Need advice

[mrpritam]

Hi! I am Pritam. I have a 5yr old hp laptop. I have been using windows 10 since I bought that laptop. But now I want a linux environment. And I don't play games.. I have some works regarding coding, multitasking on a daily basis as I am a CS student. I want to start with Ubuntu because of its wide community and its gnome environment. So plz tell me if I should install Ubuntu or not. Because I don't know if it will work smoothly in my laptop.

My laptop info:

Processor: Intel(R) Core (TM) i3-7100U CPU @ 2.40 GHz (Dual cores) (4 logical processors)
RAM: 4.00 GB (3.88 GB usable)
System type: x64-based processor


Regards,
Pritam

[tea for one]

Because I don't know if it will work smoothly in my laptop

Therefore, you should run a "Try Ubuntu" session.
Are you familiar with this process?

So plz tell me if I should install Ubuntu or not.

You will be better placed to answer this after trying Ubuntu for yourself.

I would also encourage you to test other Ubuntu flavours such as Xubuntu, Lubuntu etc

[TheFu]

4GB of RAM is a minimal amount for any OS these days. 8G is what I consider the be "reasonable" for end users, but it depends on the type of programming you want.
Also, Gnome is bloated and heavy. While it will likely work on that system, you'll find it less than snappy. For a better experience, go with a lighter DE, perhaps LXQt or XFCE or Mate.

Changing OSes isn't to be taken lightly. None of the old programs from MS-Windows will likely work. They are different OSes. If you have 8GB of RAM, then you could run Linux inside a virtual machine, risking almost nothing except disk space. Another option would be to install Linux onto an external USB3 flash drive and run from that, ignoring the internal storage completely when using Linux. I know few friends that do this.

Lastly, don't get hung up on "ubuntu". A linux desktop is all just Linux with slightly different GUIs and package management.

Since Ubuntu doesn't have any license costs, feel free to try out multiple ditros and GUIs to see what you like and what you don't like. Try at least 5 different GUIs. Linux isn't like MS-Windows. The entire OS is made up of thousands of little projects, each with different project teams, trying to accomplish something. Don't feel like you need to be loyal to 1. The same goes for distros. Canonical has been making some great choices and some terrible choices over the last 5 yrs that really impact people. Don't be afraid to try Mint or Fedora or SuSE or MXLinux or Debian. Before you have any data saved, the only risk is a bit of time. Try those, see what's similar and what is different. About 90% of what we call "linux" casually, is the same across each of those distros.

[ActionParsnip]

Could try it in VirtualBox or even a USB stick with some persistence

[oldfred]

Flavors
https://ubuntu.com/download/flavours
Light weight flavors:
Lubuntu, xubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Budgie
Flavors of Ubuntu only come with three years of supported life (five years applies to Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server but not flavors)

Any flavor will work, but I like Kubuntu which is more of a mid-weight flavor.
I did get Kubuntu to run on an old (2006) laptop where Ubuntu would not even install.

If drive is larger & Windows not fully using it, you can dual boot.
I also find on my old laptop I can run Kubuntu on an external SSD which is almost as fast as an internal SSD.
My external SSD worked on both my old 2006 laptop and a newer 11th gen Intel based laptop as both are Intel & need no special drivers.

[MAFoElffen]

Welcome to Ubuntu! Welcome to the world of Linux!

I can relate to being a student of CS, and the learning process. I was, then I taught CS. I loved teaching, though there wasn't much money in that.

What is your target platforms and languages for development?

I like to use Eclipse. I had used it for about 11-12 years. Before that I used VS-Code (Visual Studio) and prior to that just program editors, like NoteTab & NotePad +. I used to love using NoteTab, and wrote many libraries for it... But it is only runs on Windows OS. I stopped using VS-Code, as it is very brand based, and tends to lock you into their own toolsets.

Using an editor with intelli-text completion saves me a lot of time, and helps me to jump between different target languages. It also helps to be able to collapse segments of code to quickly check for syntax errors. We are all human. Things happen. You can pull your hair out looking for a stray extraneous character sometimes.

I tend to like to tweak and change things to my own liking. With Linux you can do that... Limited to time, your own imagination and what works. I "do that", not just for my own preferences, streaming my work flow, but to help with what I do, to be more productive with that. I can make changes in my code, then toggle to where I am testing it to see those changes, and what they did. Instant feedback.

I spend most of my time inside a gnome-session desktop... I know it and can set it up like I please. Later, I also created a custom i3 Desktop, where I can use custom hotkeys to toggle to different things to work on or test... very quickly.

That is the key. You do not just "code'. You need to debug your code and make sure it works. So you need to be able to test what you work on. With Linux and KVM, you have the abilities to do that quickly and effectively. Not just for different OS'es, but also for different architectures.

[Dennis N]

I want to start with Ubuntu because of its wide community and its gnome environment. So plz tell me if I should install Ubuntu or not. Because I don't know if it will work smoothly in my laptop.

Ubuntu and Gnome are good choices. Gnome is arguably the most popular desktop environment, with money behind it. Your machine looks promising as to Linux support, but testing it out will tell you for sure.

I assume you are taking courses. What does your instructor recommend for a Linux OS? Does any course use a specific one? That may narrow your choice.

[mrpritam]

Are you familiar with this process?

Yes

[MAFoElffen]

Yes

And I see from another thread that you have it installed and are using Ubuntu, but this thread is still open. The thread is not marked as "Solved" by you yet... So there might be something else causing you to keep it open(?)

So I am following up:
How is that going for you? Do you have further questions?