WAIT! Before You Switch to Linux in 2026

If you're a Windows user or if you're a Mac user and you've heard about this Linux thing and you're trying to decide if you should switch, not how to switch or what you do once you switch, but you're trying to figure out in that initial stage, should you switch to Linux, this video is for you because I have some things that you need to consider before you even consider choosing a distro. Burning an ISO onto a disk, learning how to bypass the boot menu, all this stuff, right? Because there are things that you have to consider. First off, what you need to do, and I think that this is the most important part, is that you need to write down the software that you cannot live without. So that's the first thing that you should do. Because software is what... Your computer is made for. It's what you do on the computer. You use a web browser. Maybe you use an email program. Maybe you're into AutoCAD, or you're into design, or whatever you're into. Whatever you need to use your computer for, that's the software, and you need to write down those things that you use. After that, the next thing to do is to figure out if those things are Because the... Biggest chance is that none of them, or at least some of them, are not going to be. Because there's a big difference between the software that's available for Windows and Mac and the software that's available for Linux. That's the biggest hurdle everyone has. Everyone you talk to who has switched to Linux will tell you stories of them having to find some kind of alternative when it comes to software. So make your list and then search out whether or not the thing that you want to use is actually on. Linux or if there's a suitable alternative and it's the alternative part that's going to be the biggest key here because that's where you're probably going to have to go because the things you use probably aren't here and the best thing about all of this is that a lot of the alternatives to the big software things like Photoshop and stuff like that there are alternatives to that kind of stuff on Linux and most of the alternatives also work on Windows Mac so say for example the alternative to Photoshop is GIMP is GIMP. Let's use GIMP or Krita. Both of those are two alternatives to Photoshop. Both of those are available on Windows and Mac. You can actually use them. So the next thing you should do once you have started thinking about this thing is try those programs out and see if they're going to be able to be something that you can use and do the work that you need to do. So when you're considering should you switch to Linux, the biggest thing you're going to to need to be able to answer to the original question is... Can I get either the software that I need or alternatives to the software I need? And if the answer to that is yes, then you can carry on the path. If you can't get the software that you need, then you have your answer. You probably can't switch simply because you need the software. Another big one, and it's kind of along the same veins, is gaming. Now, gaming on Linux has gotten phenomenally better since... You can play a lot of games on Linux now that you couldn't play before, many AAA games, a lot of them day one on release, and a lot of times they'll actually play better on Linux than they will on Windows. That's just the way that it is sometimes. But there's a big caveat here. Anything that's online, like multiplayer, and that has some kind of anti-cheat built into it, and you usually don't need to know those technical details, The way anti-cheat works, but because of the a lot of times that stuff is Windows only, and it just won't work on Linux. We don't have a lot of the anti-cheats here on Linux, or the developers have chosen not to bring it over here. So if you play games that aren't available on Linux, that's another reason why maybe you shouldn't switch. The second part of this question, beyond the software thing, is simply interest in putting in the effort. Because if you're looking for a plug-and-play alternative to Windows or Mac, Chances are Linux is not going to be that thing. Simply because you can get here and you're going to discover that some things are not working. And you have to have the interest in putting forth the effort. In solving those problems, things like, say, for example, if your audio doesn't work for whatever reason, or maybe you have specific hardware. So say, for example, you have something like this. You have a game controller. Now, you can tell how much I game given by the fact that this is so dusty, but you have this controller and you want it to work in Linux. Will it do so? Probably, but you're going to have to discover how to do it. You're going to have to figure out how to connect. Bluetooth and all that stuff because it's going to be a little bit different than it is on Windows. Not necessarily hard, but different because Linux is not Windows and you have to kind of be able to be willing to put in the effort to actually learn the things that are different and how to do those things. And that's going to be a process. It's going to be something that's going to happen It's going to happen over time. You can't... If your expectations for coming here are that it's going to just work on day one and you're going to know how to do everything, you're going to be disappointed. I'm not going to say it's not going to work on day one. It probably will. Linux is very good at being installed and being usable, but you have to know how to use it. You can't just, and that's not something that's just going to be filtered into your mind automatically. You have to put in the effort. So if you're asking a question, should I switch to Linux? You have to ask those two questions. Can I get the software that I need or alternatives to it? And two, am I willing to put in the effort needed to actually learn how to use Linux? And if you're not, then you shouldn't switch. The thing here is a lot of people put the whole effort thing, the idea that you have to put effort into Linux on the community. Like, oh, I wanted to use Linux, but the community was so bad they wouldn't help me. Now, I think that that's a bunch of hooey, simply because there's so many in the Linux community that are very much willing to help noobs. Like, I know I am. I know a lot of people who spend a lot of their effort in teaching other people how to do stuff. But one of the things that a lot of people in the Linux community hate is those people who aren't willing to put forth effort on their own. So doing a simple Google search before you ask for help. You know, being able to actually intake the information and put it forth in a productive way and actually solve the problems because it has to be a two way street. A lot of people, you know, will help you, but you have to be able to you have to be willing to learn along the way. And a lot of people expect the Linux community for whatever reason to do the stuff for them and just hand them a command. And I think that's a consequence of there being so many articles online where it does exactly that, where it just gives you a pseudo-app, install this or whatever, and it fixes your problem. And... That's not necessarily reality. A lot of times you have to delve deep into the problem in order to solve it or learn how to do something in a certain way or whatever, and you have to be willing to put in that effort, and you will get help if you want it, but nobody's going to do that work for you. I think one of the misconceptions is that that will happen, and it's just not the case. So if you're asking the question, should you switch to Linux, you have to be able to answer those questions, And those are the two main ones. Can you use the software? Are you willing to put in the effort actually to learn this thing? And if the answer to those questions is yes, then I think then you can move on to the other questions like what distro should I use? How should I go about doing this? Is my hardware compatible even beyond that? You know, and things like that. And for the most part, like hardware is always going to be mostly compatible on Linux. There's going to be hardly any situations where you're going to have a hard time. Notably, the problems we have the most problems with are Our printers, so... You know, granted, people have problems on printers on Windows, so, but beyond that, you know, you can move on to the more specific problems that you'd have to have if you've decided to make the jump. So, if you have questions on any of this, or if you have comments on any of this, you can leave those in the comments section below. I'd love to hear from you. I know that a lot of people who are new to Linux or are thinking about switching to Linux have giant questions. And if you have giant questions, leave those giant questions in my comment section or join my Discord server. Either I or someone else will answer them, but I will just point out that there are assholes here in the Linux community and oftentimes you'll find trolls, so... As you should with the rest of the internet, ignore those people as much as possible. So there's that. If you want to follow me on Mastodon, that link will be in the video description. You can support me on Patreon at patreon.com slash linuxcast. You can also go over to my store, which is available at shop.linuxcast.org. There you'll find hats, t-shirts, stickers, backpacks, desk mats, all sorts of stuff. All the proceeds for that go directly towards helping me make more Linux content for you guys. So thank you so very much for your support. Thanks to everybody who does support me on Patreon and YouTube. You guys are all absolutely amazing. the channel just would not be anywhere near where it is right now. So thank you very, very, very much for your support. I truly do appreciate it. Thanks everybody for watching. I hope you have a wonderful day. And I will see you next time.