Windows 7 End of Support

For someone who knows nothing about Linux, your best bet is probably Mint. Although Zorin would be a close second. They will both come with Libre Office, a full office suite which has everything MS office does. Drivers for most printers will not be a problem, most of the time it will find and configure your printer automatically. same for sound. Browser will be Firefox for mint (I think); Evolution for Zorin (which resembles Outlook, but you may need to configure it). Both are very reliable and well developed. download links are easily found on their home pages. Just remember to choose 64 bit (unless your computer is 32 bit). There should be good installation instructions available as well, either on the download page or the user forum. You will need to decide if you are keeping Windows, in which case you will either need to install Linux to a separate drive, or the same drive (dual-boot). The easiest of course is to install to the whole drive; you just accept all the defaults. But dual-booting on the same drive is pretty straightforward as well; there is an option to "install alongside Windows," which will put Linux on the same drive while leaving windows alone. You will then choose which OS to boot when you start up, from something called the Grub menu.

Mint: Download - Linux Mint

Zorin: Download - Zorin OS

I would recommend the cinnamon desktop for Mint, unless your computer has problems because it is so old; then you want Mate or XFCE. You could actually try two different desktop versions, one for each hard drive. that way you could pick choose between them. most people prefer cinnamon; it's attractive and easy to navigate. Mate is the most basic and works great with older hardware. XFCE is in between, in terms of "lightness."

You could also put Mint on one drive, Zorin on the other, and decide which of those two you like better. but I would recommend staying with just one for starters. You will have enough to learn on just one Linux OS, let alone two at once. So I would put Mint Cinnamon on one drive, and Mint Mate on the other. They will look a bit different, but both will be Mint. you can then see which works best. I would start with Cinnamon. If that works well you will probably just stay with it. Cinnamon is visually attractive if that is important. All three Mints resemble Windows, in that they all have a standard Start Menu at the lower left. and then a bottom panel (it will look way too small to Windows users, but you can change that. Linux is highly customizable).

When you install, the installer will present you with a bunch of options. It will automatically detect windows, and the first option will be to install Mint along-side Windows. The installer will create the partitions it needs to install Mint, usually one large one for the OS, and a small 6 GB one called a Swap, which is for extra memory I believe. Other options will allow you to do the partitioning yourself, which I don't recommend for a newbie. Or to install mint on the entire drive, which will wipe out Windows. don't do this, obviously, if you plan to keep windows.

In my first go with Linux, I installed Mint Mate, since my computer was an older desktop by Gateway, and I thought it might need a lighter system. It tuned out to be fine with cinnamon, however. I also tried XFCE and that turned out to be my favorite. but I gave up using mint several years ago. Since then I have used at least 15 different Linuxes, plus a couple BSD systems. Currently I have Zorin 15, Solus 4, Linux Lite and Watt OS. My favorite is Zorin, with Solus close behind. After you get your feet wet, you may want to "distro hop," but this can be addictive!

One of the great things about Linux is, most distros allow you to test the system without installing it. You just download, burn the iso to a DVD or USB, start your computer from that, and you have a live version of the system. Not installed; you're running off the DVD/USB. This is also where you install from. there will be an icon on the desktop "Install Mint." That is where you begin the installation process.

Zaph, Mate, Cinnamon etc refer to desktop environments, Basically the graphical user interface. The look and feel. Some are very lightweight, like Mate, some are heavier like, cinnamon. The lighter ones are good for older hardware. But all are still mint, under the hood. You can also install alternative desktops, in addition to the one you installed, and choose which one to run at login. but I would avoid that right off the bat.

As for the thread, if a moderator or the OP doesn't object, it shouldn't be a problem.

"Which distro looks the most like 7 with the aero?"

If that's what you want, your best bet would be the KDE desktop. It includes a theme that's very Windows-like (among others). You can get details about Linux over at Distro Watch.

Great work, Zaph! you've taken the first step. It is not unusual to encounter problems at first. People migrating from Windows to Linux somehow expect it to be perfect, while forgetting all the problems they had with windows!

You should definitely join the mint forum (or any forum for the Linux you are using). you will get much better help there. This is, after a all, a windows forum. discussing Linux in general is definitely relevant on this forum, as W7 is coming to EOL soon. But once you get Linux up and running, you need much more specific help than would be appropriate on a Windows forum.

I personally found Linux to be very liberating. It allows you to take control of your computer, instead of just being a passive recipient like microsoft wants you to be. Oh, and it's free! Although donations are always appreciated, and they don't have to be large.

townsbg said:

Which distro looks the most like 7 with the aero? I'm not really liking Cinnamon.

There are transparency themes available for Cinnamon. At least there were last time I used it.

Re: KDE, I have used it on Manjaro as well as Ubuntu, but always had problems. It is certainly attractive, but I found updates not working right. I had to move on from both. In the long run, stability is more important than looks. I also loved the aero theme, but find I can do without it now.

I'm pretty sure it's possible to put an aero-like theme on most Linuxes. You may have to search around to find them, and you may need help installing them.

Zorin 15 with the dark theme (included) looks gorgeous. And Zorin's start menu is very Windows like. In general, I would say that Zorin may be best choice for those who want as close to a windows-like experience as possible.