Linux

I studied Computing Sciences and switched to Linux in my second year. I'll skip the computing science specifics, but my overall experience was really good.

First of all, know that when you install a Linux based OS on your laptop, that you are fully responsible to make sure it works. In a BYOD exam, I had to unzip virtual machine hard disks and import them, and something went wrong. I ended up not being able to do the first try of the exam. So be sure you know how to get around and do whatever you need to do, even the specifics.

I tried to make MS office work on Fedora and got it to work using WinApps. However turning on and off a Windows virtual machine all the time you need office takes time. I found it not worth the hassle. LibreOffice can save documents in .docx format, however, there are some compatibility issues where documents don't look the same on your/your group's end. I have stuck to OnlyOffice which looks very similar to Windows and has very good compatibility. If you want to live edit with friends you can use Google Docs or the web version of Microsoft Office.

My university is invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, the administrators disabled the use of third party mail clients. I had to use the web client of outlook. Minor inconvenience but one to take in to account nonetheless.

If an app is not available you can always create a web app from the web browser so you can get the web version.

If you run in to an application you need, but is not available as a package of your distribution (deb, rpm, flatpak, snap, appimage etc), you might be able to translate it with Wine, an application like Bottles should make this quite easy, as long as it's a simple application. Worst case scenario you need a Windows VM and install it in there.

If you need more specifics let us know. Good luck on your journey!

Mainly only with my PS2.

I'm a bit like you! I'm studying to become a High School science teacher, so I'm not in a technical program. My computer serves mostly as a typing machine. I switched 2 years ago and it wasn't all smooth, but I'll share some of the things I encountered and what I did.

First problem I had, cloud sync. I used to be a a big OneDrive user and I wanted to sync everything with my drive as I used to be. There isn't a very good program for syncing OneDrive. I bought a licence to InSync and it made it work flawlessly. Seriously good software! (nowadays I host my own Nextcloud server, but don't start with that, it's a lot of job for not a whole lot).

Second problem was getting used to LibreOffice. Compared to Office, LO isn't formated around pages, every text you write is considered "one big text" and then it calculates where to put its page breaks and everything. What does it change? Not a whole lot, but technically speaking, it's not as good as a formatting tool as Word is. Doesn't really matter if you aren't a formatting freak like I am, but it took me a some time to get use to it. To get better with it, I recommend you to practice styles on it (text style and page style).

Third problem, collaboration. I didn't find a very good solution to it. What I do is I ask all my colleagues to write their parts online (Google Docs, MS Office Online,...) then once everything is done and perfectly written, I download it and open it in LO and do the final formatting. So I'm always the one doing the formatting. It's important than when you give it back to your teachers, give it in a .PDF format. (Btw, unrelated, but look into Zotero, it's a life saver)

And a general tip and trick I could give you is to keep close a Windows/Mac machine (not with you at all times, but just something you access fairly easily if you plan in advance). There were a few times a professor mandated that we submitted the work in MS office format, and I didn't want to risk it not being right, so I did it in LO and polished it in Office. That and I was asked to use a very specific, Windows only software, so having it was very useful.

If you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

I was in for computer science major but took lots of other electives. The only course I needed Windows for was Windows App Programming. The rest I was fine with on Linux.

Almost everything was web based. Being in computer science i did have to write code and compile executables that my TAs running Windows could run; so it wasn't perfectly smooth. There was also Respondus Lockdown, but I could borrow a laptop from the library to use it.

It depends on the field you are studying. I was into CS, using Linux was recommended because the machines they used to test our code were also running linux.

Most fields are going to be okay with linux, the only exception being fields that rely on specialized software like architects, engineers, and audio/video editing. Also, some software like MatLab are possible to run on Linux but it's a pain to set them up.

I'm a CS student and Linux was great for all of the programming classes. For any classes that were more writing focused you can still use the online versions of MS office/Google drive. I'm assuming there aren't any programs you'll need specific to psychology but that is sometimes a problem with some STEM majors like engineering

The one problem that kept me dual-booting on my laptop was OneNote. I like taking notes using a pen for some classes (and my laptop has pen support) and nothing I tried on Linux even comes close in my experience. I tried obsidian + excalidraw plugin, along with xournalpp, but nothing came close for the way I take notes.

My freshman year I had a windows VM, only for WeChat and MS Teams, but by 2nd year WeChat got Linux support and MS Teams can now run in the browser, so I deleted the VM halfway through 2nd year. Zoom can also run in the browser.

Also a good idea to make sure your microphone and camera works.

And don't update if there's a deadline coming up soon since it might break.

None of my professors required anything to be submitted as .docx. Every single general education class required PDFs for submissions, and programming classes were usually submitted by pushing to code to a Git repository. Group projects were all done in Google Drive which runs in the browser, otherwise latex usually worked (one prof even required latex). I never used LibreOffice, but I'm pretty sure it should be fine for PDFs.

Psychology might require a bunch of proprietary statistical analysis software that probably won't support Linux. I would say a windows VM is best for that. Although R is fine on Linux. I was in computer science so none of my classes required proprietary software. In total over every single class I think only C, C++, Haskell, and Python interpreters/compilers were needed which are all free software. In some of my classes professors said they would refuse to help anyone on Windows if they weren't using an Ubuntu VM. One even said he would subtract points if anyone asked a question about windows. One crazy prof said he would fail you from the class if he saw you developing in Windows instead of the VM. Also any classes that require Docker are going to be way easier on Linux. Some of my friends were electrical engineers and they had to use some big proprietary IDE's for flashing binaries to micro controllers which didn't support Linux, but they were using Windows anyways. Also any CAD software almost certainly won't work, a VM is needed for that.

If you do use a windows VM or dual boot or whatever, make sure to pirate Windows 10 LTSC since it has the least default applications installed and will run faster.

It was 1993, so not super impressed, but I needed a tex distribution, and PC dos tex sucked. The best option was a Nextcube, but that was a little out of reach being as much as tuition. Or use the x terminals in the crowded computer lab (shudder).

But I was able to keep that slackware install up and working just long enough to get my thesis done.

It didn't exist!

Depends on your school/classes. I had no problems. Last school I attended used MS for email etc. I got a discounted license for Office which I was able to access in the browser if/whenever LibreOffice wasn't a good option.

Current student here (CS, so sadly not in your field):

In my case, college/university actually made sure, I and many others would be using Linux as their main system. The computer lab is using Linux (Ubuntu 22.04 mainly) although Windows machines (mostly for beginner courses) and Macs (for stuff like Final Cut Pro and other Apple exclusive software) are available and many courses are either requiring or putting mainline support towards Linux.

Document wise - we were taught LaTeX from day 1 and are expected to have at least the knowledge to utilize the given .cls files. Sharing documents is rather a free-for-all: When LaTeX is required for the course, either Overleaf or the university git is the choice for group-work, otherwise there aren't requirements for using .docx files or other files.

Hope I could give you an insight, although not in your field.

I had no issues with compatibility, just made sure to save documents to older microsoft office formats in the hopes of avoiding issues.

I never had to use an exam browser or anything like that, I'd imagine you'd want to have a polite conversation with the instructor if that were to occur, perhaps they can make an exception or allow you to do it on a library computer

Collaboration was always over google docs, so there were never any problems working with others. My CS classes were all expected to be done in Linux VMs so that was sort of ideal. Other science/humanities classes were totally software-agnostic.

What will you be studying?

When I did CompSci (before dropping out anyway), Linux was actually the recommended setup.

When I switched to Communications, I pushed on with Linux for a long while -- MSOffice wasn't really a thing? Professors and colleagues alike all used GSuite, which runs in browser and is therefore OS-agnostic. Nobody cared what I was using, we all just wrote stuff in Google Docs. (that said, if everyone around IS using MSOffice, then in my experience, stuff translates between Word and LibreOffice pretty well? There's a little bit of derping around with PowerPoint ig, but word documents were seamless afaic. ALSO it should be noted that if you have to use M$ stuff, Office365 has a completely functional WebApp :P)

I did a lot of graphical work on GIMP and Inkscape.

Buuuuuuut eventually we got to like. Video and compositing related stuff. And much as I'd like to, nothing on Linux can even come close to what Premiere and After Effects can do. A lot of my professors had Macs, but even if I wanted a Mac, I couldn't afford one. (neither could 95% of my colleagues) So I had to set up Windows. Though it should be noted that since I live in Brazil, my professors encouraged & helped us with pirating the Adobe suite lmao.

I actually kept using GIMP/Inkscape on Windows for graphics stuff, simply because I didn't want to relearn all the keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop/Illustrator.

Anyway now that I've graduated and mostly do writing (worked at a news site, now trying for a job as copywriter at an ad agency), I still keep my Windows install around just in case^tm^ but have not logged into it in like a year.

It should also be noted that, at least here in Brazil, Canva has consumed like 80% of the market for graphical work. They never ask for Photoshop experience anymore, they ask for Canva. It's weird to me because they have totally different vibes, with Canva having all those presets and shit, but it is what it is. :P

In college right now 2yr computer science, anything Microsoft is a pain to work offline. I miss the onedrive sync in windows i just use syncthing for that now .

I use onlyoffice since it has one of the best Microsoft office compatibility though I submit my obsidian export as a pdf for my assignments or records.

If you really need ms office or for group projects and you have an o365 account, just use the web version for it.

I did computer science 5 years ago and it was mostly good. I used KDE Neon before it was considered a real user distro by developers so I had some Wayland issues. When I tried to use the commandline and edit config files manually I messed stuff up but using the distro as intended was always nice and easy.

Your milage may vary depending on what programs your school forces you to use because universities don't support anything except Linux and Mac. I want to argue for accessibility but teachers don't care enough.

When I studied at the uni 5 years ago we only collaborated over Google Docs. I'd strongly recommend online collaboration over sending files back and forth. For most things I ran Linux, and booted into Windows when there was a particular need for it, which wasn't often. But it all depends on what software you're expected to run during your studies. If you have room on your drive maybe having a minimal Windows install along side Linux could be a good thing?

Also, I'd recommend a distro that comes out of the box with working BTRFS snapshots. The last thing you want is have the machine you rely on for school shit the bed due to a bad update or something you do, and you have to learn how to repair Linux in the middle of an assignment that's due tomorrow. With snapshots you can just roll back to before it shat the bed.

I'm also curious about how well LibreOffice and Microsoft Office mesh, i.e. can you share and edit documents together with MOffice users if you use LibreOffice?

You can. But if the sender is the type to use linebreaks for spacing and textbox for grouping, be prepared that the layout may explode after saving and reopening the .docx in LO.
But that's the formats (MS OOXML) fault, consists mostly of proprietary extensions, no such issues with .odt (ODF).

Used it for physics stuff

It depends on the college and the region honestly. Remember they are trying to prepare you for a job.

With that being said Linux tends to be pretty popular in high ed especially in computer science. Mac OS and of course Windows also have a foothold. I would get into virtualization and distrobox (podman). Even if something is natively supported on Linux is best not to pollute your system with junk. Create separate environments for everything.

you can just dual boot linux next to Windows and switch to Windows when needed. I really like my linux fedora - way more than windows or macos.

What do i like about it?

• it's very easy to work with multiple virtual desktops
• it looks way more beautiful and is more fun to work with
• extentions make it very customizable, e.g. in the top left I can see the title and artist of the current song playing.
• the feeling of of not being spied on, at least on the os level, I still think online is a lot of tracking
• the apps are open source and trustable and do just what they are suppoesed to do and nothing more
  • there is an app to download youtube videos (parabolic)
  • the audio player is very beautiful and minimalistic - I miss it on windows (amberol)
  • the app solanum is a timer app just for the pomodoro time management method. It helped me a lot
  • for notes I use Joplin, which does the job reliable. But I have to admit that I liked working with OneNote more, since it has more functionality and way better pen support.

Regarding office was my experience that MS Office is still better if you have to make an presentation or want to work at the same document at the same time. For basic office work LibreOffice is fine. I would use OnlyOffice if you want better compatibility with MS Office.

I booted windows only if I had to do a presentation or work with an Windows exclusive programm. But most of the time (around 90-95%) I used happily Linux Fedora. I use it for note taking, listening to music, browsing the web and reading & marking PDFs.

I use Firefox as my primary browser but it has sometimes problems with some videos. Then I switch to Brave which does not have those issues. I general I think Linux needs some time to get used to and wants to be discoverd. It's not that difficult as it may sound but probably wont be a without some learning curve and looking some things up online. I recommend doing it since my user experience has been much better than on windows or macos - plus the privacy thing :)

I switched to Linux while going back to school in 2014.

My calculus class had one of those "buy the $80 textbook to get the code for the online assignments" things which didn't want to work in Linux. I think the URL had something to do with Wolfram. Figures. Side question: Do they still give out copies of Mathematica to Raspberry Pi owners?

Turns out English professors can't tell the difference between Times New Roman and Liberation Sans.

Writing papers in LibreOffice Writer isn't a problem, it works fine for that. My professors tended to want them printed out and turned in on paper, so they had no clue what software made it. Printing to PDF works perfectly well too; if they specifically want a .docx file you'll probably survive. I would probably recommend OnlyOffice over LibreOffice for MS Office compatibility, but an MLA formatted school essay should survive that conversion.

The least plausible thing was working with other students on PowerPoint presentations. LibreOffice Impress works well enough, you can put words and pictures on slides, but its compatibility with PowerPoint just ain't there. "Let's each make five slides." maybe if you work with a blank template first, collect them all together, then apply a style.

It is pretty good actually. I can install every programming language compiler/interpreter in Linux and everything just work fine.

LibereOffice should work fine if you work on it and export it to pdf. If you want to bounce between LiberOffice and msoffice then don't expect things to go smoothly.

Any other things to keep in mind when solely using Linux for your studies Go for a stable distro like Debian, don't install bleeding edge distro like Arch or Gentoo unless you really want to.

@clark Uni sould their soul to Microsoft, not one Linux machine in sight.
However, I've been using it since last year just fine, as it was intro to programming class.
Though, I will have one electronics class down the line which uses a proprietary, Windows-only, not-gonna-give-you-a-license software, and it really sucks.
Hoping that next time it gets better...

Big waste of time. Spent too much time troubleshooting to get it working on my laptop before I just said "fuck it" and installed Windows. There was way too much software compatibility issues and I was spending more time troubleshooting than I was studying. I'm sure Linux can work for some students but for me and the field I majored in, Linux is no bueno.

I studied CompSci, so a very technical field, and with one exception (Power BI), everything I used ran on Linux just as well. For my Thesis, I used TeXStudio. For normal writing or presentations, I just used LibreOffice. For calculations, I used Python. For collaborative document editing, we used Google Docs.

Word of caution: LibreOffice supports the various formats of MS Office, but I've had issues the other way around, where a presentation I created in LO wouldn't work in MSO. If you need to collab on files together, I'd recommend Google Docs. If it's just you, I recommend sending PDF versions along with (or instead of) the original file, just to be sure.

I made it through college without using windows on any of my personal machines, but I did need to access a library or computer lab to take 1 test that needed a specialized web browser for some reason. Other than that, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to slip by with a good PDF viewer, libreoffice, and Inkscape.

My degree was in computer engineering, most groups I worked in outside of the engineering department just preferred collaboration through office online or google docs.

I've used Linux all through college and haven't had any problems. I never had to use Windows only software for my degree, but I can't really say what you might need. LibreOffice can mess up the formatting of more complex documents, but will normally be fine. If you're working in a group project and need to use shared docs you can always use Word or Google Docs online.

Comp sci undergrad from a mid tier university graduated in 2012, didn't need Windows at all. I mostly used an Ubuntu desktop, pocket sized mini laptop with bsd, and a red hat vdi the school provided during a research assistantship.

The school had labs in the library and comp sci building if you needed windows for something but it never came up. Group projects shared files on school provided web based tools or dropbox and used the same for class forums, sharing docs and assignments, etc. Some web stuff was broken for Firefox and had to use chrome, but never hit anything requiring IE (pre Edge).

Even if you're not in a technical field you may want to explore some of the common tools they use like git for version control (like save/restore points in a video game), LaTeX/TeX for better typesetting than office, and off-site backups.

I actually switched to Ubuntu full-time way back in 2006 when I went back to school (anthro major), specifically to help me focus when using my computer and not get distracted by playing video games. Of course, nowadays with wine and proton on steam, that might not be as effective. But it worked well for me, never experienced any issues with word docs opening in libre office (or rather open office back then) or vice versa. There was once or twice where I had to use a computer in the lab in the library to run some niche program or another for an assignment, but not a big deal.