Hello all, I have an older laptop (Windows 8) and planning on upgrading in the next year or so. I first had an interest in learning hacking thus downloading and playing around with Kali Linux. I learnt that there is a lot of learning to do before I can feel comfortable using Linux. I am now thinking I will buy a new laptop and I will download and run Ubuntu or Linux Mint as the primary OS. But I just can't justify switching from Windows to Linux. I do realize it will take some time to learn and I do not find it difficult to learn Linux but it does take some comittment and seems overwelming at first. I have no problem using some basic commands in the "terminal" at the moment.

I mostly use my laptop for browsing the net (Google Chrome/Firefox), using Open Office Spreadsheet to calculate my hours for work, and other misc. things.

Would Open Office work with Linux?

I was able to sucessfully download and install Firefox on Kali Linux... Today I downloaded and installed Google Chrome and I was able to use it, however when I closed the Google Chrome window I couldn't figure out how to open it again (there was no icon on the desktop like the Firefox icon that I can click on) and I got frustrated. I followed some instructions online on how to install Google Chrome mostly by copy and pasting specific commands into the "terminal".

Would an experienced user of Linux just know how to install Google Chrome or other software/programs? Or would they have to do what I did and look for the specific commands from another website and copy/paste into the terminal (example: wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/g...nt_amd64.deb)? I'm not sure how I would find this without first downloading an internet browser.

I've also heard of how customizable Linux is. Could someone give me some examples of what sort of things are customizable? Is it just desktop colours and font? What could someone like me potentially do in Linux to make my everyday life easier than if I used Windows?

Sorry for the long post and the noob style questions haha. Hopefully someone is willing to give me their advice and convince me to switch to Ubuntu or Mint.

Here is a beginner link for you. Good Luck. I don't run Kali Linux.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ad-4175614092/

1 members found this post helpful.

The method to install a program varies form distro to distro. Most distros have an application to install programs form their own repos. What's a repo? It's a server ( often many servers ) with programs that are compiled to run on a specific distribution. This implies you do not search the internet, find some unknown server, download and install like you might do in windoze. Simply put, doing that may have the application not work, or not work as intended.

Just about everything. You can add a different desktop, linux has many to choose from. You can add lots of software. Anything you can do on windoze, you can do on linux. One exception are games. You can run lots of games on linux, however, most games start out compiled for windoze. It may be a while after a new game is released before you can run it on a linux system. This is the most common reason users coming from windoze dual boot.

Linux can do much more for free than a windoze paid for system can do without spending more money. Servers, there is a very long list of server software that will run on linux. Mail servers, ftp servers; just too many to list here.

I'm not going to try and convince you to switch to linux. I do suggest you give it a try. Kali is not the place to start.

1 members found this post helpful.

Open Office does offer a Linux build. Most distros, though, long ago switched to LibreOffice, a fork of OpenOffice. I think Ubuntu and Mint install LO by default. If you are used to OOo, you should find LO very easy to get used to.

Kali, though, is highly specialized and has only one purpose--pen testing. It's hardly ideal for typical desktop uses. Your idea of learning your way around Linux before tackling Kali is an excellent one.

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The big name top notch distro's offer almost everything and most is standard. LibreOffice usually ships but you can get OpenOffice.

Consider running linux in a free virtual machine.

Wonder why you didn't upgrade to Windows 10??? Windows 8 really stinks.

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Welcome to LQ!

Running Linux on a virtual machine is a good option if you want to learn and dabble around a bit. Kali is for more experienced users and is focused on penetration testing and I would not suggest you start learning Linux with Kali. You mentioned Mint or Ubuntu which is a alright place to start. However in my experience the best way I've learnt Linux is to get into the deep end and learn how to swim. There were and still are times where I could pull my hair out but its all part of the learning process. No pain no gain!

1 members found this post helpful.

Learn Linux via a live distro, if you install stuff it will disappear when you reboot, unless you use persistence.

Learn to use the terminal - the GUI is just like any other system, you click things to make them happen.

Start with a regular distro, (Kali is for penetration testing, etc, it's not built for regular use).

Learn the basics first.

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You are used to installers automatically adding an icon to the desktop. But in Linux, that's considered terribly rude. It's your desktop after all, not the software developer's, so how dare he put up icons without your permission?

Most desktops automatically add new programs to their menu, but if you want an icon as a shortcut, you put it up yourself. How you do that depends on the desktop software; a common way is to right-click and choose New shortcut, then follow the prompts.

Dstar22,

Welcome to LQ forums.

The general advice for beginners, as rokytnji has mentioned above, is don’t use Kali.

I would recommend installing something user-friendly like Linux Mint or Ubuntu.

If you do decide to buy a new W10 laptop, such as this HP, then you can “dual-boot” Linux Mint/Ubuntu alongside W10. This way you can keep a foot in both camps.

HP 250 G7 Core i5 8GB 512GB SSD 15.6" Win10:
https://www.ebuyer.com/1133932-hp-25...op-14z93ea-abu

How To Install Ubuntu Alongside Windows 10:
https://itsfoss.com/install-ubuntu-1...ows-8-81-uefi/

As others have said, Kali is designed for just one purpose. You can convert it to do other things, of course — just as you could convert a motorcycle into a lawnmower! You can learn Linux on any distribution. Mint is a good general-purpose distro and I can't recall anyone really disliking it. As you see, I use PCLinuxOS, which is what we call a rolling-release system. Instead of having a new version every couple of years, it updates continuously — this week I got the latest Firefox and Youtube Downloader — so you install once and it lasts until you get new hardware.

You can get OpenOffice — I prefer it myself — but LibreOffice will accept your spreadsheet. I suspect any distro will have Firefox, while PCLinuxOS also offers Basilisk, Brave, Chrome, Edge, Epiphany, Iridium, Konqueror, Metalyfe, Midori, PaleMoon, Seamonkey, Slimjet, Vivaldi, Waterfox, and Whale! It's always a good idea to get your software from your distro, which will keep it up-to-date and check for bugs.

Customisation is endless. For example, most people launch programs from the menu, which can be re-arranged if you want to. Others like to put icons on the desktop. I set up keyboard shortcuts with the Super key (aka Windows key) for my main programs, like Super+b for browser, Super+c for calculator, and so on. I have my panel down the left-hand side instead of at the top or bottom of the screen.