Windows 7 End of Support

ZaphodB · 01 Sep 2019

michael diemer said:

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.

Cheers Michael,

I have joined the Mint Forum (using the same username as this forum) and had a bunch of replies to my first Linux Mint 'noob' questions.

Downloaded Mint with Xfce, MATE and Cinnamon GUIs - so far only played with Xfce and am well impressed.

Link for anyone interested: Linux Mint Download Page (has links for all 3 GUIs mentioned above in 32 and 64-bit versions)

I may bin Windows 7 sooner rather than later! Current 1TB laptop drive has 230Gb of free space - so may 'Dual Boot' with Mint once I decide which GUI I like the best.

I will continue to ask questions about Linux on the Mint forum (I feel that I've provided enough of a diversion from this thread already).

Zaph

michael diemer · 01 Sep 2019

Yeah, the mint forum is great, very active and helpful. I thought i was still on it, but I must have left. I'm on so many forums that I try to d/c the ones I don't use anymore, and I must have done that for Mint. (some forums won't even let you leave!). I wanted to ask them about aero themes for gbtownes, who had asked about it here earlier. There were some great transparent themes that came with Mint awhile back, but that may have been version 16, maybe even earlier. I have tried installing some from Gnome's page, but it's tricky and I never succeeded. But I'm sure it's doable.

michael diemer · 01 Sep 2019

For gbtownes: check out this article on KDE desktop:

Best KDE Linux Distributions For Your Desktop - LinuxAndUbuntu

If you join the Mint forum I'm sure you can get some help on aero/transparency/glass themes and how to install them.

Brink · 02 Sep 2019

Upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 for Free | Tutorials

michael diemer · 03 Sep 2019

Just wanted to add that I tried KAOS, which has KDE as its desktop envt (DE). Like all systems based on KDE, it is visually attractive, but very complicated. I would not recommend any KDE DE for first-time Linux users, except those who are quite savvy, or up for a challenge. It will take forever to configure the way you want it, when you really should be learning Linux, not a complex DE.

Another great distro that does not get talked about enough is elementary OS. It is considered one of the most beautiful of Linux systems, but the desktop resembles the Apple system more than Windows. Nevertheless, it is very easy to use and learn, as it is already configured to work optimally, and in fact you can't really change it much. It is worth a look. It may not resemble Windows 7 much, but you will be up and running in no time, and it may grow on you.

BTW, I am not associated with any Linux system and have no particular one to push, I just pass on my experience. I have tried at least 20 of them. Hopefully it will help someone. Those refusing to go to W10 only have a few choices: stay with W7 (risky), go to W8 (why?); go to Apple (again, why?) or - the best choice - go to Linux.

townsbg · 03 Sep 2019

michael diemer said:

BTW, I am not associated with any Linux system and have no particular one to push, I just pass on my experience. I have tried at least 20 of them. Hopefully it will help someone. Those refusing to go to W10 only have a few choices: stay with W7 (risky), go to W8 (why?); go to Apple (again, why?) or - the best choice - go to Linux.

Everyone needs to make their own choice about what's for them and not have it pushed down their throats by m$ or anyone else. I've weighed my options and I'm leaning towards Linux. I considered 8.1 or 2012 r2 but decided that to do so would only delay leaving Windows for 3.5 years. Not to mention how much customization I would have to do for either. Also I'm not updating now. I have an iMac so I could have put Macos back on it but the newest version dropped support for my model and I would have to use a patch to get it to work-no thanks. I don't really like Linux as a desktop os but I don't trust 10. I'm not in a hurry to switch and might not do so for a year. I have a few things to test on it first. I'm going to get a hot swap-able bay and an extra hard drive so I can install Linux on my server for additional testing. I can't test everything I need to test on a virtual machine.

I will say that it's a shame that most of the endusers think that they have to keep 10 on their computer. They do not.

michael diemer · 04 Sep 2019

townsbg said:

Everyone needs to make their own choice about what's for them and not have it pushed down their throats by m$ or anyone else. I've weighed my options and I'm leaning towards Linux. I considered 8.1 or 2012 r2 but decided that to do so would only delay leaving Windows for 3.5 years. Not to mention how much customization I would have to do for either. Also I'm not updating now. I have an iMac so I could have put Macos back on it but the newest version dropped support for my model and I would have to use a patch to get it to work-no thanks. I don't really like Linux as a desktop os but I don't trust 10. I'm not in a hurry to switch and might not do so for a year. I have a few things to test on it first. I'm going to get a hot swap-able bay and an extra hard drive so I can install Linux on my server for additional testing. I can't test everything I need to test on a virtual machine.

I will say that it's a shame that most of the endusers think that they have to keep 10 on their computer. They do not.

That's a great idea. I've been thinking of doing the same (getting an external bay and HDD for additional systems). I'm running out of room on my three drives, which are all 500GB. I have had as many as three OSs on a HDD, but I don't like to do that. Someday I will settle on just one Linux OS and use that basically until my own EOL. Except for my music-creation computer, which will of necessity have W7 Pro.

townsbg · 04 Sep 2019

I think i'm going to try elementary OS on a VM. I remember that didn't quite like KDE. Doesn't that come on Fedora? Linux will be an adjustment for me but one I can live with. I can put VMWare on it and run windows.

michael diemer · 05 Sep 2019

townsbg said:

I think i'm going to try elementary OS on a VM. I remember that didn't quite like KDE. Doesn't that come on Fedora? Linux will be an adjustment for me but one I can live with. I can put VMWare on it and run windows.

That's a great idea. Keep in mind that elementary is just that, very basic. It gives you a very easy to use GUI (practically no learning curve at all), that is also very attractive. It's designed to get people up and running, being productive. As such, it's a good introduction to the world of Linux. The OS will not get in your way.

On the other hand, it does not come with an Office suite. I recommend you install Libre from the App Center. (another great alternative is Free Office). Also, it's a good idea to install Firefox and Thunderbird. The browser and email it comes with are not the best. Of course, you can also have web email, like Gmail or Yahoo. Although personally I wouldn't use either of those.

Finally, it's a good idea to install the gdebi repository, fot installing apps not found in the App Center. It allows you to easily install things. Installing software in Linux can be difficult, especially at first. Here's a nice article on things to do after installing elementary Juno: 16 Best Things To Do After Installing Elementary OS 5 Juno

elementary is not very configurable, but that is by design. It wants you to spend your time learning to use Linux, not fussing with the desktop. After you are comfortable with elementary, you can try other systems. They range from "install and start using" (elementary) to building your own Linux from scratch. and everything in between.

Addendum: elementary makes it look like you have to donate. You don't. Just enter "0" in the custom field. But don't be a dummy like me, and download the previous version, Loki. Juno is the latest. Although they're probably not too different. They tend not to make big changes. If it ain't broke don't fix it seems to be their philosophy.

Brds7t7 · 07 Sep 2019

RoWin7 said:

Give them 10 or 12 years to knock out the bugs. 7 is pretty good after 10 years.

I've always thought Windows 7 was a great OS from day one (or at least I did up until the last couple years, when they started pushing out garbage updates).
Windows 10 I've never enjoyed using, it's a bloated mess imo, and doesn't offer me anything new other than useless features and forced cra**y updates.

I've seen people saying "just upgrade and disable the updates", but what's the point of that? I might as well stay on an OS I enjoy using and disable the updates, instead of using one I dislike and disabling the updates. Same end result!

Also, when people mention that you can use workarounds to make 10 "look" like 7, they're focusing on the wrong issues for me. I could put red lipstick on a pig, it still wouldn't make me want to kiss it!
The look isn't the issue with Windows 10 imo. It has plenty of other things about it that I just don't like. Looks are the last thing I'm bothered about. I had no issue with the look of Windows '95,' 98, 2000, XP, 7 or 10 (okay 8.1 did annoy me a little at first, but I just stripped the metro stuff out, installed Classic Shell - problem solved!).