Who is using which WIN ?

[OFSO]

For example, sometimes I can't run a print file. Put Mint on, run the printer, back to XP, all fine. OK I made a mistake there. What Mint is doing is fixing the same peripherals that XP uses. My PC has four drives. One XP on SSD, another is same XP running on disc, not supposed to communicate but frequently the solid state XP fires up the XP on disc, I hear it start up. I did not set it up that way and it didn't originally work like that. AI at work ! One drive has one version of Mint and another Linux, which I don't use....I make mods and subsequently forget doing it. Should be working for Boeing.

[Slasher]

Thanks mate. I'll look into it. My XP lappy just has Drive C. No partitioning.

[Boac]

OFSO - why on earth do you have 2 XP's on the same machine and running together? A sure-fire recipe for disaster and I am totally unsurprised that your 'peripherals' are confused.

Slasher - if you are going down this road, make sure you put in place a boot controller to tell your machine which OS you want it to run.

[Slasher]

Roger Boac. Thanks.

[OFSO]

Boac - for no good reason I thought my ancient drive with XP on it wouldn't last much longer. I copied everything onto a Seagate SSD (bought at Maplins, sigh of nostalgia) and turned off the old drive. Used XP on the solid state for some time. About two years ago I heard noises from inside The Box when I called up the SSD and subsequently found the old drive on again. I am mystified. Mint lives elsewhere. Keep it under submission wearing leather boots. Waving a chair and a whip...

[Boac]

Unplug it?

[llondel]

I mostly use Linux, I have one Win10 laptop that I use for work stuff and a couple of virtual machines (a Win7 and a Win10) I can fire up as needed - one runs my tax software so it gets used at least once a year.

[Slasher]

Seeing positives in potentially ditching Microcrap's W10 for Linux Mint...

[Boac]

Transferring your 'rant' to this forum

1. Can I simply setup LM on my HDD wiping over W10 in one swoop? Or is some disk formatting involved first?

Depending on the size of it (NB that's your drive, Slasher...) either make a new partition or run Linux from DVD. if neither, then yes but not recommended!

2. As a child of Windows from way back (3.1) is there much homework to be done before using this OS? Any culture shock?

Yes: Linux is slowly improving but some stuff needs to be done from keyboard via 'command line' (qv)

3. Being limited in computer knowledge (equivalent of a RPPL as compared to an ATPL) do I need a guru to do (or assist) in the changeover?

No

4. Can LM be adjusted to an XP-ish GUI?

See 2) The Graphical user interface on Linux versions is getting better

5. Any sites/vids you recommend as beginner guides?

Loads: google

6. Any disadvantages you know of LM over W10?

Yes: Limited programmes, but again improving and your 'treasured' life-long favourite little Windows snippets will not be available unless you do a lot of searching and sometimes then never

[Slasher]

Ok thanks Boac. Appreciated.

I'll do some studying up before committing to the OS.

[ian16th]

If you have a desktop system, put a 2nd hard drive in and set the system up for dual boot.

You can easily swap between the 2 systems until you get confidence.

[belfrybat]

1. Can I simply setup LM on my HDD wiping over W10 in one swoop? Or is some disk formatting involved first?

Yes. It will reformat and partition the disk automatically. Just leave the defaults and set up the login details.
If you have disk space to spare you can install alongside the Windows partition and dual-boot.

2. As a child of Windows from way back (3.1) is there much homework to be done before using this OS? Any culture shock?

Not really. it works out of the box, the GUI is quite intuitive, and you can read up on what you need as you go along. Some initial WTF's are to be expected, but easily overcome.

3. Being limited in computer knowledge (equivalent to a RPPL as compared to an ATPL) do I need a guru to do (or assist) in the changeover?

No.

4. Can LM be adjusted to an XP-ish GUI?

The default GUI is very similar. The linuxers seem to have gotten over the "everything different from Windows" mentality.

5. Any sites/vids you recommend as beginner guides?

Besides Youtube there's a wiki and any number of tutorials out there. I don't keep a tally, just search them up as I need them.

6. Any disadvantages you know of LM over W10?

None that really matter.

One big difference is the software management. In Windows you download installers from the individual producer sites. Linux uses a central repository storing vetted applications and you pick them from the menu in the software manager. Some require installing through Synaptics or apt-get, you'll find the instructions on the producer site. Some level of geekiness is useful here.

A few of my favorite s/w's are Windows only, but will run fine under Wine (Windows emulator).

LibreOffice is the MS Office replacement, and quite compatible. MSO also runs under Wine but not very well.

Keep an eye on the Update Manager. Contrary to Windows updates aren't shoved down your throat nor mandatory, but still recommended on occasion.

All in all, I'm quite content with it.

[llondel]

You can run Mint from the DVD or memory stick image to play with it without doing anything to your existing Windows install. That lets you try it out before committing to it. For laptops, it's also a good way to make sure there isn't some quirk of the laptop it can't handle.