I currently use Windows 10 and I’d like to try out Linux. My plan is to set up a dual boot with OpenSUSE tumbleweed and KDE Plasma. I’ve read so many different opinions about choosing a distro, compatibility with gaming and Nvidia drivers, and personal issues with the ethos of different companies like Canonical. I value privacy and I’d rather avoid a Linux distro that’s implementing something like ads or telemetry…if that’s even a thing that’s happening?

As a complete beginner, what sort of advice would you all have for me? Should I avoid OpenSUSE or KDE Plasma for some reason? Are there any ‘10 things to do first when installing Linux for the first time’ recommendations?

Despite all the ‘beginner friendly’ guides and tutorials around, I still feel a little lost and like I’m going into this blind.

EDIT: Thanks to everyone who’s offered advice, I really appreciate all the help and the patience with my dumb questions! There’s a lot to look through and it’s been a busy day for me, but I’ll get back to reading through everything and replying as soon as I can!

  • callyral [he/they]English
    1•7 months ago

    so is there a difference in downloading something from the internet and installing a ‘Linux’ version of it, or installing that through a package manager?

    Installing with a package manager is easier, since it handles stuff for you. You’ll usually only download software from your browser if it’s not available in your distro’s package manager.

    Package managers may have multiple repositories, these are like lists of packages, and may differ from distro to distro.

    A good analogy is thinking of a package repo (short for repository) as a library, and the package manager a librarian helping you search for a book.

    ‘use’ wine to run windows programs but what does that mean? Do I run it like a VM? But it’s not an emulator?

    It’s a compatibility layer, to put it simply (since I’m not a WINE expert) it converts Windows stuff to Linux stuff, instead of straight up running a Windows VM.