Installing Linux is often a critical step in an open-source enthusiast's life. It may come before or after their (sometimes unhinged) interest in open-source. I, for example, first started using Linux when I was told to, because I was supposed to use a programming software that only ran on Linux.
I never did end up using that particular software, but other apps ran a lot quicker on Linux than Windows, so I slowly moved over.
Why Linux?
I've harped on about privacy enough. However, one of the first differences I noticed was performance - Linux just tends to be less bloaty than Windows, leaving more CPU and RAM available to run what you want to run. MATLAB takes famously long to open, and it would open a lot quicker on my Ubuntu install than on my Windows install. Same hardware, same device, different OS. Another benefit is that most malware targeted towards desktop users are targeted for Windows users, so there's a little bit of safety there, but that doesn't mean you can go around clicking whatever sketchy links you want.
Battery life is worse. And there's a lot of software that isn't made for linux at all, you can't even install them. The Adobe Creative Suite, for example, which I suggest you avoid anyway.
Who Linux?
You can't install Linux on an Apple computer.
Well, you can, actually, but it's tough and definitely not something I'd recommend for a beginner. If you're confident, go look up the Asahi Linux project.
But the bottom line is that if you have a PC that's running Windows, and are able to access BIOS, you're set.
What Linux?
Linux is not an operating system, it's just the kernel of an operating system. There are many linux-based OSes, called distributions, one of which I'd like you to install.
Ubuntu is the most popular option, but Linux Mint is slightly more beginner-friendly.
Moreover, the same operating system can have multiple Desktop Environments - the look and feel of the screen. Linux Mint's Cinnamon is the most Windows-like, GNOME looks different but is easy to use, and KDE Plasma is a helluva lot more customizable.
If you don't want to make a choice and are looking for me to give you one recommendation, it's Linux Mint with Cinnamon.
Where Linux?
Once you select a distro and a desktop environment (sometimes called flavours), you can go to the download page from the distribution's website. They will often link to a page of instructions on how to install your new OS. In general, following them should give you a good experience. If there isn't, well, follow what I say.
First, you download the OS "image", usually a file with a ".iso" extension, and write it to a USB drive. That doesn't mean just pasting that file in the USB drive though - you can download an application called Rufus to write the ISO to the USB drive. Beware, all the previous contents of the USB will be overwritten.
You also have to decide whether you want to keep Windows or not. My suggestion: keep Windows. If that is what you choose, open up the Disk Management app in Windows and start making some changes.
In Disk Management, you will see some "partitions" or "volumes" of your disk. Some partitions are likely big and empty enough that you can truncate them by 150GB and not lose any data - we will create those 150GB of unallocated disk space.
Right click on a volume that has enough free space, and select "Shrink Volume" (make sure not to hit "Format" or "Delete"). It will only let you recover free space - it will not let you cut out any actual data. Shrink the volume by 150 GB, or 150000 MB.
So far, we've been safe. There are guardrails to ensure nothing goes wrong here. The next post will show the scary installation parts.
Stay tuned!