Should I try Linux?

Yeah. Start with Gentoo.

>>56645005
Yeah, you can ‘try’ but remember what Papa Yoda thought about ‘trying.’

You should try it if you want to, OP. Not going to bother trying to sell it to you since I'm not sure what you look for in a laptop/desktop and different distros work better for different people.

Used Xubuntu for 4-5 years and switched to Arch 2 months ago. I'd recommend any of the Ubuntu variants for the first go.

yeah. start with kali linux

>>56645005
Shrink your Windows partition and install a distro on the remaning space. You will be able to dual boot.

Feel free to ask questions if you don't know how to do this. I have nothing better to do.

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>>56646320
>Dual booting when you can use PCI passthrough.
That's so 2009.

>>56645005
It runs better than Windows on old hardware. You don't get that Windows slowdown a year into using it.

>>56646363
I wanted to do GPU passthrough, but I only have 8gb of ram. You need a lot more to do it.

>>56646363
>Where do I begin?
>Here is a list of guides

Oh god. WHY!? Why is this procedure not automated yet? Why even "guides" and not just one straight-to-the-point how-to? Jesus fuck I am sick of being told about some new technology then being redirected to a whole month's worth of literature on how to apprehend it.

>>56646363
>GPU Passthrough
>Picture has more noise than my noise-only wallpaper
kek, i hope this doesn't actually happen.

>>56645005
Freedom and customizability

>>56646363
>GNU/Linux
I can't take people who do this seriously.

>>56646822
It isn't automated due to hardware being very different and it being relatively new procedure for consumers. It's also different files for some distributions. However yes, it could be streamlined.

It isn't exactly one month of literature if you actually took a small look at how it is performed. Reading through it takes ten minutes tops and completing it now with pci-vfio being default takes less time than the infographic says.

You shouldn't try Linux. It's a shit alternative to windows and it's a shit continuation of Unix.
If you really want to try Unix then go with TrueOS or NetBSD.

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>>56646822

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>>56645190
this

>>56646363
>Running a VM and playing games through it
Are modern i3/5/7's good enough that VM's no longer destroy processors and memory? Whenever I VM Ubuntu on my shitty Duo Core (yes i know) everything runs like shit.

>>56645005
No, try FreeBSD instead.

Linux is for copyleft faggots. *BSD is for FREEDOM, INCLUDING /commercial/ freedom!

>I'm not a Microsoft fan, I just get used to it but maybe Linux is better.

There you go. You might like it better. Now fuck off.

>>56647253
>Are modern i3/5/7's good enough that VM's no longer destroy processors and memory?
Yes, they've become a lot better. Depending on how you give it resources its impact is pretty much unnoticeable depending on what you need to do. Though a high amount of RAM is useful (8GB can work, but 16GB is recommended).

Of course if you give the VM the maximum amount of cores, CPU-pin all of them them plus give it 15.5GB RAM and 500MB left to the host, it will run like shit.

I have no idea if your Duo supports VT-x, but if it does not, it's probably the reason why your VMs run like crap.

>>56645005
I'd say as a switch, get Zorin OS. It is a good choice to "ween" off of windows, and looks, and almost functions, the same way. In fact, to me, it looks a bit better. However, it most likely will be just a OS to ween off of windows, and then you might upgrade to something else. I myself will be changing to elementary or Ubuntu MATE. These are good OSes, and will probably serve anything you need, unless you like games and play call of duty or whatever is big right now.

As for why you'd switch?
- a lot more freedom in software.
- very low ram usage in comparison to windows, to the point where SWAP memory isn't needed.
- pretty simple package management on the Ubuntu varities. If I wanted to install libreoffice, vlc, and ten other programs, I could do it in one command line.
- no bother, or perceived bot net, especially on an OS like Trisquel.
- free, so no license cracks, shilling out hundreds of dollars, or dealing with MS bs.

I'd say give it a try, it's been pretty fun.

>>56647460
Agreed. ZorinOS looks absolutely beautiful. I love how you can switch between different DE styles immediately. I'm not sure if upgrading would even be necessary, since it's based on debian (or Ubuntu?) so it shouldn't be that much different from those other than default programs and interface.

>>56647280
>INCLUDING /commercial/ freedom!
RedHat linux

>>56645005
You need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the Linux software. So get a Lubuntu ISO or something and play with it while googling and trying out the best Linux apps. Only you can decide if it's good for you.

Yes.
Install arch.

>>56647460
>>56647536
Not OP but I'm interested. I have an old laptop that could use some help. What is the recommended day to day program that I should install on this OS? Browser etc

>>56647690
Midori is the lightest weight browser that's still functional. YouTube videos and stuff like that take an obscene amount of RAM regardless of browser.

I don't know what else you mean by day to day. I use emacs and urxvt day to day, but you probably wouldn't so you need to be more specific.

>>56647690
Browser: lynx
music player: ncmpcpp + mpd
irc: irssi
The program you will use most often: screenfetch

>>56645005
I'm pretty sure I'm just repeating what's in the sticky, but the ideal "beginner distro" for linux noobs who are starting from scratch is the aptly named "Linux from Scratch", often referred to as LFS. Then as experience is gained, you can progress from intermediate level gentoo and arch to more advanced user targeted distros like mint or ubuntu.

>>56645005

Pro: fast, free, powerful, flexable

Cons: fewer people to hold your hand, configs will need to get done eventually, mild learning curve

it's not a pure hobbyist OS but there's still a mild amount of learning to do. my recommendation is use native unix apps and especially pick a distro like ubuntu that has the most common shit packaged up in their software catalog for you

another reason to learn linux is if you're interested in the server side, to me that's where the memes get spicey. then just throw up a vm and start learning to do shit like ftp/sftp, nfs, ntp, dhcp, dns, pxe, config managers, clusters and high availability. etc etc etc... yummy shit

>>56647798
mpv for video all day