This is my third attempt. Partly to rage quit Windows, and partly to gain utility and control with some professional AV software.

I have converted an old Asus netbook to Ubuntu netbook remix and used it for a while. I was impressed with how much better that tiny thing ran with Linux than Windows. But in the end it still had less power than a TI-84. So I stopped using it, and never really learned Linux proper.

I dual boot my Chromebook, so I can use gimp for photos on vacation, but everything I do with the Linux partition is cut and paste from articles by people who know what they’re doing. (I was motivated to post here by a meme about that.)

I’m thinking of dual booting my main desktop, because I need Windows for some fairly processor intense A/V software I use for work. So what would be a good distro to look into for a novice and where should I look for a tutorial? I would ultimately like to see if I can use Linux to run my AV software in emulation and add drivers for some professional audio interfaces. I’m fed up with windows and trying to see how far I can get without it. Your help is appreciated in advance, and if this is inappropriate for this topic, let me know and I’ll delete it.

  • girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    1 year ago

    Not a pro take here … but when I was playing with various distros back in early 2001-03 I favoured Ubuntu, simply because it was the most user friendly (still have an old laptop duel-booted with it).

    distrowatch.com is a good place to look around and check out what’s new and true to your needs.

    The old-style web page is the same as it was in 2001; brings back good memories. :)

    • Andonyx@lemmy.mlOP
      4·
      1 year ago

      I really appreciate all the answers here so far. But I wanted to thank you for that resource specifically. Maybe my googling isn’t so great either, but I haven’t come across that before. Much obliged.

      • Balder@lemmy.world
        2·
        1 year ago

        It’s not your fault, Google has become almost useless when it comes to things that aren’t commercial SEO optimized stuff. The course of popularity, I guess.

      • Marxine@lemmy.ml
        2·
        1 year ago

        Just be aware of distrowatch rankings, they’re sorted by visits to the site, impressions and etc, and don’t necessarily reflect how much a distro is really widely used.

        As others have said, if your device doesn’t have a Nvidia card, go with Linux Mint. If you do have a Nvidia card Fedora (maybe not the default GNOME version, as GNOME’s workflow required some time to get used to) or openSUSE might be better options.

        If you’re okay with a distro installer asking a few more questions than the basic ones, and you don’t need super updated stuff, you can also try Debian.