Endymion_Mallorn

No such thing as a free beer, no more than there’s a free lunch.

Does the EFF call it Free?

Unironically, I’d have bought the Shiva one as a display piece. Then again, I would probably buy merch of any FF8 GF, even Boko. I like FF8.

As someone who’s mostly in a similar place to you, I think the only option currently is to try dual-booting (or getting a second machine just for Linux stuff). I’d suggest starting with Linux Mint as the version to use. It looks and feels a lot like Windows, minus a few exceptions that you can probably get around. I think you’ll need to keep Windows 10 around for a while longer, as well. The biggest things to note: Capital letters matter in Linux, and the Run dialog defaults to Alt+F2 (I know it’s weird in comparison, but you’ll either get used to it or reassign it)

I don’t know if you have the WSL set up on your PC, I know that I don’t. But that’s a good place to start trying it out if you have it. Either that, or in a virtual machine (VMWare or something like it). Then, slowly shift over to Linux as much as you can. You should be able to run Windows 10 in a virtual environment under Linux (this sharply reduces the security risks that you mentioned).

You do not need to use Firefox on Linux, no more than you need to use Edge on Windows. Brave, Vivaldi, even Chrome, are available from most repositories (aka app stores). Just search on the website flathub,org (in Mint, you can install Flatpak apps through the main installer, or the command line, your choice), Chances are there’s a Linux version of the browser you use available somehow (I say this as a Pale Moon user). The only exception to this is Safari, but there are WebKit browsers available.

Anything you might have spent on anime, manga, or games from the publishers or studios involved with this gang…

So what they’re saying is to stop giving any money to a company that’s part of or reports to CODA. Did I read that right?

I just like Archbang.

Yes, but have we gone to Warp? Or have we moved to ArcaOS?

Ah, absolutely not worth it then. I prefer to keep RAM free for games and video rendering.

I mean, I dual-boot Mint now. And at least you don’t come after me for DOS, because that would get me defensive…

Please explain this for a DOS/Windows user?

WP Engine has always seemed a very weird business to me. WP is free, and many hosting & domain providers just offer it for free with your hosting. If you don’t want to host yourself, why not just use WP.com and do a redirect? I’ve just never understood the value-add.

At least it’s not Windows?

Heresy indeed. The Codex does not support this shell.

I’m not going to be tolerant of the watermark, and I don’t feel like using PowerShell to get rid of it - plus there’s drivers to consider. It’s just faster and easier for me to grab an activated OEM version for the computer I have.

Key bindings can be changed, but I’ve never found the place to do it easily in the GUI in Mint. I touch the Linux command line for curl and ping, and that’s about it.

I already play Wesnoth, and I haven’t touched 0 AD in years. I prefer OpenTTD, Oolite, Endless Sky, and Minetest, along with occasionally poking at WarZone 2100. But that doesn’t replace the DOS and Win9x games from my childhood. I don’t use Valve’s DRM platform (nor the one from Epic Megagames), and it’s rare for me to pay for anything on GOG. But there’s no other game that exactly hits the fun for me of Sid Meier’s Covert Action, Shadow President, SimCity 2000 & 3000, Starfleet Command II: Orion Pirates, or a couple dozen others. Yes, it’s nostalgia. But it harms no one.

As for the tax thing, I’ll look into it, but I don’t expect it will do what we need. We need to pay for the more expensive software because of our tax situation (don’t want to get into detail for obvious reasons).

Sometimes the impetus to change OS is not UX related.

In my current case, it’s got nothing whatsoever to do with liking or not liking Windows. I actually like Windows 9x, XP, 7, and 10. I bought a computer and wanted to install a clean OS on it (it came with Ubuntu, which I loathe visually and general UX-wise, because it feels like a Mac and seems like no matter what I do, something breaks). I had a choice: go through the effort on my other machine of pirating Win10, or just install Linux. I decided to go with Mint, because it supports the software I want and there’s a feeling of familiarity, so muscle memory still works. I had to learn things like using Alt+F2 rather than Win+R, but I feel like I’m in a safer environment to learn than just “here’s a new OS, good luck”, because I can access those things in the GUI until I learn to do otherwise. Having Wine and DOSBox-X are because I have software that’s for Windows or DOS that I like. I still haven’t found a solid replacement for Notepad++, for example; and that’s not including games.

There’s also the “use Linux to make old machines work better and safer” use-case, especially for older people. My mom, for instance, is almost 80. She knew DOS, and she’s been acclimated to Windows over 30-odd years. If I want to make her older machine safer and more efficient, I’d install Mint on it compared to something else (I actually can’t, because her tax software is Windows-only and does not work correctly in Wine), because again, she’ll feel that she’s in a safer environment. She already uses OpenOffice (specifically not LibreOffice, because of the print layout differences - seemingly small things like kerning and the like can have a significant effect), and Firefox. She was using Thunderbird for a while but switched to webmail, just for simplicity. I’d have to walk her through PySol, AisleRiot, or another solitaire program, but I’m pretty confident that I could do that. So it should work like Windows for her, except for all the things she won’t use.

Nor should it be the last. Just be glad that Micro$oft doesn’t see it as being more valuable than just including WSL.

Um, what’s the difference between this and Zorin OS?

It’s Linux with Wine, that has a theme that looks like Windows. I’ll be honest, I’m running Mint with Cinnamon, and since I was already heavily in the FOSS world for gaming, etc., when people see my current PC at a glance, they can’t tell the difference between it and my Win10 PC (except for the LM logo on the start menu). I have Wine and DOSBox-X installed too, so I don’t need VMWare or another VM set up.

Some people absolutely do want this. Some people even want it in a ‘push-the-button’ style solution. We call those people ‘users’.

The other 37% don’t “plan to”, because they’re already doing it.

If it doesn’t have a VGA port, I don’t use it.