Hello everyone!!
I have some questions that you possibly could give some insights on. May I
Write a couple of them? I'm sorry if it's long, repeated questions. If so,
just tell me to continue searching or something ahah
BACKGROUND INFO
A month ago I was using Win7 only. The thing is, I've been hating using Win7
for quite a while: bad user experience, unnecessary complexity (when digging
into errors etc) , philosophy of corporation, closed code, privacy, security,
etc
Since then I've been using Dual-Boot WIN7 (I barely use, simply keeping
updated, data, software I need) and Elementary Freya (I've been using most of
the time, but having problems with it)
lately, I've been reading a lot about the free software etc. I was a bit
obsessed with it and searched for a while.
QUESTIONS/INFO
1 - Windows7 (there's no chance I'll move to win8 or win10) has lots of
security and privacy flaws (some of them on purpose it seems). I can't do a
clean install without getting virus or malware at some extent, so security is
a real issue. As for privacy (backdoors, content of updates, remote control)
it's actually a real concern or remote/hypothetical issue? I've been thinking
a lot on this.
2 - Elementary OS is Ubuntu based (I don't know if I should mention this
since I don't want to make a distro war ahah) but being so, I can't find much
information about how secure and private it is. Any idea? Compared to free
open source OS like Trisquel? Many blobs and closed source code? Trisquel
with good support on problems?
3 - I'm currently at university and I need to use software that is windows
specifically: microsoft office (for group stuff, libreOffice warned me of
compatibility issues on formatting when I used MS file type and stuff), GAMS
simulation, MATLAB (linux version exists I think), Decision Analysis software
(MACBETH), CAD/Modelling (SOLIDWORKS) and VirtualBox I'd like to maintain.
How to work around this, VBox in trisquel and virtualize win7? Not quite a
workaround for privacy/security right? Will I have a rough time with specific
software when I need it? A way around? Wine works in trisquel? (no idea if it
is free/open)
4 - I read on forum about hardware issues with Trisquel. I have a toshiba
laptop Tecra M11 almost 6y old (i5 vpro 5xx generation, 8Gb Ram, SSD drive,
nvidia nvs with cuda card). Any problem with this? Can't make it libre boot I
guess?
5.1 - Dual-boot, privacy issue? To go from elementary to trisquel I simply
need to erase partitions and boot with a usb flash and then install after
partitioning again? Would it allow encryption (since it's not entire disk)?
If it allows, would I be able to resize partitions later if I need to? I have
Grub boot loader (or whatever it is called ahah), would it be messed up after
substituting OS? (that is, would I boot normally?)
5.2 - When installing freya (and before it was Mint) I followed online guides
about the "do something else" being a better option and most of the guides
(quite a couple of them) would suggest the following:
boot partition (200-500Mb)
root partition (around 20-30Gb)
home partition (all the rest) which was the only that could be encrypted
according to my tries
Swap partition (depending on ram, 1x, 1.5x, or 2x total amount)
Problem I have right now: can't do updates/install software correctly and
getting warnings saying my boot partition is full (lots of kernel stuff I
think). The workarounds I found could mess config files and are an hassle to
do in general
Should I not get a boot partition?
With this scheme, can all partitions be encrypted? (normally it's possible to
apply to home folder or entire disk only right?)
6 - Configure Desktop on trisquel is easy? (I'm a beginner on gnu/linux
world, so sometimes tweaking and solving problems gets quite hard and
overwhelming when starting this stuff) to something really different than the
original?
For example: no upper and no lower bar (I hate bars, no idea why!!), have
"status" icons (battery, network, sound, account) on right upper corner in a
line, "applications" icon on left upper corner, and on lower part of screen
having dock which only shows circle icons of programs I use the most; Or
something similar, wouldn't get much used on the default one :)
7 - All 100% or near open/free software laptops are core2duo based and some
years old? I would be interested in one IF it was quite lightweight/portable
(my laptop is already a bit heavy when carrying around all the time o.o)
I'm so sorry for writting so much, keeping it small was never my strong
point.
Thank you in advance, if this is not suited to forum (too long, questions
solved somewhere) just give the hint and I'll move on
JackSkell
