How I switched to Linux and Lived

In a conversation on the mailing list of my local LUG Anka expressed a feeling of being overwhelmed with the idea of switching to Linux from Windows. I think that is probably the norm for most people. I know it was for me and I made many failed attempts before I figured out what worked for me. Actually, it took some good advice from Rik, a friend and co-worker, to set me on the right path.

First off, don't attempt to just "dive in" and figure it out as you go. That's what I tried for all my failed attempts. The key for me was to take it slow, one step at a time. I'd say the turning point was when I realized that Linux was radically different. Realizing this I decided to throw out all of the things I'd known about Windows and start pretending I knew nothing. So, what did I do when I first sat down in front of my Commodore 64? I cracked open a book and started reading and learning. The books I read and still refer to for Linux are:

  • Running Linux - This one is considered by many to be the beginner's book on Linux.
  • A Practical Guide to Linux - This covers many of the same things at Running Linux. I actually read this one first because it has exercises at the end of the chapters.
  • Learning the bash Shell - You don't really need this one, but after I felt more comfortable I read it and am glad I did since bash is the usual default shell for Linux.
If you read just one I'd suggest Running Linux. I like these books because they are not distribution specific. Meaning you learn skills that will apply to all distributions of Linux vs skills that apply only to a particular distribution.

Now comes the choice of what distribution to run. This subject is the source of many a flame war but I'd say to check out the following ones:

  • Slackware - It has been said that if you want to learn UNIX then run Slackware, if you want to learn Redhat then run Redhat. I'm not picking on Redhat, you could replace Redhat with the name of another distro. I can say though that after learning on Slackware that I'm not afraid to roll up my sleeves and get my hands into the guts of any distro.
  • Ubuntu - I don't know to much about Ubuntu other than guys at the local Linux User Group rave about it and it sounds promising.
  • Mandrake - I'm not a fan of Mandrake Linux. Actually, I don't like it personally, but many do. It's billed as a very user friendly Linux. Plus, as of this writing, it has the highest number of page hits at Distrowatch which has to count for something.
These are just my personal opinions. There is a distro to cover practically any purpose. If you have the time and interest research on Google and Distrowatch regarding pros and cons of various distributions. Then make a decision based on your tastes and what is important to you.

As a side note you may want to check out some Live CDs. A Live CD is usually a full Linux distribution on a bootable CD and is nice for getting your feet wet without installing Linux. Knoppix is very nice. I use it fairly often at work when fixing hosed Windows systems.

Now I have to start getting vague. If whatever distro you chose is not a Live CD then you need to get it installed on a system. When I was at this point my goal was to leave my Windows system 100% undisturbed and the only way to do that was to install on an extra system. This is nice because you can break it all you want and not worry about losing any important data. If you don't have a spare system then consider buying an extra hard drive to install Linux on. If that isn't an option either then you'll have to re-size your Windows partition with something like Partition Magic to make room then install Linux and have a dual boot setup. I don't like that because resizing a partition can be dangerous and goes against the goal of not disturbing my working system.

At this point it is probably wise to list off some good resources on getting help. Before you ask for help anywhere read How To Ask Questions The Smart Way for some insight on maximizing your chances of getting a good answer.

  • Visit Linux Online and find a Linux User Group (LUG).
  • Linuxquestions.org is a large active forum.
  • Open your IRC client and connect to irc.freenode.net and look for a channel for your distro. Usually # followed by the distro name like #ubuntu, #debian, or #slackware.

Once you get a system setup take the time to read the book you chose before cover to cover. Experiment with Linux, try things out that interest you, break things, then fix what you broke. Breaking and fixing things is an incredible teacher, plus I genuinely enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I work out a problem. Only once I felt comfortable moving around the file system, installing software from both source and binary, and editing config files did I move on. The point is to get the basics down before trying to bring your work over to Linux.

Now I was starting to feel much less frightened. At this point I had already broken and fixed several things on Linux and installed it a handful of times so I backed up my Windows stuff just in case, found a spare hard drive, installed it in my main system, and setup a dual boot between Linux and Windows. After this I sat down and made a prioritized list of what I needed to bring over from Windows. My list consisted of financial software, word processing, e-mail, web browsing, sound and music, CD Burning and DVD Playback. While still using Windows for my day to day work I started getting these things up one at a time on Linux. This was not a quick process and I spent much time at Linuxquestions.org and researching what software I was going to use. Here is what I settled on:

  • Financial - Crossover Office with Quicken
  • Word processing - At first I used Crossover Office to run Microsoft Office but eventually changed to Openoffice.org. I probably could have used Staroffice from Sun or Koffice which is part of KDE.
  • E-mail - I chose mutt but Thunderbird would work too.
  • Web Browsing - This is an easy one, KDE and Gnome both have their own built in but I liked Firefox.
  • Music - XMMS
  • CD Burning - K3B is my favorite but X-CD-Roast good also.
  • DVD Playback - XINE
Most everything I settled on should be part of most distributions except for Crossover Office and Quicken which are both commercial software. I've been using Linux about 1.5 to 2 years and I'm still discovering goodies that I didn't know I had on my system! You gotta love it.

Now, getting all this working wasn't done in one night. I did it one at a time and spent plenty of time at Linuxquestions.org, and chatting with LUG members for advice. Remember, through all this Windows was still working fine allowing me to work on Linux at my leisure and keep using Windows for important stuff. There was no pressure to get it working fast to reduce my learning experience. As I moved all these things over to Linux and gained even more confidence I gradually started using Linux for more and more and Windows for less and less. Now, the only time I boot into Windows is to play games.

One last word of advice though, if you get frustrated and start thinking that you can just use Windows to get it done faster then you are defeating the purpose of changing. Force yourself to work out the problem because that is the only way to learn. Before long you'll be able to do things just as fast as on Windows. Think of being free of Microsoft as a motivator. :evil:

In summary, to make a successful change for me involved dividing the larger goal of changing to Linux into smaller, manageable ones. This may all sound logical and obvious but I'll list them off anyway.

  1. Learn the basics understand the file system, software installation, and system configuration.
  2. Leave Windows intact until ready to officially change.
  3. Make a list of what you use Windows for and prioritize it.
  4. Configure Linux to do all the jobs in your priority list.
  5. Copy data from Windows to Linux.