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Sappho

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Hello Linux Forums!

My name is Nym, I am a long time (1995-2022) former Windows User who just made the switch to Linux (Fedora Workstation).

I have grown increasingly concerned about privacy, security and user autonomy given the direction where Microsoft appears to be taking Windows, but the lack of performance and stability of Windows 11 was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

And thus, today I made a back up of my important data to an external drive, made a Fedora Installation USB using the Fedora Media Writer, and I rebooted my computer.

I was immediately enchanted by what I saw when I was met by the polished and modern live desktop environment, and after a lot, and I mean a lot of experimenting, looking at things, poking at things, some kneading here and there, and reading, lots of reading, I decided that it was the appropriate time for me to make the switch.

This is not really the first time that I have dabbled into Linux, but this is the first time that I have made the switch to Linux outside of experimenting on a virtual machine, or on an old, obsolete computer just to sate my curiosity, this was back in the 2000's when Ubuntu was all the in thing, I even received an Ubuntu Installation DVD from Canonical back then, although I misplaced it quite some time ago, along with the stickers.

I have to say that I am very pleasantly surprised with just how much Linux seems to have grown and evolved since the last time that I have used it, I am not really a computer user with many exotic needs, browsing the web, the occasional game, dabbling into art, and some hobbyist programming learning here and there, so switching to Linux full-time has proven to be relatively painless for me.

I am looking forward to exploring the wondrous things that Linux has to offer, in a way it feels like I am starting to rediscover what it feels like to start using a computer all over again, and on top of that I do actually feel like I am in control of my own computer, and that, that is priceless.
 


Hello @Nym,
Welcome to the Linux.org Forums, enjoy! :)
 
switching to Linux full-time has proven to be relatively painless for me.

FWIW, that's probably true for the overwhelming majority of computer users. Most are content consumers and need little more than a browser that works, and maybe an email client and office suite that they seldom touch.

Even content creators can use Linux, though they may need to learn new applications - like moving to GIMP from Photoshop, Ableton to Bitwig, etc...

Either way, welcome to Linux - both the .org and the OS. You'll eventually screw up your OS so badly that reinstalling is the only real solution. So, be sure to learn how to backup your system, how to restore your system, and how to check your backups - 'cause an untested backup is not a backup at all.
 
FWIW, that's probably true for the overwhelming majority of computer users. Most are content consumers and need little more than a browser that works, and maybe an email client and office suite that they seldom touch.

Even content creators can use Linux, though they may need to learn new applications - like moving to GIMP from Photoshop, Ableton to Bitwig, etc...

Either way, welcome to Linux - both the .org and the OS. You'll eventually screw up your OS so badly that reinstalling is the only real solution. So, be sure to learn how to backup your system, how to restore your system, and how to check your backups - 'cause an untested backup is not a backup at all.
That makes sense, most of what I do on the computer is content consumption.

Though it does certainly help that for content creation, the programs that I use for when dabbling into graphical design (GIMP, Krita, and occasionally Inkscape), and programming (Visual Studio Code and Eclipse) are also available on Linux.

--

I have very much already experienced some of that, my first install of Fedora on my laptop was botched because I decided to use Automatic Partitioning, it picked my slower-but-larger HDD to cram everything into, and ignored my SSD.

Then, I attempted to do so again by just selecting the SSD for automatic partitioning during reinstall, I attempted to move home to the HDD by following a tutorial, but a fair few things were irreparably broken by the (admittedly inelegant) way that I chose to perform the move.

That necessitated a fair bit of reading to do the partitioning manually, and a full reinstall, but now my root (btrfs), boot and efi partitions are all in the SSD, while home (xfs) and swap are in the large HDD, and with strong encryption keys for root, and home.
 
I attempted to do so again by just selecting the SSD for automatic partitioning during reinstall,

If it's too picky, just cheat - unplug the drive you don't want Linux installed on (which I figure is pretty easy for a laptop that has two drives - it's usually just a panel with 4 screws). Give it a quick format before doing this.

Then, after you've installed, plug the drive back in. You want to make sure nothing is on the drive from the previous install - or it'll see two instances of GRUB and whatnot. That's why your format it first. This is relatively simple, should you need to do it again.

With your filesystem, I guess there are native snapshots taken. I am not yet familiar with btrfs outside of VMs. I'm an Ext4 user. So, you can look into that for backup purposes. I'm sure it's well documented somewhere, and easy to find with your search engine of choice.
 
If it's too picky, just cheat - unplug the drive you don't want Linux installed on (which I figure is pretty easy for a laptop that has two drives - it's usually just a panel with 4 screws). Give it a quick format before doing this.

Then, after you've installed, plug the drive back in. You want to make sure nothing is on the drive from the previous install - or it'll see two instances of GRUB and whatnot. That's why your format it first. This is relatively simple, should you need to do it again.

With your filesystem, I guess there are native snapshots taken. I am not yet familiar with btrfs outside of VMs. I'm an Ext4 user. So, you can look into that for backup purposes. I'm sure it's well documented somewhere, and easy to find with your search engine of choice.
I will keep this in mind, I would have to build up the courage to remove the rubber feet on my laptop to get access to the screws though. (I presume HP put them there to dissuade folks from attempting to open the computer)

--

I am presently in the process of attempting to set up Timeshift to make regular snapshots of my system using BTRFS' snapshotting capability, hopefully it will go well! (Edit: I have decided to try doing things the btrbk way as far as snapshotting goes, but at a later date when I feel more comfortable with my system and Linux in general)
 
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Welcome.

You sound like you are already having fun.

Please continue.
 
Welcome.

You sound like you are already having fun.

Please continue.
Thank you kindly for the warm welcome!

I shall, it has definitely been an enriching learning experience so far, I look forward to it!
 

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