I am desperately trying to ditch Windows and need guidance. I am so
tired of spyware and malware. My aim is to have a secure and private
computer environment where I have wired (not WiFi) internet access and
can work on documents, audio and video. I tried Linux twice, years ago
and was unable to get anywhere - I am counting on better user
friendliness at this point in time. I do not want systemd.
Have heard a little about Devuan, Puppy, Alpine, BlackArch, Gentoo, GNU Guix, PCLinux, Knoppix, Artix, and Calculate distros. I am guessing I would need a dual boot
with Windows and Linux to begin with.
Are there user friendly GUI installation and configuration modules available for any of the above? Could someone please point me in the right direction?
PS. I need working access to my files from my Windows PC.
Hello @juvgrubefr and welcome to the forums!
The most friendly distros that greatly support dual-boot out of the box with near-zero effort are Ubuntu (all flavors) and Mint. Those are the friendliest ones out there. Also, there is Manjaro, but it’s a bit on the bleeding edge (more recent kernel and packages).
All distros give access to your Windows drives, so you do not need to worry about that.
Speaking of Windows, you will need a working environment that resembles it. On the Ubuntu side, I would recommend Kubuntu (the KDE flavor of Ubuntu), as it’s flashy and resembles the Windows environment well. If you want an easier system, I would highly recommend Linux Mint, the Cinnamon edition. Both systems will dual-boot install out of the box with minimal effort. Just make sure that you have enough space on your drive so that Linux can partition it properly. That’s if you only have one drive to begin with. If you’re looking to install Linux on an additional drive, then we’ll need a more manual process.
I always recommend NOT to do dual-boot. Get another machine and load a clean install of whatever Linux flavor.
Second, you’re not ready for the various less-popular flavors of Linux. Start with the most popular, Ubuntu, and get used to it. As you become more familiar, then explore the alt Linux flavors.
