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Post by K4 on Aug 1, 2020 18:01:46 GMT -5
I think MS has bricked Win 7. I have 3 machines and all are wonky as of late.
I will not go to Win 10 so that is off the table, but am wondering about other options. Win 7 like would be preferred.
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Post by themaestro on Aug 1, 2020 19:13:19 GMT -5
I run linux wherever I can. My and my wife's old laptops that we websurf or play some games on while watching TV are linux. Her's runs Linux Mint. It is a little Acer that barely ran Win 8.0 when new and upgrading to Win 10 just took it to its knees. My laptop runs Ubuntu. The desktop interface is a little different than Linux Mint. I control our digital mixer (Behringer XR-18) at church with an old linux desk machine. I did pick up an older Mac Mini the other week just to see what Mac is like. I'm impressed with the Mac OS, but I don't like the prices of Mac hardware.
As a first step from Windows into linux, I like Mint Linux and the Cinnamon desktop. Installaion is quick and easy (like under 30 min). It is based on Ubuntu, so if something installs and runs on Ubuntu, it should run on Linux Mint. It runs well on older computers, and navigation around the menus and desktop is pretty familiar to Windows users.
I have one Win 10 desktop machine because I need a local copy of Microsoft Office for church stuff, and iTunes, which I use to back up and update our iphones. If it weren't for those programs, I would dump Windows altogether.
Two things to consider before jumping into linux. It is possible that a particular linux distribution might not recognize all your hardware. You can boot from a live USB drive and test what linux is like before actually doing the install. I would not recommend installing as a dual boot. Windows updates can still mess with your boot program and mess things up.
Second, make sure that any software you require has either a linux version or a linux alternative. I can use LibreOffice for all my WP/Spreadsheet needs. If you like Microsoft Office, you might be able to get by with the browser-based online version. I use Reaper for multitrack recording. It has Win, Mac and linux versions. If you use Adobe software like Photoshop, it won't run on linux. However, an alternative is GIMP, which has Win and linux versions.
I would strongly suggest picking up an cheap, older computer to play with linux a little before wiping Windows and installing linux on your main computer. As I said, you can also boot from a linux USB drive and see what different distributions of linux are like. You don't need a powerful computer. It should be 64-bit and a minimum of 4gb memory.
Good luck.
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Post by modbus on Aug 3, 2020 14:15:44 GMT -5
If you use Adobe software like Photoshop, it won't run on linux. However, an alternative is GIMP, which has Win and linux versions. It won't run under Wine? |
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009
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Post by 009 on Aug 3, 2020 15:21:47 GMT -5
I had the same feeling about Win 10 as you, it being much different, it seemed to me, than Win 7. I was also concerned about privacy, etc. I thought I'd go the Linux route, too. So I went out and bought an inexpensive labtop to experiment/learn on, a pretty nice HP for $220; has all the bells and whistles (250 GB SSD, wireless, blue tooth, etc.; a little under-powered for Windows maybe, but the sales guy at Best Buy said it would be fine to run Linux/Mint (I think he suggested). Anyway, after procrastinating a while and then finally getting around to installing the Mint, I had become more familiar with Win 10 -- how it works overall, how to set privacy settings, creating useful Desktop shortcuts, etc. So, I never bothered with the Mint. I'd say install Win 10 on one of your machines (you most powerful one) and give it a try. I bought my Win 10 Pro disc (I always get a disc) at ebay; $30; installed without a problem and is fully recognized by Microsoft; getting regular updates, including the new Chromium-based Edge browser (not really thrilled with that). There were several things about using Win 10 that seemed to be a PITA at first, but, you get used to them. As long as things work, that's what I value the most; no trouble-shooting. You just have to find and turn off all the anti-privacy features.
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Post by themaestro on Aug 3, 2020 17:14:24 GMT -5
Re: Photoshop over the Wine emulator. I have not heard of it working. There is a lot of software that doesn't work well with Wine. I don't think MS Office does. I don't think iTunes does. I think Wine doesn't have access to USB ports and possibly special drivers.
I basically have 3 issues with Windows 10.
1) It has become a resource hog and requires ever more powerful hardware. Most of my computers are older and had become pretty much unusable running Windows 10. I hate buying new hardware just to keep up with operating system bloat.
2) After years of previous Windows versions letting me configure the OS features that I want, Windows 10 does way too much stuff that I can no longer turn off. One example is a bunch of telemetry data that gets phoned home.
3) The updating situation is just awful, especially on Windows 10 Home Edition. It is difficult to control, you can't pick what to update and what not. Updates seem to often break stuff, and worse, it changes settings back to what Microsoft wants instead of what I want. Also, updates can take forever. I have had two computers spend multiple hours shutting down and restarting to implement changes. My linux boxes never take more than 10-15 minutes to download AND install multiple updates.
I know I can sound like a grumpy old guy, and it's probably true. I just prefer the linux software model. I have problems with companies that seem to be bent on world dominion-- MS, Apple, Google, Amazon etc. I had been trying linux off and on for years, and it never seemed mature and un-fiddly enough for me to consider seriously using until about 7 or 8 years ago.
Enough bashing. Use whatever works for you. Every OS has its warts. Windows does have a lot going for it for a lot of people. You still might be able to update your Windows 7 machines to Windows 10 for free. I did a couple about 6 months ago. The Win 7 to 10 upgrade servers were still online at that time. They may still be. A little searching should find out.
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Post by dadzmad on Aug 3, 2020 18:08:45 GMT -5
I posted on this subject before along with a dual monitor screen shot at see reply 7I second the suggestion for Linux Mint for starters - interface is similar to previous Windows versions and there is a large community forum for support - good luck |
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michael
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Post by michael on Aug 3, 2020 19:40:23 GMT -5
i thought i had responded to this but i guess i didn't finish it...
if you want to get a taste of linux, there are a couple of ways... i think ubuntu and knoppix both can be burnt to a bootable dvd or usb drive... set your bios to check those slots for something bootable before they do your hard drive.
it might be a little bit slower coming off the DVD/usb drive but not much and you can see what it is without disturbing your windows boot.
i've used knoppix that way before to rescue data from nonbooting hard drives...
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krrf
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Post by krrf on Aug 4, 2020 19:10:32 GMT -5
If you really want to get a taste for Linux and don't want to even be bothered to install it on your PC, try it on a virtual machine. You can get Virtual Box and a ISO file of Ubuntu for free.
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