Abandoning Windows for a Full Linux system

JRWvol

I'm a long time Windows OS user from way back in the 1.0 version. Over the years, like many I became more and more disenchanted with Microsoft. Mainly the behavior of the software in its various incarnations. In recent time that disenchantment has become outright anger. Especially now with Windows 8.1 and 10 apparently making it nigh impossible to dial back my computer to Windows 7. Unless of course I opt to install or keep Windows 10. And again with the spying algorithms. Now I know Microsoft isn't the only one that does this but he blatant arrogance of reinstalling them after removal whenever Windows 10 updates itself just infuriates me. In any case, I am ready to give Linux a serious try. Years ago, back in around 1995 I think, I purchased Red Hat and half-heartedly tried it. Decided I didn't like it for various reasons. Most of which I no longer recall. But now I'm more than ready.

For me this means abandoning Windows completely. which also means I will very likely lose usage of the myriad Windows based software I use. But again that's how angry I am now. I'm not talking about running Windows on a virtual machine and all that gobbledygook. I'm talking complete abandonment. I've done some limited reading on Linux. It appears for me the OS might be LinuxMint. I'm not a games player. I am heavy into video editing and WordPerfect X7/8 because of its ebook publishing capacity. Also photo editing and more and more dabbling with animation software such CrazyTalk and iClone.

I'm hoping you guys can suggest the right Linux OS for my type of usage. I'm so ready I have new hard drives to do a clean install and test out which if any of my software might run on Linux. If there are any similar software to what I use that is Linux friendly. If you can a bit of info on the max amount of RAM a Linux system can have. I'm in the market for a custom made gaming machine. Not to play games but to use the robust machine for video editing.

Nadia 5

Why not try a couple different and see which one you vibe with best. I've done that myself. I started with Fedora in school and seems to be the one I keep going back to. 

Best of Luck!

mike837go

As Morpheus told Neo, "Welcome to the Real World."

I am in the process of dumping Microsoft's Windows in favor of Canonical's Ubuntu.

It is a strange place for those that have forgotten that the command line is and always will be the best place to get things done properly.

Wipe a PC clean and do a fresh Linux install (with a desktop). Ubuntu 16.04.02 LTS with Unity is a really easy place to start.

After that, there are choices of desktops and many flavors of Linux to choose from.

saqman2060

I would follow the advice from the previous comments. There is a tab on this site that lists most of the current linux distros available. Most have ISOs so do some testing and see which ones suite your fancy.

Since you spare harddrives, I would insert one saving your windows harddrive. This will allow you to keep windows around in case you discover Linux is not for you.

Palladini921

Go get Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya Cinnamon, and you will never look back.  You Kdenlive, a NLE Video Editing Program that is equal to or better than Sony Vegas 10, Photo editing, GIMP gets that done, as well as simpler photo editing programs are available. 

I also do heavy Video Editing, and do not mis windows at all.  the most I love about the OS mentioned above, it runs on 3 computers in our house, when you go to Software Manager and download a program, it puts nothing on the desktop, unlike windows where it litters your screen with icons.  Linux Mint put it all on the start menu.

JRWvol

OK. Hopefully, someone can advise me step by step. First, I did a bit more reading on LINUX and talked to some various folks. I came away with the impression that LINUX Mint [Cinnamon] is probably the best starting point for a LINUX ignoramus like myself. However, I also talked to some Manjaro folks. After reading a bit more I, (GULP!) perhaps stupidly have decided to try Manjaro. Main reason, it has rolling updates so I don't have to deal with the somewhat messy version updating in using Mint. But also I will be using a computer specifically to get to know LINUX, hopefully master it and not my main computer at this time. Once confident, I'll switch to using it on my main computer.

OK, I'd like some step by step help, if you will. Please, just the step by step help. One thing I learned while being online for information, LINUX folks can be religious about the version they use. I'm grew up in a church environment so I know how folks can get about verifying and proving their dogma. Me no want. Just want to focus on Manjaro installation at this time.

Step 1: The LINUX computer will have two 300GB HDDs. One has Windows 7 on it and nothing else. The other is just for data files but is also naked. But I have no desire to keep Win7 and won't. Will Manjaro replace it if I ask it to format the drive? I do have an brand new unused 300GB drive. Should I use this instead?

ravenclawstudent

@Nadia 5 said:
Why not try a couple different and see which one you vibe with best. I've done that myself. I started with Fedora in school and seems to be the one I keep going back to. 

Best of Luck!

But how did you go about testing different Linux distros without losing your saved files? This is what I'm confused about!