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Thinking about switching to Linux? 6 things you need to know
ZDNet ^ | 30 March 2023 | Jack Wallen

Posted on 03/31/2023 11:07:57 AM PDT by ShadowAce

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1 posted on 03/31/2023 11:07:57 AM PDT by ShadowAce
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To: rdb3; JosephW; martin_fierro; Still Thinking; zeugma; Vinnie; ironman; Egon; raybbr; AFreeBird; ...

2 posted on 03/31/2023 11:08:10 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack )
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To: ShadowAce

I run Zorin until it ran into update problems. So I also run Mint now. I switched mostly for speed because Winblows gets slower and s l o w e r with age.


3 posted on 03/31/2023 11:11:16 AM PDT by BipolarBob (Not my fault, yer Honor. I went to the Alec Baldwin School of Firearms Handling. )
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To: ShadowAce
Not all hardware will work

Windows tale:
I had an old HP monitor that I had to put back in service on an emergency basis. Win10 couldn't find the driver. HP in the US no longer supplied the needed driver. I finally had to locate it on a server at HP Singapore, downloaded it, and everything worked fine. Linux can't be any more difficult than that.

4 posted on 03/31/2023 11:19:59 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: ShadowAce
I tried it, it's ok. Too much re-learning for me though, after 25 years of using the Windows API and MFC to write GUI and image analysis applications.

To me, it's like having to get used to driving in the UK, except that in addition to having to drive on the left side of the road, your accelerator, clutch and brake pedals are reversed, the steering wheel turns to the left in order to make the car go to the right, all the controls are in Cyrillic, and about fifty other arbitrary, small differences are constantly consuming the mental energy that might otherwise have gone into something useful.

But hey, if that's how you learned to use a computer, you have my admiration and respect.

5 posted on 03/31/2023 12:03:32 PM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: ShadowAce
5. You'll find help everywhere

Like anything these days, help is just a google search away. And you'll find plenty of sites dedicated to helping people with Linux (such as ZDNET).

I have trust issues. When looking for help, I don't know which sites are sufficiently trustworthy that I won't be whelmed with spyware. It costs a lot of time making that determination. Is there a resource that lists trustworthy sources of Linux information?

6 posted on 03/31/2023 12:19:46 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: ShadowAce

Not all professional software will work, nor is there an equivalent well developed alternative available.

1) Solidworks.

2) Visual Studio.

3) Microsoft 365.

Yes, I know there are “alternatives”. I have been aware of these “alternatives” for many decades, and I have watched them grow. I even use some of them. All of them are decidedly inferior to the professional tools listed above.


7 posted on 03/31/2023 12:35:35 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Carry_Okie

>I don’t know which sites are sufficiently trustworthy that I won’t be whelmed with spyware.

Stick with a major distro and use their package manager to install applications and updates. If you choose to install software which is not managed by your distro’s package manager, then you assume the risk involved.

Major distros include:

Ubuntu
Centos
Debian
Gentoo
Arch
Redhat


8 posted on 03/31/2023 12:53:11 PM PDT by fretzer
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To: Carry_Okie
When looking for help, I don't know which sites are sufficiently trustworthy that I won't be whelmed with spyware.

I use NoScript and AdBlock plus on my browser. That prevents anything from being DL'ed that I didn't asked for.

9 posted on 03/31/2023 1:03:16 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack )
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To: NorthMountain

Linux with Virtualbox (or KVM or VMWare) is your friend when you want to escape the evil empire and you are down to a couple “gotsta haves”...

(A para-hypervisor is better than just a hypervisor)...


10 posted on 03/31/2023 2:03:32 PM PDT by trfree98 (Xiden: Please allow me to introduce myself I'm a man of wealth and taste... )
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To: ShadowAce
Hi ShadowAce,

> Linux is an operating system because, without the kernel, you won't have an operating system.

True, but it's only half the story.

[rant]

Once again, a long, detailed article that attempts to describe the nature of Linux, and speaks of the "kernel" vs. the "operating system", without once mentioning either GNU or Richard Stallman without which Linux-the-operating-system would be nothing but a kernel.

Are all these writers under 25 years old? Are they really that ignorant of GNU?

Don't get me wrong, I think Stallman's just as much an arrogant socialist asshole as Torvalds is. I'm not defending the man. But to talk about Linux-the-operating-system without mentioning the major project (GNU) that provided the vast majority of the non-kernel open-source code to the Linux operating system, is just unfair.

Oh, well, nobody cares any more about such things. Worse, perhaps, nobody knows. It's like some somebody describing the nature of America, without bothering to mention the Constitution or George Washington. Nobody cares. Sigh.

[/rant]

11 posted on 03/31/2023 2:23:17 PM PDT by dayglored (Strange Women Lying In Ponds Distributing Swords! Arthur Pendragon in 2024)
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To: dayglored

Re: 11 - All good points.


12 posted on 03/31/2023 2:33:00 PM PDT by Fury
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To: dayglored

13 posted on 03/31/2023 2:35:35 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack )
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To: fretzer
Already have Ubuntu 22.04.1 as a dual boot with Win 10 on dual SSD drives. Still dealing with getting a 13GB Outlook.pst into MBOX for Thunderbird. so that I can migrate the email.

Besides that, the biggest hangup right now in Linux has been the need for a Sudo password to install Darktable. Whoever installed Linux for me didn't tell me that password. Neither "password," "admin," or "linux" work. Sooo...

It's been frustrating and I'm really busy.

14 posted on 03/31/2023 3:19:21 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie

>Sudo password

Try your own password.


15 posted on 03/31/2023 3:21:35 PM PDT by fretzer
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To: Carry_Okie

Try leaving it blank sometimes they do that to allow you to come up with your own or it could be Ubuntu.i have sometimes used the. Sudo su command...


16 posted on 03/31/2023 3:37:59 PM PDT by 4bye4
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To: Carry_Okie
sudo is always your own password.

"su -" will require the root password.

17 posted on 03/31/2023 3:41:38 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack )
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To: ShadowAce
"2. Linux is not just a kernel"

Richard Stallman disagrees.

18 posted on 03/31/2023 3:55:25 PM PDT by Paal Gulli
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To: fretzer
Try your own password.

I did. No dice.

19 posted on 03/31/2023 4:00:33 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie

Then you are not set up for sudo.


20 posted on 03/31/2023 4:03:47 PM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack )
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