Technically, that's not entirely true as I used it briefly in the 90's and became somewhat familiar with basic terminal commands and the file structures. But, clearly a lot has changed and most of what I remember is more a result of spending the last few days reading and watching videos - mainly on the various popular new distributions, installations, and dealing with drivers.
The scenario boils down to a longstanding claim/gripe/whine of mine to at least try to not deal with Windows. Without beating a dead horse mercilessly, it isn't so much the software itself, though I still pretend to this day that I would prefer to still be running DOS over Win. The problem for me has been the trajectory of the company behind the software since the days of DOS and the sense that I increasingly need permission from Windows to do anything the way that I want to do it as opposed to the way that they want to, even when it comes to 3rd party executables.
I finally went ahead and decided to order components to piece together a replacement for what is a perfectly fine computer that I use now. But it is getting old by contemporary standards in terms of lifespan, not so much technology since I tend to try to buy what I hope will last. My goal here is to build the new computer and load a Linux distro from the outset and be able to work through getting it running to satisfaction without the pressure of needing to use that computer. I will still have this Win7 computer alongside to do what I need to do without interruption or pressure to get my shit together with Linux.
I've read a bunch of threads here at Pace Advantage (notably this among my favorites with good back and forth with Tupper, Delta, Sosa, Dave S, and DJofSD:
http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...ighlight=linux ) and since a few years have elapsed since that thread I'm hoping that some of the same guys or others that frequent this forum and have an opinion can chime in with pretty much any insight.
My main and most simple question revolves around selecting a distro. At the moment I am leaning towards Ubuntu. I have looked at a few of the derivatives (Mint, Zorin, etc.) and I think I'd rather not have it too easy making a transition from Windows. Mint and Zorin seem geared to make it as simple as possible with many things included in the distro and a familiar appearance. I think that I want a few growing pains and a need to interact with the terminal and hunt for some basic applications and don't really see any need to ditch windows in favor of an OS that resembles Windows.
But these are rudimentary conclusions. There are so many things to consider and so many various distros to investigate that I find myself spending hours looking at one of the most popular before making it to the next and then needing a break. So my progress is slow learning. I'm hoping that maybe others have recommendations or opinions or even some good reference sources to throw my way to facilitate a lot of these choices.
For the record, I'm not a 'power user' by any real definition. Most of my computer use these days is basic stuff. Browser running 200 open tabs and admittedly, even the occasional game. No, I'm not a hardcore Call of Duty type guy, but I do like to spin out with some strategy and simulator type games once in a while (Civ and the like mainly) so would probably install Steam. I've read where GPU driver support can be messy and am contemplating swapping my old GPU into the new build and using the new GPU in this computer for the time being if for no other reason than to be sure to test the new one on a stable system that I can run and be forced to eventually tinker with Nvidia drivers on Linux twice.
Alright, I'm all over the place with this thread and post. I had an idea what I wanted to ask about and then digressed so many times that I suppose it is more of a free-form advice solicitation for a new Linux tranny with some margin for error and some basic understanding of the principles.
Any comments, even ones calling me an idiot for making a political statement with an OS are appreciated.
