Which version of LINUX should I install on my WINDOWS 10 Laptop,

[MarSernna]

Hi, thanks for helping.

I'm very interested in learing all about LINUX, I've got my Laptop running Windows 10, I need to continue using my laptop as it is for my work; I read that the best way is to use a VM, Could you tell me how to do it and which version of LINUX would be the most appropiated to me that I'm still just starting in LINUX issues...

Thanks for your support...

 

[atanere]

Hi @MarSernna, and welcome! Yes, virtualization may be one of the best ways to explore Linux. There are several virtualization programs that you can use, but the only one I have any familiarity with is VirtualBox. It is free and fairly simple to use. As I recall, in the install process, VirtualBox asks permission to install 3 other helper apps, and I'd recommend letting it download and install them.

After that, you need to download some Linux .iso files to install as virtual machines. We highly recommend that you "verify the checksum" of the .iso file to be sure that your download was complete and not corrupted before you install it in VirtualBox. All of the Linux distros will provide a checksum value, usually either MD5 or SHA256. There is an excellent free program to verify these checksum values that you can download here.

Linux is often installed by first transferring the .iso file to a DVD or USB flash drive, but this has to be done in a special way so that it will be bootable on your computer. With VirtualBox, you don't need to do this step and it can install the .iso file directly. I won't get into the details of that yet though until you get up to that point. Maybe someone else will recommend another virtualization program that you would prefer to try.

For each Linux that you want to try, you would probably have VirtualBox give it 1 or 2 GB of system RAM, and you probably want to give each Linux about 25-30 GB of hard drive space. These are just starting points and you can recover the drive space later when you decided to remove some of them. When you find one your really like a lot, before going too far with it... you might choose to delete that one too so that you can create it again with more hard drive space if you think you will use it that way for a long time. In many ways using a VM is better than attempting to dual-boot Windows and Linux, but there may be some drawbacks that you discover too... a VM is not the same as running on real hardware, even though it does do a very nice job.

Some of the many distros that I would recommend to start with are: Linux Mint 19 (MATE or Cinnamon editions.... but because of a current problem, if you try to install one of these, do not let it connect to the internet during installation. After install the internet should work fine). Ubuntu is another popular distro.... I like the MATE desktop of this one too... the standard Gnome 3 desktop is something that some people love, and some people hate. Manjaro is currently the most popular distro on DistroWatch... and their list of Top 100 distros is a great place to start to review what is available to you. Just about anything in the top 20 would be good to check out, except Kali.... Kali is a specialized distro for security professionals.... it is really not a good distro for beginners.

The great thing here is that using a VM lets you install, test, and delete the various distros at will until you find those that seem to suit you best. Much of the choices are just a matter of taste.... how the distro looks and feels to you personally. It is great to have so many choices available!

Cheers

 

[CptCharis]

I think that @atanere cover your question fully detailed.
I, as a newbie, I will tell you to use Linux Mint as first touch with Linux.
Mint is closer to windows environment so your transition will be easier.
Don't try something very complicate bcz there is a posibility to get tired and then you will loose the magic.
Try Mint and then if you want you can experimenting other distros.

 

[Deleted member 35560]

Mint has an advantage in that is designed to be installed along with Windows, so that you do not have to jump right across. You can install along side and when your system boots you will be given the choice of what to do. Mint has a similar feel to Windows 7 which is why I like it and why many coming across like it. I personally found that other Distros were too much of a change at first so it was nice to have something that was different, but familiar

Welcome to here and to Linux and I hope you have a great time using both

 

[MarSernna]

Hi @MarSernna, and welcome! Yes, virtualization may be one of the best ways to explore Linux. There are several virtualization programs that you can use, but the only one I have any familiarity with is VirtualBox. It is free and fairly simple to use. As I recall, in the install process, VirtualBox asks permission to install 3 other helper apps, and I'd recommend letting it download and install them.

After that, you need to download some Linux .iso files to install as virtual machines. We highly recommend that you "verify the checksum" of the .iso file to be sure that your download was complete and not corrupted before you install it in VirtualBox. All of the Linux distros will provide a checksum value, usually either MD5 or SHA256. There is an excellent free program to verify these checksum values that you can download here.

Linux is often installed by first transferring the .iso file to a DVD or USB flash drive, but this has to be done in a special way so that it will be bootable on your computer. With VirtualBox, you don't need to do this step and it can install the .iso file directly. I won't get into the details of that yet though until you get up to that point. Maybe someone else will recommend another virtualization program that you would prefer to try.

For each Linux that you want to try, you would probably have VirtualBox give it 1 or 2 GB of system RAM, and you probably want to give each Linux about 25-30 GB of hard drive space. These are just starting points and you can recover the drive space later when you decided to remove some of them. When you find one your really like a lot, before going too far with it... you might choose to delete that one too so that you can create it again with more hard drive space if you think you will use it that way for a long time. In many ways using a VM is better than attempting to dual-boot Windows and Linux, but there may be some drawbacks that you discover too... a VM is not the same as running on real hardware, even though it does do a very nice job.

Some of the many distros that I would recommend to start with are: Linux Mint 19 (MATE or Cinnamon editions.... but because of a current problem, if you try to install one of these, do not let it connect to the internet during installation. After install the internet should work fine). Ubuntu is another popular distro.... I like the MATE desktop of this one too... the standard Gnome 3 desktop is something that some people love, and some people hate. Manjaro is currently the most popular distro on DistroWatch... and their list of Top 100 distros is a great place to start to review what is available to you. Just about anything in the top 20 would be good to check out, except Kali.... Kali is a specialized distro for security professionals.... it is really not a good distro for beginners.

The great thing here is that using a VM lets you install, test, and delete the various distros at will until you find those that seem to suit you best. Much of the choices are just a matter of taste.... how the distro looks and feels to you personally. It is great to have so many choices available!

Cheers

Thanks a lot @atanere, your explanation's been very clear and complete and of course very useful too, I'm gonna try your recommendation about VIRTUAL BOX and some of the DISTROS you recommended. Now I know that VIRTUAL BOX let me test and easily delete any installation of LINUX or other SO. Thanks a lot again and I'll soon be letting you know how it was..

pd: forgive my redaction as far as my English is not as good as it should be ,,,,

@MarSernna

 

[MarSernna]

I think that @atanere cover your question fully detailed.
I, as a newbie, I will tell you to use Linux Mint as first touch with Linux.
Mint is closer to windows environment so your transition will be easier.
Don't try something very complicate bcz there is a posibility to get tired and then you will loose the magic.
Try Mint and then if you want you can experimenting other distros.

I think that @atanere cover your question fully detailed.
I, as a newbie, I will tell you to use Linux Mint as first touch with Linux.
Mint is closer to windows environment so your transition will be easier.
Don't try something very complicate bcz there is a posibility to get tired and then you will loose the magic.
Try Mint and then if you want you can experimenting other distros.

Thanks a lot @CptCharis

I've learnt a lot reading the answers I received from you and from @atanere, now I have a lot to do to test what you both have recommended, thanks for saying that Mint is my actual best choise, I'm gonna take it into account and make it my first LINUX DISTRO installation...

I'll let you know as soon as possible!

 

[atanere]

I'll be looking forward to you giving us your experience, and we'll help you along as best as we can.

Just a comment here... for some reason the way that you are identifying the users with the @ symbol is a little different, and I think it is causing the forum software to hold your posts for moderation (like you might be a spammer, but of course you are not). All you have to do is actually type the @ symbol and follow it immediately (no spaces) with the name that you want refer to, and the forum software will automatically pull up that person's same, or a choice of names... with the choice becoming more accurate the more letters you type. When you see the person you want, you can click on his/her name and the it will complete the name where you are typing it. The noticeable difference is that you see the @ symbol is also colored in blue like the user names itself... so here is an example: @CptCharis (and it appeared after just typing @Cpt.... but it appears underneath, so you may need to scroll your page a bit when you're doing this.).

Hope that helps. I don't want your messages to be held up needlessly. We'll show you a few more tricks on how the forum software works when things come up, like how to enter code examples when using the command line.

# This is a code example

Cheers

 

[MarSernna]

I'll be looking forward to you giving us your experience, and we'll help you along as best as we can.

Just a comment here... for some reason the way that you are identifying the users with the @ symbol is a little different, and I think it is causing the forum software to hold your posts for moderation (like you might be a spammer, but of course you are not). All you have to do is actually type the @ symbol and follow it immediately (no spaces) with the name that you want refer to, and the forum software will automatically pull up that person's same, or a choice of names... with the choice becoming more accurate the more letters you type. When you see the person you want, you can click on his/her name and the it will complete the name where you are typing it. The noticeable difference is that you see the @ symbol is also colored in blue like the user names itself... so here is an example: @CptCharis (and it appeared after just typing @Cpt.... but it appears underneath, so you may need to scroll your page a bit when you're doing this.).

Hope that helps. I don't want your messages to be held up needlessly. We'll show you a few more tricks on how the forum software works when things come up, like how to enter code examples when using the command line.

# This is a code example

Cheers

@CptCharis

I'll be looking forward to you giving us your experience, and we'll help you along as best as we can.



Just a comment here... for some reason the way that you are identifying the users with the @ symbol is a little different, and I think it is causing the forum software to hold your posts for moderation (like you might be a spammer, but of course you are not). All you have to do is actually type the @ symbol and follow it immediately (no spaces) with the name that you want refer to, and the forum software will automatically pull up that person's same, or a choice of names... with the choice becoming more accurate the more letters you type. When you see the person you want, you can click on his/her name and the it will complete the name where you are typing it. The noticeable difference is that you see the @ symbol is also colored in blue like the user names itself... so here is an example: @CptCharis (and it appeared after just typing @Cpt.... but it appears underneath, so you may need to scroll your page a bit when you're doing this.).

Hope that helps. I don't want your messages to be held up needlessly. We'll show you a few more tricks on how the forum software works when things come up, like how to enter code examples when using the command line.

# This is a code example

Cheers

@atanere

I'll be looking forward to you giving us your experience, and we'll help you along as best as we can.

Just a comment here... for some reason the way that you are identifying the users with the @ symbol is a little different, and I think it is causing the forum software to hold your posts for moderation (like you might be a spammer, but of course you are not). All you have to do is actually type the @ symbol and follow it immediately (no spaces) with the name that you want refer to, and the forum software will automatically pull up that person's same, or a choice of names... with the choice becoming more accurate the more letters you type. When you see the person you want, you can click on his/her name and the it will complete the name where you are typing it. The noticeable difference is that you see the @ symbol is also colored in blue like the user names itself... so here is an example: @CptCharis (and it appeared after just typing @Cpt.... but it appears underneath, so you may need to scroll your page a bit when you're doing this.).

Hope that helps. I don't want your messages to be held up needlessly. We'll show you a few more tricks on how the forum software works when things come up, like how to enter code examples when using the command line.

# This is a code example

Cheers

@CptCharis

I'll be looking forward to you giving us your experience, and we'll help you along as best as we can.

Just a comment here... for some reason the way that you are identifying the users with the @ symbol is a little different, and I think it is causing the forum software to hold your posts for moderation (like you might be a spammer, but of course you are not). All you have to do is actually type the @ symbol and follow it immediately (no spaces) with the name that you want refer to, and the forum software will automatically pull up that person's same, or a choice of names... with the choice becoming more accurate the more letters you type. When you see the person you want, you can click on his/her name and the it will complete the name where you are typing it. The noticeable difference is that you see the @ symbol is also colored in blue like the user names itself... so here is an example: @CptCharis (and it appeared after just typing @Cpt.... but it appears underneath, so you may need to scroll your page a bit when you're doing this.).

Hope that helps. I don't want your messages to be held up needlessly. We'll show you a few more tricks on how the forum software works when things come up, like how to enter code examples when using the command line.

# This is a code example

Cheers

Thanks for let me know, I hope not to make the same mistake again, check if your name @atanere is correct this time, I´ll check on preview option to see if it's colored on blue correctly.

Thanks againg ...

 

[atanere]

Yes, you've got it. It wasn't a big deal, but I didn't want your posts to be held for moderation. It's all good.

Cheers