65 replies to this topic

[HeyYou]

I knew that win 10 was simply spyware masquerading as an operating system....... But, my only experience with any variety of unix/linux was almost 20 years ago.... So, I'm a bit rusty. I wanted to get up and running as quickly as possible, and windows fit the bill. I like win 7 a LOT better than 10.... but, starting around the 7th gen of intel processors, there wasn't any support for win 7 any more. Bummer.

 

In early versions of Win 10, you could actually turn off Cortana...... I think that went away around 1703..... More's the pity. I don't use cortana, so, I don't need it eating resources I would much rather be using to run my games.

[shumkar]

Yes, I also liked XP better than 7 and 7 better than 10... But 7, since it is not being updated anymore, has become less safe... Quickly as possible - understandable. I thinks your move from 7 to 10 was "inevitable" too. But now, when you have (quickly) got your new system running, you could try Linux. Sure, a lot of stuff has changed during 20 years. Linux history is not much longer than 20 years I think you could try some distros first in a VM (for example, in Virtualbox), without haste, step-by-step. A good starting point for choosing distros could be the advanced search on Distrowatch - "all rolling distros", and reading reviews. Unfortunately, I am not experienced in many different distros, because before Gentoo I had only Debian, it was a long ago. Since I found Gentoo, I tried other distros only for testing purposes, in VMs, mainly Debian/Ubuntu/Mint, a little - CentOS Stream and PCLinuxOS; liked, in general, all of them, except PCLinuxOS (a combination of non-systemd and rolling system seemed promising for me, but I didn't like how it all has been implemented and a general OS quality); CentOS is not for desktops, though, it's a server OS.

Edited by shumkar, 23 January 2021 - 05:17 PM.

[HeyYou]

I went from XP to 7, about six years after support for XP ended. To make it even more exciting, I was running 64 bit XP pro. It seems that no one wrote printer drivers for that O/S, and I couldn't convince the 32 bit fellers to work. So, I emailed anything I needed to print to myself, and printed from another machine. (at work, as I don't use one at home enough to justify owning one.) I went to 7 shortly after Firefox ended support for their browser on XP...... 7 was good, but, I still liked XP better......

 

I played with RedHat linux, and a couple other (much) older distros when I worked for Borders. (books and music, a company that no longer exists.....) But, my purposes at that time were work related, not gaming. Still running windows on my gaming machines back then. Now, I am retired.... for the most part.... just work part-time at a local computer shop. I don't really need the money, but, I enjoy the work, it's a cool place to work, and I get along with all of my co-workers. (a rare occurrence..... generally, there has always been at least one that no matter what I did, we just could NOT get along..... I do not miss that.) Oddly enough, I consider it "fun"..... (is there something wrong with me??)((you can lie to me, please. ))

 

I have a laptop that I use to talk to various automotive computers.... Might try some flavor of linux on that. Provided my software will run on it. (yeah, I did the auto tech thing for many years as well. I like computers better. Smaller, cleaner parts, that NEVER see a Michigan winter. )

[shumkar]

Re "six years after support for XP ended"

Are you a thrill seeker?

 

Re "I played with RedHat linux"

Then I think you could start with Fedora!

 

Re "(is there something wrong with me??)((you can lie to me, please. ))"

Hmmm, sorry, I'm afraid that my knowledge of English is not enough for getting the nuances of meaning like in that phrase... Did you mean working just for communicating with your co-workers? If yes, my answer is - Why not, especially if it is the only way to communicate with them! (I couldn't lie here... )

 

Re "I have a laptop... Might try some flavor of linux on that. Provided my software will run on it."

The most full collection of the information about Linux laptop compatibility that I know of: https://wiki.archlin...ndex.php/Laptop - please note the line "Acer – Apple – ASUS – Dell – Fujitsu – HP – IBM/Lenovo – MSI – Samsung – Sony – Toshiba – Other" with links to the corresponding chapters.

[HeyYou]

Cool, I will have a look, and take it from there. Also have to consult with my software vendor, and make sure it will run under linux. I *think* they have a version for that.

 

Nah, I got to work because I actually enjoy doing the work. The people are just an added bonus, as for the most part, I am locked away in the service area, and don't interact with anyone very much. (and the whole covid thing has only made me more secluded, I am old, and in several of the 'high risk' categories.... so, my boss hides me away.) I just like doin' the work. Makes me use my brain a bit. I enjoy a good challenge, and some of the stuff our customers can come up with, are truly interesting. And the custom builds are REALLY fun. At least a part of that though, I think is that I enjoy spending other peoples money.

[shumkar]

Thanks for the clarification, clear now. I don't like to "sit around" neither...