I appreciate this input, thank you. You make a valid point. I don't game much, so there wouldn't be too much back and forth. This is also just about learning what it's like to use Linux. I have a backup apple device, which is the OS I'm used to, and it would remain my daily driver for all essential tasks. For now, at least. So I have the luxury of trying stuff out on the pc laptop but not being bound by it.
Yes, initially thoughts on a distro. As well as addressing a concern I encountered about additional steps that are perhaps necessary with an NVIDIA card (that it doesn't mix as easily with Linux, I think). And, of course, whatever else I should know straight out the gate — although I assume a lot would be covered in the process of installing a distro.
I've definitely noted the development of gaming with Linux. Dual boot was just to have one less element in the mix, as I adjust to Linux (I've MacOs for a while now). TBH, there's a bit of an irrational element, too: I got a PC so I can play a bunch of games that aren't on Macs. So if I'm going to find a workaround in Linux, well, why didn't/don't I do that with a Mac, instead?
I was going to default to Mint, just because it's the one I've most encountered being referenced, especially for beginners. I'll do some searching on Pop_Os vs Mint. Thank you!
That's what I've gathered: to go with Mint. I saw somewhere that I might, however, need to get something tweaked to the gpu card that I have? For reference, I just bought a Lenovo Legion Slim 5 (Ryzen 7 7840HS; NVIDIA RTX 4060). Apparently Linux struggles with NVIDIA cards?
I've also heard of Proton. Do games take a performance hit played through that? I just figured I'd boot Windows for games, to remove a challenge from this transition. But if it's not much of a challenge, and performance doesn't take a hit, I'm certainly willing to give it a shot.
I wish more people appreciated the adventure of it all. It's not like most of the content is absolutely necessary for our daily functioning. Whether I spend an hour learning about the fediverse or looking at a stream of "rule" posts, my life won't be diminished.
Reddit became part of the shitty second season / crappy sequel era of the internet.
Also, can we not call the fediverse "Lemmy"? It's.a disservice to what we all are vying for here and sets us up to land right back into the same bullshit.