SOLVED Linux over Win 10

[Iceboy]

Why do some people choose Linux over Windows 10?..Is it safer or less cumbersome..When I look at it, it looks like an old way of computing.

 

[Tim Locke]

Underneath the desktop user interfaces that are added to it it is a better operating system. Less bloatware. A smaller attack surface for viruses and worms. Makes better use of whatever hardware it runs on. iT is FREE unless you are a corporation that needs a service contract.
A lot of very good programmers contribute to Linux and it is probably true to say that every line of code has been peer revieved and tested by many people. The source code is available and you can contribute to it yourself.

Most of the worlds web servers are Linux (Apache and others) even IBM offers Linux on its machines now.
Firewalls are sometimes Linux but more often Unix(BSD)

It has a few problems of course. Sometimes the Linux development community are slow to produce drivers for new hardware and the hardware manufacturers are equally slow to produce Linux drivers. The command line interface appears clunky , it is '70s vintage copied from Unix, but it it actually better than the Windows Powershell.

You will note that Windows 10 has a Linux system built in now. Or you get yourself a Raspberry Pi...although that is best done if you have a spare monitor, KB, mouse and a spare SSD sitting around! The Pi has all the important Linux software availabel for free.

 

[davehc]

Not exactly. you have to jump through a few hoops to install it. Not my field, by any means, but I followed the instructions on this page and got there.
I , after many experiments over the years, cannot see any advantage of LInux over Windows. Windows 10, imho, does everything Linux can do, and more. But. This is a little out of my field, and it is a very reserved opinion.
Again, imho, the basic reason that Linux is more "Secure", is that most hackers are mischief makers and only out for what they see as a little fun. That doesn't exist in an open source environment, so why waste there time showing there skills and hacking it,-

 

[bassfisher6522]

Why do some people choose Linux over Windows 10?..Is it safer or less cumbersome..When I look at it, it looks like an old way of computing.

I like to keep a live thumb drive (a bootable version) of a linux distro lying around and pop it in now and again to play around with the OS. I would recommend you do the same. All you do is; find the distro you like to use (I like Zorin), download the ISO and create a bootable thumb drive with Rufus (Rufus is a bootable drive creator that's free). Then to use said drive, insert into USB port on PC, reboot, at post beep start tapping the F12. This will bypass the BIOS and bring you straight into the boot menu, from there just find your thumb drive, select it and hit enter. Now you will boot from the USB to your linux distro.

 

[Bighorn]

I like to keep a live thumb drive (a bootable version) of a li nux distro lying around and pop it in now and again to play around with the OS. I would recommend you do the same.

Me, too. But I carry the bootable Thumb drive mostly to use in diagnosing whether a problem is with hardware or with the installed OS. Also of importance is the included GPARTED program for some managing of drive partitions that can't be done while booted into Windows [can't kill itself].

 

[davehc]

Sorry, forgot the link!

Install WSL

Install Windows Subsystem for Linux with the command, wsl --install. Use a Bash terminal on your Windows machine run by your preferred Linux distribution - Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, Kali, Fedora, Pengwin, Alpine, and more are available.

docs.microsoft.com

Still trying to work out how to use it

 

[bassfisher6522]

Me, too. But I carry the bootable Thumb drive mostly to use in diagnosing whether a problem is with hardware or with the installed OS.

Yep....that too! I forgot that..... I'm getting old fast.

 

[Bighorn]

Yep....that too! I forgot that..... I'm getting old fast.

Ain't it fun, will be 81 just after Christmas.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Sorry, forgot the link!

Install WSL

Install Windows Subsystem for Linux with the command, wsl --install. Use a Bash terminal on your Windows machine run by your preferred Linux distribution - Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE, Kali, Fedora, Pengwin, Alpine, and more are available.

docs.microsoft.com

Still trying to work out how to use it

LOL! Knowing MS, it wont be easy. Also what version of Linux is WSL1 and WSL2.

 

[bassfisher6522]

I didn't read far enough in your link......I see you get to choose.

My question: Is it safe to work with.....vs....using a dual boot where sometimes the MBR and GRUB get corrupted and then makes your HDD/SSD useless. Which then requires a clean install of Windows.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Ain't it fun, will be 81 just after Christmas.

LOL...NO! I'm a young old....if there is such a thing. At 55 with all the medical issues.....I feel and look like a 100 year old. I can barely see and hobble around. Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

 

[Bighorn]

LOL! Knowing MS, it wont be easy. Also what version of Linux is WSL1 and WSL2.

I'm not doing Linux on Windows, have a Dell Inspiron 580 Desktop, Inspiron 11 3000 Notebook and an HP 15" Notebook with Linux Mint installed. Only the 11" was a new purchase about 3 years ago [unannounced special at Wal*Mart for $139] but with only a 32GB drive couldn't continue with Win10 Upgrades/updates. The other 2 are rehabs instead of going to the landfill.

 

[Iceboy]

Well you've opened my eyes on the subject guys..the reason I ask is..my Lenovo idea pad 330 laptop is so slow with windows 10, but may be it would slow on Linux too..I know I ask a lot of questions on here and I have been computing for years..but windows 10 seems so cumbersome and slower than 7 which I thought was an excellent product.

 

[Bighorn]

www.distrowatch.org
Check some of the offerings, Linux usually is less demanding than Windows and can have GUI Desktops similar to Windows with icons for programs. It can be more daunting than the old DOS systems but for simpler needs not necessary to dig in deep, can even get programs that have their own install routine, again a lot like Windows.

 

[BigFeet]

Most Linux distributions run very well on older hardware. My older Acer laptop struggled to run Windows 10. I always keep a few laptop hard drives with various operating systems on them anyways, but I finally ditched Windows 10 on it for good.
As far as performance, Linux will make older hardware snappier (depending on the distro of course). For example, I run Manjaro as my daily driver on my laptop. At boot the laptop is using 435 mb of ram, as apposed to the 1.6 gb of ram windows would use. That's an important difference on a PC with 2 or 4 gb of ram. I have Linux Mint on a second hard drive and the resource usage is similar to Manjaro. Mint is a little more user friendly. The Cinnamon desktop is very Windows like.
Linux isn't for everyone. If you use Premiere to edit video, or have to use Microsoft Office for work, then Linux probably isn't for you. There are good alternatives to both of those, but compatibility isn't perfect.
If you have an old PC lying around, or an extra hard drive, it doesn't hurt to experiment with different distro's. But I'd never advise just ditching Windows and jumping right in to Linux. I also wouldn't advise dual booting unless you completely understand bootloaders. Windows updates frequently break a dual boot system.
The reason Linux is so much more secure than Windows (other than being open source), is in Windows the vast majority of people are running an admin account. Where in Linux you're not. If you install anything, do an update, or run a program on Linux that needs root privilege's, you have to give it your root password.

 

[Tim Locke]

I agree with no dual booting Windows and Linux. I had Ubuntu as my daily driver for a bit after I retired. Worked well but back then ,14 years ago it was pretty crude by todays standards.

Iceboy I have a Lenovo Ideapad 310 that I got 2nd hand as use as an Insider machine. Runs W10 well enough but would be faster with Windows. I maxed out the Ram, changed the HDD for an SSD and added an M2 into the M2 slot. I haven't tried it But I think it would run Linux quite a bit faster

 

[Iceboy]

You see there's the slowness of the laptop and I'm literally fed of seeing www.bing and Edge running when I'm not using it..it gets worse and worse with windows.I don't have to do anything on the laptop and they're still there when I've cleaned it.

 

[BigFeet]

Yeah, that's a bit of a drawback. But Windows uses Edge (which is probably the reason for the bing cookies) and cortana for telemetry purposes. Not much you can do about that without using a 3rd party program to block those things. And technically that goes against Microsoft's license agreement. The Windows search feature also uses bing as the default.

 

[Iceboy]

It's not a speedy laptop at all, but if edge is running all the time then I've no chance at all..this why I'm asking about Linux, to see if it would run any faster and I can safely shop online..that's all I want to do with this.

 

[Bighorn]

Firefox does quite well on my Linux Mint, is included in the downloadable .iso file. So is the free LibreOffice. There's a lot of free apps for Linux using its Software Manager as well as some paid-for, depends upon what one wants/needs.

Another thing is Linux Mint, and probably most 'flavors', doesn't force updates, gives a notice on an icon in the tray, can do it whenever.