This section covers the migration from Windows to Linux, as well as the overall guide for Linux newcomers.
1. Open Source - the source code of any utility is open to public (anyone can view, suggest changes, sometimes copy/fork the project). While it seems insecure to disclose the source code, it works in the opposite way - more people "willingly" working with desire to help a project means that vulnerabilities and bugs are fixed faster, then in closed source projects.
2. Dual Boot - two (or more) OS living within the same machine, giving the ability to the user to choose which OS to load on boot time. Typically, migrating users setup Dual Boot with Windows + Linux, in order to adapt to the new environment, while being able to use default OS.
3. Virtual Machine/VM - there are software that allows to run any OS (guest) inside another (host) OS on the same machine.
4. Kernel - the "core" of operating system.
5. Distro/Distribution - while Linux is only a kernel with minimal features, contributors/volunteers/companies make their own "shell" on top of the Linux, which they ship to the users as a Linux distro.
6. Desktop Environment/DE - graphical interface for Linux. Windows offers the only one graphical interface with the minimal customization, while Linux has a large list of DEs with different appearence, features, etc.
7. Pacakge - utility/software/piece of code that is shipped from OS distributor.
8. Repos/Repositories - domains that are pointing to the servers of OS/software distributors that contains all of the packages.
9. Pacakge manager/PM - Linux has a nice feature of centrilized place of getting any software from repos, available via PM.
10. Stable & Unstable - due to the dozens of packages that are available separately, and software that relies on them, there is a critical desicion point for OS distributors: ship latest packages with the newest features and bug fixes (but with the risk of new bugs, CVEs, etc.) or choose stable (older) packages with less features and bugs.
It's a well known fact that Microslop is doing bad lately. With the release of Windows 11, the only news that we see are about Copilot being in every window, constant crashes, different bugs, new ways of telemetry and "inventions" nobody asked for. They're totally ignoring any userbase requests regarding new features or bug fixes, and push updates that only will satisfy their dellusional CEO, marketing department and shareholders.
The main reasons to ditch Windows are:
This list could go on and on, but we hope that this would be enough, to convince you that Microslop and their products are bullshit certainly in a very bad state and are not worth your attention.
Most of the people are afraid of a word "Linux" because it has association with nerds, that live with their parents, with no social live, that are hacking pentagon for fun and other stereotypes. In reality, Linux is the same OS as macOS or Windows, but with its own quirks.
As of 2026 Linux is a really great option for dozens of users:Let's briefly walk through downsides of the Linux system
TL;DR: Adobe software, FL Studio, Office 365, games with Kernel Level Anti-Cheat will not work on Linux and most likely never will. Additionally NVIDIA performs worse in games with DirectX 12, tho there are rumors about upcoming fixes. Still, there are options that offers to use Linux as a daily driver, while keeping the Windows for favorite games and software that Linux cannot run.There are programms (e.g. Adobe & Office365 products, FL Studio) that have no official ports on Linux, which can make transition harder. The option is quite simple - there are open-source software built by community that could be used as a replacement:
The most obsolete statement about Linux gaming is that Linux is not capable of it at all. In reality, 99% of all games are playable out of the box and some perform even better on Linux. Other 1% of games that are not available (and possibly will never be) due to the Kernel Level Anti-Cheat: LoL, BF6, Valorant, Fortinte (due to the Epic Games policy), Faceit.
Moreover, Valve are making a huge impact in Linux gaming with thier fork of Wine compability layer called Proton. Proton makes possible to run almost any game on Linux without any complex configuration and tweaking through terminal.
NVIDIA cards perform a bit worse in almost all games, and there is a huge performance drop estimated at ~30% in games with DirectX 12. It is a well known problem, but the only ones that are capable of fixing it are NVIDIA themselves, due to their proprietary drivers. Recently, there were news about NVIDIA developers claiming that they found potential bug that is causing issues, so there is a chance of getting better performace on NVIDIA GPUs soon.
Additional problem with NVIDIA is that due to the proprietary drivers, they're not automatically included in most of the distros. However, gaming-focused and newcomer-friendly distros are enabling the feature of auto-installing the NVIDIA drivers for better user experience.
If you are still thinking about giving Linux a try, there are 2 ways of running both Windows and Linux, so you will be able to run Linux as a daily driver for all tasks and boot into Windows only when you need some software and/or games that are not running on Linux:
1. The easiest and most common way is a Dual Boot. As was explained before - you can run Windows and Linux on the same machine (not simultaneously!). With this setup you can use Linux for daily use and boot in the Windows if you have sudden urge to play Kernel AC game or use Adobe software. If you think that this approach is the best for you, you can find dozens of guides in the internet. Moreover, some distros are including the dual-boot option in their installer;
2. Windows VM. Basically, you setup Linux as a native system, download any virtualization software and setup a Windows VM. While it sounds great, in order to get everything work perfectly you need to configure the VM environment right and have dual GPU setup. If you are interested, refer to GPU passthrough guides;
Great OS for starters, nice looking Cinnamon DE with intuitive design, pretty stable.
The ambassador of the word "stable". Many servers are working on Debian, as well as many distros come as forks of the Debian. Great stability, varity of DEs.
One of the most popular distros as of 2025, due to the good balance between stability and latest packages. Has varity of options to install: Atomic (immutable), Workstation (the most common one), KDE special (KDE DE based). Offers tons of DEs to use.
Fedora-based distro, focused on gamers. NVIDIA proprietary drivers, Steam, and other packages necessary for ready-to-play come preinstalled.
Arch-based distro, also focused on gamers. Despite that it's built on top of Arch, comes with DE, GUI installer, and overall is pretty stable. Developers also offer custom kernel, which is considered the most optimized kernel for gaming.
The legendary "i use arch btw" distro. The most bleeding-edge packages gives users opportunity to try the new features. Comes with bare-minimum installation, users decide what to install on their OS. "Archintall" script is included in the Live Environment for users that are not ready to manually set partitions, mount drives, install packages & DE, and make any other manual configuration.
Unique distro due to the interesting core feature of declarative programming configuration system, immutability and modularity. For mature Linux users it could be the best OS due to the system config being saved in one file (easy backup and management), immutability, customization and other features.
Let's assume that you already choose the distro you want to install and you are on Windows:
Once again, if you wanna make a Dualboot, check guides on how to do that and/or check distro installer for Dualboot option. As of normal installation, just plug USB drive in any slot, make sure USB is in the first place of the boot order in BIOS and reboot your PC.
Once rebooted, if boot order is correct, you will be greeted by your OS Live Environment. Amusing, is's it? You just plugged USB and there is a whole OS already running!
From here you can mess around, check things out, decide whether chosen DE is comfortable for you. Don't worry, if you mess up something here, you can reboot the PC - Live Media does's save anything, so each boot it will be a fresh installer and it will not affect your system.
The last step will be to find installtion wizard on desktop (sometimes it's opened on startup), launch it and procceed with prompts on the screen. Installers are pretty straightforward, pretty similar to Windows installer, but without Microsoft account and tons of suggestions.
After installation is done, you can reboot and remove USB stick.
The last thing worth to mention is that Linux has it's own bootloader called GRUB. Some distros are hiding it, some are not, so don't be afraid if instead of your fancy OS the first thing that you'll see is BIOS-like thing with list of your distro duplicates.
Basically, GRUB shows selection list of what to boot. If you have multiple OSes, they all will be listed there and you can select which one to boot. In most cases there are couple options of the same distro, but with different kernel versions.
If your OS is not hiding GRUB, consider it a plus because if something will break, you can always boot from previous kernel (sometimes it fixes issues). However, if your distro is hiding the GRUB, you can always enter it by holding "Shift" during the boot.
And now...
Welcome to Linux!
After installation is done, we need to clarify some things:
Welcome to the GRUB! It's a bootloader that allows you to select prefered system to boot from. Some distros offer last 2-3 kernels to boot from, which is great if the latest kernel update broke something. Some of the distros set the GRUB to be hidden by default, so probably you'll not see it. Additionally, you'll always see the GRUB if you made a dualboot with Windows.
If you're a newcomer, it will be a good idea to open up a browser (either LibreWolf or Firefox, they are typically preinstalled) and find documentation of your distro, so you can refer to it if any questions arise.
Basically, it's the same as in any other OS - download stuff you need and start using it. In most cases there is no need for any additionall post-install configuration.
Additionally, it will be great to contribute, so our community can grow even bigger. You don't need to write the code and review Linux kernel for new optimization possibilities. If there is an open-source tool you are using, there are plenty of things you can contribute. For example, if you're a gamer, you can log in via Steam on ProtonDB and post your reviews for the games you play, so others will know that game is (not) working on your setup.
It's the most common problem with Linux. The fix is quite easy - install codecs. Due to the specifics of codecs licenses, they're not available in official repos of your OS distributor, so you might install them from other repos.
For RHEL distros there is RPM Fusion repositories, that contain tons of unavailable stuff (including codecs and proprietary software). For Arch-based distros, there is the AUR repos. Lookup your distro docs for non-official repositories - they often provide information about how to install the codecs and other software.
Linux community has grown big, so as a software. That means that almost all of the stuff could be done using GUI without any commands in terminal. Yep, there are cases when terminal is needed, but they're pretty rare. Moreover, you don't need to write something complicated from scratch - all of the distros have their own documentations and community forums with most of the questions resolved.
If you need to do something niche, just search up in web for "how to do X in GUI on Linux" or "GUI version for X". Moreover, LLMs are a good helper too, so just open any chatbot and ask it, but it's recomended to verify with forums/docs what LLMs are offering.
Most of the time if something is not working, it's worth either to wait for updates or if it's an emergency, try to gather logs, your full PC specs and distro, find distro forums or distro subbredit and make a post there (don't forget to include gathered information, so community could help you!). While you're waiting for answers on forums, you can check out official docs of your distro.