Wish there was a way to switch my phone to Linux without it having to be a new hobby to learn.
this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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Yeah, if you have a Pixel, GrapheneOS looks to be the least complicated, but it's still daunting. I haven't tried it yet.
I'm going to attempt to kindly countermand this, there is a web installer for chrome based browsers that I believe anyone intelligent enough to navigate the fediverse can step through easily enough.
The base install with play services enabled is a stock android experience all things considered; the extra features and additional security are there for those that want to engage with it.
That is my push to get you going. =)
I've done this with an old Pixel (partly to wipe the phone, and partly as a hope that if it's refurbished/resold, the new owner will have Graphene). If you can read and follow a recipe, it's virtually stupid-proof. I don't remember having to know anything for which the directions didn't specify or offer explicit directions.
That is a kind gesture to the new owner, good on you!
I did this my my new pixel 8 pro. I loved it.
It was so easy, it worked, I was in control of my device.
Contactless payment didn't work.
Which is a deal breaker for me.
I looked at some fin-tech solutions, I even bought a pixel watch (which didnt work because I have a workspace account). None of them let me work around the issue. Contactless just wouldn't work.
Had to go back to stock android.
I'm constantly checking in on their attribution/verification/whatever status that would allow them to offer contactless payment (currently offered by android/apple/banks, but no open source software).
I want grapheneos and contactless so badly!
I echo Hominine's comments - the most difficult part of installing GrapheneOS is getting your hands on Pixel hardware (for a good price).
Graphene is still Android, which is only tangentially Linux at this point. PostmarketOS is more a proper Linux phone (there are a few others but that one seems to be the most along version to date). It does boot on certain models but even the best ones are a bit finicky still.
If you have a suitable device, Sailfish OS is pretty much Okay, right out of the box. Well, you have to flash it first, but apart from that.
Brave to say such controversial things in a Linux community!
pc gamer is a linux community?
anyways, since y'all here: I wanna change to Linux but didn't use any for almost 20 years (changed my lavor of nerd to social science amid others).
Soo whats the best one if you don't have tooo much time on your hands for some proper computer nerding?
I do light gaming, office stuff and torrents.
Thanks so much in advance!
Debian Stable works great for me out of the box.
I've been using EndeavourOS for 12 months now.
Very light steam gaming. Office stuff is basically web browsers (occasionally I have to swap to windows boot for silly excel spreadsheets that don't work online). Programming is delightful.
It's been solid, and the installer was great.
The major issues have been from dual booting windows (disable fast boot!) and from not updating frequently enough (keychain issues, tho endeavouros has plenty of "newb needs to update" helpers).
I love it. It's mine, I own that laptop, and endeavouros works for me. I feel so much more in control than I ever did on windows.
I do have some basic experience running Debian servers (VMs for single service, or docker stuff), and I do programming.
Mint is very popular and easy
It's funny to frame it as bravery. Maybe that's clickbait strategy. Regardless desktop Linux is great. Only a handful of kernel level anticheat games are a problem. No you don't need adobe suite for your YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok influencer aspirations. Even open source applications that don't stack up to Adobe or Avid or whatever exceed what's needed to succeed in social media. More than enough for what amounts to solo projects
What’s this tiny laptop?
lol, "now"
Linux has been good for at least 20 years for everything but Microsoft Flight Simulator and Adobe anything
My many hours spent fighting GPU and WiFi drivers and getting sleep to work properly on laptops just 10 years ago beg to differ lmao
Been using Linux on Thinkpads and shitty Dells just fine for 20 years.
Buy compatible hardware. I never hear about windows not working on some random laptop only because the hardware manufacturer wrote fucking drivers for windows.
"Oh no! I put diesel fuel in my gasoline car and now it doesn't run!"
GTFO with that shit
What’s the tiny laptop? I’d love to have one, especially if that’s available as a cheap useless piece of electronics I can slap Linux into.
Its a vaio c1
Oh, thank you! The link is very detailed. I’ll try to hunt one down. I like to try this for text editing.
I try again and again to switch, since 30 years ago I first tried Linux with Slackware. But as a .NET developer, Microsoft makes sure the toolchain for anything other than Windows is subpar and I keep coming back to Visual Studio. Yes I have tried Rider and Visual Studio Code.
I mean... its been the year for years. Linux has been usable for a long while as a full time pc