What should we do after January 2020

spc3rd said:

A couple of questions...

1. Is there a specific website(s) recommended, from which to download a Linux distro?

2. Which version of Linux is suggested for someone who hasn't the faintest idea of how Linux works, and needs to start out 'simple'?

Much obliged for any info!

I spent many, many hours researching which Linux distro was easiest for Windows users...and one distro kept coming up towards the top of most web site's list...Linux Mint. It comes complete with lots of software, can use propriety drivers and comes with codecs necessary for media play. It's a full featured OS, but considered great for beginners as it's easy to install and use. The guts of Linux is different than Windows, but the graphics (the desktop layout and menu) is more similar to W7 that W10 is to W7. I got the hang of it in a few hours and within a few days I was loving it! And after a couple weeks I decided it would be my new OS.

The links that Lady Fitzgerald and Poorguy posted are very helpful. Linux Mint 19.2 with the Cinnamon desktop is their flag ship OS. It not only looks the best IMO but is the easiest to use (at least for me it was). There's other Linux distros too, but I haven't tried them, of course most all are free to try.

Neither LadyF nor I are brainwashed, and I'm aware of M$'s flaws. I work online, and while I'm not forced to use Office (I use OpenOffice,) I have to use Windows or a Mac. LadyF hit the nail on the head re: the big learning curve, the time to do it and the lack of Windows programs that run in Linux. So I might play with Linux on my 4th desktop in my copious free time. ;-)

remm said:

...

...PS About Sandoxie - for anyone unfamiliar and maybe interested, don't bother with the latest version (5.3x) as the company that currently maintains it is asking for name/add/phone to download the latest version. This is a new requirement based on some gvmt BS. Just look for the last SBIE version 5.2xx and you won't have that issue. Then keep an eye out for it to go open source and update it then.

You're not required to give them your real name and address or phone #, and you can use a throwaway 1-hour email from GuerrillaMail.

poorguy said:

A good read.

Linux is NOT Windows...

Excellent article. Collins hits many of those points in the video I linked and he has (I think) another one specifically on that topic (or it may have been a post on his forum).

poorguy said:

...I think you will be surprised how easy Linux is to learn....

Actually, methinks you would be surprised how difficult it will be for me to learn how to use Linux. I have various learning disabilities, chief of which is ADHD. It's taken me years to get to where I am now with Win 7 (and that's primarily because much of what I learned in XP was applicable to Win 7 (and the leap from NT to XP was a nightmare for me). Learning Linux will probably be easier than it was for me in Windows but it still won't be a picnic.

maxseven said:

Years ago now I had some Linux-based servers and it was mostly great fun learning and using them. As for converting to Linux exclusively, I can't do it because I have several W-only programs that are the reasons I even have a computer now, so will continue using W7 until I can't anymore for whatever reason.

I suppose it is possible that in the future these programs will be converted-to or runnable-on Linux-based computers and when they are I'll certainly do it.

This what I was referring to when I said it may be necessary to develop a new work flow. Since Linux operates differently than Windows, often direct program conversion is not possible. Instead for looking for Linux versions of Windows programs (there are a few but not many), you will probably have to look for Linux programs that will, either individually or as a group, do what it is you want to accomplish. It probably be necessary to think outside the box.

Here is an example of this. I use multi-page .tif files to serve as containers for the scans I made of the album art and information for each of my DVDs/BDs before chucking the bulky cases they cam in and storing the discs in a storage box designed for the purpose. I would have used PDFs for the job but PDFs can't be tagged and .tiff files can. Tagging is the easiest way to change the sorting of the list of discs I have (by assigned file number or by movie title). In Win 7, I used Irfanview to create and view multipage .tif files but I could not, for the life of me, find a Linux graphics program that could make and view multi-page .tif files (neither could anyone I asked online). However, purely by accident (and dumb luck), I discovered that my commercial PDF creation/editing/viewing program I use in Win 7, Qoppa's PDF Studio Pro (which has a Linux version), is capable of either accepting .jpg or .pdf scans of the album art (and any other data included, such as booklets), and export them into a multipage .tif file. It also views multipage .tif files as though they are PDFs (and actually does a better job for viewing them than Irfanview). If I should ever want to (although I cannot ever enision wanting to do so), I can save the .tif I'm viewing as a PDF.

This is a completely different work flow than I had been using. I may even affect how I scan the covers since it won't be necessary to create individual .jpg files, allowing me to streamline the process by scanning multiple pages in my duplexing (scans both sides at once) ADF (Automatic Document Feed) scanner.

My ADF and flatbed scanners do not have Linux drivers available, neither proprietary or open source. Fortunately, there is a program called VueScan that will allow the use of my scanners in Linux (also, Windows and Mac, which was how I was able to try it out). You have to pay for a license for use on up to six devices (whoch is not strictly enforced) but their is a license is lifetime and is well worth it. Even that, however, has significant learning curve and uses a workflow that is different from my scanners' drivers. The one that will drive me nuts the most is that I have to name the resulting file and set the file type before I scan instead of afterwards as I'm used to doing.

RoWin7 said:

Neither LadyF nor I are brainwashed, and I'm aware of M$'s flaws. I work online, and while I'm not forced to use Office (I use OpenOffice,) I have to use Windows or a Mac. LadyF hit the nail on the head re: the big learning curve, the time to do it and the lack of Windows programs that run in Linux. So I might play with Linux on my 4th desktop in my copious free time. ;-)

I'll have you know that my brain is squeeky clean. You hit the head on the nail () when you suggested using a fourth machine to learn Linux on while still using your Windows and Mac machines.

remm said:

:) It is the very fact I have played with Linux repeatedly over the years - even installing Ubuntu on a spare laptop - and using various live drive distros (e.g. Puppy and several others, including Mint), that I know for a fact I do not want to switch to Linux. It's nice to have as a tool and fun to play with 'in all that copious time' few of us have, :) but other than that... y'eah. Not for me.

For me, staying with Windows (especially going to Win 10) is not an option. It will be a nightmare learning to use Linux and the new programs and workflows that will be needed in Linux to do what I do now in Win 7 (so far, I only Windows program I have that I haven't found a Linux program to do the same thing is Finale's music notation program but I haven't done any music writing or arranging in 12 years so I'm not losin g any sleep over it). I'm fortunate in that I'm retired and I'm not limited by an employer that dictates which programs I have to use. ( to employers)