Before the party

[PapiSido]

Hi everybody,

Saturday is the big day: install party in Lyons, but I still have a lot of questions. Here are some of these

To clarify the context. I'm rather old school. I wrote my first Fortran lines in 1965!! and since then I followed the evolution thecpmputer world with great enthusiasm at the beginning and but some sadness more recently. I thought about Linux for quite a long time but never crossed the line
I like coding ( python now after Java, Delphi and many others ). I'm not afraid of using a terminal and I have a small experience of UNIX so I'm rather confident in a smooth transition .

I also have 2 essential requirements
1/ Use a second monitor
2/ Play LOTRO ( Lord of the Rings online)

Q1: Like every newcomer I guess, Which distribution Linux Mint or Ubuntu (GNOME)?.
I understand the basic differences are
a/ the look, which is not essential for me
b/ the software installation ( and maintenance) procedure

Q2: My configuration is
Mémoire RAM installée 8,00 Go (7,85 Go utilisable)
Stockage 447 GB SSD LDLC F6+M.2 480, 1.82 TB HDD ST2000LM015-2E8174
Carte graphique NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2 GB), Intel(R) HD Graphics 620 (128 MB)
My idea was to keep the system in the SSD and the datas on the HDD.
I hope that in this way, changing the system while keeping the datas should be eeasy. In fact I would like to try some distributions for a significat time (one or or two months) before the final choice. Is this a reasonable approach ?

Q3: I'ma also thinking about my file system organisation, are there some wise advices on the web ?

 

[Brickwizard]

Good afternoon, and welcome to the forums

1/ Use a second monitor

no problem

Play LOTRO

no problem install play on linux or steam [whichever works best for you]

Like every newcomer I guess, Which distribution

see the links in my signature below

Q2: My configuration is

may need to tweak some of the drivers, but not a major problem SSD+HDD i would do the same

I'ma also thinking about my file system organisation,

there are choices but i usually stick with whatever the distribution installs, + after installing use Time
shift or similar rescue app [several available in the repositories

are there some wise advices on the web

Browser choice is up to you around 10 different ones available, just make sure your settings relate to your personal philosophy, and follow the usual safety rules for personal security.

Welcome to Linux org, we are a broad family you will get as many different bits of advice depending on who is answering you, the biggest thing to remember is if you don't like it change it... find a distro that works on your machine but don't like the DE change it. don't like the browser change it, don't like the mail client then change that as well, this is Linux not Windows no one tells you what to do, you make up your own mind.

 

[No_charge]

no problem go ahead and check some responsible replies okay

 

[KGIII]

I wrote my first Fortran lines in 1965!!

Heh... You've used computers longer than I have. Not by much, but still longer.

Play LOTRO ( Lord of the Rings online)

Is this entirely online, or do you need to install something? (Is there a .exe involved that you used to install anything on Windows?)

My idea was to keep the system in the SSD and the datas on the HDD.

There are a variety of ways to do this. Given your age, I'm going to guess you have some UNIX experience. Well, the good news is that you can decide to put your home directory on the other drive. You can set the partitions/directories up during the installation process.

As you're going to an install party, someone there should be familiar with this process. You just need to let them know that you want your home directory on a separate disk. Your best bet is to go in with that extra drive blank, so that you don't have to do any partitioning and aren't risking lost data.

These days, folks seldom do this. They just use one drive and that drive holds all the directories, including the home directory.

 

[Trml]

They just use one drive and that drive holds all the directories, including the home directory.

Q2 I'd do the same, the SSD is big enough for everything for starters. Keeping the HDD empty for backup at first, or you can later migrate your /home directory to it. It is easier to change than convincing some distro installers to use different disks.

Q3
Stick to the default choice of the distro you select to start with. While the root system filesystem is more complicated to change, all regular distros use either ext4, btrfs, or xfs. All are high performant and you'll benefit from distro tools making use of their special features. You also have the extra disk to use another, to experiment or permanent for backups.

Not to forget: Have a lot of fun!

 

[PapiSido]

Thanks for your answers,
I'm still undecided(Ubuntu or LnuxMint)
If I understand right one (the ?) big difference concern the software installation procedure (snap or flatpak, even if apparently both can be installed and coexist on any distribution)
My present feeling would rather be for Ubuntu, but I've read here and there many complaints about snap, some of them around the idea that it shows some tendancy towards a closed system more or less controlled by Canonical.
So...?
and what about nixite which sounds like some sort of miracle (too good to be true?)

 

[Brickwizard]

and what about nixite

I would not even consider using a 3rd part to update my system, you must remember many apps will have been modified by the distribution developers for best performance on their particular distribution.

I'm still undecided(Ubuntu or LnuxMint)

I started with Ubuntu many years ago, then i moved over to Mint [as i didn't like the bloat on Ubuntu] now I have moved away completely from Ubuntu based mint, to Mint LMDE based directly on Debian a bit slimmer and a tad faster [but its personal choice download and try several,]
[there is also a new one for ex-windows users called Anduin]

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[PapiSido]

Done!! Thanks for your advices. It's after the party now.
Finally I chose Dual boot with LinuxMint
I'm now in discovery mode
My firs task, implement my python coding environmant.
What IDE would you recommand? I essentially used spyder. but now in Linux I just started with idle and I'll probably keep to it for some time, just to understand how linux works, in particular about the file management system.
But later i would probably appreciate a more sophisticated one

 

[Brickwizard]

Which mint did you go for?

 

[PapiSido]

Cinammon, this appears to be the usual one

 

[Brickwizard]

Popular desk top but i ment Mint 22 or Mint LMDE

 

[PapiSido]

This is Linux Mint 22.2, codename Zara.
Long term support release (LTS), supported until April 2029.
from https://www.linux.org/pages/download/

 

[bob466]

Linux Mint Cinnamon is an excellent Distro...solid...user friendly and has everything you need.

A lot has changed since the old days of doing things...especially when it come to partitions...swap and backups...some will disagree but that's life.