Depends wholly on the situation. Right now, I needed Windows for a piece of hardware with no Linux support, so I installed Windows and just steamrolled my earlier openSUSE Leap installation. I will now dual boot with Debian for a while until I no longer need Windows.
When switching distros, you can usually copy your config files over. Or you can have a separate /home partition that doesn’t get wiped. This can cause issues though, due to version and structural differences between distros.
Personally, I only save what I absolutely need, like say browser bookmarks, and prefer to just get a fresh start. So, I just wipe everything. How you want to go about it is up to what you feel comfortable with, however. There’s rarely any one true way to do things in Linux. Free as in Freedom.
Always remember to backup any data before switching distros though. Always.
Ok so you just wipe and reinstall all software every time? I was wondering if there was an easier way to keep everything but I guess it makes sense that Linux is just less automated and all about manual intervention so put in the work haha
For example, the suggestion to put /home on a partition to allow switching distros without data loss is an example of flexibility Windows does not have.
Most of the configuration that makes your desktop unique is held in your home directory, unlike Windows that spreads things across the system (such as the registry).
That said, if you do not know Linux, it is difficult to explain your options in a comment.
I am not sure what Windows automation you are referring to. If you mean upgrades between versions, Linux distros do that too. If you mean automatic migration from other operating systems, I am not aware of any Windows functionality for that.
No windows automation. I’ve just seen a lot of people talk about changing distros and wondered if they start fresh every time or if there’s a way to migrate like Ubuntu to Mint to Fedora while keeping programs (or maybe Ubuntu to Mint as they’re both Debian I think but can’t to Fedora maybe?).
After putting Ubuntu Studio on my laptop from Windows it’s been a bit of work to get it how I like it (and I’m loving it). I’d love to try another distro but starting over again seems like a lot of work.
Depends wholly on the situation. Right now, I needed Windows for a piece of hardware with no Linux support, so I installed Windows and just steamrolled my earlier openSUSE Leap installation. I will now dual boot with Debian for a while until I no longer need Windows.
When switching distros, you can usually copy your config files over. Or you can have a separate /home partition that doesn’t get wiped. This can cause issues though, due to version and structural differences between distros.
Personally, I only save what I absolutely need, like say browser bookmarks, and prefer to just get a fresh start. So, I just wipe everything. How you want to go about it is up to what you feel comfortable with, however. There’s rarely any one true way to do things in Linux. Free as in Freedom.
Always remember to backup any data before switching distros though. Always.
Ok so you just wipe and reinstall all software every time? I was wondering if there was an easier way to keep everything but I guess it makes sense that Linux is just less automated and all about manual intervention so put in the work haha
This is not the correct take.
For example, the suggestion to put /home on a partition to allow switching distros without data loss is an example of flexibility Windows does not have.
Most of the configuration that makes your desktop unique is held in your home directory, unlike Windows that spreads things across the system (such as the registry).
That said, if you do not know Linux, it is difficult to explain your options in a comment.
I am not sure what Windows automation you are referring to. If you mean upgrades between versions, Linux distros do that too. If you mean automatic migration from other operating systems, I am not aware of any Windows functionality for that.
No windows automation. I’ve just seen a lot of people talk about changing distros and wondered if they start fresh every time or if there’s a way to migrate like Ubuntu to Mint to Fedora while keeping programs (or maybe Ubuntu to Mint as they’re both Debian I think but can’t to Fedora maybe?).
After putting Ubuntu Studio on my laptop from Windows it’s been a bit of work to get it how I like it (and I’m loving it). I’d love to try another distro but starting over again seems like a lot of work.