It is getting harder and harder to convince new hardware to do an external boot.
Only some thumb drives are truly bootable. And of course you need 2 computers — the one you use to download the distro and the other which will be the new Linux box.
I don’t think Linux is for most. Once I do it all my bourne shell programming comes back to me but it takes a few days. I really don’t care for the wondowed interface.
YMMV
Thank you. My transition was slow because for many years I used a CAD program and absolutely lived in a spread sheet. I was totally dependent upon ASAP utilities plugin for excel. At one point I had a Redhat Linux box on one side of my desk and a Windows box on the other side. I needed both to do the job I was doing then.
There are some extremely powerful spreadsheet programs now for Linux users. One even has (undocumented) RegEx find replace. Only one I’ve ever used that did.
Bkmk
Bflr
It really bugs me when people put the blame on users for being users. Most users of a platform reasonably expect another platform to be similar and grumble about the differences they encounter in varying degrees. Some of it is surely unreal expectation or inexperience, but a lot of it is just habit in doing things. Users get in the habit, for example, of pressing the Home key to go to the beginning of a line and then find it doesn't work that way on another platform and it throws them off. Perfectly normal response.
I do put a lot of the Linux transition blame on people who recommend it by claiming, "I do everything I did in Windows and have never looked back. You'll hardly notice the difference." For what it's worth, I see the same from any number of Apple users. I typically tell people that they'll be able to do the same things, but not always in the same way though the differences won't be so severe that you will be sitting on the side of the road in sackcloth and ashes wailing in agony.
This "Win 7 Pro till I die" user has a Linux Mint 19.1 DVD from osdisk.com and will be installing it shortly on my computer.
Clicking install?
(I kid, I kid)
I use Linux at work and sometimes mess around with it at home, but ... when I’m not at work, I generally don’t want my computer to be work.
Bump for future reference
Thanks. I wasn’t aware of Krita or Calligra as an option to Photoshop and Office. They are now installed on my Mint box although they aren’t showing up as an option to use. Maybe a restart is needed.
I have Mint in a dual boot. It passwords me to distraction such that I hope to never rely solely on it.
I read this article a a win 7 user and why I gave it a shot. I read many many articles that recommended the Mint Cinnamon as the best version for someone moving from Windows to Linux. And from my experience so far it was definitely very comfortable to use right away as a Win 7 user moving to linux for the first time.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/mint-18-3-the-best-linux-desktop-takes-big-steps-forward/
And here is an article about the newer more recent version 19.1
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-mint-19-1-the-better-than-ever-linux-desktop/
Reading/posting this on my 10 year old laptop that was until yesterday running XP! Today it is running Ubuntu 18.04. I kept XP so long because I needed CorelDRAW but I’ve become familiar with Inkscape and GIMP and would just as soon keep the $2000 I’d have spent for a new box, Corel(Xwhatever) and Windows 10 so they can all go extinct in 3 years.
“Linux comes in several hundred different versions, or distributions as they are called.”
I think this is the biggest problem (and strength) with Linux - version fragmentation.
Many thanks for posting!
Ubuntu user here; I only tolerate windows cause work dictates it; even then, they use win7.