I wonder - stay with Windows - switch to Linux Mint?

[millipede]

I don't understand the OP's need, or presumed need to wait for some new computer to try Linux, just do it.

I'll try to answer that better this time I guess. I never said I was waiting on a new computer to try linux... in fact, quite the opposite. My last response was trying to explain that to some people that were suggesting I build, then try linux on the machine to make sure it works. I was saying I can't do that. I need to decide on linux before I go ordering parts because windows will either be or not be part of the expense and affect the cost of the build.
I think I over-explain things... and it gets confusing.

If you enjoy battling against viruses and trojans then don't do it - stick with Windows

I love those arguments... no OS is invulnerable or impervious. But I'll also say, I never battle those things. I keep my AV and my OS up to date, my browser as well, I don't click on dumb things, I use NoScript to prevent most things from even running unless I trust them, I don't visit bad sites... etc... I haven't had to personally deal with a computer virus in many years.
And it's not MS's fault that it's the most used and most attacked OS. Sometimes I wonder why it's targeted as much as it is... but, I could really go off on a tangent there. HA... Anyway... I'm not worried about that aspect either way.

Desktop Linux isn't a product like Windows or macOS. It's just a collection of parts. Some of it works and some of it doesn't. It's all about bug management. How many can you tolerate. How many are you willing to work around. How upset are you going to get when something that works great at the moment breaks at the next update.

hmm... that doesn't sound encouraging. bugs? This sounds like a promise of bugs...

Let's say you can get an OEM version for $30

Where would that be? I just did a quick, quick search and it looks like win10 is still around $100. That's a pretty big factor in my budget for my build.

Take your current Windows machine, install VirtualBox

I'll have to look into that.
Thanks for all the thoughts so far. I haven't even gone over all of them to see what I should still reply to, I think. The whole process makes me tired HA...
If the virtual box is going to be easier than setting up the flash drive, I'll look into it. And, look into how much room it needs. My hdd has a whole 15Gb of space left.

This is going to take longer than I'd like... to work this decision out... to make sure I can handle running linux only, to make sure I can accomplish all I want to do, etc... And, I have other things on my plate at the moment. Got to find time to do yard work, set a few things up for my kids laptops, get someone out to fix our driveway... that's a HUGE one actually... long list.
And I end up putting things on hold. Haven't paid any attention to my site or our youtube channels that I need to get working on... I wont mention housework
Too much to do...
Sometime in the next few days, I hope, I'll check out the virtual box thing and give that a try... and, try to figure out what kind of apps I can use for my web design and just see where all that goes.

And, I think I already said this, I honestly have real issues with making decisions. It's not easy for me. I might sound silly to some(glad some get it) picking everything apart, worrying about EVERYTHING... I've made decisions that I've regret later on and I just need to avoid that. The long decision making process can torture me at times but, it's a LOT better to be tortured for a while than feel I made a bad decision or find I need to go and spend more money to fix something later on.
Thanks for being patient with me in this.

Just for fun... a couple more questions...
1. Is it okay to ask questions about distros? I mean, is it okay to ask (and would I get unbiased opinions) if this is THE best one for me? Based on what you know of me so far... On another forum, someone suggested another one based on my needs for video, sound, and image editing. BUT... I already had those all worked out as far as what programs would do those things so I don't really need to worry about having linux setup specifically for any of that... Unless there happens to be a distro that happens to have a nice wysiwyg program on board already...
2. games... I'm not really worried about them... I don't play high end games. I played Star Trek Online for a while and liked it but, it's not a need by any means... But I do like games in general... So having something to do would be fun. So my question is... is there a place where a person can look at what kind of games might be available on linux? Just for something else for me to do.

Time to go relax and watch a movie... normally I'd eat ice cream as well but I think I might be out.

[rickNS]

And it's not MS's fault that it's the most used and most attacked OS. Sometimes I wonder why it's targeted as much as it is... but, I could really go off on a tangent there. HA...

First MS is no longer the most used OS, hasn't been for awhile. Second it IS their fault, I mean they write the code that keeps the "back doors" open so they can come in, snoop around (an more) as they please. It could be a better more secure system IF they wanted it to be. Tangent, yeah me too.

1. Is it okay to ask questions about distros? I mean, is it okay to ask (and would I get unbiased opinions) if this is THE best one for me?

You can ask, but no one can tell you what is best for you, only you can decide that for yourself. If you ask someone, depending on what they use, be it Mint, Kubuntu, MX linux, Debian, whatever they are likely to recommend what they like. All by the way are good. I have virtual machines of those mentioned, and if mint disappeared tomorrow I could happily use any of them. Similarly with DE's for Mint, ask someone using cinnamon they'll probably recommend it, lots like XFCE, or Mate. Here is a recent thread discussing cinnamon, and mate,
viewtopic.php?f=206&t=277978&p=1536560#p1536560
You will note in that thread a few senior members prefer Mate, if that means anything to you.

I guess the point I'll make is your agonizing way too much over nothing. To try linux either by booting a live USB stick, or installing in a virtual machine you have not permanently changed your machine at all. Delete the virtual machine, or pull out the stick, and you back where you were, no harm done.

In the time it took to type those posts you could have had linux running.

[lsemmens]

Opinions, like ....holes, everybody has one. You'll never get everyone to agree on the best course of action, except, maybe, "Linux = Good, Windwoes = Bad". You can play with Linux in a live or dual boot environment as has been previously discussed ad infinitum here. ONLY YOU can make a decision if it is going to work for you. The question I always ask when someone asks me about upgrading (insert whatever device here). "What do you hope (new device) will do that your current one does not?" Can new device achieve that? I did observe a comment earlier in this thread about kids and games. My thinking is, depends upon how old said kids are. If they grow up with Linux, they'll be way ahead of other kids anyway. Mine all grew up with DOS and knew their way around a computer to the end that when they started secondary school, the computer teacher said, "turn up for class each week, teach me what you know, and you've passed". I see Linux in the same light, now.

[JerryF]

Let's say you can get an OEM version for $30

Where would that be? I just did a quick, quick search and it looks like win10 is still around $100. That's a pretty big factor in my budget for my build.

https://softwarelicense4u.com/us/catalo ... V7EALw_wcB

I've purchashed from them before without issue.

...
And, I think I already said this, I honestly have real issues with making decisions. It's not easy for me. I might sound silly to some(glad some get it) picking everything apart, worrying about EVERYTHING... I've made decisions that I've regret later on and I just need to avoid that.
...

I think most of us have made decisions that we later regret. It's called life. I don't know how old you are, but as I've gotten older, I'm not so much a worrier anymore.

[Pjotr]

I think most of us have made decisions that we later regret. It's called life.

Well put.

@ the OP: do what you want, but please don't waste our time anymore with unproductive useless doubts. You figure it out for yourself. And if you decide to use Linux Mint, we're here to help with any problems you might encounter.

[millipede]

I think most of us have made decisions that we later regret. It's called life.

do what you want, but please don't waste our time anymore with unproductive useless doubts.

These are not the worst comments I've ever gotten and I'm not crying or anything... But, I did explain from the get go how difficult this is for me and, this is just how I am. You don't have to understand it and, you don't have to go along with it. Feel free to tune out. But please, don't criticize me for my struggles.

I've got a lot going on and, hopefully I will test linux out soon. No, I haven't yet. I get that you guys don't understand that but again, you don't have to. I'll get to that stuff in time.

If I have more questions(productive or not) I'll ask them... if you have thoughts and want to help, I don't mind more thoughts.
For now, I've got some stuff to take care of(long list) and I'll come back to this. When I try to use it, if I run into trouble, I'll ask for help. We'll just see what happens.
It may be another month or two, or even longer before I actually start building. I can't say at this point. Til then, I may worry about more things, I can't say. I apologize to the people that might lost patience with me. I can't say that I blame you. Lots of people lose patience with me. :/
Anyway... thanks for all the help. I really do appreciate it and it has helped me understand more about all of this. That's useful to me.

[DAMIEN1307]

just one additional point to add...microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, despite their major "1809" upgrade failure have just today, increased the price of win 10 home addition from 119.00 USD by 20 dollars more to 139.00 USD...more to come im sure...i do not believe for a second that they now call their "product", "windows as a service" for no reason at all...i firmly believe that they will eventually start charging monthly fees for home users...but thats just me...time will tell...DAMIEN

[Pjotr]

Lots of people lose patience with me. :/

No kidding.

[JerryF]

I think most of us have made decisions that we later regret. It's called life.

These are not the worst comments I've ever gotten and I'm not crying or anything... But, I did explain from the get go how difficult this is for me and, this is just how I am. You don't have to understand it and, you don't have to go along with it. Feel free to tune out. But please, don't criticize me for my struggles.

It wasn't meant to be a criticism, just my opinion and an observation. I too am a worrier, but as the years have gone by, I've found that worrying wastes so much of my time that I can spend doing other productive things.

[AZgl1800]

I used to worry a lot, but after 3 years and too many $$$ lost with that friggin Phd of lost arts in memory,

to hell with it all

[lsemmens]

What's the use of worrying

[Moem]

Desktop Linux isn't a product like Windows or macOS. It's just a collection of parts. Some of it works and some of it doesn't. It's all about bug management. How many can you tolerate. How many are you willing to work around. How upset are you going to get when something that works great at the moment breaks at the next update.

hmm... that doesn't sound encouraging. bugs? This sounds like a promise of bugs...

Oh, I can promise you bugs. But it's not like other operating systems are free of them. Whatever you've been using so far, it most certainly has bugs.
Mint is not bug-free. But it feels smooth and pleasant to me. It gets out of the way and lets me use my programs. Isn't that the point?

[jimallyn]

You worry too much. In Linux, there is a Menu button in the lower left corner of the screen. Click it, and a menu pops up showing the applications you have installed. Click on one of them, and away you go. That's it.

I have been using Linux for 16 years. I started out dualbooting. I would work in Linux until I came across something I didn't know how to do in Linux, then I'd boot into Windows, get that task done, and boot right back to Linux. Didn't take long at all until I wasn't using Windows at all. One of my brothers, Tom, started using Linux shortly after I did, and in all those years, I don't recall ever getting a support call from him. A couple of years ago, my oldest brother Dave asked me if I could install Linux on his computer. I took his computer home, set it up to dual boot, and took it back. While I was returning it, I asked him if he could pick up a few things for me next time he was at Costco (since I didn't have a Costco card then). He took my list, and off I went. About two week later, he called and said he had the items I wanted from Costco. I went to his house, he handed me the bag of stuff, and I asked him how much I owed him (I estimate it was about 60 or 70 dollars worth of stuff.) His wife, Angela, immediately said, "You don't owe us anything." I asked her why not. "Because now I don't have to listen to Dave yelling at the computer anymore." I got one support call from Dave - he had missed a step when he was installing a printer. I recently asked him how many times he had booted into Windows since I put Linux on his computer. Not once. Literally never. He has absolutely no use for it. Then my sister Patti asked me to put Linux on her computer, and I set her up with a dual boot system. I think I got two support calls from her. One was a bug in Google Earth, which I quickly found a workaround for. I don't recall what the other one was. I recently asked her how many times she had booted into Windows since I installed Linux on her computer. Not once. Never. Brother Dave's wife, Angela, asked me to put Linux on her computer shortly after that. Not once support call from her. Angela's daughter, Desi, had a computer that was all clogged up with viruses and malware and wouldn't even boot anymore. I put Linux on it for her. Not one support call from her. Another brother of mine, Bob, didn't have any computer at all, so I got an old used laptop from somebody and installed Linux on it for him and mailed it off to him. Not one support call. And I can guarantee you that none of my relatives who are now using Linux have ever used the terminal, because if they had, they would have had to call me to ask how to use it.

It often happens that somebody posts in the Introduce Yourself section of the forums about how glad they are that they started using Linux, and often say they wish they had changed over years ago. After noticing so many of those success stories, I decided to start saving them in a file on my computer. I've only been saving them maybe two years, not the whole time I've been using Linux, and I haven't saved every one of the success stories I've seen on the forums by any means. But my Linux Success Stories file is now up to 33 pages. Want me to post a few of them for you? I'd be happy to.

As they say in the Nike advertisements, Just Do It. You will be glad you did.

[HaveaMint]

Another brother of mine, Bob, didn't have any computer at all, so I got an old used laptop from somebody and installed Linux on it for him and mailed it off to him. Not one support call.

Just curious, does Bob turn it on?

[catweazel]

Another brother of mine, Bob, didn't have any computer at all, so I got an old used laptop from somebody and installed Linux on it for him and mailed it off to him. Not one support call.

Just curious, does Bob turn it on?

lol

[jimallyn]

Just curious, does Bob turn it on?

Is that a reference to some movie or something? Yes, he turns it on.

[OLDMARINE68]

I share your pain as far as having a hard time making decisions and commitments. Anyway, my personal solution to this problem is separate hard drives. On both my laptop and desktop I have two hdd's, one for Windows 10 and one for Linux Mint 19. I have been trying to use Linux Mint 19 on my laptop and Windows 10 on my desktop. Every so often I will change out the hard drives on each and allow them to update (Windows 10) and then manually update Linux Mint 19. I still like the ease of using my two email accounts on Windows 10 and just haven't taken the time to learn using something different of Linux. I guess you could say I'm permanently on the fence. Unfortunately, sitting on a fence too long gives one a pain in the back side. So maybe it's time to really commit to Linux Mint 19.

[missmoondog]

just a simple fwiw thing here, but i personally can't stand having to use the command line, although as others have stated, i have copy and pasted some things into it when absolutely necessary.

i've recently been on a mission to install mint on as many other people's computers as i can and i have succeeded quite well. just about everyone has asked me why more people don't use it as it's so easy. the answer i give is EXACTLY what you stated. the fear of change!

only been a mint user for a short time, but was using lubuntu for a good while. once i installed mint, it was a no brainer to wipe lubuntu and go whole heartedly mint on all but 2 machines here. one of those 2 computer will be wiped when windows 7 support ends in 2020 and the other, windows 10, will be wiped as soon as microsoft screws it up with their stupid updates that are causing so much havoc! especially the october update! have 6 other machines here that are all mint.

as suggested, just test drive the live version of mint and be prepared to be very pleasantly surprised.

[zl1bjq]

I got fed up with MS for many reasons, all well known! About 8 years ago I had the same thoughts and worries, the main one being the loss of a decent WYSIWYG editor. I found writing code too time consuming. After using SiteSpinner pro on Windows for several years I was quite hooked on it. It is a superb WYSIWYG editor and I did many web sites with it. It writes good compliant code. After months of trying to get it to run in WINE in Linux Mint I succeeded, and it runs very well for me. The secret? is to use WINETRICKS to install a number of Windows DLLs. My first success only needed these. MSLS31, RICHED20, RICHED30, RICHTX32 , VB6RUN, VCRUN2005. With those installed I made web sites for several years with the paid up version of Sitespinner Pro. After a re-install and Linux upgrade the links in the SS text writer failed. So I started adding more DLLs, at random really!! I was getting paranoid!! I added VCRUN2003, VCRUN2008, VCRUN2010 and VCRUN2012, then VCRUN6.
Remarkably my Sitespinner is running perfectly again under WINE. Only this morning I rebuilt a one page site which I will soon upload. My main site was done in SS several years ago and is www.zl1bjq.co.nz
I wish you luck, My current Linux is Mint Cinnamon/Sarah ? and it is a truly wonderful OS. I now happily have no need for MS Windows again which I have sadly grown to hate.
Update, this page http://www.zl1bjq.co.nz/tesla2/ was made today using Sitespinner in Mint 18 and WINE as described. The only very minor problem was the picture links URL were absolute links and had to be changed to relative by opening in a text editor (I use Gedit). So far that is the only minor niggle.

[HaveaMint]

My favorite Windows OS was XP and it seemed to me every Windows OS after that got worse for me. There are a few programs I have that do not run in Linux that I missed. Since I have a handle on Oracle Virtual Box now I run windows XP 64 inside linux and have access to all my old favorites and the security of Linux. I don't use XP on the internet but can do what I want on it.