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Recommended way to "dabble" in Linux (SSD native, USB, or WSL)?
Recently I'd been wanting to familiarize myself with Linux again (long time ago I used to run a Sparc Workstation, then later on played with various flavors of Linux), but not quite sure about the best way to go about it.
AFAIK there are 3 main ways to get into doing this:
- Create an additional SSD partition and install Linux
- Create a bootable removable media (e.g. USB drive, external SSD)
- Utilize WSL
I had gone ahead and made a bootable USB (16GB) for Linux Mint. Initially I couldn't access it, then realized it was due to UEFI as primary boot mode--changing to Legacy fixed that. It's very easy to do this on my HP laptop--just start up with the USB drive installed, press F9, and then select the boot option. In Linux Mint, I see the Windows "device" and can browse it. This makes me a bit nervous... as in the past I once ran into trouble with a Windows partition no longer bootable, despite no user actions to disturb files while running a Linux instance (had painful gyrations to fix MBR, etc.).
The last one, WSL intrigues me. I hadn't been aware of WIndows 10 now offering this. On my primary system, I'm running Windows 10 20H2, with 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. Would running the WSL be the easiest, simplest, safest way to get into using Linux again? Is it essentially like a VM? Or is it quite limited and not able to convey the full Linux OS experience?
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