Dissatisfied Windows user

[Bill Lariviere]

Hi all. Let me tell you how i started using Linux Mint. For several years i've been dissatisfied with MS Windows. The last version i installed was Windows XP, probably the best (or should i say least problematic) Windows version MS had to offer - ever. With the upcoming of the horrible Vista i decided XP would be my very last paid OS. Being aware of and using Open Source software (like Openoffice, Firefox, Thunderbird etc) i've been hearing good stories about Linux for a few years and decided to wait until i had to buy a new machine ... which happened earlier this year. In the meantime, i've been playing around with Live CD's of Ubuntu, Mandriva, Xubuntu and Puppy. I even got to install Puppy on a very old machine ... just to get used to Linux. My main motivation: i didn't want to pay for software anymore, especially if free alternatives are (said to be) better.

But let's go back to my new machine, an AMD Athlon II desktop with 4GB of RAM. Now i had plenty of choice between many kinds of distributions. I wanted something more full-featured than Puppy or Wary Puppy (which i still think are very good distros for old hardware and for booting with CD, DVD or Flash). I wanted something easy for newcomers. I almost went for Ubuntu, but reading recent reviews about the Unity desktop didn't make me too confident about my choice. I tried the Live CD and ... well ... to be honest i was very dissatisfied, especially since i've found Lucid Lynx to be much better.

So, i decided to go for Mint, and ... well ... i'm here now running Linux Mint 10 'Julia' GNOME edition. The best thing is that as a former windows user (still the majority of desktop users i'm afraid) i could just install it in less than half an hour found everything working fine. Sure i had to do a little research from time to time to tweak my desktop the way i like it, but that was kind of fun anyway. Everything worked, no crashes, only a minor problem with my scanner but that was resolved quickly using Google and this forum. Also the large choice of free software is a big advantage.

All in all i'm a very satified user. The whole software here costed me nothing - nada! And i run an OS that is much better quality than the paid MS Windows. So keep up the good work, guys!

[tdockery97]

Welcome to the Mint forums Bill. You will find a lot of information and help from some very enthusiastic and knowledgeable Mint users. I'm sure you will also want to visit our Mint Community Website at http://community.linuxmint.com/. You will find real-time help in our IRC channels. Just go to Menu>Internet>XChat IRC and when you open it you will automatically be taken to our #linuxmint-chat and #linuxmint-help channels. Have fun with Mint.

[The-Wizard]

Welcome to the Mint family forums

wizard

[nunol]

Welcome to the Linux Mint Forums Bill Lariviere!

Cheers.

[Oscar799]

Hello Bill Lariviere,
Welcome to Mint Forum
There is a lot of useful information for new and not-so-new users here -> http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 58#p302355

[rivenathos]

Welcome to the forums!

[Roken]

Welcome to the forums, and to the world of Linux. Some good resources have already been pointed out to help you find your way around. If you hit a problem that you can't find the answer too, don't be afraid to ask either here or in the IRC channel. Despite what the Windows centric press will tell you, we are by and large a friendly bunch and if you have a question we will try to help you fix it with the minimum of fuss and in the easiest way. You won't find a lot of geek speak around the mint channels (unless you are delving into more advanced areas) and will, I hope, find us equally welcoming and tolerant of new users as we are of the more experienced.