So, it seems my days of getting by with hand-me-down OS software have come to an end. I installed W8.1 Pro from a borrowed disc, then activated it with a key code obtained from a questionable source. It worked just great for about 5 months, but today, the OS started to fight back, and told me my key was no longer valid. Unfortunately, I'm a cheap bastard, and don't really feel like spending $100 on a legit copy of 8.1 (Pro would be an add'l $70, and I don't need the extra features).
My question to you tech gurus, how user-friendly are Ubuntu or Mint? If I'm going to go with freeware, Linux seems to be the way to go, and Ubuntu or Mint seem to be the top choices there, from what I've read. I'm hoping you guys will be able to help me. Here's what I want my PC to be able to do: run AutoCad, work with Excel/Word files, run Thunderbird (or an equivalent mail client, not a fan of Outlook), run Chrome or Firefox, and run torrenting software. Is all this doable on a Linux-based OS? Also, are there any cons I can expect to running one?
I have been fooling with Linux for years now, and, I have 32 bit Linux Mint MATE installed as the only OS on my little net book (Linux + an SSD made the Netbook into almost a computer) and I have 64 bit Mint MATE installed on both my main desktops. On the desktops Mint is installed on separate SSD's and, when I installed Linux, I told it to put the boot manager on the SSD where I installed the OS, so, I boot to Linux using the boot menu that you can call up before the machine posts to an OS (F8 on my computers). Because the entire installation is on the separate HD it doesn't interfere with my main W7 install, and visa versa.
I like the MATE version of Linux since it gets closer to the old traditional Windows look and feel than the more modern versions of Ubuntu and Mint. This is a matter of personal choice, and, they all have live versions so you can try them out. I recommend using the free Universal-USB-Installer program and putting the Linux live .iso on a pen drive and booting from that to try the program as it will be much more responsive than running it from a CD or DVD. I use USB 3.0 pen drives and the live distros are quite snappy.
I have no idea about all the programs that you mentioned but, of course, no Windows program will run under Linux. There are free alternative programs in some cases as there are a large amount of open source programs for Ubuntu and since Mint is based on Ubuntu they mostly work on Mint as well. If you try a live session, you can browse all the available software. I was able to find alternatives for almost everything that I run, but some, such as GNUCash are complicated and fussy to get working. I like Audacity for wave files but I have not found a video processing program that works as well for me as the Live! program does in W7. Of course, since I have W7, and since I find Live!MovieMaker works for me, I really haven't been researching alternative Linux programs, and, the open source stuff is always evolving. I also have zero idea how to fix a Linux system if it blows up, but, Clonezilla will made complete backup images, so, if the install blows up, I can restore it from an image. This was not always true, but, Linux continues to evolve, and one can guard against losing their well configured install by making frequent complete backups. I certainly am able to play movies with 5.1 surround sound and Nvidia drivers are available for Mint, so the display looks good. Obviously browsing is perfect as Firefox comes bundled with the OS. So, Linux will play youtube videos, although some versions of Linux make you install programs that are not open source, even if they are free. I do not play games, so I can offer no info on that. I did install DOS Box and Wine, and I installed the old, traditional, Windows, Freecell game and it works under Wine. Irfanview also works fine using Wine, so, some Windows programs will run using Wine. I can even run the old, DOS, version of SIm City under Linux, and, there is no way that this could run under 64 bit Windows. There are extensive lists on the Wine site discussing what runs and what doesn't, but, I am too lazy to look up AutoCAD. I run one of the various open source Office Suites under Linux and, in fact I am running LibreOffice 4.2 under W7 and it seems to open all the MS Office files just fine. It is very similar to MS Office and, it is free. There are fine mail clients for Mint and Ubuntu and they also have torrenting software.
If Windows died tomorrow, I could switch to Mint, MATE, and it would serve most of my needs. But, it remains a Windows world, and there are still programs and utilities that have no Linux equivalents. For instance, Corsair has Windows software that allows me to make profiles and custom tailor the liquid cooling of my CPU, but they do not make a Linux version. And, ASUS has no Linux utilities to use with their MB's. If you get a dyno tune and get data, there are no DynoJet Linux programs. These are just some examples, and, there are plenty more as lots of various hardware items are PC friendly but they rarely have a Linux app available. Again, you can try a live session and find out if your hardware works with Linux.
Finally, I do not know if all you Windows stuff would install and run on the evaluation versions of W10 that Microsoft has released. If they did, that would buy you a few months using a valid version of Windows, but the current software is possibly buggy as it is basically still BETA. I personally hate W8/8.1 and, I tried out W10 already and I did not like it either. So, I am happy with W7, which still has some life left. But, when W7 is churned out, down the line, I may drop Windows and move to Linux due to the fact that I don't like the new Windows.
Thanks for the response, Pat. I did some more research myself after I posted, and if I didn't have to use AutoCad for work, I would likely try switching over, but I can't risk running into issues using the AutoCad 2012 that I use. I also do a lot of cross program interfacing, such as switching files from Excel to .pdf and vice versa. I'd hate to lose any of that because I use it so often for work. So, I think my best bet is to talk to the boss man, and see if I can charge a copy of W8.1 to my company card, and call it a day. I'm used to 8, so that's not a problem for me, and I don't need the extra features in the pro version, so there's no need to spend an extra $70 on it.
From reading up on the Linux OSs, it seems like an interesting thing to try. Maybe down the road, I'll pick up a second SSD, and run Linux on it for when I'm not working.
You can still burn a live CD/DVD and boot from it to play with Linux. Such a cd also is great to test your hardware with and, in the event of Widiows crashing or your HD failing, you could still boot up and surf the net as the versions run entirely in memory.
As long as you can boot from a USB a stick,this is optimal.Becasue they formatted as FAT, 8GB is more than enough. You can set persistance on the usb stick when you set it up and it will even remember your changes and then you can really play around with Linux. But, be careful that you don't get hooked.
I suggest using a USB stick to try out some of the different flavors of Linnux. I like 64 bit Linux Mint MATE since it allows me to configure my desktop so that it looks almost like allor my Windows desktops since Win 3.0. In fact it looks more like my traditional desktop config than I am able to get using stinking W8/8.1. But, some may like the Unity desktop of Ubuntu, or the main desktop of Mint.
Yeah, I'm definitely not jumping on a new SSD just yet. I still have a GPz750 to finish. I'm going through the wiring and cleaning things up. Yesterday I picked up a new battery, and had the starter tested at AutoZone. The good news is the starter seems to work, so I may not have to crack it open for a rebuild. When I took off the sprocket cover, I found a wire hanging, disconnected, that's supposed to be part of the ignition (according to the manual). This may have been part of the problem I had with starting it. I also found a ton of spider webs, gunk, and debris under there. It's all cleaned out now, and while I the whole chain exposed, I went ahead and lubed it all.
Back to Linux. I dowloaded Linux Mint Cinnamon (I'm not as old school as you, Pat), and the Universal USB Installer from pendrivelinux.com. I used one of my 8GB usb drives, and created a bootable drive with persistence. I'll be able to play with it in a little while. For now, I don't want to interrupt work I'm doing to toy with it.
