Any Linux Users Here?

I've been reading and watching a number of videos about how invasive MS Windows 11 is and how they have tried to force copilot on Windows users.

I know Linux has been around for years. I just never have had the desire to learn how to use a different system. But considering the direction Windows has been heading it makes me think about looking into getting a new device with Linux installed on it.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

Windows is no longer even an OS. It is just a portal to MS subscription services.

Not just co-pilot.

Links all your files to one drive and if you use more than 2 GBs of storage (so basically everyone) they will try and force you to buy a One Drive subscription.

Want to open a Word or Excel document? Subscribe to Office365.

It also seems to use your data for targeted ads.

As for Linux a good starter distro I recommend to Windows users is Solus Linux.

Looks and behaves alot like Windows 10 with the same sort of UI so less of a learning curve.

It is also a rolling release which just means you install it once and just update forever.

They also have a pretty chill community.

Linux Mint is also a good option for alot of the same reasons.

A nice thing about these distros or flavors of Linux is they have a live environment meaning you can run it off the USB stick, see if you like it without changing anything and then install it.

OverTheHill · 61-69, M

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Thanks

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I had wondered about converting to using Linux, but I don't have the OS-handling skill.

Also, importantly, some of my third-party software is written only for Windows.

However, I do not make it easy for MS to take over my files.

I filed my hundreds of photographs in a separate directory that seems unreachable by WIN-11 because it does not appear in the normal index. (It had taken them, wrecking their filing system in process, but I managed to recover them.) I also use physically separate, USB devices for back-up copies and some originals.

I do not use Office 365. I installed from a CD, a licensed edition for WIN-XP, and it works fine for all my purposes. I've also a secondary PC, my previous one, off-line and using WIN-7, as a reserve.

I am afraid I do not trust Microsft at all, but am rather stuck with it.

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

@ArishMell Honestly if you stick to one of the more user friendly distros for Linux (flavors) the learning curve is not that steep. Be thankful you are not looking at it during the Windows Vista era when I first switched.

I am a photographer and there are alternatives like Darktable which are free and open source and have most of the same functions as something like Lightroom minus the forever subscription to MS and Adobe which Adobe has even gotten sued for making it nearly impossible to cancel a subscription. Oh and they have killed the software of entire nations that annoyed the US government in the past. So there is that to consider too.

I guess everyone has their breaking point. For me it was about a decade ago.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I think Vista was replaced very quickly, wasn't it?

I do have Open Office, which at least allows opening some types of e-mailed files (docx and xlsx) but the two makes of CAD I have won't run on anyhting but Windows.

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

@ArishMell Yep. It was thrown together as a stop gap because their original rewrite of Windows failed completely.

Windows 7 replaced it. It was only intended to fill the gap till Windows 7 was ready.

Hmmm. Not familiar with CAD so much so I am not sure about that. I know Blender is becoming popular for some CAD work but not much beyond that.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow CAD contains vast amounts of internal mathematics, and it might be hard to make these work on alternative OS, although I believe some can run on what seem parallel or translator systems.

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

@ArishMell Oh for sure. And there are different options for how far you want to go into it. Blender is more a general 3D modeling software that can be used for CAD but you also have FreeCAD intended more for more complex things like Mechanical engineering whereas Blender might be more suited for product design CAD which is more general and less technical. FreeCAD seems to have been created as an alternative to something like SolidWorks.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I use TurboCAD (powerful engineering and architectural package) but moving to Alibre, a 3D-modeller intended primarily for mechanical-engineering and I think similar to the Solid... series and FreeCAD.

At heart I suppose they all work in much the same way, with different names and appearances for the same tools.