Is Linux Right For Me?
I hate windows, hate hate hate, and that alone is probably reason enough to switch, but I am worried about things with linux..... Mainly I use my comp for school, downloading content via piratebay/isohunt, light gaming (have an xbox 360), media (HDMI to TV), you know, the normal stuff, here are a few questions I have....
How easy is it to switch?
Will I still be able to do those things I have listed?
What distro is good for me?
I have heard linux isn't very pretty (doesn't matter too much, just wondering) but how bad is it?
Any key advice for a new user?
I really want to make the switch, but I use my computer constantly and can't afford too much downtime, I am fairly good with a computer, just do not do any programming stuff,
Thanks for any help and I really appreciate it,
Eric
Comments
-
CCFlyfisher wrote:I have heard linux isn't very pretty (doesn't matter too much, just wondering) but how bad is it?
The others are right in their recommendations, your have over 300 distributions to choose from it all depends on your personal preferences and a quiz will help you to find the best fit.
But the line above is really disturbing me because the desktop effects and enhancements that people rave about on windows and Mac were on Linux distros first. Pretty much everyone I show my system to raves about the look, feel and functionality compared to what they use. Since Linux based systems are fully customizable you are free to make it what you want including as aesthetically pleasing as you wish. Checkout the desktop picts at http://www.linux.com/community/forums?func=view&catid=20&id=196 for examples of the various looks you can get.0 -
Robin,
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond, I took the quiz and Linux Mint was in the 100% results , along with a few others but I think it sounds like that matches me the best and is the one I would be using.0 -
Craig,
Also thank you for responding. Customizing is one of the major reasons for my interest in Linux, I absolutely hate all of the bloatware attached to windows that bogs down my computer.0 -
mfillpot,
Once again thanks for the response. All of my information about Linux comes from impressions that I got when hearing about it for the first time over a decade ago. Unfortunately, I think that is a large reason that many do not switch over. The screenshots that you showed me look amazing and blew my previous thoughts on Linux away.0 -
I hear those same questions often, and it really doesn't help that in most technical education programs they have an intro to Linux class that only shows the students the command line. The best thing you can do to explore the multitude of distributions that is available is choose some you would like to test and download their Live CDs to test them without actually installing them.
If you then find interest in a specific flavor you can install it in virtualbox to test it further or do a physical installation to use it with the full power of your hardware.0 -
Linux is great for the following reasons:
[ol][li]1. Servers (better security, better resource management, cloud computing, ect)[/li]
[li]2. Networking (better management, better security, ect)[/li]
[li]3. Development (compiling, community, ect) [/li]
[li]4. Virtualization (VirtualBox, VMWare, Zen)[/li]
[li]5. General Desktop Use (ie - Documents, Email, Internet)[/li][/ol]
Linux is not designed for:
[ol][li]1. Gaming (you have to work hard to play games on Linux with Wine)[/li]
[li]2. Non-Computer Users [/li]
[li]3. Microsoft Lovers [/li]
[li]4. Mac Worshipers [/li][/ol]
But anyone can become a Linux user. The easiest thing is to download and burn a copy of Ubuntu onto a dvd. Then install and use with the Ubuntu forums. Another thing that will help you is to get on the freenode IRC and go to the #Ubuntu channel for help - there will be users of all calibers on there that can help you.
If you still want to game - then dual boot Linux with Windows. There are several HowTos online to help you with this, but be warned that dual booting Linux with Vista is not recommended by anyone - upgrade to Win7. You can also dual boot with Mac OSX as well, but you'll need to follow the HowTo exactly.
Good Luck
--altNull--0
Categories
- All Categories
- 218 LFX Mentorship
- 218 LFX Mentorship: Linux Kernel
- 791 Linux Foundation IT Professional Programs
- 353 Cloud Engineer IT Professional Program
- 178 Advanced Cloud Engineer IT Professional Program
- 82 DevOps Engineer IT Professional Program
- 147 Cloud Native Developer IT Professional Program
- 137 Express Training Courses
- 137 Express Courses - Discussion Forum
- 6.2K Training Courses
- 47 LFC110 Class Forum - Discontinued
- 71 LFC131 Class Forum
- 42 LFD102 Class Forum
- 226 LFD103 Class Forum
- 18 LFD110 Class Forum
- 38 LFD121 Class Forum
- 18 LFD133 Class Forum
- 7 LFD134 Class Forum
- 18 LFD137 Class Forum
- 71 LFD201 Class Forum
- 4 LFD210 Class Forum
- 5 LFD210-CN Class Forum
- 2 LFD213 Class Forum - Discontinued
- 128 LFD232 Class Forum - Discontinued
- 2 LFD233 Class Forum
- 4 LFD237 Class Forum
- 24 LFD254 Class Forum
- 697 LFD259 Class Forum
- 111 LFD272 Class Forum
- 4 LFD272-JP クラス フォーラム
- 12 LFD273 Class Forum
- 148 LFS101 Class Forum
- 1 LFS111 Class Forum
- 3 LFS112 Class Forum
- 2 LFS116 Class Forum
- 4 LFS118 Class Forum
- LFS120 Class Forum
- 7 LFS142 Class Forum
- 5 LFS144 Class Forum
- 4 LFS145 Class Forum
- 2 LFS146 Class Forum
- 3 LFS147 Class Forum
- 1 LFS148 Class Forum
- 15 LFS151 Class Forum
- 2 LFS157 Class Forum
- 29 LFS158 Class Forum
- 7 LFS162 Class Forum
- 2 LFS166 Class Forum
- 4 LFS167 Class Forum
- 3 LFS170 Class Forum
- 2 LFS171 Class Forum
- 3 LFS178 Class Forum
- 3 LFS180 Class Forum
- 2 LFS182 Class Forum
- 5 LFS183 Class Forum
- 31 LFS200 Class Forum
- 737 LFS201 Class Forum - Discontinued
- 3 LFS201-JP クラス フォーラム
- 18 LFS203 Class Forum
- 134 LFS207 Class Forum
- 2 LFS207-DE-Klassenforum
- 1 LFS207-JP クラス フォーラム
- 302 LFS211 Class Forum
- 56 LFS216 Class Forum
- 52 LFS241 Class Forum
- 48 LFS242 Class Forum
- 38 LFS243 Class Forum
- 15 LFS244 Class Forum
- 2 LFS245 Class Forum
- LFS246 Class Forum
- 49 LFS250 Class Forum
- 2 LFS250-JP クラス フォーラム
- 1 LFS251 Class Forum
- 153 LFS253 Class Forum
- 1 LFS254 Class Forum
- 1 LFS255 Class Forum
- 7 LFS256 Class Forum
- 1 LFS257 Class Forum
- 1.3K LFS258 Class Forum
- 10 LFS258-JP クラス フォーラム
- 118 LFS260 Class Forum
- 159 LFS261 Class Forum
- 42 LFS262 Class Forum
- 82 LFS263 Class Forum - Discontinued
- 15 LFS264 Class Forum - Discontinued
- 11 LFS266 Class Forum - Discontinued
- 24 LFS267 Class Forum
- 22 LFS268 Class Forum
- 30 LFS269 Class Forum
- LFS270 Class Forum
- 202 LFS272 Class Forum
- 2 LFS272-JP クラス フォーラム
- 1 LFS274 Class Forum
- 4 LFS281 Class Forum
- 9 LFW111 Class Forum
- 259 LFW211 Class Forum
- 181 LFW212 Class Forum
- 13 SKF100 Class Forum
- 1 SKF200 Class Forum
- 1 SKF201 Class Forum
- 796 Hardware
- 199 Drivers
- 68 I/O Devices
- 37 Monitors
- 103 Multimedia
- 174 Networking
- 91 Printers & Scanners
- 85 Storage
- 758 Linux Distributions
- 82 Debian
- 67 Fedora
- 17 Linux Mint
- 13 Mageia
- 23 openSUSE
- 148 Red Hat Enterprise
- 31 Slackware
- 13 SUSE Enterprise
- 353 Ubuntu
- 468 Linux System Administration
- 39 Cloud Computing
- 71 Command Line/Scripting
- Github systems admin projects
- 93 Linux Security
- 78 Network Management
- 102 System Management
- 47 Web Management
- 63 Mobile Computing
- 18 Android
- 33 Development
- 1.2K New to Linux
- 1K Getting Started with Linux
- 371 Off Topic
- 114 Introductions
- 174 Small Talk
- 22 Study Material
- 805 Programming and Development
- 303 Kernel Development
- 484 Software Development
- 1.8K Software
- 261 Applications
- 183 Command Line
- 3 Compiling/Installing
- 987 Games
- 317 Installation
- 97 All In Program
- 97 All In Forum
Upcoming Training
-
August 20, 2018
Kubernetes Administration (LFS458)
-
August 20, 2018
Linux System Administration (LFS301)
-
August 27, 2018
Open Source Virtualization (LFS462)
-
August 27, 2018
Linux Kernel Debugging and Security (LFD440)