Surely more than one of you has ever wanted to try the delights of Linux on your PC, but either because of ignorance, laziness or because it simply seemed too complicated, you have ended up backing down. Linux-based operating systems have many qualities that other systems may lack, such as their great stability, the virtual absence of viruses, or the large collection of free software available to them. So why not give it a try? If you don't like it, you can always go back to the Windows of a lifetime.
In order to install Linux on your computer you will need the following:
- A desktop or laptop PC: Check!
- A USB with the installer package of the Linux distribution you want to install: You can consult the article "How to install Linux on a USB", where we explain the whole process. Don't worry, it's not very complicated.
- Want to learn something new: Check!
The installation process is as follows: First you must boot your computer so that Instead of loading the operating system, load the contents of the USB that you have prepared with the Linux installer. This configuration must be done from the BIOS. How to get into the BIOS, will you tell me? When you start your computer, look at the first screen that appears: a message usually appears at the bottom of the screen indicating the key you have to press to access the BIOS. They are usually keys type F1, F2, F9, ESC, Delete or similar. If your computer is very recent, you will surely boot from UEFI instead of the BIOS. For these cases, many times you will be able to access by pressing any of the aforementioned keys, but on other computers you will have to perform other types of actions. If that is your case, we recommend that you do a little research on the internet, there are countless tutorials in this regard.
The graphical interface of Linux distributions are very attractive and varied
Once the installation package is loaded, simply follow the instructions, since the process is practically automated. However, keep in mind that the Linux file system is somewhat different from Windows, which means that during the installation process you will have to create several partitions on your hard drive. Basically, you have to create 3 partitions:
- 1 primary partition () in which to install the system files. It is not necessary to allocate too much space, since our data and files will be stored in (home). This partition is of type ext4.
- 1 logical partition (home) in which we will keep our personal files. This partition is also of type ext4.
- Finally you can create a third partition, a exchange area. This is used to allocate (virtual) RAM to your computer, for when you are a little fair. We recommend that you allocate twice the space of your real RAM, about 8-16 GB.
Then we leave you with several YouTube video tutorials showing how to install Linux on a PC. There are examples for Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Linux Mint, and PCLinuxOS.
How to Install Ubuntu
Fedora / Windows 8 (Dual Boot)
How to Install Linux Mint
How to Install Debian
How to Install OpenSUSE
How to Install PCLinuxOS
You will see how in several of these videos they use the VirtualBox application. This program is used to install in a virtual environment. If in your case you are going to carry out a "real" installation on your PC, it will be enough to load the installation USB when you start up the computer, as we mentioned a moment ago.
By the way: All the videos are available on Youtube and are the property of their respective authors: Masai, Liher Garcia, LeikaTV, Sheep and Shura Mar.
