Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux
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If you have Windows 10 installed on the computer already, I would leave it for now.
In my opinion the simplest solution is to install the live version of your chosen Linux distribution on the USB stick.
This way you can either boot into the existing OS or the Linux OS on the USB stick.
I found the following link after a short search Linux Mint Live, assuming you have chosen Linux Mint.
If you leave the hard drive unmounted this is a zero risk way of becoming familiar with Linux.
It looks like I'm just a young fella at only 57
but I started using Linux nearly 30 years ago and I am so glad I did.
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@britur
Hi, you will get problems to start Windows 10 from external device, MS does not like it.
For testing leave your system as is and use a good USB stick for Linux.
There is nothing to install only copy a Linux ISO file to a bootable USB stick.
There are several tools doing this.
You have to choice the boot device from BIOS but for testing it is OK.
128 GB is more than enough for a full Linux install for the USB stick 8 GB.
You can use the Windows partition as storage for Linux, too.Cheers, mib
EDIT: buzzb was faster.
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@britur , a 10Tb pendrive is not needed for a Linux distro
, they fit comfortably in one of 1 Gb. That is, if you have a pendrive from where you want to run Linux, one of 8-10 Gb is enough, to also have room for possible files , the SO as such, does not reach 1 Gb.>Laptop ACER, AMD Ryzen, GPU AMD Radeon RAM 16GB, SSD 512GB -Win11 Home 64 v24H2| Vivaldi last stable|
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@Catweazle
Hi, for testing it is OK but I have a 43 GB root partition and only 13 GB free space or you want to copy a Blue-Ray disk wich is 25 GB and so forth.
SSD are cheap now.CHeers, mib
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@mib2berlin , the investment in an SSD is of course recommended, the speed difference with an HDD is abysmal.
Running Linux on a pendrive to test it, of course, is the recommended option, to having a "portable" Linux, a pendrive with more capacity is naturally needed to also be able to save the files created in it. If they are office files, with 8-10 Gb is enough, to images something else.But the first line pendrive was for the test and for the installation of a distro, for this you don't need a pendrive with a lot of capacity, with one where the distro fits, it will be enough. Mint fits comfortably on a 750 Mb CD, to distribute it as a life CD or give it to a friend.
On my previous PC with Win7 I had Kubuntu in dual boot on a 25 Gb partition, which was enough. It depends naturally on the use that is given, if it is needed for graphic design and 3D rendering, it is logical that more is needed, but for navigation and office it is more than enough. -
@Catweazle Nearly there. After extensive testing, have discoered if Microsoft backup is ri be believe that a 5 TB USB hd is too small. So have ordered a USB 8 TB drive, with double USB 3.0 ports at reasonable price of 1,869 Kr nearly same as 5 TB. Will then test this, and then full speed ahead with BU and Linux options.
Take the liberty if asking one questio here.
When I have bookmatks in speed dialler bookmarks and down the left hand side, can I i multiple select 2 or more BMs to move thgem elsewhere in my system, would be very useful. But have not succeeded.
Any ideas anyone?? -
@britur use either the bookmarks manager or the bookmarks panel and you can definitely multi select and move. I'm not at my desk to confirm but I don't think it's possible to create selections within the speed dial itself. That's a special kind of start page, with different functionality as it core design than managing bookmarks. So the focus is on optimizing that UX, even if to your detriment of managing them as bookmarks.
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@bonetone Thanks v. much.
If I can't multi-select in Speed dialler. great shame, as I must then use areas outside SpeedDialler as multi-selection is very important for me. Unless there is some reasonable workaround!
Will try to see how it works there. -
@britur I guess I don't understand how using the bookmarks manager or the bookmarks panel is not a reasonable workaround for moving multiple speed dial bookmarks in one action. I do a lot of other tasks with respect to managing the speed dial in both of those tools, it's actually better in my opinion than using the speed dial. It's certainly easier to move speed dial bookmarks down multiple folders. Or to move multiple speed dial bookmarks that are stored in different folders into a common folder. These are scenarios that just aren't possible in a speed dial UI, enabling multiselect would still not enable these use cases that I have actually done. And those are just use cases involving a move action. There are still more than no Speed Dial could support that are easy in either the manager or panel.
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@bonetone Thanks v. much. Could it be an idea if exrensive reorgaisation of BMs is necssary to move them out of Speed Dialer to Bookmark Manager, reorganise there, when completed move back to Speed Dialler.
Does that make sense? -
@britur Speed Dial entries are merely bookmarks. They are already within and editable within the panel and/or the bookmark manager. No need to move them anywhere.
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@britur said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:
@bonetone Thanks v. much. Could it be an idea if exrensive reorgaisation of BMs is necssary to move them out of Speed Dialer to Bookmark Manager, reorganise there, when completed move back to Speed Dialler.
Does that make sense?Um, no, it doesn't really make sense. They don't get removed from the speed dial unless you move them out of the folders that have been marked as a speed dial. Speed dials are just a folder in your bookmarks that have the speed dial attribute enabled, by checking the box labeled speed dial. I have several folders that are speed dials, and each one is listed in the start page navigation (where you see speed dial, bookmarks, history). The bookmarks panel and manager are just a better interface for managing their organization, the speed dial is just a unique view into a select set of folders. That view is really nice to have in a new tab for accessing commonly used bookmarks
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Hello Olga, et al,
Long time Windows user and explorer of Linux distros.I ran across this forum after searching for a way to Windows-them Puppy Linux. I have to say that the comments section is chock full of experience and evaluation anecdotes, which helps my search immensely.
The takeaway from this comment thread is to explore SOLUS as a Linux distro, at least for my specific requirements.
https://www.linux.org/threads/new-user-locating-and-installing-device-drivers-in-debian-based-q4os.29253/page-2#post-93880I will, however, say this as a Windows user wanting to select a Linux distro instead of going to Windows 10. As bad as Windows is, as expensive, bloated, vulnerable and invasive as it is, it is still more user-friendly than Linux. As secure, as easy to install and as free as Linux is, it still is stuck at about 2 percent of the laptop / desktop market, versus about 88 percent for Windows.
I say this, not to tweak Linux users, since I want Linux as a system overall to develop sharper elbows and start to make serious inroads on MS's market share. After all, absolute market share corrupts absolutely, and Redmond needs some serious competition to realize that it cannot act so imperious to its users.
So, if Linux is willing to listen to some constructive advice, I would like to offer some.
Linux is really geared to those who LOVE computers and working with computer code. Windows is geared to everyone else. As an OS, it comes installed on a machine from a big box store and while it can do many things, most users will simply turn the machine on and use it for their own niche use, be it for business spreadsheets, school homework, internet games, reading the news, swapping emails, SKYPING and downloading music.
The other 98 percent of its capability remains unused for any particular user, but any given user is okay with that. I will venture to guess that the Windows users of various kinds, save for those specifically hired to administer the IT section of any school or business, uses the computer the way an old lady of 17 year old girl uses a car. The care not a whit how it works. They just want to turn it on and then USE it for their particular purpose.
For these, the Command Line Interface is alarming or annoying. [b]However[/b] if at least one distro of Linux can overlay the CLI with a point and click, or click and drag GUI, with no need to compile drivers or worry about dependencies, that distro will start taking serious market share from MS.
Remember, before there was Windows, there was MS DOS (a-ha! a CLI.) And then there was Mac, with its wonderful point and click GUI. Windows essentially copied the look and feel of Mac, right down to the trash can, for which Mac sued, but lost.
In other words, if Linux can copy ENOUGH from the Windows Look and Feel, and yet keep the wonderful speed and security aspects of Linux, and even charge a modest amount for the packaging, Linux can do to Windows, what MS did to Mac.
Just my 2 cents.
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I agree with you, and that's the point. Linux is made for power users. Which is why all Linux distros combined comprise less than 2 percent of the laptop / desktop market, while Windows, as bad, as buggy, as expensive and invasive as it is, commands over 88 percent of the market.
Most people USE their computers the way a non-mechanic uses their cars. They don't care about sudo apt get any more than Aunt Sophie cares about how to tear down and rebuild her transmission. She just wants the car to get her to work and back reliably.
The vast majority of Windows users are NOT power users. They are simply users.
They could have adopted Linux in the almost 30 years its been around, but have not. Windows looks pretty, is user friendly, and does (for the most part) what they want it to do.
Until there is a PLAYSKOOL simple and attractive version of Linux released to the public, Linux will remain the exclusive plaything of power users.
More's the pity.
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@johnconnorbear:
I'm not re-inventing anything. Linux is stuck at less than 2 percent market share for a very good reason. It is work intensive compared to Windows.
Sure, Windows comes pre-installed on machines, but they have tried selling machines with Linux pre-installed for years, and they have never caught traction.
Linux has co-existed with Windows as long as Windows has existed, and Linux has always been free, save for some pre-packaged distros, complete with manual and Tux desktop figure.
Corporations will spend millions on market research to figure out how their target market thinks and what their wants, needs and desires are. When you don't bother with that approach and expect them all to become software engineers, the failure is not on the part of the using public for not becoming software engineers.
The failure is on the part of the vendor who doesn't try to find out what the user wants and needs.
In all fairness, Linux is powered by Geeks who love computers and code, not a massive megacorporation whose purpose is financial profit. There is a substantial motivation for a corporation to find out what the basic user WANTS and will pay money for.
The Linux user is likely more motivated to making the code do what he wants it to do.
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@HAL2000 said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:
Linux is powered by Geeks who love computers and code, not a massive megacorporation whose purpose is financial profit
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With my level of skill and technical knowledge, I could have adopted Linux in place of Windows years ago if Linux were stable and compatible with my range of software and hardware. At present, Mint for instance is mostly compatible with everything, but is also the only OS that I have to reinstall from scratch periodically due to inexplicable crashes, driver incompatibilities and insoluble failures to boot. I keep Linux Mint around as a testbed for Vivaldi (just as I do Win7), but I literally have to replace it from scratch every few months just to have a running instance of it. It got so bad I tired of making bootable Linux flash drives and bought one with Mint already on it, so that I can reinstall whenever it becomes necessary - like it did last week.
In 30 years of Windows or so, I have never run into a Windows problem I could not solve. Linux on the other hand, many of the problems it has presented have turned out to be completely opaque to me. At that point, time to install it again.
Volunteer Mod and tester on Windows 11 Home X64, i7-13700 @ 5.4 GHz turbo; Intel UHD 770 graphics; 1TB NV2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD; 32 GB DDR4-3200 RAM. Community Code of Conduct
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@JohnConnorBear said in Why you should replace Windows 7 with Linux:
Not because their product doesn't work
As of now they know only 39 devices it works on (at different levels, not necessarily good enough to be used every day).
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Hello Olga, et al,
Well isn't this something else. I wanted to edit this post, and instead it froze at the opening line and deleted the rest.
I'll try and recap my post here.
First, this is an excellent thread, chock full of useful information for a long time Windows user thinking to migrate laterally to Linux instead of Windows 10. The takeaway for me is that I ought to look at SOLUS.
I have been evaluating about 10 different lightweight distros of Linux (Lubuntu Netbook Edition, Ubuntu, XPuntu, Zorin, Mint, MX, Bodhi, Linux Lite, LXLE, Q4OS/XPQ4 and now Puppy Linux.
It's been a real eye opening experience. My choice would have been Debian-based XPQ4, but for its very, very bad, no good inability to recognize and install drivers for so many devices, which otherwise are recognized and installed in Ubuntu-based distros like Linux Lite and LXLE.
Otherwise, XPQ4 is fast and Windows-themes easily and beautifully. It handles memory even better than Puppy (which just choked on a browser with several tabs open).
The other thing I wanted to say that any mass migration from Windows to Linux is a pipe dream, given the current state of Linux. I would like to change that, and say this from the perspective of one who used Windows for as long as it has existed, and before that DOS, BASIC and FORTRAN 77 (using card punch entry).
Most Windows users USE their computers the way old ladies and young girls use their cars. They don't care about knowing how the fuel injection or transmission works. They just want the car to work to get from point A to get to point B. And it helps if the car LOOKS nice and is comfortable too.
Linux, in its current state, doesn't take such users into account. It is code for geeks, by geeks. Its an OS for power users who love computers and code for their own sakes.
Linux can change all that if it can release one distro that has the look and feel of Windows, but with the cost savings, reliability and security of Linux.
Example: in the beginning was MS DOS on floppy disks and black screens with green or amber text. Like the Linux CLI, DOS had Command Lines.
Then there was Mac, with its small vertical computer with pictures and a mouse. Click and drag GUI. WINDOWS was MS's shameless copying of Mac's Look and Feel, but not so closely that it qualified for copyright protection. The rest is history.
Linux COULD do to MS what MS did to Mac. Copy enough of the WinXP/ Win7 look and feel so as to present a user friendly, familiar face, and ease the Windows users' transition to Linux.
Until that day comes, the Linux market share of the desktop / laptop market will remain about where it is now. About 2 percent of the market.
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Having used Windows since 1995, and other systems before that and since, I have to agree.
That said, I have made it my purpose to learn Linux, and I find it unnecessarily complicated compared to Windows. The upside for Linux, however, is that it can run speedily on even older systems with hardly any RAM required.
So there is a tradeoff with strengths and weaknesses for each system. As far as I am concerned, I am riding the Windows 7 horse (which still works fine for me) until it cannot be used on any public system.
One of the problems for Linux is that some Linux users have a Harry Potter-esque Deatheater sense of exclusivity of Linux, vis-a-vis 'filthy mudblood' Windows users, or simply the system itself.
But it's a counter-productive attitude to have if you want widespread adoption of Linux.
Make it prettier and easier to use (at least as easy to use as Windows). See if you can do with the CLI what Windows 95 did with DOS (that is, put a GUI face on it), and they can begin to see a mass migration of non-Geek users over into Linux. Of course, the very idea of that disturbs some Linux users, even if it should not.
