Goodbye Microsoft, hello Linux Mint!

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

Microsoft has persuaded me to get a Linux PC.

35% subscription increases on Office 365, Bing search taking over Google Chrome, never ending system updates.
Unwanted 'features' like AI and Copilot installed, with no options to opt out, enough is enough!
I am convinced Microsoft now only concentrates on revenue, b****r the users!

I have a spare Dell Optiplex 7040 micro, and have just installed Linux Mint, with no major hassles.
If all goes well I will install Linux on my desktop PC and, after negotiation, on my wife's PC.

Google Chrome installed and instantly synced all my bookmarks, passwords etc.
I can use Google Docs instead of Office 365, and a bunch of other stuff.

My Seestar S50 runs on my Android tablet, Synscan Pro also for my AZ-GTi mount.
Stellarium runs on Linux and Android, I'm sure lots of other stuff too.

I understand that I can setup a Linux Virtual Machine to run other stuff if needed.
SkyTools V4, etc.

I have yet to find a deal breaker in terms of apps or programs that I will no longer be able to use.

If anyone else has travelled this path and can provide advice and tips, please do!

[DarkArts]

If anyone else has travelled this path and can provide advice and tips, please do

I came to the same "F*** Microsoft" conclusion in 2004 and have been a happy Linux user since. I've used many distros, but Linux Mint is my current daily driver. I use a VM (Windows 7 in VirtualBox*) for a few programs for which there's no Linux equivalent, including some astro image processing applications. The VM doesn't need internet connectivity, so I don't mind using an out-of-date OS.

As for advice and tips, are you sure you want to use Chrome? It's the most privacy-invading browser ever created. Using Chrome negates most of the privacy advantages of running Linux! More privacy-respecting browsers include Mullvad, Brave, Librewolf and (hardened) Firefox ... but even stock Firefox is better than Chrome. I keep a copy of Chromium (which is the open-source progenitor of Chrome) for a couple of websites that don't like Firefox-based browsers (e.g. myGov, for some strange reason).

As for Google Docs - well, I've never used the suite - but you can use LibreOffice instead, which will work locally on all your MS-created docs and is way more private than Google-anything. You'll notice minor differences in fonts but the user interface is easy enough to work with and typical of an office suite.

My experience over 20 years is that Linux is easier to configure and maintain than Windows (any version), is more secure (if correctly configured, though that's not hard) and way, way more private. Also, it's free! There's a learning curve, but that's always the case.

Depending on your appetite for risk, you can use a separate VM for web browsing and/or opening files from the internet - I recommend doing so - to provide better process isolation and keep any javascript corralled away from the rest of your data and OS. Another instance of Linux Mint as the guest OS will be enough. However, there is additional workload involved in setting up the VM and running a second set of updates periodically.

I have tried Wine/Bottles a few times, but was never satisfied, plus running the Windows API directly in Linux pokes holes in system security. Windows in a VM gives near-native speeds for most applications. And for graphically-accelerated Windows apps, there are advanced techniques, such as GPU-passthrough** with a second video card, so you can do that, too.

Many PC games now run natively on a Linux PC, thanks to Steam (as the Steamdeck is Linux-based). Checkout the ProtonDB database for more.

You can get help on the Linux Mint forum or many other sites but Linux Mint these days is pretty slick, so most things will 'just work'.




* Though most of my new VMs are in qemu/kvm.
** Only in qemu/kvm.

[bojan]

This is the path I am considering for quite some time to take...

However, my desktop (with W'7) still works OK, so... I am still waiting for stronger prompt.
My other desktop (W'10) is still doing nothing.. so this is my other choice (to use it until MS screw it up).

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

Understood!

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

Thank you DarkArts.
I'll consider changing browsers when I work out how to not lose my bookmarks and passwords!
The learning curve is looking a bit steep but I will persist!

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

yes some great tips from DarkArts. Often after switching it is also just trying to know which programs you should or can download. i've listed some options below to try and cover most scenarios:

here are some useful programs options - or windows equivalents:

"Task manager" -> Mission centre

File manager -> Thunar

MS office -> Libreoffice - if you have a working document with people using MS then you may want to download and install the Microsoft fonts (sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer) but you may not need to.

Web browsing -> Firefox, brave, librewolf etc

Video editing - davinici resolve / kdenlive

Wine and winetricks recommended to be installed if you are running windows programs. Alternatives such as Lutris and Bottles while mainly for gaming can also be used.

Video playback -> VLC, MPV

Music Playback - Rhythm Box is my preference (mostly due to network access)


VMs - Virtual Machine Manager

Email - thunderbird

Screen Recording -> GPU Screen Recorder

Gaming: Steam -> Lutris (or Heroic Launcher or Bottles - to launch other game launchers eg GoG, Epic, battlenet etc) - -> protonqt-up (updating proton/wine versions)

GPU overclocking -> LACT


MSI Afterburner -> mangohud/GOverlay


Timeshift -> if you want to back up system configuration (while you get used to linux its not a bad idea).

CPU-Z -> CPU-X

VPN - protonvpn


Streaming your PC over the LAN - Sunshine (host) & Moonlight (client)


E-book 'management' - > Calibre


Audio editing / mixing -> Audacity, Ardour, LMMS, Bitwig Studio


For astro related processing stuff, GIMP, PixInsight, Siril, GraXpert and waveSharp (kind of a Registax 6 successor for planet sharpening) are all natively run on linux.

Autostakkert 4, PIPP, winJupos etc all run easily through WINE (i've also had DSS, Registax6 - even Photoshop CS6 run but find they are kind of superseded by other programs now). I've heard that Affinity Photo is doable through WINE also as solid photoshop alternative if GIMP doesn't cut the mustard for you.

Image capture - for planetary work Firecapture has a linux version which works the same. for deep sky I haven't had the time to sort out Indi/Ekos/Kstars which is apparently the only real solution as far as I understand - apparently quite satisfactory (once setup). ZWO have suite of linux capture software if you have ZWO cameras but you'd also have to trust ZWO ...

other popular apps which you may or may not use include - spotify, discord, telegram, OBS studio.

one other thing that differs from windows is that if you have more than one hard drive in the system it may not automatically mount that drive. If you don't want to go into the terminal to make this happen I believe the disk management program 'gparted' allows you to do this in the GUI. something worth doing after setting up for sure. not sure if Mint comes with gparted - it could do but you can download if necessary.

I am pretty sure you can export your bookmarks to a file - save it and then import those settings on another browser - at a minimum i would assume at least Brave and Librewolf could import from Chrome.


good luck and enjoy the change remember to reach out for assistance if get stuck on something

[DarkArts]

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

Thank you DarkArts.

You're welcome. You will enjoy having more power over your own machine; use it well, my young padawan.

Just for clarity: the 'Virtual Machine Manager' that Russell refers to is the GUI for 'qemu/kvm' that I refer to, i.e. they're the same thing, and what I prefer these days. But Virtualbox may be easier to start out with for a typical desktop user.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

I'm also a happy Mint user. I started on Linux perhaps 16-18 years ago with Ubuntu but switched to Mint when Ubuntu switched to the Unity Desktop. I've experiment with a couple of other distros but Mint is the best daily drive. When I started Linux was still a bit rough but these days it's slick, smooth and very stable. The recent advent of Flatpaks has created 'bloat' but had the desired effect of stimulating development. The 'bloat' should be seen in context. My OS and software (heaps of it) totals 30GB, which is about the same as a base install of Win 10 (don't know about Win 11 but I image it's scary). I tend to leave browser windows open, apps running etc yet 8GB of ram is enough, it rarely uses the swap space.

For astronomy you have kstars, Cartes du Ciel and Stellarium for planetarium/star charts and Siril and Astap for processing. The ASI suite installs easily but I haven't tried using the software.

For office suites there is also OnlyOffice with its MS style ribbon interface, if that's your thing. It claims to be a drop-in replacement for Office (just a different shade of blue). It's very good but I can't verify that it is perfect. Personally I use LibreOffice.

I use Chromium web browser and the Dolphin file browser, but Thunar is also fine.

Have you found the 'hidden' files in your home folder? These are worth also backing up as having copies will allow you to restore all system and app configurations, or even transfer them to another machine. Also, if you use Thunderbird (or similar) your local folders will be stored in /home/<user>/.thunderbird, so it's really worth backing up. You can learn to use rsync from the command line or FreeFileSync if you want a GUI.

Enjoy.

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

Wow, that's a lot to digest!, thank you so much.
Good job I'm retired with loads of time to explore and learn.
I'm a bit nervous about using command line, dark arts stuff!
Thanks again.

[sharkbite]

After having read this thread...and wondering what to do with my various devices when w10 support runs out....

I rebuilt my dell xps13 with linux mint...

Apart from a few Dell-specific changes i needed to make in the BIOS, it was a painless install - and most of the apps i use have linux installs as well

Gimp and Graxpert work like a bewdy. Graxpert is pretty resource intensive, so its a bit slow - can't tell if its faster than under w10.

My observation is that the Mint UI is very 'windows like' so its not as steep a learning curve as it is for some other linux distros

There is a fairly decent IPTV viewer that works well straight out of the box if you are into that sort of thing.

Siril is available from the software manager as well,
but i cant be bothered with it - i find it too long-winded from a usability perspective, and the ole lappie does not have the horsepower anyway.


I would really like a stacker as good as DSS and as easy to use....
Does anybody have any suggestions? (yeah i know i can use DSS under WINE but that to me is cheating :-) )

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

...
I'm a bit nervous about using command line, dark arts stuff!
Thanks again.

Then use FreeFileSync. If you do back up the hidden files you can avoid backing up irrelevant files by adding filters. So *.tmp will stop temporary files being copied. Then */cache* and */.cache* should stop most cached files and */.Trash-*/ and */.recycle/ stops trash being saved. These aren't needed if you are just backing up your user files.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

...

one other thing that differs from windows is that if you have more than one hard drive in the system it may not automatically mount that drive. If you don't want to go into the terminal to make this happen I believe the disk management program 'gparted' allows you to do this in the GUI. something worth doing after setting up for sure. not sure if Mint comes with gparted - it could do but you can download if necessary.

...

The 'Disks' utility that comes with Mint is really nice. If you have troubles, select the problem disk or partition, right click -> edit mount options. NB the mount location must exist before you try to mount something there. So I had to create /mnt/Data_Raid before I could mount my raid at that location.

FWIW I think understanding the absence of drive letters and the idea of mounting a disk or partition was the hardest conceptual leap I had to make when switching from 'doze. Once you understand it, it makes a lot of sense.

[DarkArts]

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

I'm a bit nervous about using ... dark arts stuff!

No, there's no *BSD here, man. (It's an in joke).

You'll get used to Linux fairly quickly and it will be relief when you no longer have to fight Microsoft to do simple things the way you want.

There are many different backup solutions, and your choice will depend on whether you use a network drive, backup server, local volume, cloud storage, detachable USB drive, etc. Personally, I use Deja Dup, and also good ol' 'dd' to image the whole system.

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

Thanks guys, I now have Windows 10 running in a VM, but cannot work out how to access my USB drive in the VM? Works fine in Linux Mint but how do I copy the install file in to the VM?
Can you recommend a good Linux book for an absolute and elderly novice?

[DarkArts]

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

Thanks guys, I now have Windows 10 running in a VM, but cannot work out how to access my USB drive in the VM? Works fine in Linux Mint but how do I copy the install file in to the VM?

Did you use Virtualbox as the hypervisor? The methods will be different depending on which hypervisor you used.

For Virtualbox, you need to install the Extension Pack for your version, add the USB drive to the VM and make sure your user is a member of the vboxusers group (though this should be the case already). There are many online guides: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=340712 https://www.linuxbabe.com/virtualbox...albox-guest-os

You will probably also want to install Guest Additions in the guest (Windows 10) while you're at it.

You can also set up a shared folder to swap files in and out of the VM.

Can you recommend a good Linux book for an absolute and elderly novice?

Most printed books date so quickly that it's not worth it. The Mint forum is a good place to start; they don't (usually) bite.

If you really must read a book, try one of these.

[pmrid (Peter)]

Over the years, I have nibbled at Linux in various forms but never taken a proper bite. I think that the early versions I tried tended to have a confusing degree of command line magic but more recently, that seems to be less the case. Having read this thread I am tempted to gave yet another run at it and the latest LinuxMint 22 Cinnamon as discussed here seems a good place to start.

Thanks to you guys, I hope I can overcome whatever mind barriers I have erected about Linux and make a proper meal if it this time.

[chrisp9au (Chris)]

I also nibbled Linux many years ago, I seem to remember a lot of penguins?
I'm quite happy with my efforts so far this time, but I realise that I need to go back and learn the basic concepts of Linux.
Why do I need a command line when I have a GUI? Why isn't my hardware, USB ports etc., recognized by the system?
On top of this we suffered roof damage in Sunday nights storm and I'm wrestling with the insurers! Happy days!

[DarkArts]

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

Why do I need a command line when I have a GUI?

The command line was invented well before the GUI came along - in earlier days of computing, there was only the command line. Even Windows still has a command line. It is a powerful tool if you want it, but its use is optional in both Linux and Windows.

Why isn't my hardware, USB ports etc., recognized by the system?

You said that was limited to your virtual machine? Have you read post #15?

[skysurfer]

Here another Windows / Microsoft and Google hater.
I have a Macbook Pro M1 which runs both open source and commercial apps. I use Firefox as browser, LibreOffice for text, VSCodium as source editor, GIMP, RawTherapee and Affinity Photo as image editor (the latter is a paid app, but no subscription, unlike Photoshop which I ended two years ago).
Only for my work I use Windows occasionally to access customer's VPN, Win 11 running in a VM UTM (based on QEMU).
And I run Ubuntu ARM in another VM.
And I do not use any cloud services, I have my own pocket cloud (two portable 2TB SSDs).
My cellphone (Android) is almost completely de-googled, use Aurora Store and it is firewalled (resticting internet to limited amount of apps) and rooted for better security and privacy.

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Originally Posted by chrisp9au

Why do I need a command line when I have a GUI?

Because quite often there are things you cannot do through a GUI.

If your machine breaks and won't start the GUI, then you will need to know the CLI and what commands you need to fix it. (IMHO learning how to use 'nano' or 'vi' to edit files is a must.)

V.