I’d add :

0. back up your data

To clarify, I’ve been using Linux for decades… and I still take notes! For example https://fabien.benetou.fr/Tools/Shell or https://fabien.benetou.fr/Tools/Ffmpeg so please, pretty please, do NOT keep it all in your head! There are myriads of way to record your learning so don’t be shy about it.

First and foremost, welcome to Linux!

Few pointers to hopefully help the process :

• “Not knowing where to find anything.” indeed, it’s disorienting but it will come. You can find actual “maps” but honestly, just as you would do in other operating system, use the search function. If it’s not obvious this way, search online. The first few times it will be weird then each time it does become easier until it actually makes sense!
• “The lingering feeling of instability.” have a /home directory (not “folder”, that’s funnily enough a Windows term as they tried to be different, going from the unanimously used / to their own C:\ things) so that you can actually go “nuts” with your installation, actually messing things up but without the fear of losing your precious data! Each new install is an occasion to learn. That being said, Linux is very VERY stable. I’ve been running the same installation for years, on desktop and servers alike. If something goes wrong it can usually be fixed and it’s, again, an occasion to learn. That being said, having a dedicated /home directory on its own partition or even disk gives you the opportunity for a low effort low risk blank slate.
• “The capslock works differently” … well this one is quick, you’re looking for the SHIFT key if you only want to type few characters in uppercase ;)
• “Every once in a while, my desktop icons get rearranged.” yet another occasion to learn. What’s the bug from? Is there an issue open? Is it being worked on? By whom? How? Why? You might even be able to fix it!
• “It seems impossible to get Firefox to not restore sessions after shutting down the computer with it still open.” it’s in the Firefox preference : Settings -> Startup -> untick “Open previous windows and tabs”, literally the first option.
• “The above all add to a bit of a general ‘stuck together with adhesive tape and love’ feeling.” nice, and that’s just the surface, it’s now YOUR system so you can do whatever you want, even if everybody else disagree.
• “Not knowing how to install programs.” well that loops back to all the learning opportunities above and the last remark, it’s YOUR system so you can use whatever you prefer, both in terms of apps, settings or even how to install (or not! Check e.g. Nix) apps. There are even “weirder” things like https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM but the point is, you decide, again, always!

scrot if you want to use the CLI, (KDE) Spectacle if you need a UI.

FWIW each new install is faster, especially if you write down the “weird” steps.

My gosh people… this… this might be the year of Linux on the desktop!

(not even being sarcastic here, the reach streamers have is huge. I bet a lot of their audience is thinking now “Wow… if he did it, maybe I could!”)

Well I (a developer) collaborated with an artist (3D modeler) recently and… I did not ask them to install anything.

Instead what I did is a develop a Web drag&drop page. They’d visit it, drag&drop their model and… see if it worked (e.g. visually or running animations) as they expected. That was it.

IMHO finding the boundaries that are important, and thus how to collaborate, is more important than a unique reproducible environment when roles are quite different.

TL;DR: IMHO no, you don’t, instead find how to actually collaborate.

set up by non-programmers (such as artists) […] requires users to learn i3wm and possibly use the command line

Very cool, thanks for the in depth explanation.

ROCm

I’m curious. Say you are getting a new computer, put Debian on, want to run e.g. DeepSeek via ollama via a container (e.g. Docker or podman) and also play, how easy or difficult is it?

I know that for NVIDIA you install the (closed official) drivers, setup the container insuring you get GPU passthrough, and thanks to CUDA from the driver, you’re pretty much good to go. Is it the same for AMD? Do you “just” need to install another package or is there more tinkering involved?

Yeah I don’t think you’re addressing what I wrote, you’re mixing up my suggestion (to clarify the important part is “or”) with DistroBox then more general comments. Might be that I wrote it unclearly but anyway it wasn’t what I was saying.

FWIW I did run on old hardware with ratpoison and had a blazing fast experience, much more responsive than “top” hardware back then. So… yes IMHO it’s about the wm/de usually, the rest follows. Obviously you can’t run super demanding software, e.g. video editing, 3D modeling, etc but that’s usually rather obvious.

Why wouldn’t Debian run?

Debian is the OS, with its package manager and some applications suggested by default. You can install Debian with X, without X, with a certain window manager or another, etc. So… Debian WILL 100% run, the question rather is WHICH software should you pick that gives the best compromise between ease of use (specific to that person) AND performance (specific to that computer).

PS: to be clear, that’s the same for other distributions. There are distributions that specifically target older hardware and that in turn might facilitate the process but usually if you do check how such distributions are done, they are basically Debian (or NixOS or Alpine or whatever) with a specific package selection. It’s rare (if ever? counter-example) to have anything special that would somehow “boost” performance for hardware, especially here when it’s rather common hardware.

Sure, or containers, e.g. Docker/Podman, especially if there is a Web API available.

That being said, whatever you do, in fine it’s about trust. What you are installing can cause damage so IMHO it’s more about keeping things manageable while having your actually important data (not programs, downloaded content, etc but rather things you did yourself, e.g. written documents, sketches, configuration files, prototypes, photos, etc) safe even when the system itself is broken regardless of how and why.

Torrent?

outdated

how? Maybe I don’t properly understand the difference with obsolete?

Debian… but also to clarify it’s not “old” at all. I’m using Debian on my servers, yes, but also on my desktop that use daily, to work and to play video games on, including VR. So… don’t think because it’s “old” and “stable” it means it’s outdated.

Yeay, Debian user here who also left Twitter/X for similar reasons. I was already on Mastodon and Bluesky but didn’t make a habit out of it. Leaving the bad platform entirely (and having my data archived and searchable) helped a lot.

Glad to hear they moved on!

I’m confused, are you talking to me or OP? I didn’t ask which kernel anyone “should” use. I asked about which software does rely on a specific feature that you mentioned, namely DRM. Please clarify.

Beside this service (which I’m not using), any other? I briefly looked for a list but couldn’t find one.

No doubt, apparently seeing the downvotes I came across as negative about the distribution. It wasn’t my point, just sharing my perspective. Thanks for clarifying what makes it actually interesting to you!