Noob question: what to arrange before switching to linux
EDIT: I am thrilled with so many awesome responses! I'm taking notes and looking into all the recommendations. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to help me out (and many others, i'm sure), i'm glad i asked!
Hi,
I'm getting ready to switch to Linux. I'm looking for a kind of checklist of what to do beforehand. When i search online, there is a lot of advice on which distribution to choose and how to set it up, which i already know, but my question is the step before. I made a list of which programs i currently use (almost all have a linux variant or i can use them in the browser) and i am making screenshots of their settings. I have basically everything important backupped, both on my ProtonDrive and on a private server in the house. Is there anything else i need to prepare before switching? I wouldn't want to overlook something.
(I already have the distribution and am trying it out, but my plan is to actually install debian and without dual boot. Also, many, many years ago i already used debian but then i had the luxury of someone who basically arranged everything for me)
Currently, i run windows 10 with Nvidia GeForce. I already am in the process of degoogling and de-microsofting so to speak, so i don't use google drive or onedrive, or MS Office anymore (nor a lot of other things).
Apologies if this is not appropriate for this community. Have a great day :-)
Nah you're all good homie, and clearly an A+ student. Let the good debs roll!
Lol, thanks. I have some perfectionist tendencies, but good to know i'm not missing something glaringly obvious!
The fun part comes later on, when you get a bit laissez-faire with the backups and kick yourself for missing something and having to configure it from scratch. Then you start tinkering and remember that you actually like configuring things.
I found I love poking around in settings and config files etc. Which I think is why I prefer KDE. Lots of settings to mess around with.
Yes, i'm switching to KDE too. One of the first things i do when installing anything, whether on my phone or pc, is taking a peak at the settings
I love poking around in good settings menus. I can't stand Windows 11, and even Windows 10 and 7 are rubbish - there shouldn't be two layered styles of settings menus, and I shouldn't have to click through multiple pages to get to the function I want. Android, too, has gotten a bit crap, but at least the search function works well.
So far, everything gets backupped automatically, but on top of this, i already am in the habit of backupping important documents by hand in files that don't get synced. So, as soon as i'm editing important files, i backup them, on top of the sync folders. I will need to switch to manual backups anyway, since proton drive - which syncs automatically - is not yet available on linux, but they do have a web app where you can backup manually.
If you have a server or second computer on your network you can use Syncthing as a kind of cloud-drive-esque bacup.