bout linux - install

Your first question is gonna be "which distro???"

I'd recommend kubuntu. I don't know you tho.
Start with kubuntu and try others later.
Starting turns out to be more important than picking the right distro.

Also get a raspberry pi! They're teeny and cheap and wonderful.

Now ya gotta "burn an iso". That's dumb linux speak for
take a linux distro's os image file and write it to a usb stick.

To install onto some old pc you have lying around.
Don't dual boot. windows and linux should never share a disk!
Unless you like to be annoyed every time you boot your pc.
Buy another pc. They're cheap.


balenaEtcher is a good app for writing the distro's .iso file to usb stick.
here

For the raspberry pi, you'll want to use it's dedicated "imager".
Stick with whatever it's default iso is. Currently a 32 bit version.


Then you fiddle with your pc's bios settings so
your usb stick is found in the boot drive list.
Your pc probably tells you which key to hold down on boot in order to
get into the bios settings.
Usually F2, F1, Esc or Del.
Then work your way to where you pick the drives to boot from and
add your usb to it.

Then reboot and wait.
You'll usually see the "live os".
The distro running ONLY for "try it" purposes - but not yet installed.

There'll be an install icon to double click and it'll ask you the usual stuff:
replace the whole hard drive? Yes!
machine and user name? always name your machine penguin and use your 2 initials for userid
put in your dang wifi password if ya ain't got an ethernet line (like you should)


Ok. Go to the settings app and tweak away.
Linux requires a lot of SUPER ANNOYING tweaking that you should write down for
the next time you install the distro.

Here's what I wrote down for
kubuntu and
raspi

After that hump, you're ready to install your apps and setup your dev env.

Oh and hardware wise, I like a NUC with an i7 and 2 hdmi ports or
else video over usb3 capability.

The raspi has 2 hdmi ports, but no video over usb3.

I keep my data on a synology NAS.
And backup to a usb3 drive.

And all my network, usb, and (TONS o) midi devices hang off the usb3 hub.
Then the hub is swapped between kubuntu and raspi.
And i have 2 hdmi switches to swap between kubuntu and raspi
so both get my portrait monitor (coding) and TV (browsing).


Now which apps to use on linux... Hmmm...




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