Linux has been becoming a more and more viable operating system for those who spend a lot of their computer time playing computers or doing things you might believe is Windows specific. With the pioneering of Valve’s Proton and the improvements made to Wine, you can run almost everything from Windows on Linux. In this guide I am going to go over what you need to do to get into Linux and some advise related to Linux based off my experiences.

Choosing the Right Linux Distribution

Linux has a bunch of different options for what you want your computer to do. These are differentiated with distributions or distros.

Understanding Distros

Distros are an important part of what makes Linux, Linux. Since Linux is an open source operating system some people or groups of people create a version of Linux that is tailor made by forking it. This allows those developers create something based off the original Linux software that continues to get updated, but with their own stuff put on top of it. There are some built off of usability, and some built off stability. The important part is that they are built to do what they were built to do.

Best Distros for Beginners

Out of the Distros I have tried, I would recommend some form of Ubuntu or Pop-OS for newcomers. These are simple and have a great interface for installing and setting up things. Pop-OS also has a great built in store with great support for gaming.

But for me personally I use Arch which is also the distro that the Steam Decks OS is based off, Steam-OS. As such I will be assuming for the rest of article that you do choose Arch as your operating system.

Arch is great for truly learning how Linux works and is the ultimate form of customization, as you get to choose exactly what packages you install with your Arch, from the web browser, to the network drivers.

Virtual Machines

The first step that I would recommend is trying these operating systems out on a virtual machine (especially testing installing Arch). A virtual machine is like a emulated computer inside of your computer.

Selecting a Virtualization Tool

If you are using Windows or MacOS you should be able to use Oracle Virtual-box as a virtual machine. It is also important to check that you have virtualization enabled in your bios.

Installing Linux in a Virtual Machine

The next step is simpler, just download the .ISO file from the website of the operating system you are downloading.

Then you want to click new and select your ISO and type of operating system. Following that it will ask you to select an amount of storage and memory. Just select an amount you deem appropriate and install the operating system onto your VM. Keep in mind this will not wipe your drives or anything at all so no need to worry.

Desktop Environments

When you enter the desktop after logging in, you have entered the desktop environment.

Introduction to Desktop Environments

Some desktop environments will look more like Windows or MacOS and many of them can be customized to look like either. The best way to describe desktop environments is that they are the background, task bar(if it is there) and the start menu(also if they exist).

Customizing Your Desktop

Linux allows extensive customization. You can change themes, icons, and even the entire layout. Not only that, you can change the whole entire desktop environment as well, personally I use Plasma. Some others that exist are Gnome, XFCE, and MATE, one of these will typically come with a distro but that doesn’t mean you can’t swap it. Arch comes with none and you must choose one.

Basic Linux Commands

There are many commands in Linux as it is designed to be completely usable by command line alone.

Navigating the File System

Understanding the command line is essential. Commands like cd (change directory) and ls (list files in current directory) help you navigate the Linux file system. There is also commands such as cp (copy), mv (move), and rm (remove) for altering, deleting, and removing files. These are the same on all distros. There is also GUI versions of file exploration available with most distros.

Everything is Operable

Keep in mind that every application is operable through command line, this makes it easier to debug certain problems with programs. Other programs may have options which are just temporary and can be set through the command line these can be seen in the man file. Programs can run other programs as well, this ability to chain commands together through a process called piping is one of the fundamental strengths of the Linux command line.

For example:

In this example, cat displays the content of the file, grep filters lines containing the word then wc -l to counts the lines.

On the other hand, sudo provides a secure way to grant specific users or groups limited superuser privileges allowing you to securely provide permissions for one execution while not allowing future ones without your permission.

Installing and Updating

One of the significant advantages of Linux is its package management system.

Using Package Managers

Different distributions use different package managers, such as APT for Debian-based systems (including Ubuntu) and Pacman for Arch Linux. These package managers allow you to easily install, update, and remove software from your system. For example, in Arch Linux, you can use Pacman to install packages with a simple command: sudo pacman -S package_name. While they commonly force you to build the things you download there are also package managers that you can install on the side. Two examples of this are yay and flathub.

Updating Your System

You can also easily update your system with the same command. For example in Arch you use sudo pacman -Syu to completely update your system and all packages installed through pacman. After updating you do not need to immediately restart your computer. This is a nice thing because you can finish what you are doing or wait until you are leaving for work or school to restart.

Troubleshooting

The Arch Wiki is a great way to troubleshoot many common issues with tonnes of Linux software.

Dealing with Driver Problems

The great thing using Linux is that instead of updating everything individually, you update them all at once. This makes sure you don’t forget to update something (like those pesky GPU drivers). So if you are having trouble with drivers I recommend either searching up what driver you need to install with your package manager, or just updating everything.

Crashes and Bugs

You may find some bugs or crashes in certain pieces of software, downgrading or reporting things on GitHub is a great way to solve this issue. If you are still having troubles most programs have an alternative on Linux.

Security

Setting Up Firewalls

Setting up a firewall on Linux is easy solutions like ufw (Uncomplicated Firewall) and firewalld allow you to manage your firewall and configure it for the traffic you need.

User Account Management

At the beginning (especially in arch) you start with a root user. You never want to run through this user, so you create a new user with lesser permissions. This makes sure that if you run shady software its likely not going to have to worst of permissions to destroy your system.

Linux for Gaming

Gaming on Linux is mostly easy, this is due to Valve concerted efforts to bring gaming to it.

Choosing the Right Games

I personally recommend using the proton database to figure out what games may be compatible or have problems with them. Many users offer solutions there that may help you and you can submit your own reports that go over what you did or didn’t have issues with to help others.

Using Compatibility Layers like Wine

Wine allows you to run Windows applications on Linux. While not perfect, it expands your gaming options. There are is also proton, which is a version of wine designed for gaming made by Valve. Many more games run perfectly under this and due to its versioning and open-sourcing there is plenty of different versions you can download and test for your games. Lutris will help you install games that are outside of Valve’s ecosystem.

Linux Productivity

Productivity is a huge and important factor of what makes Linux great.

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

If you happen to have used Windows in recent times you may know that win+shift+s lets you take a specific screenshot. I personally used this a lot so finding a solution was important for me. I found that I could use a program called ‘flameshot’ plus a keyboard shortcut I set in settings to get the same affect, if not better.

You can make any program run with a shortcut at any time. This means if you want a shortcut that updates your computer and restarts it you can just set a script that does that to run when you click a key combo.

Programs for Productivity

The Libre Suite is a great replacement to Microsoft Office. They have all of the features and can open and save to Microsoft file extensions. For other forms of productivity, For video editing: Davinci’s Resolve and KdenLive work great. For Audio Editing: Audacity is fine. Password Managing: I know that 1Password has a application but I am unsure about others. Most web apps probably have a port that you could want for example: discord.

Backing Up Your System

Importance of Regular Backups

Data should never be only stored locally if you consider it important to you at all. You could at anytime have a hard-drive die or your house burn down.

Choosing the Right Backup Tool

I personally use NextCloud for backing up important data. It has a desktop app for Linux. Other good options are: Deja Dup offers a user-friendly interface, while Rsync provides powerful customization options.

Select a tool that aligns with your backup requirements.

Contributing

Many projects on Linux are open source. If you want a feature added to a program you use, contributing or requesting are great ways to do it.

Open Source Projects

The Linux community thrives on open source contributions. Explore projects on GitHub or GitLab that align with your interests. Contributing to open source not only hones your skills but also helps the community.

Getting Involved

Helping people who are newer than you is a great way to contribute to the community if you are not that great at programming. Overall doing things that help the community isn’t necessary but is nice.