Linux

Windows 12! Are you a time traveller?

There are better guides here, but make sure to back up your windows key. So, if you need windows again, you can reinstall it and not pay mocrosoft anything.

Most of the guides here are to install Linux, which is the end result you want. You should also look into live usb Linux. Many of the Linux distros (versions, or flavors) have a concept called a live usb. It’s basically Linux installed on a usb instead of a hard drive. So you can plug it in, play around and test it to see if you like it before installing. Off a usb, it will be slower, but it can show you if there are any incompatible hardware problems too, which is possible, but not usually a problem.

I was in your spot recently so I may relate to your situation better than others. I’ll try to explain it as simply as possible.

Step 1. Pick a distro: Any distro should work, it’s just a matter of what works for you. Are you mostly playing games on it? If so, check out Bazzite. Not gaming much? Maybe try Linux Mint. If you give me your specific use case I could help a bit more with finding a distro.

Step 2. Pick a desktop environment (DE): If you decide on Mint, I’d recommend Cinnamon which should be the first one that pops up on the downloads page (link to downloads page on main screen). It’ll be pretty similar to windows and very user friendly. If you’re going for Bazzite, I’d recommend KDE Plasma, which is also very similar to windows but with more customizability. But if you want, you can look up comparison videos and chose for yourself.

Step 3. Downloading the distro: You’re going to need a clean flash drive/USB stick. Anything that’s currently on it will be wiped so keep that in mind. Either back them up somewhere else or buy a new one. Once you have a flash drive ready to go, you’re going to need to download a program to “flash” the ISO file (basically the OS file) onto the stick. Simply downloading the ISO onto the stick won’t do anything. I like Ventoy as it lets you add multiple ISO files onto it so you can try out a bunch before deciding on one, but Balena Etcher also works. Whichever you choose, download the program and follow the instructions. It should be relatively straightforward but if you get stuck there should be tutorials online, or I can try to help you too. For Ventoy, I believe all you do is download the program, follow the instructions, let it do its thing, and when it’s finished you can add whatever ISO files you want to the flash drive. For Etcher, I think you download the program, then download an ISO file somewhere on your pc, then use the program to choose the flash drive and ISO file, and let it do its thing to flash it.

Step 4. Changing your BIOS settings: Once your flash drive has an ISO file flashed onto it, you’re going to need to edit your BIOS settings. I believe on Windows 11 you can go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery, then click "Restart now" under Advanced startup, and select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > UEFI Firmware Settings > Restart to access the BIOS (this was from the web, I had to look it up because I couldn’t remember, apologies if it’s slightly inaccurate. Let me know if that doesn’t work). You should be in your BIOS settings now. Use the arrow keys to go to boot settings, turn off secure boot, then find boot order (might be named something slightly different) and make sure USB is first. Then save and exit (probably on the last page), and when the device restarts you should be in the menu for either Ventoy or Balena Etcher, whichever you chose. Select your distro, select boot in normal mode, and then you should get a pop up to install or test out. The rest should hopefully be easy to follow, but if not, let me know and I can try to help. If you have any more questions let me know, or if this was too confusing let me know and I’ll try to clarify

I'm not trying to dissuade you from installing Linux, but I am curious to know what pissed you off about Windows so immediately that you don't want to touch it again. Mandatory Microsoft account?

1. choose your distribution. If you want something similar to Windows 10, go for Mint Cinnamon as it’s user-friendly and easy to set up. If you like gaming (considering it’s an Asus ROG you have there) go for Bazzite. You can either go with KDE Plasma (which is more customisable and, out of the box, looks similar to Win10) or GNOME (which looks clean and more like MacOS with a new coat of libadwaita paint). If you want something that looks really clean but don’t really game go for Fedora Workstation (that’s what I use), which has a nice implementation of GNOME. There’s a bunch of others like Pop! OS (also popular with gamers) and, of course, Ubuntu (which uses its own customised version of GNOME). Kubuntu is a KDE version of Ubuntu.

TLDR: Mint Cinnamon if you want something familiar and Win10-like, Bazzite if you want to game (given it’s an ROG), Fedora Workstation if you like GNOME but don’t really game. Pop! OS, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu are also both good options too depending on your preferences.

edit: I guess not Mint? Go for either Fedora (KDE or Workstation is fine) or Bazzite (if you focus on gaming)

2. If you would like to try out a few different distros before picking one, I would highly recommend “VenToy”. Just install it in a USB drive (making sure the USB drive doesn’t have any important data and/or it has been backed up as it will be erased on installation) and put all the downloaded ISOs (which can be found on the websites of each distribution, if you find two options select x86 or amd64 (the two are the same), that will be compatible with your ROG. Bazzite also gives you options depending on what GPU you have to install the correct drivers!) on the Ventoy drive.

Then, restart your computer with the drive plugged in and press your bios key (usually f2, f10, or f12, sometime it’s escape. I usually just press all if them and hope for the best lol). Go to the section where you can choose where to boot into, and boot into the ventoy drive (usually labelled as the model of usb drive you have) Then you will get the Ventoy menu and you can select a distribution to try out. Play around in it, but remember nothing is save as it is running off of the Usb drive!

If you already know what distribution and desktop you want to use, you don’t need to bother with ventoy and can just use either rufus or balenaetcher to write your chosen ISO which can be found on the websites of each distribution, if you find two options select x86 or amd64 (the two are the same), that will be compatible with your ROG. Bazzite also gives you options depending on what GPU you have to install the correct drivers!)

As with Ventoy, make sure your drive doesn’t contain any important data as it will be overwritten. After you set up your drive, you can boot into it with your bios key and select the USB drive at the boot device. That, like VenToy, will allow you to play around in a demo version of the distribution.

3. Once you find a distribution you like, double click “install” and go through the installation steps. MAKE SURE YOUR DATA FROM WINDOWS IS BACKED UP (either on the cloud or a separate USB drive/an external ssd) AS IT WILL BE LOST AFTER INSTALLATION.

The installation steps are pretty intuitive, just select your region, keyboard layout, language, wifi network (if you have that), etc. If you come across any prompt relating to disk management and partitions, click the option that lets the distribution handle where everything goes and select overwrite everything given you don’t want to leave any Windows behind. MAKE SURE YOUR DATA FROM WINDOWS IS BACKED UP IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT

Continue with the installation, and once you’re finished, it will notify you to remove the USB drive and the device will restart. Boom, you now have linux installed.

4. Some distros have post-install steps you have to do as well, so you might have to do that.

For apps, you can either install using the terminal (it’s less scary and more magical the more I use it) using “sudo apt install (program name)” or “sudo dnf install (program name)” for Fedora.

Some apps are available as flatpak (using “flatpak install” - see that sudo is not required!), which in a nutshell, is a form of package that is universally compatible with any distro, all dependencies are bundled in with each package, and the apps are sandboxed. General rule of thumb is CLI apps, drivers, etc. using apt or dnf while desktop apps are fine to use flatpak. I like to use apt or dnf wherever I can as sometimes flatpaks have issues with communicating with each other due to the sandboxing, but that’s because I use a lot of programming and development specific apps. This probably won’t be much of an issue for you.

Many distros like Mint and Fedora offer a software installers that are GUI based, but I would reckon use the command line as the GUI software maangers are slow and is the same thing under the hood anyways.