Who cares? It’s still a badass desktop, the best option for gaming, and a damn good server.
I’m going to DreamHack in a few months. Know how many Linux boxes will be there? 0
Quakecon, same thing: 0
I go to Dallas Hackers Association and tons of people do presentations and demos with Windows.
Stop caring what others think about your computer. Because, when you migrate to Linux, it’s still gonna get hated on by Arch users, KDE users, i3wm users, etc.
Windows only gets hate by smug elitist pricks and paranoid pseudointellectuals who don’t actually support FOSS. They’re a vocal minority
Stop letting what other people think of your OS dictate what you use. No one actually cares if you use windows at the end of the day. The people who trash windows are the same people who don’t give a shit about your workflow and what software you use because their workflow and software is more important.
It just that there are a lot of folks out there that don’t want to suffer through knarly interface limitations so we can do something analogous to “PowerPoint”, without being involved in all the drawbacks that come with using Microsoft.
Not everyone gives a crap about messing with all these things, they just want to get some things done and not have it be an overwhelmingly tiring and insufferable problem dealing with the command line. In short, some people just want to live and get on with their lives instead of being slaves bound to these things. Personally, I don’t think that’s asking a lot, either. I grew up during a time when these things were not integral parts of people’s lives, so they didn’t have to be safe, and in my opinion life was a lot better. People had more time to actually talk to other people face to face, and life was more fulfilling and “real” overall. All the “time we were suppose to save” has been perverted and transferred into endless time wasted from the constant undermining. I love technology but all too often feel betrayed by it, so I can totally understand asking for a “straight up” answer, just in case someone might have one. I’m also happy to give it, if I may have it, which is rare for any of us.
I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with those of us that really like digging in and messing around with these things. That can also be fun, and I’ve enjoyed that too, but in a server world where you’re trying to get the most efficiency and guard against malevolence, that makes more sense. Or, when you’re trying to get “all the juice” from a gaming rig. If you’ve read some of my other comments, I’ve fried a great many graphics cards in my day, so far, lol :-). When you’re trying to make a presentation or do some innocuous browsing, it really sucks tho, lol. That’s my only point.
Why? I’ve had a great experience with LibreOffice and Firefox runs even better on Linux that on Windows on my laptop, not to mention on my mother’s laptop (even though I could only get her to let me try a LiveUSB on her laptop…). Actually, I think that the “innocuous browsing” you speak of is the single easiest thing to do in Linux.
I don’t think you should rush things since you have so many specific needs.
As has been said Linux is not like the second coming of Jesus, it’s just a different way to approach computing less tied to corporations.
What I would do if I were you is make a partition to install Linux on (ready distros like Ubuntu are best suited to begin with) and take one or two days a week to boot the Linux partition and slowly check all the boxes and iron out how you want your experience to be.
If you’re careful you can easly revert back to just Windows if you find that Linux can’t fulfill your needs.
School is more important than Linux: If your school needs Windows, you may need to just dual boot as it is the most performance you will get while still enjoying the best of both worlds. School should always go first.
1.5 I use peazip. A lot of archiving software exists on Linux, its just that most doesnt have .rar extension supported out of the box.
I find it best to support games that release on Linux natively. I also support games that work in Proton and is rated Platinum or Gold in protondb.com. Games rated silver is the least I can take. I avoid Bronze and Borked games. You will find that the vast majority of native games in Linux suck. A few are good. Even rare are the triple A ones (released by Feral mostly these days). If you want to live in Linux land, know that this is one of the price to pay.
God help you if you are in media production and you want to live in Linuxland. While there are alternatives is not as good as you want it to be.
Linux is not yet the best fit for you. If you force it, you will only come out bitter and hating Linux. It takes work and time and dedication. If something breaks, and you are the niche user. It only falls on you to do the bug reports and you also have to follow through on that nicely. Most devs are working on Linux out of love and on their free time. Hassle them too much and they will hate and ignore you. Hassle them too little and nothing will happen.
Exactly, the Journey is just as important as teh desitnation. One has one’s whole life to cheat on Microsoft’s windows OS, but school’s short enough not to compromise.
Now that schools have moved on to tablets/ chromebooks, windows will naturally age out of the system, but until then, it will be around for a few more years yet.
You’re not missing anything staying on windows, even more if you just wanna go 'cause people hate it…
EDIT: also: answering the OP title:
Not doing it, actually.
If there’s something you either need or want to do and it conflicts with the fact of using Linoox I’d say you should not. Jump on AdminDev’s bandwagon and love Windows for what it is, a rather solid OS and user-focused.
even tho chris is some high-level wizard on penguin lands, dude has some crazy knowledge
Ignore all these Microsoft shills; fdisk your machine as quickly as you can. You’re school project is clearly using non-free software, get rid of it and find something under a GPL v3 license. If a tutor questions this make him watch a video staring RMS. If you don’t know who RMS is that’s ok, he knows who you are.
As for a beginners distro, you don’t need one. I recommend Arch with the Rat Poison window manager (you can now throw your mouse away, thank me later).
Next you should grow a neck beard (if you can), sandals are optional but highly recommended as they allow easy access for random snacks (see RMS above for inspiration).
Did I mention emacs? No? Apologies, this will become you second home, after a while you will be able to use it to tell @AnotherDev to feck off and die - without opening a web-browser, yes, it is that awesome.
By the time you have mastered this I am sure we’ll feel your presence on the r/Linux feed telling people the OS is really called GNU and that the OSI and Linux Foundation are evil corporate sell outs in bed with Satan. You will also refuse to help any Ubuntu users and will pour scorn on lovers of Steam Proton.
Alternatively you can stay with Windows as your main desktop OS and start learning the ways of Linux in a VM or better still on a cheap thin-client (e.g. a HP T610/620) you paid buttons for on ebay. Linux is an awesome server OS and there is an abundance of great FLOSS available for Windows. If privacy is a concern get Shutup10.
Take this post with a pinch of salt. It’s a slow work day and I’m bored. I really should be learning how to use terraform properly so I can teach others, but typing this was more fun
No one should throw out Windows to give a Linux distro a whirl… You will not achieve moral purity by doing so, I assure you. Rather, have you ever heard of “dual booting”…? That way you can have your Windows and eat your Linux, too. That way, you can enjoy the best of both worlds. I recommend dual booting especially to people who enjoy gaming–a lot–but want to give Linux a whirl.
Oh boy, you had me going until the last paragraph! Speaking of which, I guess that I have become quite comfy with Linux, given that I was able to keep up with your reply without any issues.
Yes, but you have to put up with every Windows update having the potential to mess with which bootloader is default. Feature updates (Creators Update, April Update, so on and so forth) will definitely mess with the bootloader.
You will not achieve moral purity by doing so, I assure you. Rather, have you ever heard of “dual booting”…? That way you can have your Windows and eat your Linux, too. That way, you can enjoy the best of both worlds. I recommend dual booting especially to people who enjoy gaming–a lot–but want to give Linux a whirl.