I’ve used Windows for decades, but I tried Linux to see if it’s truly ‘easy’ now – and one thing surprised me
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-replace-windows-with-linux/
Publish Date: 2026-02-19 10:47:00
Source Domain: www.zdnet.com
Dipesh Dk / 500px / Getty Images
Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Modern Linux distros have gotten easier to install.
- You’re most likely to succeed with standard x86-based hardware.
- Be prepared to copy and paste lots of commands into a terminal window.
Switching to Linux used to be difficult, but not anymore. No less an authority than ZDNET’s own Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols said so recently: “Is Linux easy to use? Yes! The days when you had to be a tech wizard to run Linux are long over. If you can run Windows, you can run Linux.”
I’ve even recommended installing Linux as one possible option for anyone who wants to keep using a PC that Microsoft says is too old to upgrade to Windows 11 and that no longer supports Windows 10.
Also: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 – for free
So, in the interest of science, I decided to try for myself. Not to make some dramatic platform shift, but to identify the kind of issues you, dear reader, are likely to run into if you attempt to migrate away from the familiarity of a Windows PC (or Mac) to Linux.
Was it easy? That’s not exactly the way I’d describe my experience, which required a lot of stops and starts and a painful amount of time copying complicated, unfamiliar commands and pasting them into terminal windows to get things like a built-in webcam working.
Along the way, I got some very helpful advice courtesy of Google’s Gemini chatbot, which generally steered me in the right direction and even offered one crucial bit of advice that turned out to be the key to a successful install.
You want to switch from Windows to Linux? Get comfortable working in a terminal window.
Screenshot by Ed Bott/ZDNET
I had to try three different distributions before finally settling on one that worked. Eventually, I succeeded in getting two working Linux PCs, which are capable of doing almost everything I need them to do — in many cases using the same software and online…
