Installing Linux

You can install Linux to run directly on your computer hardware or on virtual hardware inside an existing operating system. When installing on hardware, you may install it side-by-side with other operating systems. Using virtual hardware to run Linux on top of an existing operating system requires virtual machine (VM) host software.

Both options have advantages and disadvantages. Direct installation has a performance benefit that is especially important on old hardware. Installation on a VM host is safer as you generally cannot damage your existing operating system.

Download an ISO Image

No matter which distribution you want to install - I always recommend using a "live" version of that distribution. A live version allows you to boot directly intro a running system from your installation medium without installing anything. This way, you may test if your hardware is properly supported by the distribution upfront.

Debian Stable

There are many great Linux distributions. To get started, I recommend the latest stable version of Debian for installation both on hardware and in a virtual environment.

In the link above, you may choose among different desktop environments. Personally, I like KDE best for getting started as it has excellent integration between GUI tools and the shell. If you like to try the KDE flavor of Debian, download the file called debian-live-??.?.0-amd64-kde.iso (the question marks represent the current version). Once downloaded, you may want to verify the file's cryptographic hash. To do so, download SHA512SUMS to the same directory as your .iso. Then run

sha512sum --check SHA512SUMS

Note that you should receive an ‘OK' only for the file you downloaded. All other files listed in SHA512SUMS are expected to fail since they are not available for checking.

Manjaro

If you want to run Linux on very modern hardware, you may need to use the newest Linux kernel. Manjaro is a beginner friendly alternative to Debian that offers an easy to use tool to always run the newest Linux kernel. Be aware that you'll have to perfom lots of updates of all installed software since Manjaro aims to deliver new versions as soon as possible.

Download your desired flavor (I recommend KDE Plasma) from manjaro.org. To verify the authenticity of your download, get the corresponding *.sig file (available after clicking on "More") and do the following once:

wget gitlab.manjaro.org/packages/core/manjaro-keyring/-/raw/master/manjaro.gpg
gpg --import manjaro.gpg

For each iso image you'd like to verify, run

gpg --verify manjaro-kde-??.?-??????-linux??.iso.sig manjaro-kde-??.?-??????-linux??.iso.sig

Native Installation

To install Linux on your hardware, you need installation media. Once you have an iso image, flash the image to a USB drive. This can be done, for example, with Balena Etcher.

Once you have a bootable USB drive, simply plug it into your computer and boot from it. Make sure to create proper backups of your data before installation in case you accidentally remove an existing partition.

VM Host Software

There are numerous VM hosts available. Some of them are open source software (eg. KVM + Virtual Machine Manager, Xen, VirtualBox, Proxmox, UTM, …) while others are proprietary.

For installing Linux on an existing Windows or pre-M2 MacOS host, VirtualBox is a rather easy choice.

For installing Linux on top of an M2 MacOS host, UTM is likely the best open source option.