I went into using Ubuntu 9.10 for my default system when I bought my
current desktop. I still use 10.04 on it. I had run other version of
Linux before going to Ubuntu, but Ubuntu was the only Live CD/DVD that
allow the sound system to work properly on my HP AMD64 CPU laptop that I
used for testing. I did not have this desktop then, but an old IBM
server and a Dell laptop, along with the HP laptop.
I still use Windows from time to time. The HP Laptop is back running
XP/pro [32-bit] and my Dell laptop dual boots Vista [32 bit] and 64 bit
Ubuntu 12.04 with MATE as its desktop environment so it works closely
like my [generic custom built quad] desktop's 10.04/GNOME 2.xx system.
There are some software I still have not found a good Linux version for
and there are some USB hardware that I have not found a good Linux
driver for. So I still need Windows once in a while. I have people
that need help with their Windows systems, mostly laptops, so I need to
be able to boot up a Windows system to help them out. One day I hope to
replace the Vista OS with Win7 on my dual boot Dell laptop. My HP
laptop does not have enough free hard drive space to do a dual booting
system.
ALSO
I have 2 USB drives for backing up my desktop, and also sharing media
file with my Blu-ray player and other systems that require Windows-based
drive formats. SO, I need a Windows system to defrag those USB drives.
I have a 1 TB and a 2 TB USB external drive, so they can easily become
fragmented when I update them with my files/folders that need to be
backed up - I copy the file onto the external drives - from my desktop
to the external ones. I have a 1 TB and a 2 TB internal drives on my
Ubuntu desktop.
SO I still need Windows for some things.
YET, with using Ubuntu [GNOME or MATE] for several years now as my
default OS, I still do not know all the ins and outs I use to know with
the Windows systems. I still have not figured out all of the things I
could do with my XP or Vista systems. I still am not completely
comfortable with the Terminal and all of its uses. I know there are
many, many, more things I could do with the Terminal that I never really
learned. I still forget how to install LO on a Ubuntu system - sudo
dpkg -i *.deb - sometimes. There are install options and other commands
that people using Ubuntu, and other Linux distros, know how to do much
better than I. I do not get into Ubuntu as much as I use to in the
early days when I supported XP and Vista systems for others. I do not
do even half of the things I use to do in the late '90's to mid 2000's
with a computer. So I never really learned how to do some of the things
I could do with my Linux systems.
SO
Anyone who really wants to learn how to use Linux as a replacement for
Windows, try dual booting a system if you do not have a spare one to try
Linux with as its only OS.
I started using Linux for the simple reason that I needed a package to
convert AVI and MPEG video files into a TV DVD movie disc. My Windows
software crashed and I could not longer get it working even with a
re-install. So I found that the Linux software DeVeDe worked well. Now
it comes with a Windows version, but not when I started using it on an
P4 CPU IBM server made in 2000 and burned it on a USB DVD burner.
That was when I started looking at all the free software that Linux
offered to its users. With a fixed income and the need to get a lot of
different software, and many costing a lot for my Windows computers, I
decided to look into using Linux - Ubuntu 9.10 for a few months till
10.04 came out - when I had the money to buy a quad CPU desktop.
Now I get to learn a new Linux-based OS - Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
- since now I have a 7-inch tablet costing about $100. It is not the
best 7 inch tablet on the market, but it was what I could afford on my
fixed income.
So, the short is:
Linux is a good OS to use, but you may still need to have a Windows
system from time to time.
Another reason for keeping a Windows system available - testing:
K3b burns a great data disc, but the default "Windows and Linux" disc
format does not work well for making a web-based DVD. It messes with
the file names sometimes. I found that out the hard way when I tested
the DVD on my Windows system. Now I use "Rock Ridge" file system for my
DVD. There are other "default" CD/DVD burners, but K3b was the only
one that I could easily define the CD's / DVD's file system. So I found
out that way, that I needed to keep a Windows system to check that my
DVDs will work on Windows. I do not have a MacOSX system, so I cannot
check that OS out.
On 07/22/2012 11:05 AM, Tom Davies wrote:
Hi :)
Ok, so i have posted 'a few' anti-MS posts but not everyone is ready to suddenly
jump into the alien world of the scary sounding GNu&Linux or unix-based OSes.
Windows is supplied on almost every machine bought anywhere in the world so why
change at all?!
If you have realised why then how to go about it?
Many first-timers fail because they try to "burn their bridges" and completely
suddenly switch without much planning, or perhaps with too much planning.
A frequently successfully route that many have followed (often as a 2nd attempt to get into
it) is often found to be to first familiarised yourself with the programs that run on both
Windows and Gnu&Linux: programs such as Firefox (instead of IE), Thunderbird or Evolution
instead of Outlook, Gimp instead of Photoshop, LibreOffice instead of MS Office. That way
once you arrive at "the big switch" you have familiar 'friends' on your desktop and
in forums/mailing-lists. Documentation can help pull you through too.
A good next step is to resurrect some ancient machine from a junk heap or cupboard and try as a
"Live Cd" (booting straight from the Cd without installign anything) and then next is to
install as a dual-boot. Chances are that first time you try to do a dual-boot it goes wrong even
though it's the default for almsot every distro and basically requires you do the equivalent of
just clicking "Next". If it's an old machine anyway then you don't lose much AND you get
to learn how to do it properly before risking yoru main machine.
I was really quite keen but oddly reluctant to escape from MS but it took me
about 2 years between the time i got my neighbour to install a dual-boot of
Mandriva alongside my Windows. At first i booted mostly into Windows but about
1/month might boot into Mandriva by mistake. by the end of the 2 years it had
become more and more often and more deliberately especially after i found a
decent game and then found i really could work from it too.
To be fair i had an impression that Gnu&Linux was like Unix and therefore big,
scary and all based on the command-line. I'm still a little intimidated by the
command-line so i was glad to find that actually even back then Mandriva was almost
entirely point&click. Then Wolvix and Ubuntu seemed to take that further and now i
am mostly in Ubuntu nearly all the time but even now i do use Windows from time-to-time.
Once i had made the switch i found myself getting irrationally angry about all the
odd things that i had been forced to do unnecessarily over the years to maintain
Windows. A bit like a hostage released from captivity after long-term
imprisonment. All the slow-downs, antivirus, sudden forced reboots, forced
updates, pop-ups grabbing focus and generally being slave to the machine. All of
which vanished with Gnu&Linux (weirdly the grabbing focus thing seems to have
been added to Ubuntu since then). i became obsessed with freeing people who didn't
want to be freed. I guess that is roughly where Andreas is now with Base but has
been stuck there a while. Really there is no need.
Nowadays i can mostly sit back and just laugh at the ridiculous things people
put themselves through with Windows and then claim that Windows is easier as
though they have tried anything else when they clearly haven't even picked up
an iAnything.
It's not easy to avoid trying to help especially when a little help can often
go a long way.
The mistake a lot of people make when they are new to Gnu&Linux is trying to
force other people to use it. This earns a bad reputation and really there is no
need for it. if people would rather dig with a spoon than a shovel then let them.
Just smile wisely and move on to help a person that does appreciate it.
Regards from
Tom :)
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