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Windows 7 dying and want to upgrade? Take a hard look at MX Linux

 
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https://mxlinux.org


I have been working with this flavor of Linux for about 2 months now, and I recommend it as a bit better than Linux Mint.

FYI.

mart
 
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Thanks! I was planning on trying out Linux on my Win 7 PC.

Can you recommend any other resources/reading material/guides for first time Linux users making the switch from Windows?
 
pollinator
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Mostly for work reasons, but also out of curiosity, I've been having to dive into command-line computing pretty much for the first time.  I was able to hold off getting into personal computers until the first Macs emerged offering GUI and never really had to learn DOS.  Some programs in graduate school that ran Unix were needed occasionally, but I really found the command-line tedious.  Turns out, there is a ton of software (much of it freeware) in the Linux realm that is command-line while some of it has been converted to GUI.  But for the work-related offerings, the evolution of the software is so fast that it's generally considered by the developers not to really be worth their time to spend the extra effort making it GUI-----why spend all of that time when the command-line version works fine (*If* you know command-line Linux) and by the time the GUI version came out, the software itself might be obsolete?  That seems to be the rationale I've come across.

That said, and although I've seen articles on the web comparing and contrasting many of the Linux distros, I've yet to find a comparison that explains *why* you would want to use one distro of Linux over another.  I'm still playing around with ElementaryOS on a flash drive and it does work spiffy, especially as I boot to it on a Win7 machine (32-bit) and can revert back to Win7 when needed.  I've been directed on several occasions to GitHub for software, but find it still a bit daunting to do downloads, installs, and running of command-line apps.  If there is a "Linux for total dweebs" resource out there, please let me know as I would love to practice the lather, rinse, repeat of download, install, and run with simple Linux apps.  Thanks!
 
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I will give a thumbs up to Linux also.

I loved Windows 7 and Windows 10 seems like a big step backwards.  My son and I built a computer this last summer almost entirely from spare parts (my son likes to collect these as he finds them from old computers).  The only new hardware was a new power supply (fairly cheap) and a new SSD hard drive (reasonable cost).  The rest was all from left over parts.  We call it the frankencomputer.  In keeping with this ethic, we decided that the software would be entirely free/open source.  We ended up using Linux Mint as our OS and it works very well, is user friendly and has none of the baggage associated with Windows.

This experimental computer was built as a media PC attached to a nice TV.  Basically we want to load up content on the PC and watch it on the TV.

It has worked so well that I am giving serious consideration to converting my new home built Windows PC into Linux or at the very least as a dual boot PC.

Even just a few years ago I would never have thought of going the Linux route, but several factors have changed.

1). Linux has become very user friendly and very stable unlike earlier versions.

2). Windows 10 is a disappointment compared to Windows 7

3). I like free software

4). I like being independent of Windows/Microsoft

5).  I am really liking the idea of open source—sorta like the permie version of computers

Eric
 
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After using nearly every version of Windows (since 3.1!!) on my computers, I didn't want to 'upgrade' again so I got a laptop that is DUAL OS - Linux and Windows 7. I mainly use Linux but have Windows 7 for older programs that I still use. And while I am a 'digital dino' (been around computers since late 1960s), I am not a programmer type so Linux is very bare bones for me. Yet it works fine.
 
Mart Hale
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John Weiland wrote:Mostly for work reasons, but also out of curiosity, I've been having to dive into command-line computing pretty much for the first time.  I was able to hold off getting into personal computers until the first Macs emerged offering GUI and never really had to learn DOS.  Some programs in graduate school that ran Unix were needed occasionally, but I really found the command-line tedious.  Turns out, there is a ton of software (much of it freeware) in the Linux realm that is command-line while some of it has been converted to GUI.  But for the work-related offerings, the evolution of the software is so fast that it's generally considered by the developers not to really be worth their time to spend the extra effort making it GUI-----why spend all of that time when the command-line version works fine (*If* you know command-line Linux) and by the time the GUI version came out, the software itself might be obsolete?  That seems to be the rationale I've come across.

That said, and although I've seen articles on the web comparing and contrasting many of the Linux distros, I've yet to find a comparison that explains *why* you would want to use one distro of Linux over another.  I'm still playing around with ElementaryOS on a flash drive and it does work spiffy, especially as I boot to it on a Win7 machine (32-bit) and can revert back to Win7 when needed.  I've been directed on several occasions to GitHub for software, but find it still a bit daunting to do downloads, installs, and running of command-line apps.  If there is a "Linux for total dweebs" resource out there, please let me know as I would love to practice the lather, rinse, repeat of download, install, and run with simple Linux apps.  Thanks!



For distro comparison check out -->
https://www.distrowatch.com
 
Mart Hale
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Jain Anderson wrote:After using nearly every version of Windows (since 3.1!!) on my computers, I didn't want to 'upgrade' again so I got a laptop that is DUAL OS - Linux and Windows 7. I mainly use Linux but have Windows 7 for older programs that I still use. And while I am a 'digital dino' (been around computers since late 1960s), I am not a programmer type so Linux is very bare bones for me. Yet it works fine.




I had much the same issue, I ended up creating a virtual machine for Windows 7 to get access to my old PST's    

Oracle Virtual box works great for me in Linux MX.
 
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Not to pick a fight but why would you ever use Linux instead of an updated version of Windows? I get the despise for Microsoft, but their OS and productivity software (just word, excel and outlook alone) are far superior and save more than their cost?
 
Eric Hanson
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Lucas,

Personally I have used Open Office for almost a decade and I actually like it better than Microsoft Office.  Linux has come a long way from where it was 10 years ago.

Obviously this is just my opinion, but I am liking open source software more and more.

Eric
 
Mart Hale
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Lucas Green wrote:Not to pick a fight but why would you ever use Linux instead of an updated version of Windows? I get the despise for Microsoft, but their OS and productivity software (just word, excel and outlook alone) are far superior and save more than their cost?



I am currently running both and older version of Windows 7  ( with updates disabled in a VM )  as well as about 5 different distros of Linux.

I no longer trust Microsoft, and after finding out about Prism from Snowden I decided to start pulling the plug on all of the data mining locations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)

It is painful but slowly I have gotten rid of google chrome  ->>  Vivaldi,     Windows -->  Linux MX,     Facebook -->  MeWe,      And I am testing now two email hosts that have privacy.


My machine no longer crashes as it did before with windows, I have uptimes  now going on weeks.      

Far less resources are needed for the programs I run.      

I don't need any License keys to install software.     When my old Windows 7 bombed,  I had to go thru many hoops to get my system back online as it would not take the key.


Mind you there are some things I have that only run on Windows 7, so with the VM   I am set, but my plan is to abandon ship on Microsoft's  prying eyes.

Good question,    Cheers.

 
Jain Anderson
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Lucas Green wrote:Not to pick a fight but why would you ever use Linux instead of an updated version of Windows? I get the despise for Microsoft, but their OS and productivity software (just word, excel and outlook alone) are far superior and save more than their cost?



I'm with Mart Hale - trust of Microsoft and Google, in all its forms, is why I turned to Linux. I feel a lot more secure in my online use and I still have access to the Windows features (like Wordpad) that I prefer over Open Office Writer.
I'm frankly very tired of how Microsoft hasn't improved it OS but only added patches on top of patches and Google like intrusions that do not serve me, only those unidentifiable entities (usually advertisers!) who want to data mine me.  
 
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To clarify, I also get the lack of trust but running your own system on Linux is easily more vulnerable than a well run commercial OS. In full disclosure, I have worked for Microsoft in the past.

Windows allows for very little privacy in some points of view but the alternatives of open office and linux (or any open source) doesn't make them more secure/private. I think it comes down to a bit of who you want to share your data with and what work you want to do - so it really is personal preference but I find commercial products (Google Microsoft) have made open source products look worse over the years.

For instance, Open Office, when compared to an installation of Microsoft word + Grammarly, is blown out of the water for any writing task. For the matter Excel on its own versus open office excel is not useable. Any heavy math, accounting, calculations or desired integrations simply work in Excel and don't in open office. If you do heavy computing, its just damn impossible to build it all yourself is what I am saying. As someone who is very computer literate, running a linux OS or just all open source stuff doesn't position you better, it simply adds drudgery and technical work for the potential of more privacy.

Edit: but thanks for the explanation, for the record Windows, Google personally freak me out as well. Only in the last few years did I try a broad depth of their products again and thats kind of where my frustration comes from: Google/Microsoft/Amazon are the only ones who can make some really useful tools.
 
Mart Hale
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Jain Anderson wrote:

Lucas Green wrote:Not to pick a fight but why would you ever use Linux instead of an updated version of Windows? I get the despise for Microsoft, but their OS and productivity software (just word, excel and outlook alone) are far superior and save more than their cost?



I'm with Mart Hale - trust of Microsoft and Google, in all its forms, is why I turned to Linux. I feel a lot more secure in my online use and I still have access to the Windows features (like Wordpad) that I prefer over Open Office Writer.
I'm frankly very tired of how Microsoft hasn't improved it OS but only added patches on top of patches and Google like intrusions that do not serve me, only those unidentifiable entities (usually advertisers!) who want to data mine me.  



I am glad there are so many distro's of Linux you can find one for an old machine and keep that old hardware running.

I have found Gnumeric Spreadsheet, wonderful and free for working on excel type files, it uses little resources and works awesome for me....

I don't claim that open office or libre office will work for everyone, but it sure works for me with low resources.
 
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