Linux

Well, if you actually want to invest some time in learning, Arch is great for that, while also being awesome distro. Some say that you should NEVER use it for your first time with Linux, but I disagree. You should never use it if you have short attention span and unable to read, but if that’s not the case, you’re good to go.

My recommendation is to not try to learn everything at once. Burn archiso on USB stick, boot into it, use archinstall to get in set up easily, and then search ArchWiki for topics of your interest, for instance the installer won’t install printing support, but if you google “archwiki printing” the very first result you get is CUPS page with basically all that you need to get printing up and running.

During the installation there might be some choices that aren’t entirely clear. For example which graphics drivers to use - it depends on your hardware, if you’re on Intel or AMD graphics, simply select “all open-source” and for nvidia there different choices. If you get to choose option for audio, Pipewire is the best choice. For profile choose desktop and select the one you want. If you don’t know, I highly recommend KDE Plasma, but you might also like GNOME if MacOS is your thing. For networking use NetworkManager for easy integration with your desktop.

I also recommend installing Flatpak and use it as primary source for installing apps, rather than defaulting to system packages.

It might take more effort with Arch to get something functional, but it is more rewarding as you can get exactly the setup you want and can learn a lot.

You'll hear a lot of people talk about a lot of different distros (distributions) and which one they think is the best. One of the great things about Linux is that anybody can make a new distro for any reason. But, that can also make the choice between them feel daunting.

"Distrowatch" is a good place to learn the basics about a distro in a nice, standard format. Many distros will just talk about how great they are on their own website, but distrowatch at least gives you an idea of what makes them different. Distrowatch also has a list of the "most popular" distros (based on how many hits their page on distrowatch gets daily). "Mint" is currently at the top and has been near the top for a long time. I would second the suggestion that others have made that you should try Mint.

There can be a lot of differences between distros, but (in my opinion) the two biggest things of note about a distro is: what its "base" is and what its "desktop environment (DE)" is.

The "base" (Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Arch, etc.) really tells you which program manager the system uses. That is to say, the program which allows you to install programs. This all used to be done through the command line interface (CLI) (and still can), but most distros have a graphical installer now as well. Do you prefer the PacMan package manager or RPM? You're not likely to care at first, but you may develop a preference. Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, which is itself based on Debian. Neat, huh?

The desktop environment (Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE, etc.) is basically what the distro looks like. Many distros will have different "flavors" or "spins" of themselves in these different DEs. And, you can just pick whichever one you think looks best or has the best work flow. Although, not every distro offers multiple DEs. Linux Mint uses Cinnamon by default, which forked off from an older version of Gnome. Cinnamon is said to look and behave similarly to Windows, which is why it's often suggested as a starting point.

You said you use Mac, so you may also enjoy these distros that kinda look like Mac: ElementaryOS, Deepin, and Ubuntu Budgie.

Many of the enthusiasts around here may not be fans of Ubuntu, but the fact remains that it is the most popular distro among the general public. This is noteworthy, because it means it will be easier to find support online should you run into any issues. Keep that in mind! Plus, there are many flavors of Ubuntu: Ubuntu (Gnome), Kubuntu (KDE), Xubuntu (XFCE), Lubuntu (LXQt), etc.

Don't forget to back up any important files before "distro hopping" to try out a new one!

I have been using Kubuntu for 14+ years, it's very easy, no special skills needed. I don't game so YMMV.

A big mistake many ppl make is assuming Linux should run on any hardware, unlike all other OSes. You get Win11 compatible PCs, OSX compatible PCs, etc. and somehow that's normal, but when ppl run the exclusively Windows certified wifi dongle on Linux and it doesn't work, somehow that's Linux' fault. I disagree. One should check if it's compatible before buying stuff.

I’ll definitely do my own research, but there’s so much information out there—it feels like drinking from a firehose. It’s overwhelming!

Because it is overwhelming. And that’s coming from a 50-something dude that is not much of a geek himself and that switched after 35+ years using Apple.

Do you have any tips or websites to help me get started, step by step?

My top suggestion would be to keep it simple. Don’t try too hard to learn everything. Just use it and learn as you go. I mean, don't try to 'learn Linux' just start using it. You don’t need to read a whole lot of docs for that (using Mint the installation should be dead simple and the you can connect to the Internet, launch your word processor or spreadsheet, do some photo editing maybe, listen to music and watch videos. It's still a computer, just with a different operating system and different apps.

Each time you will have trouble doing something then you will know it's probably time to do some reading and research. Each time there is anything specific you want to know more about, then you will know what to search for.

Say when you want to learn why Linux is sometimes called ‘GNU/Linux’, not trying to be pedantic here it's just to show you how there is always more to Linux than what’s on the surface. Next to the free OS and apps there is this whole philosophy of freedom as well as the Unix very specific approach to software development and the way those software should work and how they should be used and that explain why things may be very different than what you were to under Windows, both being covered by the ‘GNU’ part in ‘GNU/Linux’, which is itself also not just about those notions as GNU is also a set of developing tools and apps (that are used to construct Linux itself—expert, no need to hate me for oversimplifying here). And it's just considering the Linux name! Really, it’s endless. Often fascinating, but endless.

To the point that learning Linux can feel like the Danaïdes sisters being told to fill with water that bottomless bucket, or poor Sisyphus having to push that same huge rock up to the top of the hill every single day for the rest of eternity—maybe not the most… fulfilling option ;)

So, as a beginner:

1. Learn how to create a bootable ISO on Mac or on Windows).
2. With Mint in mind you only need to follow the assistant instructions (and make sure your computer is working fine with Linux)
3. Use your new (and freed) computer and make mistakes (it's the best way to learn) ;)

If you want to read an excellent docs, no matter the distribution you're using Arch Wiki, Mint as great user forum

You can find some new user information, how to get started, and links to a lot of different topics on https://linux.midnight.fyi

Mint is very easy for Windows users and everything I've tried on Steam has worked just fine.

Idk, just install it? Since you're a Mac person, it'll probably be easier to install on a non-Mac device, so from what you listed, I'd recommend either the micro PC (not sure what that is? AMD mini PC or something?) or the old PC.

For distro, I recommend Linux Mint or Fedora. They're both easy to install, have large communities, and largely do what you want out of the box. You'll need a USB drive, and then just follow instructions to "burn" an ISO (that you'll get from the Linux distro website) to the USB drive, boot from it (probably mash F11 or Delete to get to the boot menu as the PC boots), and follow the instructions to install. Make sure you're okay losing all data on the PC before installing, because it will replace everything.

After that, learn whatever strikes your fancy.

Good luck! Feel free to post back if you get stuck.

I started 2 years ago with Linux Mint in Dual Boot. Because at that time i hadn't had a second device. Now i'm on Fedora and as a relativ beginner i would say some install-commands are different and i have other Standart apps, but all in all its similare enough.Please don't bury me for this remark ;)

Coming from the Mac world transitioning might be a bit easier as you already have some experience with how the filesystem is setup. Root and users home folder.

I know its a bit intimidating at first glance but installing is really not that hard. The first step is choosing your distro. I think mint is a great starter distro. One thing that you might not like is the default windows close, maximize, minimize buttons are on the right. Not sure how easy it is to change it back to the left anymore. Below is a link that should get you started with mint.

https://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php

Or you like your close, maximize, minimize buttons on the left I'd recommend using KDE as everything is very customizable. You could use kubuntu which is KDE + Ubuntu, just like mint is based on Ubuntu but with the cinnamon desktop enviroment.

However I defiantly recommend using KDE fedora spin.

https://fedoraproject.org/spins/

All three of these choices have great documentation and communities, relatively easy to install. They should have almost all the software you will need from their repositories as well.

The basic steps are

1. Download your distro of choice.

2. Create your installation medium. There are programs that can help you do this but I don't know the best one for Mac. I did do a quick search and grabbed this link: https://superuser.com/questions/63654/how-do-i-burn-an-iso-on-a-usb-drive-on-mac-os-x#226148

If you are familiar with the terminal the dd command can easily write the image to USB. Be careful with the dd command and make sure you are writing to the USB drive and not any other drive as it is not very forgiving if you make a mistake. There is an example in the link above.

This is the hardest part, burning the iso to USB.

3: now you have to boot from USB. here you will have to get into your bios. Most computers use an F-key, you can probably search boot from bios + your computer model to get the right key.

Then look for a setting in there to boot from external drive and boot from your USB.

4: here you will be greeted by either the installer itself or a live desktop environment depending on what you picked. If you choose a live iso you can test drive the distro before you install it to your computer.

5: follow the install steps, you can refer to the disteo you have chosen documentation if you have any questions. Or post back on lemmy and someone will come along and help you out I'm sure.

That's about it. Pretty easy. Sounds worse than it is!

There's so much out there because there's no one (or even just a few) right way(s) to proceed. Everyone is unique, and so there's are just as many paths to enlightenment. Just take a stab at whichever intro looks good to you, and if it doesn't work for you then move on to another - they'll all contribute to your knowledge even if they don't fully work for you.