Hello!

I’m interested in moving my personal computer to running Linux but I’m not sure where to even begin. As background, I am a casual user and have a desktop with hardware from around 2014 running Windows. I am hoping to setup a NAS drive as a media server in the next year or so, offloading all of the files currently on the Windows desktop and have been interested in open source software such as Jellyfin. I also mostly game on an Xbox and Nintendo Switch, but have used the desktop in the past for gaming such as with an Oculus Rift Headset and some Steam games so not huge on getting games working on the computer. But, I do sometimes torrent using the computer so don’t want to lose that capability (especially with upkeep for the media server).

With all of that said, I didn’t know how to get started with choosing what Linux OS to use, setting it up, backing up my files to make sure I can use them with the new OS, etc. Making the switch seems to have great options for customization and “choosing a distro that works for you”, but I don’t know what would work for me or what will be user friendly for a beginner.

Any tips or pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

  • fry@sh.itjust.works
    26·
    1 year ago

    If you’re going to build a media server/NAS/anything serious… Don’t bother with a Linux distribution. Just use FreeBSD. Since you’re a beginner there isn’t any re-learning or need to get rid of any “linux thinking”. You’ll thank yourself in a few years when you can’t escape systemd hell.

    For desktop and everyday usage you already have some excellent ideas in this thread.

    Edit: I get it. Recommending something *bsd based in this community is kinda arrogant. But honestly - someone new is going to ask questions and the “solution” is just going to be Docker in 9/10 times instead of doing something properly.