Getting there...!!
I've tinkered with Linux quite a few times over the years - I first got interested when Red Hat was still free, and before Fedora existed; I think either RH or Debian was my first distro. However, it was always only a matter of time until I got frustrated with trying to configure my installation so I could just get some work done. I think for the past five years or so I hadn't even bothered to try out Linux again.
Well, until my Win7 laptop died, and I bought a new one with Win8 installed, that is!
After an evening of trying to complete even the most basic of tasks with ease on Win8... and failing... I decided it was time to give Linux another go, and checked in at Distrowatch to see what had been going on in the world of Linux while I'd been away.
Next thing, I'd wiped Windows off the laptop, and after a few tussles with unfamiliar partition tables and UEFI, I'd installed Ubuntu - and it just worked! I couldn't believe how easy it had become to install and use Linux.
I now have a multiboot setup on both my new laptop and the family desktop:
- Linux Mint 13 (now 14) for everyday duties/browsing/games etc (thinking about swapping this to Xubuntu or maybe Ubuntu with MATE/Cinnamon),
- Ubuntu Studio 12.10 for audio work (with Renoise installed too, will probably buy Bitwig Studio too, when it comes out),
- Ubuntu Server 12.10 for testing and learning about how servers work,
- Manjaro 0.8.2 for development work and tinkering.
I've still got a Windows 7 partition on each, but I haven't needed to boot either for about three weeks now!
My 6yo son and I both use Mint day-to-day, and I've installed Mint on my 60yo mother's laptop - she loves it! My sister wants Ubuntu/Mint on her laptop too.
My wife is currently resisting any efforts to install on either of her work laptops (she's a web developer), but largely because she's worried about not being able to use Dreamweaver and PaintShopPro... hey-ho, I'll keep working on her.
All in all, I've been very pleasantly surprised how easy I've found the move to Linux this time. If things carry on like this, I can see me wiping those Windows 7 partitions in the near future.
Cheers,
J
PS I am aware that this thread was originally started in 2004(!!) and was last touched two days ago, but this is surely a perennially relevant topic.
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