My thoughts on Linux (and a troubleshooting request)

InkstainTheBat@lemmy.ml to Linux@lemmy.ml – 32 points –

My set-up of Linux Mint and GRUB seems to have messed up my Windows drive, as now I can't boot from it directly anymore, but only by going through GRUB first, and I want to uninstall Linux. How would I go about figuring out the issue and fixing it?

As for why I want to uninstall Linux, it's mostly two reasons 1: My father gave me a spare HDD he had since I'm not a fan of buying things when you already have them. Turns out (coming from a teen who's been booting from an SSD for most of their life) HDDs are slow, too slow for my liking. 2: Linux, Mint at least, feels incomplete, sort of like a tech demo, with extremely limited support for anything that wasn't directly intended by the developers. The concept of having to compile something yourself is basically foreign to me, and the few times I had to do it in Windows I could easily find a way around it. Plus having to basically rely on a built-in app database/store to easily install apps... Kinda stinks to me, and not being able to simply download an installer from a website and having the program, whatever program, up and running reliably within a minute, the concept seems ridiculous... I'm not sure, I could be really spoiled by Windows 10, or simply too used to it.

TLDR: HDDs are slower than I thought and Linux doesn't seem good for people like me

Ps: Yes, I know, mass storage is "super cheap" nowdays, but for someone who only reliably gets money during their birthday and Christmas, €20 may as well be €200

Also, I am pretty sure that I will come back to Linux in the future once Windows has devolved to the point of being garbage (which from what I've seen might be very close) and I've gotten better at general computer usage (which may be close too since I'm starting to familiarize myself with CLIs)

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The package managers are actually a huge upgrade, at least in my opinion. I was always annoyed having to hunt for the right site for the right installer, now I can just search and install with a command without even opening a browser. But the biggest benefit is the updating. One command to update everything is so handy, one command and all my applications and drivers are updated just like that. But there is the issue of many programs simply not supporting Linux. For those you'll sadly have to find replacements or workarounds.

If you want to get rid of Grub instead of what others have suggested, you could try booting into Windows and look for "advanced startup" and do a startup repair from there. That might destroy Grub and replace it with Windows bootloader again. If it works, your Linux stuff will remain on the drive, but Windows will boot like before. (you can easily reformat the HDD drive from Windows afterwards to use it for storage)

Some of my personal tips for moving to Linux:

  1. It's not Windows. Don't expect things to work the same way. Trying to force Windows approach often leads to a lot of problems.
  2. Watch Youtube videos about Linux. (terminal, package managers, desktop environments, distros, gaming, program replacements, whatever) This will help a ton to get a better grasp on why things work the way they do and what the benefits are.
  3. Remember that in Linux you have a lot of options. Distro hopping can be useful early on to see different options/customizations. Then you can pick the things you like later.
  4. Avoid graphical appstores. I've yet to have a positive experience with them. Terminal is much more reliable and simple.
  5. Try out Arch Linux too, if you have the patience. It's not as difficult as people often make it seem, and installing it yourself is very educational compared to the easier automated installers. AUR for installing programs might also be to your liking more than how Debian based distros do things.
  6. Learn how to troubleshoot yourself. Learn to search the web for solutions. If you're having an issue, it's likely someone else has had the same issue before.