I finally made the switch. It's so easy, it was ridiculous why I waited for so long, but I guess I feared losing a lot of the programs I was used it. First, I put Linux Mint Cinnamon on a USB stick and booted into it for a test run. Everything worked fine (mostly), and all of my laptop keys, such as brightness dimming and sound +/-, worked flawlessly! Next, I installed LMC on a new partition sharing with my Windows 10. Flawless Victory! So now I'm about to ask some Linux questions for those in the know, but before that, a quick rant on what sent me over the edge with Windows:
[RANT]
I had a very important document up I was working on in MS Word 2010. I left to the store and Windows 10 decided to do an update during this time without warning. Low and behind, when I logged back into my computer, my document was MIA! I searched high and low to no avail, so next I turned to google and found a ton of on-line support, however and unfortunately, none of this information could resuscitate my document from the beyond (believe me, I tried roll-back, searching temp folders in Windows directory, everything... that document was GONE!). Luckily, I remembered I always save a copy to the cloud and thank god it was there, otherwise I'd have lost months of hard work down the drain!
I wish that were my only issues, however I had to purchase a new portable HD and printer (at different times) because an update broke the driver (which worked fine on my Windows 7 computer) and absolutely nothing could get it working again. I've seen three of our office computer printers stop working and needing a complete driver uninstall and reinstall after a windows update. You know, typical MS bullshit.
And what's really pissing me off is the corporate decision to intentionally slow older versions of windows by filling them with unnecessary bloat-ware, you know, planned obsolescence. My living room computer with all of my movies and games running Windows 7 now boots as slowly as my old XP did around the time W2K came out. I can literally turn the power on my computer, go get everything ready to make a sandwich, the load screen should be up by now at which time I type my password, then I can go finish the sandwich, and when I'm done, maybe the computer will be done fully loading all apps and drivers. Complete and utter bullshit. I'm tired of this corporate level jurisdiction over something I paid good money for.
[/RANT]
So, here are my questions, specifically pertaining to Linux Mint Cinnamon latest version distro:
1. How do I access the files saved on the Windows partition?
2. How can I view my partition size and health, i.e. data usage?
3. W10 automatically defrags. How can I defrag with Linux?
4. Bluetooth; every time I switch OS, I have to pair my Bluetooth mouse again, which is super frustrating when... that is my ONLY mouse, so getting to the Bluetooth icon each time in both OS is rage inducing. Is there anyway to permanently save the goddamn paired mouse in both OS?
5. Does LM auto-update, or tell you if there is a new update? And if not, does installing a new update erase your system?
6. I use the MS Office suite religiously, as well as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Acrobat X Pro. Are there any comprable programs? I'm not going to bother with WINE since I have dual-OS atm, so if there's not, I'll decide what to do about this later...
7. I see LMC comes with VLC as an external download, which I already got. Does it come with all codec? I play movies with .flv, .mkv, .ogg, etc.
8. I'm going to try and see if all of my Firefox add-ons work with Linux when I get home from work tonight, so that is a partial question if they will or not, but I want to try my email client, Thunderbird also. Anyone know if that functions correctly under Linux?
9. In Windows, I guess since W7, the drivers all automatically get updated directly from Microsoft. Does LMC check your drivers for the latest compatibility and see if you have the most current drivers for them?
10. I use a VPN called PureVPN. Any idea if that is compatible with Linux?
11. Okay, I see people referencing command lines constantly for Linux in the online forums I've been to. Do you access that via the Terminal window, the same as CMD in Windows? And if so, what can you do with it that's important to know about for a new Linux user?
12. At this point, LMC seems to work much like Windows. I don't see too much of a difference, at least not for what I want to use it for. Is there any reason to use a different distro in the future?
Thank you any and everyone who attempts to answer these questions for me. It is greatly appreciated.
[RANT]
I had a very important document up I was working on in MS Word 2010. I left to the store and Windows 10 decided to do an update during this time without warning. Low and behind, when I logged back into my computer, my document was MIA! I searched high and low to no avail, so next I turned to google and found a ton of on-line support, however and unfortunately, none of this information could resuscitate my document from the beyond (believe me, I tried roll-back, searching temp folders in Windows directory, everything... that document was GONE!). Luckily, I remembered I always save a copy to the cloud and thank god it was there, otherwise I'd have lost months of hard work down the drain!
I wish that were my only issues, however I had to purchase a new portable HD and printer (at different times) because an update broke the driver (which worked fine on my Windows 7 computer) and absolutely nothing could get it working again. I've seen three of our office computer printers stop working and needing a complete driver uninstall and reinstall after a windows update. You know, typical MS bullshit.
And what's really pissing me off is the corporate decision to intentionally slow older versions of windows by filling them with unnecessary bloat-ware, you know, planned obsolescence. My living room computer with all of my movies and games running Windows 7 now boots as slowly as my old XP did around the time W2K came out. I can literally turn the power on my computer, go get everything ready to make a sandwich, the load screen should be up by now at which time I type my password, then I can go finish the sandwich, and when I'm done, maybe the computer will be done fully loading all apps and drivers. Complete and utter bullshit. I'm tired of this corporate level jurisdiction over something I paid good money for.
[/RANT]
So, here are my questions, specifically pertaining to Linux Mint Cinnamon latest version distro:
1. How do I access the files saved on the Windows partition?
2. How can I view my partition size and health, i.e. data usage?
3. W10 automatically defrags. How can I defrag with Linux?
4. Bluetooth; every time I switch OS, I have to pair my Bluetooth mouse again, which is super frustrating when... that is my ONLY mouse, so getting to the Bluetooth icon each time in both OS is rage inducing. Is there anyway to permanently save the goddamn paired mouse in both OS?
5. Does LM auto-update, or tell you if there is a new update? And if not, does installing a new update erase your system?
6. I use the MS Office suite religiously, as well as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Acrobat X Pro. Are there any comprable programs? I'm not going to bother with WINE since I have dual-OS atm, so if there's not, I'll decide what to do about this later...
7. I see LMC comes with VLC as an external download, which I already got. Does it come with all codec? I play movies with .flv, .mkv, .ogg, etc.
8. I'm going to try and see if all of my Firefox add-ons work with Linux when I get home from work tonight, so that is a partial question if they will or not, but I want to try my email client, Thunderbird also. Anyone know if that functions correctly under Linux?
9. In Windows, I guess since W7, the drivers all automatically get updated directly from Microsoft. Does LMC check your drivers for the latest compatibility and see if you have the most current drivers for them?
10. I use a VPN called PureVPN. Any idea if that is compatible with Linux?
11. Okay, I see people referencing command lines constantly for Linux in the online forums I've been to. Do you access that via the Terminal window, the same as CMD in Windows? And if so, what can you do with it that's important to know about for a new Linux user?
12. At this point, LMC seems to work much like Windows. I don't see too much of a difference, at least not for what I want to use it for. Is there any reason to use a different distro in the future?
Thank you any and everyone who attempts to answer these questions for me. It is greatly appreciated.
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin