Introduction
Over the last few years, I have been using Linux as my main operating system on my system. While I don't know everything there is to the OS, I know enough that I feel confident making a guide for new people that want to try it out or switch to it.
I'm going to give a disclaimer right now, before I begin: it will take one time, patience and sometimes readjusting of their workflow before Linux will truly, fully work for them. Linux is different than Windows and MacOS and, at least for the moment, it isn't for everybody. Reasons for that are multiple and many are outside of the maintainers/developers of the kernel(s), distributions (term explained later on) and other Linux related things's control. If you feel like this doesn't work for you, even though you actually tried, there's no shame in going back to what you were using. Ultimately, use what works for you.
Personally, I hate it more when someone comes from a place of complete arrogance, yet they still speak like an authority on the subject instead of when they describe their experience and why it didn't/did work for them. I'm sorry if you would experience pain, even after you actually tried, but knowledge is power and knowing that this might not work for you and why is, in my opinion, a very important thing to know, especially as we are more and more dependent on computers and technology as a whole.
I would recommend you backup everything valuable on your current system somewhere safe.
Any questions you might have, I will try my best to answer or at least point you in some direction to find better help.
With the disclaimer out of the way, let's begin.
Why Linux?
I will assume that you already know why you want to use Linux. If want some reasons why, there are multiple places for that. The ones I can think of the top of my head for why to use it over MacOS or Windows are:
- Complete freedom over your system
- Open Source
- Super stable
- No added spyware
- Easier setup for developers
Depending on how many of your needed pieces of software work, you could begin looking over distributions, begin getting ready to use alternatives or completely ditch the idea of using Linux altogether (which, again, no shame in doing that, just try to be honest about your level of knowledge towards this).
What distribution am I going to use?
For those not in the know, since Linux is just a kernel (the layer between your real, physical hardware and the virtual, digital software that makes the magic happen), there are a lot of Linux operating systems on the market. These all share the name "distribution" or "distro" for short. As a beginner, all you really need to know is that most of them are based on something else. Ubuntu, for example, is one of the most popular Linux distributions, but it is based on another one called Debian. EndeavourOS, the Linux distro I run, is based on Arch Linux.
Really, distributions, after a certain point, will become just settings and customization options that are pre-made for you. There are some distributions that implement patches (which can be installed manually without much hassle usually) for all sorts of problems, but I haven't tried them, so I won't say if they're good or bad. It remains within your own judgement if you want to try these out for yourself.
Ultimately, however, it's up to personal choice and you like. Don't go to some weird distro just because "it is more based". There really isn't the correct answer.
If you're just starting out, Linux Mint provides one of the single best experiences for newcomers and expert users alike, in my opinion. Pop!_OS is likewise really good and provides some QoL patches that would be really appreciated. Both of these are based on Ubuntu, so any problem you might have that has a solution for an Ubuntu system will work 99% of the time on Pop or Mint as well. For ease of writing this, I will assume you will install Linux Mint.
A word of advice: older tutorials might recommened beginners to use Manjaro. Don't. There are a lot of reasons as to why, but they can be boiled down to the maintainers being, for the lack of a better term, incompetent and the way the distro works under the hood also leaves a lot of room for an user to completely trash their system with no easy way of fixing short of reinstalling everything. Skip Manjaro entirely.
Installation for both of those distributions is as easy as clicking next a bunch of times. I would recommend reading, however, between clicking next and being careful what check and what you don't. For both of these distros, the installers should be very clear. Both should offer the ability to dual boot if they detect Windows/MacOS installed. There are tutorials out there if they don't. I should also mention that Google will become your best friend. Don't be afraid to read a ton and search stuff up.
Some info you might find useful about Linux Mint
Some distros, like Mint, offer multiple desktop environments up for download. Desktop environments are a bundle of apps that go together to offer a complete experience. From low level things to the things you interact with daily, these desktop environments are at the heart of the way your Linux system will look and behave. For Mint, the default option is a desktop environment called Cinnamon. It is developed by the Linux Mint developers, specifically for Mint. It is decently light and fast, that has a lot features. They also have a MATE and XFCE iso.
MATE is a desktop environment trying to emulate a previous version of GNOME, which is the most popular desktop environment for Linux. I haven't used it much personally.
XFCE is a desktop environment that is built from scratch. It is light weight and made to be fully modular. Choose this one if you have a slightly older computer or you want to go in the deep end of Linux customization.
Whichever one you choose it doesn't really matter. The features will be mostly the same. For this guide, I will assume you picked the Cinnamon desktop environment.
I should also mention that you aren't limited to these 3 ones only. You're free to install whatever desktop environment you want, but things might not be as smooth as with the default desktop environment.
After installing Mint, I would recommend you go through the welcome app they display on first boot. It will some information you might find useful and recommended steps (like updating the system and installing special drivers if need be) you should take after install. After this, you're ready to rock and roll!
Getting programs
Now that you have updated your system and you got everything set up for usage, it's time to get programs going. This is where you might find that a lot of tutorials and forum posts regarding problems online will usually have only the terminal commands for doing something. You shouldn't fear the terminal. It is an app of great power. With great power comes great responsibility, however. There are a few commands that knowing about might save you from potentially destroying your system. Here's a link for 10 such commands. Most things that you would find online, however, at least from my experience is safe.
Linux Mint offers a graphical package installer as well. Feel free to use it. Try to avoid going on online to download apps. It isn't adviced to do that on Linux.
Installing osu! on Linux
You can install both Lazer (has native support, thank you peppy) or stable. Lazer has been packaged in a format called AppImages. These are simple files that contain everything needed within them to run the program. Just make it executable and run it.
Mini tutorial of sorts
- Open the file explorer (should be in the taskbar, which is called a panel here by the way)
- Find where you saved the file (default is in Downloads)
- Right click and see if there is a option to open the location with the terminal. It should be. If there isn't, open the terminal normally and type
cd Downloads/
- Afterwards type in
chmod u+x osu.AppImage
- Run and have fun. You can run it directly from the terminal with
./osu.AppImage
For stable, there's a script available to automatically do everything needed for installing osu stable. Follow the instructions on the GitHub repo and you should be good.
Final words
It's really possible I forgot something, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask them here and I will try to answer them. It's also very possible I messed up somewhere while writing this, so feel free to ask/correct me if you spot any of these mistakes.
If you have problems with Linux and you can't find the solution, don't be afraid to ask. There are a lot of Discord servers and forums online related to this. ThePoon's server has a section for osu on Linux related problems. Feel free to go there and ask if there's something you have problems with.
