Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux

[MJCD]

This post is deleted!

[MJCD]

@catweazle: configured correctly per device windows 10 is absolutely faster than windows 7. It uses more ram/memory because ram isn't there to be "free", it's there to be used.

[Geekbone]

I have used Linux for old PCs and it is great for that, but as a freelance graphic designer, forget it.

[A Former User]

@JoelYoung I think it'd be easier to reverse the question… But usually after ending a live session, you lose all your config, apps etc. (from the Linux session, not from your Win), it's designed like that.

There are some distros designed only to be run from USB such as Slax (I'm not even sure if it's possible to install it regularly any other way than choosing a hard drive instead of USB when burning).

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Edit: If you think you need time, the best way to switch is to try ~10 distros in live session (boot more than once, one visit doesn't tell you everything) and just install it.

I was not very sure for about a year and the moment came when I did something with my Windows and made them dead. After a week, I was quite stable on Linux and knew how to do almost all every-day tasks.

Yes, a month of trying in live sessions is enough IMO.

[Catweazle]

@JoelYoung said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:

Semi-random question: Which Linux distros can be run from USB? Thinking about switching but need time to adjust and plan for differences in workflow and transitioning to other apps.

In principle any distro can work from a USB, all distros can work as much as "life CD" or USB and if you like, install it from there as a single OS or dual boot as a second OS along with Windows. It is better to use a USB, since this allows you to save possible configurations if you want to keep it portable, which on the CD naturally you cannot, apart you can test like this different distros to stay with the one you like the most. Of course, you need to make the USB bootable, for this you can use the application I mentioned in one of the previous messages, and of course, configure the BIOS (ok, UEFI, what's his name now) of your PC so that it looks for the USB for boot.
https://unetbootin.github.io/

[mib2berlin]

@zakius
Did you test Linux desktop 5 Years ago or something?
What is bugged in Vivaldi, Firefox, Thunderbird or OpenOffice on Linux.
Even as long term Linux user I like Windows 10 except the update system still bother with several new starts and hours of waiting if you not used the system for 14 days or more.
And it update/upgrade only the OS.
On Linux all installed software is updated in one rush
I need one hour to setup a new Linux system included office and so forth, a little more for cosmetics.

Cheers, mib

[Catweazle]

@mib2berlin said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:

@zakius
Did you test Linux desktop 5 Years ago or something?
What is bugged in Vivaldi, Firefox, Thunderbird or OpenOffice on Linux.
Even as long term Linux user I like Windows 10 except the update system still bother with several new starts and hours of waiting if you not used the system for 14 days or more.
And it update/upgrade only the OS.
On Linux all installed software is updated in one rush
I need one hour to setup a new Linux system included office and so forth, a little more for cosmetics.

Cheers, mib

True, I used Linux sporadically in the past and I never had problems of any kind. The only thing that the installation of certain proprietary drivers requires a prior authorization, in Windows in this aspect is all done. The Software, because in Windows the first thing you have to uninstall all the trials and other garbage, to then look for the software that is needed, in Linux everything essential soft comes from the beginning and you can work right away, just install it.

[Para-Noid]

If I can't sync mp3(s) to a flash drive Linux is useless. I tried Linux Mint and found out there is not a way to sync my music to a flash drive. Switched back to Win10. In Mint you can copy/paste music but cannot sync music. I have two bookshelf stereos that require music to be synced. So...the ability to sync music is a must have.

I did find Mint to be fast as all get out. It took me about an hour to get the system set-up.
Found an excellent link to help set-up Mint.

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/Home
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/first-mint-cinnamon.html

[Catweazle]

@LordOfTheNet1 said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:

@Catweazle said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:

Obviously for a professional Gimp may be somewhat short (RAW files), but not for 90% of other users, apart with Wine you can also use Photoshop, if necessary. Linux is much more compatible with Windows applications, than Windows with Linux applications. At the level of a normal user, of course there is no need to use Windows applications with alternatives in Linux, apart from specific cases.

LOL unless it's SolSuite. Have yet to find a better solitaire game. Sets up and runs great in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

There are also large games for Linux, such as this one that que is also free and OpenSource.(Win, Linux and Mac)

[Catchmonster]

Every windows user should get any Linux distribution and replace the mini os system they have. Save money, use is and gui that is a galaxies ahead of anything Microsoft could ever develop.

[akapune]

Which Vivaldi distro runs under Solus?

[JoelYoung]

@Catchmonster said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:

... galaxies ahead of anything Microsoft could ever develop.

My main issue over the years has been that my work has required Windows-specific software. I haven't researched the latest software that runs on Linux, but when I tried Ubuntu in 2014, some of the equivalent Linux software was still lacking features and/or functionality that I must have (ex: Photoshop vs Gimp - good apps, but not a match).

I do want to go back the Linux, however, so I'll be looking into ways I can do that without much trouble. My work situation and needs have changed the past couple years, so it might be possible to make the switch now.

[JoelYoung]

@akapune Vivaldi doesn't have "distros". It's a Web browser that works on Windows, Linux and Android.

[Catweazle]

@JoelYoung said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:

@Catchmonster said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:

... galaxies ahead of anything Microsoft could ever develop.

My main issue over the years has been that my work has required Windows-specific software. I haven't researched the latest software that runs on Linux, but when I tried Ubuntu in 2014, some of the equivalent Linux software was still lacking features and/or functionality that I must have (ex: Photoshop vs Gimp - good apps, but not a match).

I do want to go back the Linux, however, so I'll be looking into ways I can do that without much trouble. My work situation and needs have changed the past couple years, so it might be possible to make the switch now.

The Gimp of now is not the same as in 2014 and perhaps it will be worth it now, Krita (KDE) can also be a good complement and is even used by professionals.
Apart Photoshop and many other Windows applications work perfectly with Wine.
Maybe it suits you to try different distros on USB, to see which one best suits your needs, before finally moving on to Linux

[jrsilvey]

I have been using Solus for the better part of a year now. Prior to Solus, I hopped from distribution to distribution.. and broke them all.

In less than a year I broke Ubuntu Mate, Parrot OS, and Zorin OS (although Zorin is really a great distro.. I tweak to much).

I found my way to Fedora which is a strong, solid distribution but it is the testing distribution for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and something they did broke my install. Fedora is better for experienced users especially because of their emphasis on staying true to open-source ideology. It takes forever to get proprietary codecs and repositories working properly.

Solus is a completely different experience entirely.

Initially I had issues installing Solus alongside Windows but when Solus 4 'Fortitude' was released in March of this year all of those issues were resolved.

I was able to completely ditch Windows. I have two dozen devices in my home and none of them run Windows at all.

Solus is so reliable that I would feel comfortable enough installing it on my mother's computer and not having any worries wondering if she could maintain it. This is coming from someone with a degree in computer science who fixes computers. In fact, Solus would likely mean I would have to go fix her less often.

I have never felt as secure, happy, or in control of my computing experience as I do using Solus. Josh Strobl is a GREAT Project Lead.. he answers questions on the discussion forum at https://discuss.getsol.us on a daily basis.

Linux is the future of computing and Solus has risen to the forefront of the Linux community. This is definitely an operating system everyone should get a chance to use.

[jrsilvey]

@joelyoung: Try checking out Flatpaks or Snaps which are distribution-agnostic and can be run from virtually any version of linux.

Flatpaks (which are more reliable) can be downloaded from multiple sources but the biggest repository is located at https://www.flathub.org

Flatpak Software:
Discord, Dropbox, Filezilla, Open Drive (Google Drive Client), Signal Desktop, Skype, Slack, Steam, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, Zoom

Snaps (which I distrust because they are centralized and have allowed third parties to put telemetry into code) have a really, really large selection of apps can be found at https://snapcraft.io/store

Snap Software is even more fleshed out and has obscure programs like Wickr and browsers and email apps.

Both of these package managers have tons of development software like Webstorm, Pycharm, Visual Studio Code, Unity Software, Postman, PHPStorm, IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans, Eclipse IDE, DataGrip and Android Studio

Both also have tons of graphic design and audio/visual software that can compete with Adobe like Blender (Adobe Premier/2D), DarkTable (LightRoom), GIMP (Photoshop), InkScape (Illustrator), KdenLive (Premier/Video Editing)

[jrsilvey]

@Catweazle I am only now fully understanding the benefits of running Flatpaks fully but one of the biggest, in my opinion, is the fact that even if Krita is a KDE program you can install it on a GTK based Desktop Environment like Gnome or Budgie without having to worry.

When you download and run an app from Flatpak you download everything you need to run the app INCLUDING the relevant runtimes. So when you download Krita, you download all of the dependencies AND all of the KDE runtimes needed.

Rather than mess up your dependencies (which can be very bad for a Linux system if you blend Gnome's GTK and KDE's QT libraries together) Flatpaks by their nature containerize the apps and the runtimes and those KDE dependencies never touch your actual system.

[mossman]

This talk on Flatpak is interesting, since I saw it mentioned when looking at 32 bit distros to replace Lubuntu and one thing I couldn't install on Lubuntu was Skype, which was just mentioned as a Flatpak

[Catweazle]

@jrsilvey said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:

@Catweazle I am only now fully understanding the benefits of running Flatpaks fully but one of the biggest, in my opinion, is the fact that even if Krita is a KDE program you can install it on a GTK based Desktop Environment like Gnome or Budgie without having to worry.

When you download and run an app from Flatpak you download everything you need to run the app INCLUDING the relevant runtimes. So when you download Krita, you download all of the dependencies AND all of the KDE runtimes needed.

Rather than mess up your dependencies (which can be very bad for a Linux system if you blend Gnome's GTK and KDE's QT libraries together) Flatpaks by their nature containerize the apps and the runtimes and those KDE dependencies never touch your actual system.

I mentioned Krita as a complement, because Gimp does not fully offer the capabilities of Photoshop, Krita is a design and drawing program mainly and also lacks some Photoshop functions, but many others that the PS does not have. It is then that Gimp and Krita as a whole allow much more functions than the PS.
PD Curious that some Photoshop functions come from patents from the Gimp developer, for example the smart fill function (which also has the online editor Lunapic with "Cut and inpaint"), to remove objects from a photo..

[akapune]

@JoelYoung
OK – then I’ll state more precisely: Which Vivaldi built for Linux runs under Solus? DEB, RPM or non-DEB/RPM?