Try Linux Mint. You set it up on a USB drive, and you can try using it before you install it. So load it up, and try doing a few things you’d normally do (check email, etc.). This way, you can get your feet wet without committing fully. If you find you like it, you can do an installation (and it doesn’t require any fancy terminal stuff).

It does not matter much which distro you choose, as long as you choose a bigger distro. They are all well supported linux systems. Use a live USB. You do not have to install it, you can plug it in and use it. Or, install via a virtual machine.

Don’t install on your main rig over your main hard drive. Don’t obliterate your windows drive, that will ease a lot of the intimidation, knowing you can always go back. Getting a cheep laptop or thin client to try distros out on will elevate that intimidation as well.

Start with what you have heard of and have been recommended repeatedly, Mint, popOS, Ubuntu, all great distros to learn on, have great documentation.

Also, read the docs. They are dry and long, but will always have the solution.

Mint and Kubuntu are great for newbies. Ubuntu is also great, but the community hates Ubuntu these days so be ready to get replies criticizing Ubuntu or your choice to use it. It still makes a lot of shit really easy.

You are not “barely computer literate”. Most people have no idea how to put a OS installer on a flash drive and boot from it. If you know how to format your laptop and reinstall Windows, you know how to install Linux. Install any beginner distro (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc) and have fun. Google is your friend if you find any issues. There are a lot of resources online to help you.

If you want to play games or use any specific Windows-only software you may have to do some research, but if just for browsing the web you will most probably have a good time. Don’t be afraid to try and learn.

I was hesitant for a long while and ended up installing Linux Mint on an old SSD I had laying around this way there was no commitment.

Now I’m realizing I haven’t booted up my regular windows 10 drive ever since and am considering getting rid of it altogether.

On a side note I created a virtual machine on the Linux side that runs Windows 10 LTSC on it for a few other programs I sometimes need that would be very difficult or impossible to make work on Linux like Inventor, Office and Photoshop. It lives trapped in the box and isn’t allowed to connect to the internet. If I need to download something for it I download it on Linux and drag and drop it into the box. It’s like having a little pet windows that you keep in a pen, so it works for you and only for you.

@ComicalMayhem what do you plan to use it for?

Installing linux is actually very easy and painless depending on your distro choice. What do you need your computer to do? Your choice of distro would depend on the answer to that question so we cant advise any further.

Check out Linux Mint or Fedora, ez pz

Just download Balena Etcher (it’s the easiest USB flashing tool), flash a Linux Mint .iso file to a flash drive using it and boot from it like you do with Windows installers. Unlike Windows, Linux can work in “demo mode” straight from the USB without installing to the hard drive. It may be slow in this mode but it should give you an idea of how Linux looks and feels. If you like it, double click the “Install Linux Mint” button in the top left corner and proceed with installation. Other distros usually have the installation icon on the same place or somewhere in the “Start menu” so you shouldn’t have hard times finding it in case you decide to try another distro

For me to give better recommendations or help than what other peoe are saying, I’d need more info, I can help you here, but id rather help you on a chat app, I’m available on matrix, signal and discord.

The extra info I’d need is stuff like whats the model of your PC, what do you use it for, what are your preferences, ect.

Distro choice doesn’t matter. Alternately, just use Debian.

It’s hard to use a different computer and nothing will make that easier. If you’ve ever been plopped down in front of a Mac you probably already know this.

Pay attention during the install process and ask questions when you don’t understand something. Don’t be afraid to bail out if you’re worried about messing something up. Make a backup so you can’t lose anything when you do mess something up.

Dual booting is what you’ll do to start with, but windows updates tend to break the system that allows you to choose Linux or windows at boot time. The first time it happens you’ll have to figure out a way to fix it.

Well, looks like you know how to format a PC. Then you already did 90% of the dirty work of installing and using a Linux.

Choose a friendly-linux distro and you’ll be fine. I suggest you to try ~Arch (I’m joking!)~ Linux Mint, Fedora, PopOS or Zorin OS.

I think PopOs would be really easy!

Did you install Windows 10 yourself from scratch? If you managed to do that you should be able to handle most Linux installs as well. I would go so far to say that generally Linux is easier to install than Windows nowadays. Go with Mint or OpenSUSE or Ubuntu and you should be all right.

If you have nvidia graphics that might give you trouble in the form of one extra package to install. If you have Intel or AMD graphics you shouldn’t expect any trouble at all.

The biggest difference between Windows and Linux is that you generally don’t download apps and drivers from websites but use your package manager to install stuff. Similar to app stores on smartphones. And unless it’s nvidia all drivers are already built in.

You can download live Linux images that boot directly from USB to try them out without installing. Often the live image is the same one you can then use to install Linux, if you want to.

You don’t have to install Linux if you are not ready for it. You can test it without installing by using Linux live distributions. With Ventoy you can have 10 or 20 different Linux distributions on one USB stick and test them to see how well your laptop works with it and which flavors you would prefer.

Hello and welcome to the club! It depends on your skill level, for some it can be very difficult and OS, Linux or no.

I’d recommend practicing on a VM first to verify your technical chops.

Step 1: Download virtualbox and create a new Linux virtual machine with 30 GB of disk space. Step 2: Download a Linux ISO and mount it in the VM. Step 3: Maximize the VM window and install Linux. Step 4: Play around with your new Linux installation as though it were your real OS.

Like others have said, definitely try a few distributions out via USB before committing. Also, you can dm me if you need help beyond what you find online.

Good luck, and have fun!

Alongside many of the useful comments here, I’d like to add one great thing about installing Linux on a new computer: you can’t accidentally anything on the new computer! There’s presumably no data to be lost, you can even install Linux without ever booting into the Windows environment. If you don’t have it connected to your network, there’s nearly no risk; even if you do, that risk is minimal. I always feel a distinct comfort imaging a system that’s never been used.

As for the how, others have covered it, but just identify your distribution of choice (Fedora and Linux Mint are great starters), download the ISO from their website, plug a thumb drive into any running system, and download a USB imaging tool. Balena Etcher is a popular one and the one I use, but many others are available and popular as well if you have a preference.

I was just like you, but one day I got a USB stick and decided, ‘Heck, I’m gonna install Linux today!’. And it was surprisingly easy, I haven’t seen anything weird.

Just remember to back up your important data before making any changes. There are a lot of helpful comments already, but if you need anything, the community will always be happy to help you figure it out. No need to worry!

Go to your local Linux Users Group meetup

Dont install it, yet. Make a bootable usb stick with balena etcher and put a linux distro on it (I highly recommend mint, pop_os or ubuntu (standard version) as ISO on it.

Ubuntu is very controversial in the more advanced sphere but I learned on it and its great for beginners.

If you want to go a little bit over the top download ventoy and put it on the usb instead. You can then put as many ISOs on there as you can fit and just select one of them at boot.

The most important part for beginners is the desktop environment anyway so gnome should be fine. If you have tried it for more than an hour and still feel like this could be fun, click install and give it a go.

You could also dual boot but windows might fuck you over since they‘re not great neighbors as an OS.

Feel free to ask if you want to know more. Good luck.