AT LAST! a Linux I LIKE!

[Jutter]

I tried dual-booters before. Years ago first SuSe (nightmare). Not so long ago Ubuntu (still couldn't get the sound to work), but MAN! Linux has come a long was since then. When they told me LinuxMINT 16 is beginner-friendly, they weren't kidding.

I went for the popular Cinemon distribution, 64 bit. After downloading the reccomended free burning utility, from what I preceived to be the official site, sure enough I caught a fucking browser hijjacker before I managed to cancel the procedure. This affirmed my desire to try Linux for my non-gaming internet-exposed activities. Luckily the second link I tried turned out to be solid, and soon I was burning the IOS to a DVD.

After booting LinuxMint 16 I got a nice look at what my sleek future desktop would look like after clicking on that one extra icon on the desktop...
INSTALL LINUX

Creating the dual booter was a breeze. Just slide-adjust how much room you want to reserve for respectively Windows and Linux, and proceed. (I went with a modest 50 gig, because I barely download anything, and I'm keeping Windows for my gaming needs). You're put through the motions of inventing your username and password, and choosing a language and keyboard layout, but the installwizzard guessed my region correct, and set the clock and callender correctly by itself.

The reboot took a moment. I guess that Windows had to make some one-time adjustments after scooting over to make room for the Penguin, so I let it do its thing. It booted into Windows, after the reshuffle and restart, smoothly. Time to reboot one more time and dive into LinuxMINT 16...

Right 'out of the box' everything works like a charm. Even the sound. A little trip to the (quickly found) driver manager, told me that out of the list of available drivers for my videocard the reccomended one wasn't sellected yet, so I ticked the box on that puppy and clicked "apply".

A few seconds later that was that. I had everything sucessfully up and running. Ready to browse, post, watch and listen to youtube. WOW!

The application manager is much like an app-store full of free goodies to browse through. From here you can install and uninstall everything with one simple click. LinuxMint already has pre-made folders, it cleverly organizes stuff into, for you. A video you download will sure enough end up in the files/videos folder. That game you installed automaticly ends up in the games section.

After installing Minitube, typing in a keyword (I chose acapella) and watching a seemless stream of youtubevideos, without commercials, and discovering the damn thing downloads youtube videos too I was sold.

This dual-booter is a keeper.

http://www.linuxmint.com/

PS. if you burn a live-cd or create a "STICKLINUX" USB pendrive (there are how-to's on youtube), LinuxMint16 Cinamon will run straight off the dvd/stick with hi-res video, sound, and internet capability, so you needn't even install it in order to give it an in depth try.

[stromboli]

Sounds like you are in your happy place. Enjoy it while it lasts.

[aileron]

It's the Cinnamon UI.  The baseline options, Gnome and KDE, are stale and in some ways half-baked.  Cinnamon is a vast improvement.

[PickelledEggs]

Nice! I never tried mint. I've used ubuntu (which sucks horribly IMO) and I use Fedora right now (which I love, but is not necessarily user friendly).

I'll have to make a virtual machine and try it out since you're saying you like it so much.

[aileron]

Nice! I never tried mint. I've used ubuntu (which sucks horribly IMO) ....

MINT is based on Ubuntu (which is based on Debian), but the MINT folks got rid of that abomination of a UI in Ubunty called Unity and replaced it with Cinnamon.  If you took Ubuntu and replaced Unity with Cinnamon, it would be a lot like MINT.

[PickelledEggs]

MINT is based on Ubuntu (which is based on Debian), but the MINT folks got rid of that abomination of a UI in Ubunty called Unity and replaced it with Cinnamon.  If you took Ubuntu and replaced Unity with Cinnamon, it would be a lot like MINT.

Yeah. Unity is horrible. Plus Canonical always pushes out updates before they work right. I have never had such a glitchy computer as when I had Ubuntu.

[Jutter]

Which China is switching to in favor of Windows.
(snickers)

[Jutter]

I'm finally starting to understand the Linux structure better. The kernel is like a car's engine. It won't run programs and activate equipment without a 'userspace' build around it, same as an engine itself won't get you to your destination without that surrounding vehicle. Usually when you hear the word Linux, it'll be a Linux-engine, inside a car-model called GNU. Google also uses a Linux engine, but instead of using GNU they build their own model car around it called Android. The GUI (graphic user interface) is best compared to the dashboard-layout of a car and the ergonomics of chair and steeringwheel. A good GUI is slick-looking and transparantly organized.

[Atheon]

Based on your recommendation, I just installed Mint, and I love it! After numerous attempts to get used to Ubuntu, I had simply given up and gone back to Windows.

But so far, I'm really impressed by Mint. Its look-and-feel is very Windows-like, which means I already know where everything is. Ubuntu is just too Mac-like. Plus, I always had problem installing things... installations routinely failed on Ubuntu, with no recourse. So far, Mint is tops!!

I can see myself actually using it instead of Windows. Now I just need to get Microsoft Office working on it (because my clients demand it, plus I have dozens of macros I use daily in my work), and that shouldn't be a problem with Playonlinux.

[aileron]

Now I just need to get Microsoft Office working on it (because my clients demand it, plus I have dozens of macros I use daily in my work), and that shouldn't be a problem with Playonlinux.

I've gotten MS Office 2010 working on Linux, but quite honestly it's a major pain in the ass.  Installing it works fine, but randomly (maybe 5% of the time) when trying to save documents I'd get permissions errors and find that the original had disappeared.  Also from time to time MS Office will report that the license is invalid and shut down.  There may be a way to crack open WINE's virtual registry to reset the license, but at that point my experiment was done.

[_Xenu_]

Linux Mint really is the low hassle version of Linux. Cinnamon is nice too, but keep in mind you can install it on any distro. I'm on Windows 7 now because I bought this laptop for gaming, and because I'm too lazy to set up Xubuntu for a dual boot. Your post reminds me that I'm really more of a Linux guy at heart: Windows sucks and always has. The malware that infects my Firefox here makes me want to scream.

[_Xenu_]

Yeah. Unity is horrible. Plus Canonical always pushes out updates before they work right. I have never had such a glitchy computer as when I had Ubuntu.

If you're going to use Ubuntu, install a different interface and stick with the LTR.

[PickelledEggs]

Based on your recommendation, I just installed Mint, and I love it! After numerous attempts to get used to Ubuntu, I had simply given up and gone back to Windows.

But so far, I'm really impressed by Mint. Its look-and-feel is very Windows-like, which means I already know where everything is. Ubuntu is just too Mac-like. Plus, I always had problem installing things... installations routinely failed on Ubuntu, with no recourse. So far, Mint is tops!!

I can see myself actually using it instead of Windows. Now I just need to get Microsoft Office working on it (because my clients demand it, plus I have dozens of macros I use daily in my work), and that shouldn't be a problem with Playonlinux.

You can try Libre Office. I never used the whole suite but the parts that I do use, I like a lot. There are a number of alternative softwares to replace the ones you can only get native on Mac or Windows. Otherwise you can use WINE. WINE is great I even got Warcraft 3 and Guild wars 2 working on my machine before I went back to a dual boot.

Sent via your mom

[Atheon]

Libre Office, as wonderful and powerful as it is, has certain formatting compatibility issues vs. MS Office, especially when it comes to tables (which many of my projects include). My clients insist that MS Office be used; it's pretty much de rigueur in the business world. Plus there's the issue of all the macros I use, which would be a time-consuming pain to convert to Libre Office's clunky macro languages. Not to mention my autocorrect file, accumulated over 9 years...

[Jutter]

Tried this?
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/word-online/fiombgjlkfpdpkbhfioofeeinbehmajg

Create, edit and share Word documents. Work with others on shared projects, in real-time.

Office Online combines the most common Office features and real-time co-authoring capabilities so teams at school and home can collaborate on shared documents, presentations and spreadsheets.
Office Online also works with the Office applications installed on your desktop, so you can choose how you want to work. Use Office Online to dynamically collaborate with real time co-authoring, or if you already have Office, continue working with the full power of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel applications installed on your PC or Mac.
Getting started is simple;
• Create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online or with a desktop version of Office
• Save them online in OneDrive
• Share with others to collaborate in real-time