On Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 05:54:42AM +1100, Rixta Francis wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
>
> This group is called Linux Newbies, but so far I have felt overwhelmed by the amount of technical talk. Directories, extensions and loads of words I have never even heard of. I had been told that nowadays Linux is actually very user friendly and a good alternative to Windows for the experienced computer user. I am experienced and good with computers, but not an expert.
>
Don't get overwhelmed. It will often be a few fairly experienced
people, often professionals in the field, discussing things. A
directory is just a folder, but saying directory makes us feel elite.
:)
You'll probably get an overwhelming range of opinions here. My own
feeling is that it *can* be ready for prime time, but isn't always.
Some video cards and wireless cards, as well as various peripherals,
e.g., printers, may require some work to get them to function properly.
If your needs are relatively simple, and you aren't into gaming, it's
perfectly possible to use it as a desktop.
My wife who is not at all interested in computers, save as something to
use, manages to use a version of Ubuntu on her netbook. On the other
hand, I set it up--had I not been around, I doubt she would have been
able to get Japanese working, even though it's relatively simple. (She
needs Japanese input. Reading an Asian language is trivial, and
requires no additional configuration.
For what it's worth, on Fedora forums, a person took a Windows using
friend and they tried out a variety of distributions. He found that the
Windows user felt that PCLinuxOS was the easiest one to use for making
the adjustment.
One suggestion is to try out various live CDs. The majority of
distributions have a live CD, that can be run without affection your
working system. Then, you can out different types of Linux and see if
any of them would work for you. (Many of them now have USB versions,
that can be copied to, and booted from, a USB thumb drive, so you don't
have to waste CDs or DVDs.)
> So one of my questions is: is Linux indeed quite easy to learn, or should I get discouraged by all the technical talk and forget about it? I understood that Linux is in a way a bit a simpler version of Windows, which I have noticed with the e-mail program and browser from Ubuntu. Easy to use, but with fewer options than the Windows versions.
>
Oh....kay. If you're a power user of Office, for example, OpenOffice
may not fit your needs. I would say it is fine for the vast majority of
people, who just need a document and spreadsheet system. However, some
things, such as pivot tables, aren't handled in Linux as well as they
are in MS Office. As for mail, I'm not sure what client you used (in
either Linux or Windows.) Outlook, especially as it progresses, has a
lot of features that may or may not be available in Linux--it would also
depend upon whether you were using Evolution or Thunderbird, which can
be VERY roughly compared to Outlook and Outlook Express.
> I have also looked around for programs that are important to me, but most of them don't seem to run under Linux: firewall, anti-spam, anti-adware, pop-up blocker, photo-programs etc. Are there acceptable alternatives for all these programs that do run under Linux? I don't need to know the names yet, but I really can't do without any of these programs, as I use them a lot.
>
Firewalls are built into most systems, and have good graphical
configuration tools. Most of the mailers have antispam tools built in.
Anti adware---heh, well, THAT is one of the big advantages of Linux.
They write the malware for Windows. For example, visit a site and
suddenly see a message that your computer is infected, do you want to
download the latest spyware--they don't say spyware, of course. :)
Click no, and watch it try to download anyway, then give an error that
it can't start becaause your system doesn't have something or other. I
always get pleasure out of seeing that one.
Linux has firefox available, and it has its popup blocker, as does
opera. Photo programs--if you're not a professional graphics designer,
though they don't have something the equal of photoshop, there are many
that are excellent. The gimp is the best known, and the closest thing
to photoshop, but there's also F-Spot, ImageMagick, and several others.
> Well, these are my questions so far. I hope that you can help me figure out what would be the best option for me. I hate the idea of paying Microsoft again, but if Linux is still mainly for techies, then I better stay away from it.
Well, if you buy a computer, you're probably paying Microsoft, unless
you have the time and energy to fight what is called the Microsoft Tax.
Most companies will only refund what usually turns out to be a minimal
amount of money, under extreme duress. I think Asus or one like it,
recently stated they will return $6.00USD (yes, six dollars American)
and it wasn't negotiable. Someone would have to have the time to take
them to court to get that changed, and few have such time.
On the other hand, your computer won't, as an MS one does, phone home,
constantly check if you're legitimate, make you call them if you wish to
reinstall, etc.
Hope that at least some of this is useful.
--
Scott Robbins
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