Linux

In my opinion you're overthinking it.

Just get a live distro, put it on a USB, and boot into it. If it meets your needs, then install it.

Nah you're all good homie, and clearly an A+ student. Let the good debs roll!

Note that there isn't a Linux version of the protondrive app. ... I know! what the fuck right?

Secondly, I would just shove Linux Mint onto a USB and use that as a live distro with persistence for a while, just to get used to things. I'm not a fan of debian(/-based) or apt, but it works.

More important would be to have another device where you can go to internet to google or to download binaries for the time if you get stuck.

My first time I couldn't connect to internet because I was missing firmware for the laptop. I had to use the computer at my work to troubleshoot it and download the necessary package to get it working. That took a lot of days.

You're all good to go.

Just wanted to add this though: Pick some of your USB stick and make it your emergency Linux live install media.

Also it would be a nice idea to set your /home directory to a seperate drive, it's like using D: on Windows.

Good luck on your journey!

Sounds like you’re all prepared. I’d just bookmark Debian’s NVIDIA page as the drivers are proprietary and not included in the base install. Typically, you can install using the generic Nouveau driver and then switch to the proprietary driver after the install; however, should you run into problems such as a blank screen, google “Debian nomodeset” to get around the graphics driver.

It sounds like you've taken the appropriate precautions. I'm sure others will have better suggestions, but perhaps you can try running a VM for a week or so as if you've made the switch and take note of anything you feel you may be lacking.

I'm not so sure if taking screenshots of exact settings is the correct mindset. Sometimes you have a different selection of software available and you might for example want to change your email-client or learn a new video editor because some other software works better on linux or is tied into the system better. You also need to adapt a few workflows to be maximally effective. Because some things just work differently on Linux.

I think your approach is quite good. All I want to say is: I've seen people get very disappointed with Linux. Especially if they try to recreate their Windows-experience closely. Be prepared to let go of your now perfectly configured software and start fresh with more things than you currently anticipate.

But Linux is awesome. I think the most important thing is to do a backup first. In case something goes wrong and you accidentally wipe your harddrive or you need to go back.

You will find what you further need on the go, no need to get more ready than what you've already done.

Been a few years since I did a Debian install, but IMO it's fairly daunting for a noob unless it's changed a lot. I found Arch easier to install (this is not me suggesting you use Arch, just making a comparison - I currently don't use Arch btw.)

I would disagree with the prior poster urging you to use Debian testing/unstable partially because saying it like that as they did implies they are the same, which they are not.

Suggest if you stick with Debian (which is a fine and foundational distro, I'm just not sure it's a good choice for a noob - but again haven't touched vanilla debian in years), you read this page first (and the page for each of the branches) to decide which release to use. https://wiki.debian.org/DebianReleases

Is that nvidia card old, do you need very fast performance? You could use the nouveau drivers which are mostly FOSS.

If you need the proprietary drivers though, I advise against updated Distros except ublue.it

Debian might be an exception as it upgrages so slowly, but I also wouldnt recommend Debian really. Debian + GNOME is probably very fine, even though also here you will miss a lot of cool new updates, but Debian + KDE is simply not ready and all those bugs are now only fixed in Plasma 6.

So my recommendation is a ublue-nvidia image, no matter what desktop you like

If you don't have a secondary windows device, I recommend dual booting, or immediately setting up a windows VM. Beyond that, you're over thinking it, and by that I mean, you'll never think of everything. There will always be some little thing that you'll have a dependency on windows for, and that's why you have a secondary windows install handy.

Before I made the switch, I did something similar to what you did. To enumerate my steps: 1 - Learned about Linux in general(I learn a lot at university) 2 - Picked a distro 3 - Adapted to the Linux workflow in Windows, for example using more terminal, updating packages via winget/chocolatey, using wsl etc. 4 - Used FOSS alternatives in Windows 5 - Made a list of all the programs I needed to find a replacement for that don't have a Windows version to try out 6 - Made a list of things to try out, like themes, tiling windows, desktops, etc 7 - Live distro for a day 8 - Completely removed Windows from my life forever

Honestly, besides backupping my data from Windows and choosing a distro that fit my needs, I didn't really do any preparation.

As many people mentioned backups before, I would only add this: Maybe check -in your favourite search engine- if the very same model of computer that you use doesn't have know quirks (hardware needing some tweaking, not being fully recognized, etc.) with gnu/linux, like for instance searching "$model linux" or "$model $distro" (with the distros you plan on trying, etc.

Also maybe if you connect only via Wifi, check that wifi chip for compatibility first, and maybe get as a backup a USB wifi dongle that is know to work on gnu/linux... juuuust in case ;)

If you plan on using something like Gentoo, building Gentoo and running it in a VM a couple times tends to be a smart play.

I've been using Gentoo for ages, as I'm a stickler for stripping down everything to its bare minimum and even I tend to first have a couple runs at building and running it on new hardware, from within a VM.

Going in knowing the intimate details of the hardware you use is always going to be a big plus.

You should make a detailed check list of things you do on windows. Down to every details as much as you can, so that there's very little surprise when you switch to linux.

For example, if you use MS Office Excel and you tend to use specific formula or expect something specific when you export to PDF or print things out. So that you can test these out on Libre Calc to see if it works for you.

We tens to gloss over these tiny details when switching to linux and sometimes it makes or breaks adoption.

Will also work to just dual boot and trybto do everything in linux. Might be tedious at first. Try to resist booting into windowsif you're stuck for a while.