What would I need to know or change when switching from Windows to Linux?

[4r5hw45twh]

I've been thinking of just putting Linux on my server instead of Windows 10 but then I have to re-do allllll of the stuff that I have setup to auto-get certain shows and whatnot and I have no idea how to do all of that with Linux. I also have no idea if I could simply backup my Jellyfin folders on Win10 and simply copy them to Linux so that I don't have to do any configuring at all if I did switch OS's. Do I use Jellyfin within Docker on Linux? Or just JF? And if Docker, how do I have JF read my external hard drive with all of my JF media on it that gets auto-downloaded?

Then comes the conversation of, "which flavor of Linux?" I'd assume Ubuntu or Debian. I'd also prefer a GUI because I hate command lines and not visually seeing what I'm doing, plus one can navigate much faster by simple double-clicking on a GUi versus typing out commands all day.

[Efficient_Good_5784]

Just as a heads-up, I edited your post to remove mentions to things we don't allow to be discussed here unless they're part of an issue: https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-jellyfin-forum-rules
Please keep that in mind.

Anyways, if it's your first time using Linux, I would recommend you try out Ubuntu.
As for what you need to know, that's a very broad question. You generally will pick things up yourself bit by bit the more you spend time with Linux.
Just think for a bit if you never used or seen Windows in your life before. Would you think there's an easy way to get up-to-speed with your setup on day one?

What I would recommend is to install WSL, and then get Ubuntu with WSL on your Windows PC to play around with it. WSL stands for "Windows Subsystem for Linux".
That said, we do not recommend installing Jellyfin directly on WSL as there are many problems by doing so as at the end of the day, WSL is a virtualized Linux environment managed by Windows.
As per Microsoft, WSL is meant more for testing out quick commands and not really meant for a server environment.

I would get comfortable with using the CLI interface (basic Linux navigation, file management, etc., commands).
It's also up to you if you want to use Docker. You don't need to, but it has its advantages such as keeping your containers separate from the rest of the system.
You can mount external media into a Docker container too.

As you're playing around with Linux, you will eventually wonder how to do something (or if it's even possible).
You just look it up online and figure out how to do it.
Eventually after doing this for a while, it will just stick with you.
A lot of the convoluted stuff usually has instructions online too by the people that made the program or thing.

[4r5hw45twh]

Just as a heads-up, I edited your post to remove mentions to things we don't allow to be discussed here unless they're part of an issue: https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-jellyfin-forum-rules
Please keep that in mind.

Ah, ok, thank you for the heads-up. Ok, so if I have my 50TB external drive connected to my mini Linux (latest Ubuntu LTS), how would I go about always making that hard drive accessible on my server, in Docker? I guess I will use Docker for JF since it seems it'll add a layer of security or whatever. I just now installed the latest Ubuntu LTS release and have a GUI with it. Default, barebones install. For namesake, let's pretend the drive's name is "Media". My other main question is how do I have certain programs auto-start anytime the system boots up?

[txhammer68]

Just as a heads-up, I edited your post to remove mentions to things we don't allow to be discussed here unless they're part of an issue: https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-jellyfin-forum-rules
Please keep that in mind.

Ah, ok, thank you for the heads-up. Ok, so if I have my 50TB external drive connected to my mini Linux (latest Ubuntu LTS), how would I go about always making that hard drive accessible on my server, in Docker? I guess I will use Docker for JF since it seems it'll add a layer of security or whatever. I just now installed the latest Ubuntu LTS release and have a GUI with it. Default, barebones install. For namesake, let's pretend the drive's name is "Media". My other main question is how do I have certain programs auto-start anytime the system boots up?

Long time windows user switched to kubuntu 5 years ago
Try installing an Ubuntu LTS flavor in a virtual box first on your current windows installation. try some things , break some shit, try to fix it! better here than on your actual system!
LTS ~ long time support, meaning you get 3-5 years of support with base install, tradeoffs will be some apps will be out of date. but base system will be secure and stable. if that sounds good to you i would go that way , out of date apps can be updated with custom ppa repos or flatpaks
Yeah you can install kubuntu in 30 mins and get on the internet, easy, but if you are a windows power user, it will take you 3-6 months to get that proficient on ubuntu, but its worth it.
Linux gives you the control and power to do anything you can dream up with bash/python scripting to make things happen.
Stick with LTS distros to avoid cutting edge bugs and testing issues.
You can check out my kubuntu guide for desktop/media server usage
Good luck