Hey everyone! I'm a student diving into the world of Linux, currently on Windows, and I'm thinking about dual-booting Linux on my laptop. I've got about 170 GB of free space and I'm keen to play around, code, and learn more about how things work. Looking for suggestions on which distro to use and how to partition the space, as I'm open to using a slightly complex distro instead of just a beginner-friendly one. Any advice would be appreciated!
1 Answer
For a first-time dual boot, Mint is a solid choice! You can always replace it later as you get more comfortable. Since you want to keep Windows, I'd recommend allocating about 60-80 GB for it, around 40 GB for Linux, and using the remaining space for your personal files. Remember, while Linux can work with NTFS drives, Windows can't access Linux partitions, so using an external disk for your files might save you some hassle. And definitely make sure to back up your data before making any changes! A swap partition is also useful for hibernation—aim for about 2x your RAM size to start with.
So Mint is Ubuntu-based? Some people have mentioned Debian or Arch for deeper Linux learning, but I'll check out what you suggested!