this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
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If it’s because you’re worried and not because you have proprietary software you need that’s keeping you tied to it, Mint was super duper easy for me to install (I’ve never installed Linux before) and it’s been essentially out of the box compatible with the games I play since most are already optimized for the Steam Deck.
If it’s the software thing, sorry man, my spouse is in the same boat.
Seconded. I started with PopOS but wasn't sold on it, so quickly switched to Mint and it was perfect. Once my wife test drove on my installation, she gave it a shot on her laptop, and now she gets frustrated when she's forced to use Windows for her college test proctoring spyware she has to use.
Here's a link for anybody curious to get started. I like Cinnamon. Just download the OS and flash it to a flash drive, boot into BIOS, select the flash drive to boot from, and you're testing a live version of the OS. If you like it, you can install through pretty easy install wizards. It doesn't pester you to buy shit like Windows does. And there's a safe and easy app store for most of what you'll care about, and it just works. It gets the fuck out of your way. And if you have issues, just google it and you'll probably find somebody already figured out the solution and shared it with plebs like us.
This is the way. I always recommend people to get their feet wet with the live boot. I've been using Linux for almost 3 decades. Live boot is the easiest way to find out what will work for you. I'm not a Mint user, but it's great for the people who like it; best part about FOSS.
There's a fair few projects working towards getting windows software to work in Linux beyond wine. WinBoat and bottles to name the two I use frequently. I set-up WinBoat for my wife because office360. Took a little bit of fiddling with settings for WinBoat to run nicely on her 2017 MacBook air with a Ubuntu derivative OS...but it works as it would on windows....so poorly.
I set up WinBoat for FL Studio and it's close enough to be functional.
FL Studio was the reason it took me so long to ditch windows. Try bottles. Don't bother with the automatic configuration, just install it in a default gaming setup. Very minor tweaks got it working better than in win11 on my laptop.
Thanks, I'll try it out
No worries. It's way less resource hungry than WinBoat, so should have a much smoother experience.
Worst comes worse, one could install a VM with Windows. And for the edge cases where neither VMs or compatibility layers suffice, the user can install Windows on a different physical drive and plug it in just when needed.
WinBoat is essentially a VM, but it runs in the background and you can add installed programs to your hotbar/start bar/desktop. So that's neat.
It's judt about time, I need more storage devices to transition... I need to setup windows alongside it too... Generally a mess. And yea I want to go with Green Ubuntu lol
I convinced my spouse to give it a try on our family laptop. I installed Mint and she never complained. Granted, if there is something more involved that needs installing or fixing she relies on me but I think this isn't so different if it were Windows. She seems happy using it all these years on a device that otherwise would have to be written of as scrap due to Microsoft shenanigans with 10/11 compatibilities, but the machine works as if brand new. Also our kid grew up using it. He knows basic usage and I glee in the fact he has never used Windows so far in his live.