons work (Lutris has its own installer for ESO YAY! Minion has a linux version.), and minecraft java (found in app manager).

Now, she has some knock off razor mouse with buttons under the thumb, maybe the razorx software or whatever it's called will work on her mouse?, this may be a slight pain point. I am hoping this will work out and she will be happy with her (new) pc, we are preserving her windows as a fall back if she hates it. I have a short video lined up to teach her the linux file system. She won't be doing anything command line, for now, except to start the G13. Gonna leave her with the dolphin file manager as it is difficult to get elevated privileges compared to nautalis(sp?) where it is a simple checkbox click. Anything else to suggest here?

I can mostly teach her what she needs to know as we go, she is a smart cookie and has picked up everything I taught her for windows and networking so far so should not be an issue for her, but if you guys have any suggestions on tutorial vids for non power users or other things I can do to make this even more seamless it would be appreciated.

Edit: Thank you all for your input, very much appreciated. I will keep monitoring for new posts

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[–] kuneho@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

My gf recently built a PC for herself and just did moved her from Windows to Kubuntu stable as well. I was kinda surprised, she was the one who came to me and told me that she doesn't want Windows 11 so she's open to try out Linux. I changed to Linux (Debian) myself for a year and a half and she probably noticed that I still play my games and use it the very same way I did with Windows. I told her that most of the apps has alternatives, running games isn't a big a deal anymore and if she really really need to run Windows software, there's a great chance she can. (But this didn't occured).

My only concern was full Huion Kamvas support and crativity apps, 2D drawing and all that... but she's open to use and learn Krita, it seems she likes it. But if that won't work out, my small research told me that ClipStudio Paint (the one she used on Windows) works well with Wine. The Huion tablet just worked out of the box, with pressure sensitivity and all that jazz. (Buttons don't work though, but Huion has official Linux drivers which supposed to make them work, so that's awesome.)

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago

Thats beautiful. mines been watching me for about 5 months game and everything else. Today she is setting up ESO and the addons and may poke around to personalize her system. Bonus, as I removed her windows drive, she found some files she didn't know she had but really wanted. Tonight we get the last bits setup. I forgot that the nvme in her system, my old pc from 5 years ago, only had a 120gb capacity I replaced it with a 1TB nvme

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Thoughts as someone who's migrated two gfs and one wife:

  • Don't consider distrohopping. Install something that can be maintained for 10 years through upgrades. If you go with Kubuntu, stay with Kubuntu. If you're planning on Debian go straight to Debian and do the extra work to make it comfortable.

  • Plan the install to be dumbproof and trivial to maintain. E.g. no separate partitions for this or that which could run out of space. If you need separate /boot, oversize it. You don't want to deal with failed updates due to space.

  • Install a Windows VM for all the corner cases you aren't thinking of at the moment. Share the home dir with Windows under some drive like Z: and teach her to use it. Use built-in hypervisor like virt-manager. It doesn't have 3D acceleration but it's problem-free when it comes to upgrades over time since there aren't kernel module compilations.

  • Use web "apps" liberally to fill the gaps where native apps are missing.

  • Don't use external repositories unless absolutely needed. You want updates and upgrades trivial and boring.

You want to show that this system is better than Windows. Any issues and defects would be counted against it even if it was your fuckup. So go boring, trivial and stable.

[–] boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)
  1. Yes agreed, why reinstall?
  2. Dont ever use fixed partitions, that is not how you do things. One boot partition 3G or so to not run out of space, the rest with BTRFS encrypted. Or anything else in an LVM.
  3. Use virt-manager for that, dont get virtualbox. No weird kernel modules. I am curious how you share the directory, didnt get that working.
  4. Yeah, might need ungoogled chromium for them to be actual webapps as Firefox is weird
  5. THIS. People always do this and mess everything up. Use flatpak.
  6. Boring? In a sense, but that is kinda difficult to say.

I would recommend HeliumOS with Flatpak apps. Way more stable than any package based distro

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Use virtiofs. There's a driver for Windows. Very fast. We use it in production with a different hypervisor and Linux VMs. Different client driver but I suppose the Windows driver should be fine too.

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[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yeah, simple as possible. She has 2 drives (a new 1tb m.2 and iirc a 1 or 2tb platter) and that will be the extent of partitions, I even stopped doing partitions on my systems this time around. I didn't plan on doing a vm, now I just might, (is there a container or something ready to dl? I seem to recall reading that a bit ago. Iit has been a long time since I used a vm, is it possible to clone her active windows into a vm?) her proprietary needs are simply G13, ESO and Minecraft, the rest as you say are web based. HELL no to external repos, except the G13 one, I certainly do want it simple for her. Over the past 4 months I've been scrutinizing the updates before running em and have had 1 issue with FF but the rest has been a dream.

As I said I'm leaving her a rip cord in case she just doesn't like it, I don't see her having issues after a week of use.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Oh on the partitioning side, you probably want LVM with Btrfs on top. LVM makes expansion, migration very easy. Could even turn a single drive into raid later on without much difficulty. Btrfs gives you data integrity checksumming.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Oh yeah! Meant to do that on mine, ext4 is what I am using, but yeah she will get btrfs as timeshift suggested it when I finally activated it last month

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I mean, what you really want long-term is ZFS but the setup becomes significantly less trivial and docs aren't nearly as abundant and LVM+Btrfs gives you a good subset of the benefits. I recently converted my laptop to ZFS on root and I can now do lightning-fast backups of the system while it's running. And that's only really possible if the backup machine also runs ZFS.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

oh nice, I will go down the zfs rabbit hole one day, but not today hehe thank you

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Look for the massgravel github repo. Has links to Windows images and activator. If you use the IoT ones, they're clean from all the standard Windows cruft. You can probably migrate the existing Windows install but it would be more work. Don't have a doc on it to link.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

Oh, perfect, thanks. I'll take the easy route and check this repo out

[–] mofreak@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 1 week ago (3 children)

probably just install wine and all it's extra stuff.

also prism launcher is a very good linux minecraft launcher, it lets you have multiple versions and you can download modpacks inside it. good for linux

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

prism launcher

Oh, thank you, will check it out.

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Curseforge, another Minecraft launcher that many modpacks get uploaded to and also supports multiple versions, has been working for about a year for me on Linux Mint too incase she ever wants that.

[–] artiman@piefed.social 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I strongly recommend against the curseforge app prismlauncher is way better, curseforge sucks as an app and a company, prismlauncher in addition to curseforge has modrinth, technic, ftb etc

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Is prism the free one? I had an alpha account that is now deleted because Microsoft and I refuse to buy it again.

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[–] standarduser@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

Oooh I’ve been looking myself for a better launcher since Minecraft launcher I have to kill and restart once each time I wanna play it. Prism will def help then thank you much for this!

[–] Zangoose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I could never get any of my friends on Linux (maybe I'll be able to now that Windows 10 is dying) but I was able to get everyone on prism instantly because it's just a better launcher than the official one in every possible way (it's also on Windows and MacOS)

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

unless they need kernel level anticheat, the rest should work. just demonstrate how well your system runs these apps and that should help. just be ready to be their on-call tech hehe

[–] Zangoose@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

That's the thing though. If I'm going to need to be on-call tech support then Linux isn't actually a better option then Windows. Sure it would be more private and less sucky but if the computer doesn't actually work then that doesn't mean anything. I'm willing to make ad-hoc workarounds to my own problems because I'm a software developer and don't mind falling down a rabbit hole to get something like push-to-talk working with a custom pipewire script. My friends who want to play games and relax when they get home from work are understandably not willing to go through that hassle.

I'd love for Linux to be ready for daily driving but for most people I know it just isn't. Maybe when Wayland desktops are more mature but I'm not going to make people choose between functioning shortcuts (X11) and functioning monitors (Wayland).

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I would just go right for Debian with kde instead of making another change later on.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

The version I am using will have support til '27, so will get her used to the environment first. Then I'll need to do the change to Debian first to ensure everything works before the end of life, lets hope I have the mental energy to do it then.

[–] chaosCruiser@futurology.today 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's a gateway drug. Before you know it, she'll be installing Arch without the script.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

That will be a fine day

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

My SO isn't as nerd as me but I've actually learned stuff from them poking around linux that i did not know !

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There is OpenRazer for configuring Razer mice and keyboards.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

thats the one, ty, I just hope it works on her chinese knock off hehe. the mouse and standard buttons work fine so far

[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

When did you realize your gf was actually a robot? /s & kudos

[–] eugenia@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'll be honest, Linux Mint with a few modifications, is the best option for new users. I've installed Mint to 8-9 people so far, and have had ZERO complaints. Literally zero! KDE is not an easy DE to use, it has scattered options, and it often has bad surprises and bugs. Cinnamon instead is much simpler, and things are exactly where you expect them to be. I have a whole list of changes I do to make Mint perfectly workable to new users, I can send it to you if you like via email (it's a long list): eugenia17 at gmail

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[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just FYI my wife and her dad have used Linux for decades now. Both nontechnical users. I switched them in mid 00s.

Just keep in mind you will need to do the support when things break or on major upgrades. Otherwise she should have few issues.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

you will need to do the support

No different than with windows, am prepared

[–] furrowsofar@beehaw.org 2 points 1 week ago

Yes. No different. Some ways easier.

[–] Auth@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My advice is dont even both teaching to much about the file system at first. Just explain the home directory and root. Then setup shortcuts to any weird locations she may need to access for modding. After shes used linux for a few months then you can start showing her the different locations and structure.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

Oh, my teaching of the file system is (and the video does it nicely) these are your folders, these are not your folders just like in windows hehe once i finish the last touches she won't really know she is on linux

[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I've never had a mouse not work on Linux. But you can boot from a thumb drive image to see what hardware is working.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Base buttons (left, right, wheel), yes they will work, just the 12 on the side need to be programmed (look at the razor naga for an equivalent example to her mouse)

[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not sure for others brands but for Logi(tech) there is now https://github.com/PixlOne/logiops and few other utils.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I found 4 different G13 "drivers" on github, the only one that worked was the one all the others forked from

[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Neat, glad you managed.

2 quick tips :

  • yes, going upstream if it's maintained is usually the best choice
  • hardware is a problem only once, when you transition. Once it's done you will only buy hardware that you know will work. So yes it's annoying but it gets easier.
[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, once the hardware issue is covered we are golden. She has about 90% of what she needs now, tonight we fix the rest, like programming the buttons on her g13. ESO and Mc installed no problem, Minion was a bit til I got flatpak going, should be fun tonight finishing it all off

[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago

It's just the beginning of the fun :P then it's years, decades, a life time of tinkering together! Enjoy and thanks for helping her.

[–] DetachablePianist@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

FWIW I've got the wife happily running Debian + KDE on her (formerly win10) laptop and she absolutely loves it. I just helped her upgrade from bookworm 12 to trixie 13 and all went smoothly, solidifying her approval.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

nice :)

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