Windows 11 and Windows 10 were recently updated with “Windows Backup”, which has now become a system app. While the feature initially appeared as “optional” or something that could be easily dismissed, Microsoft is slowly getting aggressive with its new OneDrive backup campaign on Windows 11.
Windows 11’s “Windows Backup” uses OneDrive to back up many of the things that are important to you. This may include your credentials, settings, pictures, documents, videos, files, themes, or even audio settings. Microsoft wants the Windows Backup app to become the ultimate backup tool, but there’s a catch.
Windows Backup does not support offline backups and requires a OneDrive plan. By default, OneDrive offers 5GB of free storage, which is why some users do not want to backup their PC. But is that going to stop Microsoft from pestering users? Probably not. In a new server-side update, Windows 11 has started nagging users to try the Backup tool.
I switched over ~3 ish years ago and have never been happier. I recommend Fedora if you want any distro suggestions.
Do all distros have the same compatibility with video cards and software? I want something that’ll run Blender, Krita, Gimp, etc., and support my Wacom tablet. And run my favorite games, of course. Lots of people say Mint is good for newbies jumping ship. I don’t mind learning a new environment and running console commands from time-to-time.
What video card do you have? All distros should work perfectly with AMD cards out of the box, while nvidia you will probably have to install the driver yourself. Nvidia driver support is continually getting better as time goes on though.
Blender, GIMP, and Krita will work out of the box with all distros. Not 100% sure on the tablet so you may wanna research a bit more on that front.
I tried Mint when I originally switched and wasn’t a fan, I distro hopped a bit and stuck with Fedora when I tried it out. I use the gnome version of Fedora and originally installed some extensions to make it more windows like. After a few months I dropped those extensions and am pretty much in vanilla gnome now.
Also sorta unrelated but I also installed the new cosmic desktop environment recently (it’s pre alpha right now) and use it instead of gnome, I like it more than gnome but it’s pre alpha so hold off on that one probably.
The only issues I’ve experienced in recent memory with using Linux is Steam won’t launch properly if I launch it using the steam icon, I have to open a terminal window and type ‘steam’. That launches steam with the terminal, and I have to leave that terminal window open as long as I want steam open.
Whatever distro/de you end up going with will have a learning curve for sure but in my opinion it’s really worth it. I truly think open source software should be the future, and I’m happy I took the leap myself. Good luck on your journey!
It’s an AMD R9 380 2GB, so kind of old. (In fact, it’s factory overclocked, so that might be the source of the crashes.)
I’ll probably just buy a new storage drive so I don’t have to worry about Linux and Windows existing on the same one. It’s going to be great, having more control over the OS. I bet things will even be faster overall, due to the relative lack of bloat.