Alternative Operating Systems to Windows

I can no longer activate Windows XP on my desktop computer, even using the various go-arounds offered on the net. I can afford Windows 10 and so on, b ut I have given too many hours over the years to its Regedit, restore yada features. I do not need bells and whistles. I need a decent word processor, spreadsheet, pdf viewer. I have a small Chromebook as my second computer. For anything serious, I can use my little Chromebook or go to the public li brary.

I am ready to try a free alternative operating system, such as Linux's Ubun tu.

If you use a free operating system, can you post your thumbs up or thumbs d own for it compared to Windows?

Reply to
honda.lioness
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I had Vista on my old computer and son, who is computer type guy, could not fix it when it slowed to a crawl so wiped it and installed Linux.

Worked fine when he did it in his home on ethernet but when I got it home I could not get it to work on wifi. Son had no fix and I figured computer was maxed out and bought new Win 8 now Win 10. Win 10 can be a PITA but you can tone down a lot of intrusiveness and easier for someone like me that is not a computer guru.

Reply to
Frank

I have the "Mint" distribution. When you say "free", you mean you won't pay any money--and you are correct about that, but learning to use Linux will hardly be "free". Give it as try, you have your Chromebook as back up. What do you have to lose?

Reply to
Bill

Some people prefer Linux Mint over Ubuntu.

Reply to
catalpa

Other than a lot of time and the rest of your hair???

Reply to
clare

alt.os.linux.mint Good advice from good people.

Reply to
Mysterious Traveller

He has been warned! : ) If he downloads Mint, then based upon my experience, he should then head over to Oracle to download and install their implementation of Java, the JVM. Let the learning begin... : )

Reply to
Bill

I should add that doing this is free (the associated documentation contains all of the details that you will need).

Reply to
Bill

Thumbs up.

Fedora user here. Compared to Windows, lots of things work better. There are thousands of free applications you can easily install.

It's free to try and easier to understand which is another kind of freedom.

Most new Linux users start with Ubuntu.

Reply to
Dan Espen

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: ...

certainly give it a try.

i've been running Debian for many years and Ubuntu is based upon Debian, but is supposedly easier to use.

there will be a learning curve, but if you have time i consider it time well spent. i like puzzles instead of watching tv anyways... :)

i can't even remember the last time i booted my other machine which has win98 on it, the battery has probably died by now (it also has Debian on it).

songbird

Reply to
songbird

I run Kubuntu at work and OpenSUSE at home. Unless you're a geek, the desktop is what matters. I prefer KDE, hence Kubuntu. Ubuntu went down the Unity rabbit hole following Microsoft. It went over so well they're dropping it.

Mint is based on Ubuntu but uses the Cinnamon desktop by default. Cinnamon is a child of GNOME and built with Gtk+. You can use other desktops but in my experience with various distros, trying to graft on another desktop can result in sort of an unstable mess.

The other thing to take into consideration is the degree of ideological purity. not using proprietary drivers is pure and so forth but can also result in stuff not working. I ain't pure. I don't lose sleep if NVidia releases a driver that isn't Stallman Pure Open Source GPL as long as it works. After a fwe go arounds with reverse engineered LexMark drivers because LexMark doesn't do Linux and your purity slips. Along with your desire to ever buy a LexMark printer.

As the OP probably has gathered the problem with Linux is sort of like if someone says "I don't like GM cars. Are there any other cars out there?" and the answer is "Ford." There are big Fords, little Fords, trucky Fords, fast Fords....

Reply to
rbowman

On Fri 26 May 2017 06:59:29p, songbird told us...

Certainly there are alternative operating systems other than Windows. Do I pesonally want to use them? A definite no. I don't want to spend (waste) my time "making" something work, whereas WINDows 10 will be 100% compatible with my hardware, other software, peripherals, all the drivers and firmware, etc. Windows 10 allows me to USE my system rather than playing with it.

I know that all you opponents will not agree. :-)

Reply to
Wayne Boatwright

I agree 110% - after working in the computer support business for over 26 years. Is windows perfect? Far from it - but it's about as good as it gets, in the big picture.

Reply to
clare

Some of us have more than one OS on the same hardware running concurrently--offering a few more choices than you have above.

Reply to
Bill

On Fri 26 May 2017 09:37:02p, Bill told us...

I'm sure many of you are running more than one OS. I wasn't suggesting that everyone should only run Windows. However, I have no need for those additional choices that you seem to need. I have exactly what I need.

Reply to
Wayne Boatwright

On Fri 26 May 2017 09:25:38p, told us...

Clare, I have a similar and lengthy work background. You're right that Windows is not perfect and probably never will be, but for me it's best option and I doubt I'll ever change my mind.

Thanks!

Reply to
Wayne Boatwright

The most important property for new users is ease of conversion. I found Zorin OS 9 to be VERY easy to operate from a windows perspective. It integrated into my network without itervention and just worked.

I played with Zorin 12 and judged it to be a step backward from 9.

Give MacPup linux V5.50 a try. It's very user friendly and gives you a lot of help in the few cases it requires user input. Runs very well off a DVD.

Reply to
mike

On Fri 26 May 2017 10:17:21p, mike told us...

Thanks, Mike, for the informaton. My bakground began with mainframe and mini computers and from there moved on to CP/M, DOS, and finally, Windows. I had every version of Windows that Microsoft ever released and am currently running WIndows 10. I have 4 PCs hardwired to my home network, along with 2 laptops connecting via WIFI. I have all the software I could possibly use and it serves me well. This is why I have no desire to experiment with other operating systems. I'm busy enough as it is, and I don't really have time to play with other options.

Thanks, again!

Reply to
Wayne Boatwright

How do you know what you are missing?

Reply to
Bill

I prefer Linux Mint but still have to use Windows to do certain tasks like updating my Garmin Nuvi maps.

Reply to
Kilroy

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