Greetings Mint Family

[antenna15]

I was sick of all the drama and bullying associated with MS and sick of downgrading my family's computers to Win 7 from 8. I got onto YouTube and began browsing videos of Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds and this was music to my ears. Then I started looking at the various "Distros" (see I'm already using new words). Linux Mint 17.2 Cinnamon seemed to fit me best. That was two weeks ago.

I'm lucky because I have an old Acer 7551 laptop that is really only used for web-surfing, email and the like. This allowed me to do a total switch-over to Mint from Win 8.1 so that I can play freely. I have a home-built desk-top with lots of bells & whistles to rely on for now. Loading Mint was awkward feeling. I downloaded Mint onto a stick and installed it that way. I really felt unsure following the directions and wasn't sure that I was doing it properly but magically it booted to the welcome screen and I was there! I am MUCH more of a hardware-centric guy than software. The command-line stuff scares me to death.

So far I really like it. It's quick too. I am used to Firefox and Thunderbird so that was easy. My goal is to learn to be comfortable using the OS and getting it configured to the point where I am doing all the things that I'm used to doing with MS. I may be asking for help with Samba-shares pretty soon. The other goals are to conquer my fear of command-line and ultimately migrate my main machine to Mint entirely and kiss MS goodbye as I have zero interest in 10. I really want this to work for me. This was long winded, but a post like this would have been very comforting to read two weeks ago. Wish me luck.

[Pierre]

welcome to the forum

Do Take the Time to Read the Mint Users Guide that came with the installation.

[jimallyn]

Welcome aboard, antenna15! For the most part, you really don't need to use the command line. But it can be very powerful. I see guys doing things in one line commands that I would have thought you'd need to write a program for!

[The-Wizard]

I am MUCH more of a hardware-centric guy than software

you and me both...

welcome to the Mint family forums

wizard

[vrkalak]

.
..:: Welcome to LinuxMint ::..

Read everything you can -- Forums - Wiki - IRC

Linux: Tricks of the Trade > http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=38355
"All Linux OS-Distros" Forums and Tutorials > http://linuxquestions.org/questions/
What works for Ubuntu, usually works for Mint > http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community
Linux Alternative to Windows > http://www.linuxalt.com/
LinuxMint Community Forums - Tutorials > http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/welcome

** Remember, all OS-Distro, Apps, DE/WM are Open-Source and have a Help-Forum

[Crewp]

Welcome to Linux Mint, and the Mint forum.

[antenna15]

Thanks to all. I will be reading a lot and doing tons of "playing around" and hopefully stumble into some level of proficiency. I have not taken the time to read the forum rules yet so hopefully I haven't already broken any.
I neglected to mention that I am from the northern 'burbs of Philadelphia, Pa. USA. I am 63 years old (ouch).
Bye for now...

[daveinuk]

Welcome to Mint,

it's never too late to learn and it's certainly never too late to escape the clutches of big billy and chums

Been MS & google free for a few years now and life's never gone smoother

can't help you with samba cos' i'm an all linux household, even my phone (jolla) so I tend to ssh into everything . . . . . so much easier when it's all talking the same language

Have fun!

[duneelliot]

I used to do some stuff in the Windows Command Line so moving to Linux wasn't particularly scary on that front.
I would suggest going over to http://www.linuxsurvival.com for a crash course in the basics.
Now if I want to do something in Mint I Google the commands I need to do it from the terminal so that I can learn. The only way to learn is to do it.

[The-Wizard]

I am 63 years old (ouch).

ah one of the younger new members.....