Hey, so I just put this part up first because this is the one I urgently and importantly need answered even tho I wrote that hideous text block first (sorry English isn't my first language ).
1 So the question is I have live booted mint from a USB and everything is working like I can use internet on it , play YouTube video , the sound is working etc . But I'm afraid if I wipe windows and install mint as the main OS and the WiFi stops working I'll be fucked as I don't have a second machine except a phone to even fix it . There is no repair shop near and the ones I have to travel to go to charge very high for services and all the people I know are " just phone people" . Is it guaranteed that everything that works on a live USB will also work as the main OS ? Also is there a chance that updates could break the functionalities like WiFi, sound , rendering etc ? Cause I'm a layman and idk how to go about installing the correct kernal manually or some shit . And if its something like WiFi that got fucked I'll be extra fucked as I don't have a second device and can't even do it manually . Also as I said I can't afford servicing now . Also how do I switch back to windows lol ? I'm just running mint of the USB o don't know how to go back to windows, do I just pull the USB out ? Then what ? What are the steps on BIOS ? Shit I should've probably searched all these up before bit oh well as long as I'm making a post do feel free to answer idk if I should close my lap or not .I read a post on reddit of a guy whose WiFi stopped working after he made it his primary and he said that it worked on live USB . He was running mint too I believe, same as me with no other device .
Do try and reply to 1 (1 is the most important ) , 2 and 3 importantly and 4 you can do or not according to your free time .
2 Also what is the message on mints website talking about having to do something else for newer devices ? I now use an old thinkpad and it isn't an issue but I'm planning to do an upgrade real soon
3 Also how does the process vary with RISC-V architecture ? Is it there yet ? Any laptop to lookout for or is PC the only way ? I was thinking about switching to risc-v when upgrafing if any company manufactures components or laptop which they do fully as Foss . I am open to building a PC for RISC-V if I can buy full open source parts and if the Linux support is good .
4 I was thinking about switching to Linux for a long time cause I'm paranoid as fuck and always thought I should switch to mint as I'm a layman of all layman and recently got enough time to make it . But then I came to know of zorin OS which too seems to appease to begginers and the conseus between mint and zorin online vary a lot so thought I should just ask here as Lemmy seems to be crawling with Linux users . I mainly just want the drivers or hardware or kernal and all to just work perfectly all the time and not break after updates . I have also heard of some people having kernal issues and having to do it manually in which case I'll be fucked as I'm not savy . I mainly want good privacy and security . Zorin seem to have a paid version and I'm afraid devs will cut back on other version to promote that more and I have no plan to buy premium as i'm just getting into Linux and don't wanna make a big commitment maybe if I used it and settle on it I'll buy to support devs . Also mint is more popular and here to stay kinda shit right ? I don't care much about looking like windows or running window compatible apps and games I'll be just happy with the OS I'm choosing running all Linux shit . Also which appstore is better ? I heard mints software repo holds closed and outdated apps and don't have much idea about Zorin's . fdroid is one of the reason I grew to love android a place for all the good apps with no blobs and have everything I could ever need from galleries to browser . I would also like a that kinda app store supported distro with similar focus and policies on keeping apk updated , and building without proprietary blobs (like fennec ) and only foss .etc .
Sorry for the block of words , mistake grammer etc . English isn't my first language.
No but the packages are there. Example Fedora: if you install the minimal variant, the installer OS has wifi, but the install without a desktop will not.
If you install any reasonably packaged distro with a desktop, the packges for Wifi will be there.
But why worry? You have a phone and a data cable, even if it would not work, connect over usb, on the phone enable "usb tethering" and you will use it as a wifi or cell network dongle.
This works everywhere, I tested on a 12+ years old Laptop that didnt even have SATA drives or USB 2.0.
Linux is easy to install, windows is not.
Get 2 or 3 usb sticks/pendrives. On Windows download the "windows media creation tool" and create a boot media. Or download the ISO from their website and use rufus, which is better but you may not have needed drivers.
Unlike Linux, missing random vendor drivers are an issue on Windows and even blocked me from installing it once. This never happened on Linux.
So the better option, get a second SSD. Used one, SATA, as big as you need. 256GB is okay. A SATA-to-USB adapter is cheap. "External SSDs" are often a scam and overpriced.
If you want an NVME, I recommend the enclosures by Inatek which I use, had many nice parts and cables added and even heatpads. Really nice build quality.
Install linux on there and use it. Run it there. This will run on your hardware, if it works it works. The only component you wouldnt test is support for your SSD. I have a really modern NVME but Fedora supports it, so this is very unlikely.
A newer kernel supports more things, another point against Mint, Zorin, ElementaryOS, MXLinux, Debian, etc.
And if you like Linux and want to get windows to the external SSD, boot into a live USB of linux, and use
ddto clone your windows drive to the external SSD. This works best if the drives have the same size, otherwise a tool calledgdiskwill help you very well. But please research before using those.This will clone the drive bit by bit and it will be bootable, but Windows may not boot from USB because Windows. There is a tool called "win2usb" that can modify whatever is needed, and it worked for me.
And this was all without even opening the laptop. You could just switch drives. Still if you need windows it is always a pain to install, make bootable externally etc.
Linux, the kernel, has all the drivers. It is the core component of every distro.
Linux is developed by a biiig amount of developers, working for Google, Samsung, Microsoft and more. They all develop the kernel and produce different versions:
Even very "leading edge" distros will not ship the latest "stable" kernel, so you will be somewhere in between.
When developing software, normally you would just have security fixes, bug fixes and features in a new version. But with these products developers may backport fixes to older versions.
Even though the kernel only has 2 years of support, many distros will increase that, maintain their own version and do more backported fixes.
The stable kernel only supports hardware that was supported when it had the "feature freeze". After this point it is stable, no new features, only fixes.
Release of hardware ≠ linux support. So if your hardware is newer than 2 years you should not use a stable kernel with it. It may be on the market for longer though.
I recommend Intel, all Intel for Latops. If you need graphics intense workloads, use AMD. They have good Linux support, Intel having by far the best in my experience. Avoid NVIDIA and Acer, Asus, Microsoft Surface, or anything you never heard of.
Checkout this chinese developer laptop
Jeff Geerling on youtube also makes many videos about it.
In general it is not ready. There are good ARM motherboards and Laptops are just starting. SiFive does a lot of Risc-V stuff, but really this takes time and money.
I dont recommend these "beginner distros" with custom easy Desktops. I tried it and really:
ZorinOS: just use vanilla GNOME with the extensions "dash to panel" and "application menu"
Mint: just use KDE Plasma
I love KDE Plasma, the new Plasma 6 on Fedora Kinoite is already great and doesnt really have bugs? And it has sooo many more features than anything else.
I highly recommend the atomic variants, for beginners or just anyone wanting a really well managed system (cant say stable as that is what I explained above) but modern and with a good Desktop.
I use uBlue Kinoite-main, it is a base image and they somehow just removed the guide on how to rebase it.
Here is the archived website on how to do it
After the reboot just a short fix:
They use a different method for signing, the tool is in the image, so the verified version only works after rebasing to it.
From that on, you never have to manage updates again. The system will update and version upgrades automatically. You may never need to touch the terminal again, even though I recommend it.
If you want a more "specialized" version of their distro, you can use Bazzite or Aurora. They have even more "nice to have" things included.
You install the apps as flatpaks, or through distrobox, or via homebrew (yes the thing they also use on macs) or via rpm-ostree.
You will likely find all you need in the software store.
If you have questions, go to Fedora Discussion