So I Bought A new NVME to Switch to Linux

[MacroNemesis]

Ever since the EOL for Windows 7 I've been wanting to switch to Linux. I've had these phases of wanting to switch for years, often dual booting in some capacity. I've recently threw it on to a 2014 gaming laptop as I didn't want to let it go yet, and eventually that might become a True Nas immich/freshrss server as the Nivida drivers become older and older. I also threw MX Linux onto my brother's old laptop to feel like I was using a computer from 2010s again.

But I would always come back to windows on my main machine due to comfort. I'm currently dual booting Nobara on there that I planned to do some testing to see if I could make a fulltime-ish* switch. Now I'm hearing more and more about the Microsoft AI shenanigans and my brains goes NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE. So... in the near future, I might be done. Maybe I need to just go cold turkey and commit.
(*easy anti-cheat and Davinci Resolve File compatibility)

As title says on the tin, I've bought a new NVME, and an enclosure (black friday baby!) that I plan to replace my current windows install with and use it as a scratch disk / gaming drive. This will be slow process however, first I want to format the drive to get it prepped, and then when the windows update is on the horizons for full production, chuck my old windows boot into the enclosure and use Linux full time as an enforced "linux challenge". I'd only keep the windows install in the enclosure for when I want to play an easy anticheat game. I know Ideally it should be on separate machine all together, but uh... money. I'm not making a whole new rig for like the odd match in rivals or something. Maybe if we still had rumbleverse (rip), but no the money is better used towards a sever/nas config.

Will this go well? I'm not sure. Most of what I use is some kind of open source or has Linux compatibility. The only pain points that I know of is easy anti-cheat which is only an issue for multiplayer games, and Davinci Resolve and it's file compatibility. I'm still a novice to amateur user admittedly, but I know how to look through documentation, and I have set up what I've needed in fedora before. I'm only using nobara for convenience at this point because of the patches it does, and the davinci resolve installer it has.

What I figure is that worst case scenario for Resolve is I do have an old M2 Macbook Pro that's decently powered. Not that I trust Apple any more than Microsoft or google, but it could be worse. I'd prefer there was no ai or I could just uninstall it (maybe use something self hosted IF I WANTED) hopefully apple intelligence wont become the mess that is microsoft's.

If things do go well, every drive is becoming an ext 4 drive. It will be a pain in the ass because I have like 3 internal drives that's not a boot drive that's like 16TB, But I hear ext4 is good for speed, and I don't need this in a raid or the benefits of btrfs. I rather just follow 3-2-1 backup for anything important, than use redundancy, or speed up in raid0.

Those are just my thoughts at the moment. What do you guys think? Am I just paranoid? You guys making the switch? Have you switched?

[lakes]

Let me just say despite not being a gamer. I can relate to this. I also switched to Linux because of Microsoft's shenanigans with AI, automatic screenshots, and Windows 10's end of support. I was hesitant at 1st though, despite like you, most of the software I use being open source or available on Linux.
My piece of advice is to use set up a snapshot as soon as possible, have them be monthly, & be careful when messing around with your computer. I accidentally deleted some important files for installing/updating things instead of what I wanted to delete, among other things, and I think it messed up my computer to the point where I had to do a snapshot. Then when that didn't work, a fresh install (the snapshot didn't go far back enough). Otherwise I'd say I'm pretty happy with it though. It's very customizable (but it's customizability is a bit of a double edged sword). I also appreciate that it's less privacy invasive and enshittified than Windows.

[MacroNemesis]

My piece of advice is to use set up a snapshot as soon as possible, have them be monthly, & be careful when messing around with your computer.

That is a very good point I'll have to make timeshift a priority the moment I commit to this. Last thing I need to worry about is troubleshoot a problem that would have been fixed by going back to a snapshot.

I actually already had to a fresh install when I was setting up nobara because I installed the experimental graphics driver and broke Resolve. So I just reinstalled because I was just setting things up, but it was still annoying because I was close to being done.

But yeah I would have switched sooner if I wasn't worried about the game compatibility, even at a limited capacity.

[lakes]

My piece of advice is to use set up a snapshot as soon as possible, have them be monthly, & be careful when messing around with your computer.

That is a very good point I'll have to make timeshift a priority the moment I commit to this. Last thing I need to worry about is troubleshoot a problem that would have been fixed by going back to a snapshot.

I actually already had to a fresh install when I was setting up nobara because I installed the experimental graphics driver and broke Resolve. So I just reinstalled because I was just setting things up, but it was still annoying because I was close to being done.

But yeah I would have switched sooner if I wasn't worried about the game compatibility, even at a limited capacity.

Yeah, Timeshift isn't too bad because it lets you keep everything in your home directory (unlike Windows' Recovery Points). I'd also recommend 3-5 snapshots because I was told to keep only 1 or 2 and it ended up backfiring on me. I also think if you're worried about games, maybe keep Windows 10 or what have you on a separate computer or dual boot if possible.

[MacroNemesis]

My piece of advice is to use set up a snapshot as soon as possible, have them be monthly, & be careful when messing around with your computer.

That is a very good point I'll have to make timeshift a priority the moment I commit to this. Last thing I need to worry about is troubleshoot a problem that would have been fixed by going back to a snapshot.

I actually already had to a fresh install when I was setting up nobara because I installed the experimental graphics driver and broke Resolve. So I just reinstalled because I was just setting things up, but it was still annoying because I was close to being done.

But yeah I would have switched sooner if I wasn't worried about the game compatibility, even at a limited capacity.

Yeah, Timeshift isn't too bad because it lets you keep everything in your home directory (unlike Windows' Recovery Points). I'd also recommend 3-5 snapshots because I was told to keep only 1 or 2 and it ended up backfiring on me. I also think if you're worried about games, maybe keep Windows 10 or what have you on a separate computer or dual boot if possible.

Good to know! Thank you for the advice.

I have been dual booting so far with norbara on a 500gb drive (for maybe the last month), but I want to challenge myself a bit. It's why I'm keeping the physical drive around. Bes t case scenario, I can boot from the enclosure or I can plop it back in I need to. rEFInd really helps dual booting, or booting off of something else like a live USB.

[lakes]

That is a very good point I'll have to make timeshift a priority the moment I commit to this. Last thing I need to worry about is troubleshoot a problem that would have been fixed by going back to a snapshot.

I actually already had to a fresh install when I was setting up nobara because I installed the experimental graphics driver and broke Resolve. So I just reinstalled because I was just setting things up, but it was still annoying because I was close to being done.

But yeah I would have switched sooner if I wasn't worried about the game compatibility, even at a limited capacity.

Yeah, Timeshift isn't too bad because it lets you keep everything in your home directory (unlike Windows' Recovery Points). I'd also recommend 3-5 snapshots because I was told to keep only 1 or 2 and it ended up backfiring on me. I also think if you're worried about games, maybe keep Windows 10 or what have you on a separate computer or dual boot if possible.

Good to know! Thank you for the advice.

I have been dual booting so far with norbara on a 500gb drive (for maybe the last month), but I want to challenge myself a bit. It's why I'm keeping the physical drive around. Bes t case scenario, I can boot from the enclosure or I can plop it back in I need to. rEFInd really helps dual booting, or booting off of something else like a live USB.

I see. Well good luck. I'm sure you'll have a good time regardless.

[MacroNemesis]

So small update on this. The update to 42 to 43 got borked. I think it was something i did but the issue of update loops seemed to be common. I did a fresh install and NOW the update works. Bit of a pain i have re install everything again but its still early days so didnt hurt too much. Wished i had a snapshot though.

I have now made atleast one snapshot since to try and prevent this in the future. I'll make a new one once I have completely reconfiged everything. I'd schedule them but for now its going to an external drive until i get around to switching the nvmes around (not only do i have to remove the windows drive i also need to switch the slot my boot is using since its gen 3 in a gen for slot. Idk what i was thinking.)

I'll update this thread more as a pseudo journal of my progress as i go.