just_another_person @ just_another_person @lemmy.world

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2 yr. ago

You just "snapshot" the existing disk and run it in a VM like VirtualBox or something. Then that new disk image works as the "new" disk for the VM.

You're overcomplicating things.

If you have an existing Win10 install, just format the new SSD for whatever distro, install, and set the boot target for the new SSD drive.

Then run Linux for a bit, make sure everything works, and make an image of the already existing Win10 partition to run in a VM.

Much simpler.

Also: almost all tax software runs in a browser now. If not then it will run under Wine or Proton. I think you have less to worry about than you think.

They said they want to "learn Linux". Immutable distros are not how Linux runs in its native form, but a utilitarian way of running it for a specific purpose. You must understand the thing before you speak on the thing.

It absolutely does. Don't know how you don't see that.

Debian is intentionally built for LTS, so a bit behind on modern Desktop updates and such.

Great for a stable server/dev system, but not great if you're expecting modern DE features.

Well, that's kind of his personality though. Just reading the message it seemed like quite an event though. The mailing list is generally very transactional and uneventful.

Meaning as vanilla/neutral as you can get from the stock packages and configurations.

• Ubuntu has become a slop of Canonical choices and ads for services everywhere.
• Mint does a lot of non-standard stuff, which is fine if you want to use Cinnamon.
• PopOS has a bunch of custom tooling

And so on.

If OP just wants to get on board at a base level without a HUGE amount of edge-cases or one-off customizations, Fedora is the way to go.

Once a user starts performing merges and trying to fix conflicts by hand, simplicity goes out the windows. It's not git, but any tree system that has to track and merge content. Same thing would happen with any other tool if the user is trying to "recreate" revisions that had bad merges.

WHOOOOOA. If Linus is not mistaken (doubtful), there wasn't an intrusion in the repo, or there wasn't some fucked up merge somewhere, this is crazy as hell. This is a huge deal. Good on Linus for catching it.

OP wants to LEARN Linux. Immutable distros are not lock and stock built to learn Linux at all. They are built to operate one specific way that is confusing for beginners. Some really basic reasons it's not for newcomers:

• everything is an edge-case BECAUSE it's an immutable distro
• vanilla docs (Arch Wiki for example) don't cover immutable distros
• learning package management isn't possible
• altering the system as docs or projects would describe isn't available
• learning to build and install things from source is not stock available

Just because YOU like something, doesn't mean everyone needs to subscribe to your idea of it.

Also, what is the model of this laptop if you don't mind sharing?

I never suggest this for brand new beginners because of the smaller user base and less "vanilla" docs when searching for stuff. The available customization can also be a bit overwhelming for some people that aren't expecting it, though yes, the memory footprint will be lower as you mentioned.

The different spins are just different default desktop environments with the same underlying system otherwise.

Gnome or KDE are the two most popular desktop environments. Gnome is more like MacOS (simplified, smooth, and minimal), while KDE is a bit more like Windows (verbose, menus laid out how you'd expect).

You choose whichever and just run it. You can just run a LiveUSB of whatever to try out for a few days and get a feel for both, or just dive in and install something. If you find you don't like something, just switch to a different distro spin. Either way works.

Arch is NOT for beginners. Immutable distros are NOT for beginners. Do not let anyone suggest otherwise.

Go with Fedora for the smoothest and least polluted experience of any beginner distro and work from there.

The best way to learn is just by getting started 👍

You just KNOW this fat bitch is thinking of launching one while he still can.

Fedora.

I will if it's an obscure package that has a recipe, otherwise I avoid it to keep my paths as clean as possible. It can end up making a confusing mess of things if you accidentally install something via other means that also gets installed by brew as a dependency, as an example.

It's not "standard practice", it's the least problematic way to distribute example templates for mass consumption without needing extra steps for the user to configure. It is assumed that anyone looking to run something in production would follow best practices and harden where needed.

Nice, good to know

Remember when everybody was making "smart" toasters and fridges and shit with cameras or WiFi for absolutely no reason.

This is that all over again.

Nobody needs "AI" in their water kettles, dryers, or dildos.