Another guy switching from windows

[Bogdan666]

Hello everyone, i am new to this and having some free time around the holidays i start my mission to switch from windows permanently. I have used ubuntu more than 10 years ago, but only briefly, and then it seemed a little strange, but i had this change in mind for at least 5 years ever since i quit gaming. Hurray for me. I have done some reading about distributions, and came across mint or zorin, maybe they fulfil my needs??
Speaking of needs, my needs are simple, i use brave, qBittorrent, office, vlc for movies and a cracked photoshop (kinda important), and a canon printer with scanner.
PC specs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, 32Gb RAM, GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER.
Questions: Do the distributions mentioned above have possibilities to run the programs mentioned above? are both suitable for "beginners" ?

 

[tpkusr]

Linux mint is known for beginners.
Brave, qBittorrent, vlc will run without any issue.
You have to use LibreOffice instead of office and GIMP instead of photoshop.
Canon printer usually supported by Linux mint.

 

[MzQ1NjExN2]

I have used ubuntu more than 10 years ago, but only briefly, and then it seemed a little strange, but i had this change in mind for at least 5 years ever since i quit gaming.

Ubuntu seemed weird becauses it uses the Gnome desktop environment. It doesn't look like Windows. Mint looks like Windows. I think Zorin may be good too. I would recommend Mint Cinnamon edition.

Speaking of needs, my needs are simple, i use brave, qBittorrent, office, vlc for movies and a cracked photoshop (kinda important), and a canon printer with scanner.

I use Brave and VLC as well. Both work on Mint and for Linux in general. Mint comes with LibreOffice which is compatible with Microsoft Office. I don't use photo editing software but I believe there are good ones on Linux.

AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, 32Gb RAM, GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER

Your computer is more than sufficient for any distro.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Your computer is more than sufficient for any distro.

GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER.

Just be sure it's a distribution that still has the 580 driver in the repos because with the 590 driver support has ended for 900 and 1000 series.

Linux 590 driver drops older Pascal and Maxwell GPUs

Linux 590 driver drops older Pascal and Maxwell GPUs

www.techradar.com

 

[Brickwizard]

The machine is only 3 years old, so should not cause any serious problems, something with a cinnamon desktop or possibly a mate desktop will suit your requirements, mint 22 or slightly quicker Mint LMDE both have the cinnamon desktop [as do several others] cannon printer/scanners can cause a headache to set up depending on the model and age but we can usually sort that out

 

[f33dm3bits]

GIMP instead of photoshop.

Most people don't find GIMP as an alternative to Photoshop. It' possible to install Photoshop in a vm and then use those files in wine to run Photoshop on Linux.

An alternative to Photoshop is Affinity, people have created wine installer scripts for that, such as this one.

GitHub - ryzendew/Linux-Affinity-Installer: A repository that helps users get affinity software working on GNU/Linux

A repository that helps users get affinity software working on GNU/Linux - ryzendew/Linux-Affinity-Installer

github.com

 

[Alexzee]

Linux mint is known for beginners.
Brave, qBittorrent, vlc will run without any issue.
You have to use LibreOffice instead of office and GIMP instead of photoshop.
Canon printer usually supported by Linux mint.

Agreed.
I've spent years learning GIMP and it's a very good program. One has to invest time learning how to use the tools for sure.
The Linux Mint Driver MGR should find the driver for the printer.
And LibreOffice came with my fresh install of Linux Mint. (see screenshot)
VLC is in the Software MGR in Linux Mint (scrnsht att)

This info. came from the LM 22 version I'm currently running now.

NAME="Linux Mint"
VERSION="22.1 (Xia)"
ID=linuxmint
ID_LIKE="ubuntu debian"
PRETTY_NAME="Linux Mint 22.1"
VERSION_ID="22.1"

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Welcome to the forums!

cracked photoshop (kinda important)

Did you know that cracked software in like 90% of cases means installing a trojan on your computer?
It's classical and pretty old method on how botnets grow.

You'll switch to Linux but this doesn't make a malware unable to run.

It's time to embrace GIMP and be free and clean

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

You'll find Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.1 will run just fine on your computer.

Linux isn't windoze...so there's some learning to be done and some claim Linux Mint is a beginners Distro but I can tell you...many beginners stuff it up because it's nothing like windoze.

Brave and qbittorrent can be installed it the Terminal. Vlc runs but celluloid and mpv media player are better...these can be installed in the Software Manager.

I have tried zorin...it seems good at first but then problems occur...no USB Writer or Formatter by default..can be installed from "software" but they don't work...couldn't get Etcher or Mintstick to work either but the choice is yours.

 

[f33dm3bits]

Did you know that cracked software in like 90% of cases means installing a trojan on your computer?
It's classical and pretty old method on how botnets grow.

I missed that part.

cracked photoshop (kinda important)

Please don't go further into this because we don't condone piracy here.

 

[theLegionWithin]

Hello everyone, i am new to this and having some free time around the holidays i start my mission to switch from windows permanently. I have used ubuntu more than 10 years ago, but only briefly, and then it seemed a little strange, but i had this change in mind for at least 5 years ever since i quit gaming. Hurray for me. I have done some reading about distributions, and came across mint or zorin, maybe they fulfil my needs??
Speaking of needs, my needs are simple, i use brave, qBittorrent, office, vlc for movies and a cracked photoshop (kinda important), and a canon printer with scanner.
PC specs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, 32Gb RAM, GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER.
Questions: Do the distributions mentioned above have possibilities to run the programs mentioned above? are both suitable for "beginners" ?

I switched over about a year ago - initially I started with the MX Linux distro but switched over to Arch after a few months and I have yet to run into any real issues. Arch isnt really very newbie friendly (though some distros are worse). running a winOS VM is going to be your only path forward for the creative cloud stuff - Adobe has zero support for linux.

printing/scanning can be cumbersome at times - you'll have to set up cups/sane and/or printer specific drivers - here's some info: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/CUPS/Printer-specific_problems#Canon

 

[Bogdan666]

Ok, so, a few updates. my task was simple, get the iso from a few distributions, boot them, install vlc and just open a movie, just to see what's what. However, ubuntu, mint and zorin, none of them could actually open the program manager or how is it called to install vlc, it just stayed on a blank screen and loading... browsing firefox was also a pain in the but while waiting 30sec for google homepage to appear. So i got a little further and tested also plasma from fedora, and it ran like a dream...except the fact that i needed a few codecs for vlc, but i will try also other players like you guys recommended previously, also i will give gimp a chance.
Should i choose fedora over debian? will i have the same issues when it will be actually installed on my ssd instead of a live version? To be honest i don't care that the interface looks nothing like windows, it's a new os, should feel like new and i am open to learning new stuff anyways.

 

[Brickwizard]

ubuntu, mint a

vlc media player is in the repository of Debian based distros,

This should do it from terminal sudo apt update && apt install vlc -y

 

[CaffeineAddict]

my task was simple, get the iso from a few distributions, boot them, install vlc and just open a movie, just to see what's what. However, ubuntu, mint and zorin, none of them could actually open the program manager or how is it called to install vlc, it just stayed on a blank screen and loading...

If you booted iso's live, from USB then it installing anything won't simply work, I think you need bare metal install.

Should i choose fedora over debian?

No, Debian rules (if you're fine with slightly older software)

 

[f33dm3bits]

However, ubuntu, mint and zorin, none of them could actually open the program manager or how is it called to install vlc, it just stayed on a blank screen and loading...

Can you share a screenshot what that looks like?

browsing firefox was also a pain in the but while waiting 30sec for google homepage to appear.

Is it different when using for example Chromium?

 

[Brickwizard]

from what is the best distribution post...

"
THE BEST DISTRIBUTION
Is the one that works best on your machine, The one you like the look and feel of, the one that lets you perform your daily tasks.
We recommend that you download around 6 different distributions with different desktops, and test them out "live" from a Pen-drive, You will not get a full speed experience, but you will be able to see if you like the look and feel of a particular distribution, and if everything works [wi-fi, camera, touchpad etc.]

 

[Bogdan666]

If you booted iso's live, from USB then it installing anything won't simply work, I think you need bare metal install.


No, Debian rules (if you're fine with slightly older software)

You cannot say that it rules and then put an "if" after your affirmation.
Also it worked perfectly fine to install something on a live iso for plasma...

Can you share a screenshot what that looks like?


Is it different when using for example Chromium?

i didn't try anything else because it moved like a dinosaur, really really slow. And it's strange because of this, i tried multiple times and it's the same.

from what is the best distribution post...

"
THE BEST DISTRIBUTION
Is the one that works best on your machine, The one you like the look and feel of, the one that lets you perform your daily tasks.
We recommend that you download around 6 different distributions with different desktops, and test them out "live" from a Pen-drive, You will not get a full speed experience, but you will be able to see if you like the look and feel of a particular distribution, and if everything works [wi-fi, camera, touchpad etc.]

That's my exact problem, everybody recommends mint and ubuntu, but plasma works really good for me, at least for a live iso. For peripherals i got my keyboard with touchpad and i know it works, and my printer . That's it.

 

[f33dm3bits]

So i got a little further and tested also plasma from fedora, and it ran like a dream...except the fact that i needed a few codecs for vlc,

I use celluloid.

i didn't try anything else because it moved like a dinosaur, really really slow. And it's strange because of this, i tried multiple times and it's the same.

It would be worth trying, that way you can rule out if it's something specific to Firefox or something else more general.

 

[kc1di]

Hello @Bogdan666
Welcome to the Linux.org forum, you've received some good advise already so won't complicate it any more but enjoy the journey!

 

[Brickwizard]

plasma works really good for me, at least for a live iso. For peripherals i got my keyboard with touchpad and i know it works, and my printer . That's it.

Then the next step is installed your Ubuntu with plasma desktop the rest is very much a chop and load job, chop out the apps you don't need/want and install those you do, please remember to first look for your apps in the distribution repositories as they have been tuned to work at their best with that distribution