I am not a huge Linux user. I am a big Linux fan, though. I like what it stands for, I like the open source community, and I sincerely believe that it is a better "product" than Windows. By far.
But I am not "huge" into Linux. I've been using it off and on throughout the years, but never really got into the whole "power user" mode. I'm a casual user. Like most people who use Windows, I just want it to work so I can check my emails, see my pictures, and watch monk shots on YouTube.
I've posted here a couple of times about installing Linux. I thought about doing it again, but honestly, installing and getting Linux to run is almost a non-event. It installs way faster than Windows, doesn't muck up your hardware, and normally finds everything it needs to get you up and running.
Today I made the switch from Ubuntu - which is GREAT by the way - to Mint (Debian). The reason I made the switch is because my old Dell laptop is, well, old. Really old. I needed something just a little more slimmed down to meet the limitations of the memory and processor.
Installing Mint took literally minutes. When I last reinstalled window, probably xp, on this laptop, it took a day. A WHOLE day. And I had to reboot and reboot and reboot to get all the hardware drivers installed AFTER windows was installed.
With Mint, I clicked install, walked away for about 10 minutes to make coffee and when I came back it was done. DONE done. No extra drivers to install, no video to configure. Bam. Done. Running. Happy.
I did have to fight a tiny bit to get the wireless internet running. But that was a hardware configuration issue and not the fault of Mint. I went into the bios, flipped a switch, and it was done.
And it does everything windows does. Well, almost. For the average user, you won't need anything else. The Gnome interface looks and acts like Windows. It just works.
I'm still on the lookout for a good video editor. And by good I mean like Windows Movie Maker. Although I wouldn't complain if it was on the level of good that Final Cut Pro is. But this old computer doesn't have the memory to do video processing anyway, so maybe the next time.
To close let me just say, Windows sucks. Long Live Linux. Thanks.
