want to switch to linux but need help

Also when I get the usb stick. So I just connect it with the computer and when I download Ubuntu or L.mint it will give me a option to put it in my usb stick right?
Once you have Ubuntu or Linux Mint downloaded you will need to use a program to make the .iso image of the os bootable.

If your using a Windows machine you can use Rufus to make the usb stick bootable.
https://rufus.ie/

Once you have the usb ready to go; go into your BIOS > Boot > and set your machine to boot to usb. In other words make usb the first option in the boot menu. Save the changes and exit.
Once you make that change your machine should boot into the usb.
 


Once you have Ubuntu or Linux Mint downloaded you will need to use a program to make the .iso image of the os bootable.

If your using a Windows machine you can use Rufus to make the usb stick bootable.
https://rufus.ie/

Once you have the usb ready to go; go into your BIOS > Boot > and set your machine to boot to usb. In other words make usb the first option in the boot menu. Save the changes and exit.
Once you make that change your machine should boot into the usb.
Thank you a lot for this. So I just download Rufus on my Windows right? And afterwards I do it all from rufus to my usb stick?
 
Yes-

Once Rufus makes the usb stick bootable all you have to do is go into the BIOS, make the usb stick the first choice in the boot menu and than it will boot into your usb with the distro on it.
 
Yes-

Once Rufus makes the usb stick bootable all you have to do is go into the BIOS, make the usb stick the first choice in the boot menu and than it will boot into your usb with the distro on it.
Okay, so I plug the usb stick to my laptop and then I go to BIOS, to start it from there. Do I have to do this every time when I start my laptop or no?
 
Do I have to do this every time when I start my laptop or no?

If you have changed it to boot from the USB stick first, before the Hard Drive, it will stay that way - unless you change it back.

Another way is to change "Boot Order" if your computer has that, normally f10. Although you will probably have to do this every time.
 
Once your distro is installed Grub should give you the option to choose which operating system you want to boot in to.

Generally when you install Linux along side of Windows Grub will show Linux at the top of the menu and boot into that first.
If you want to boot into Windows just use the down arrow key to highlight your Windows os and hit Enter. :)
 
Once your distro is installed Grub should give you the option to choose which operating system you want to boot in to.

Generally when you install Linux along side of Windows Grub will show Linux at the top of the menu and boot into that first.
If you want to boot into Windows just use the down arrow key to highlight your Windows os and hit Enter. :)
Thank you a lot. Deffo gotta re read all of this and do it when I get my usb stick. I’m worried that I might mess up my laptop thought lol
 
Thank you a lot. Deffo gotta re read all of this and do it when I get my usb stick. I’m worried that I might mess up my laptop thought lol
You're Welcome.

As long as you go slow during the installation and tell the installer to install Linux along side of your Windows os things should go well for you.
BTW Linux Mint is easy to install. Only takes about 15-20 minutes.
 
BTW Linux Mint is easy to install. Only takes about 15-20 minutes
@Fury As Alexzee said it is easy to install, but most importantly it is to just take your time doing it.

I did what you are doing on a HD that is slowly dying but then added two more HDD's and installed Mint onto one of the new ones. Then did a recovery of Win 7 and it reverted back to the same partitions before I installed Mint on the HD.

Both installations were quick and from memory took about the time Alexzee quoted.
 
I’m worried that I might mess up my laptop thought lol

What version of Windows are you currently running on the lappie?

0cd7RxV.gif


(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke)

G'day Fury from DownUnder, that's Australia, and welcome to linux.org.

You want to make a Recovery stick or DVD for your Windows, in my case I have a 16 GB stick for Windows 10.

Then if anything goes wrong, you can get Windows back easily.

That is for when you install, not for just using the Live Environment on the stick.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
What version of Windows are you currently running on the lappie?

0cd7RxV.gif


(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke)

G'day Fury from DownUnder, that's Australia, and welcome to linux.org.

You want to make a Recovery stick or DVD for your Windows, in my case I have a 16 GB stick for Windows 10.

Then if anything goes wrong, you can get Windows back easily.

That is for when you install, not for just using the Live Environment on the stick.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
Hi sir. I got a bran new laptop a week ago and I got windows 10 on it. The laptop I got is from a company called “MSI” it’s a gaming laptop but I’m not really into gaming atm. I just want to get linux on it and learn programming
 
I’m a lil confused on my laptop there’s this file where it says windows is 154GB. Now if I get a 8-16GB usb stick how’s Linux gonna fit in there lol. Again sorry for this stupid question I’m a amateur at this and want to learn
 
You're Welcome.

As long as you go slow during the installation and tell the installer to install Linux along side of your Windows os things should go well for you.
BTW Linux Mint is easy to install. Only takes about 15-20 minutes.
Ok thank you a lot. Will deffo get L.Mint First and learn it asap
 
I’m a lil confused on my laptop there’s this file where it says windows is 154GB

Nope, it won't be, unless you have added huge amounts of software. That is likely to be the size of the partition allocated to Windows. The space consumed is what matters and that will likely be 35 - 40 GB, which Windows Recovery will compress to fit onto a 16 GB stick.

Can you tells us what the file was called?

The Linux downloaded .iso will be burned to a separate stick, an 8 GB stick is easily sufficient (even 4 GB stick if you have one).

Cheers

Wizard

Edited - added BTW 1 & 2

BTW 1 - Have you used Windows Snipping Tool before? If not, get familiar with it, and then read my article here

https://www.linux.org/threads/posting-screenshots-at-this-site-read-this-for-easy-way.21722/

BTW 2 - the only stupid questions are those that are not asked :)
 
Nope, it won't be, unless you have added huge amounts of software. That is likely to be the size of the partition allocated to Windows. The space consumed is what matters and that will likely be 35 - 40 GB, which Windows Recovery will compress to fit onto a 16 GB stick.

Can you tells us what the file was called?

The Linux downloaded .iso will be burned to a separate stick, an 8 GB stick is easily sufficient (even 4 GB stick if you have one).

Cheers

Wizard

Edited - added BTW 1 & 2

BTW 1 - Have you used Windows Snipping Tool before? If not, get familiar with it, and then read my article here

https://www.linux.org/threads/posting-screenshots-at-this-site-read-this-for-easy-way.21722/

BTW 2 - the only stupid questions are those that are not asked :)
The file was called windows, and in that file are more files like a lot of files. And thank you for helping me out sir. Not familiar with windows sniping tools. Will check that out too
 
The snipping tool may already be installed on your Windows 10 machine.

Go to the start menu and type in snipping tool. If it's installed it will show.
 
To get back to the original question of what version to run, You mentioned that you wanted to learn ethical hacking (Penetration testing?) Kali Linux has a lot of good built in tools, but in my opinion, is not the most user friendly for a beginner to figure out how to run them all. In addition to your Linux install on your laptop, I would suggest getting a Raspberry pi. The Zero-W model can be purchased on amazon for around $25 with a case, power supply, cables... everything you need to get up and running. this gives you a cheap playground with tons of support, thousands of beginner projects to help get you up to speed, and if you break it, you just reimage the SD card and in 10 minutes, you are back up and running with a new clean install. I have run several raspberry pi's with web servers, email serves, Samba servers, PBX, Team chat... and there is a lot of documentation out there to help you along the way.
 
To get back to the original question of what version to run, You mentioned that you wanted to learn ethical hacking (Penetration testing?) Kali Linux has a lot of good built in tools, but in my opinion, is not the most user friendly for a beginner to figure out how to run them all. In addition to your Linux install on your laptop, I would suggest getting a Raspberry pi. The Zero-W model can be purchased on amazon for around $25 with a case, power supply, cables... everything you need to get up and running. this gives you a cheap playground with tons of support, thousands of beginner projects to help get you up to speed, and if you break it, you just reimage the SD card and in 10 minutes, you are back up and running with a new clean install. I have run several raspberry pi's with web servers, email serves, Samba servers, PBX, Team chat... and there is a lot of documentation out there to help you along the way.
Thank you, but that looks so complicated to me. I was thinking to start with like Linux mint/Ubunutu and then move on to the bigger OS like Kali linux and about the raspberry pi. I don’t know anything about it or how it works
 
Thank you, but that looks so complicated to me. I was thinking to start with like Linux mint/Ubunutu and then move on to the bigger OS like Kali linux and about the raspberry pi. I don’t know anything about it or how it works
If you are new to Linux, a raspberry pi is a great place to start. there are some great tutorials on youtube(and really all over the internet) it is just a tiny(credit card sized) computer. you install raspbian linux, and just start playing with it. They were originally designed for kids to learn about computers, but they have become powerful enough, they can be used for lots of different applications. Be warned though, once you figure it out, they become addictive. I have Ham radio sites across a few mountain tops, and have raspberry pi's running in those locations, and another 8-10 at home. jusst take 10 minutes and watch a Youtube video about the pi, I promise you, it is a great learning tool
 

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