- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
Copilot key will eventually be required in new PC keyboards, though not yet.
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And again, install Linux and get rid of this Microsoft bullshit
100%. When Windows drops support for Windows 10 I’m jumping ship to Linux Mint Cinnamon. I tried it out on my old laptop and liked it. I even liked that neat hot corners thing you could use.
Do I need to know Jack shit about programming to use it? Cause…I mean I really don’t know Jack shit about but I’m down to jump ship!
No Mint pretty much just works.
Great thing about Mint (or most Linux distros) is that you can try it by booting from a usb stick - see if you like it that way.Oh wow really? That’s actually very helpful to know! Do I need to format the USB a certain way first or will the distro website go through it?
I would say for Linux Mint Cinnamon you really only need to be able to follow directions. Just make sure you have an external backup of all your files in case it turns out you can’t. You’ll have to type some stuff into a command-line interface (I think) but the Mint Cinnamon website has links to step by step guides. Also, you know, make sure you’re either committed to getting rid of Windows, or have the ability to re-install, in case you mess up.
But really, at this point, it’s pretty dang easy.
I keep my OS on a separate partition from everything else, so all the files should be fine. Can MC read windows dism formats Luke NTFS? Or will I need to transfer my data to something more neutral?
I switched my computer illiterate family members to reduce the effort of helping them and they didn’t notice.
As a helper…
There are distributions focussed on the latest and greatest (Arch, Fedora, etc…) and ones aiming for stability (Debian, Ubuntu, etc…). Think of them as groups with different views.
So Linux Mint is Ubuntu but it has the latest Cinnamon desktop. Ubuntu is Debian but focused on fixed releases and adds ‘snaps’ and includes “non-free” by default.
People have different views on how the desktop should work. The two big desktops are Gnome and KDE.
Gnome is like Marmite. Its works completely different to any other desktop and people either love it or loathe it. Its often the distribution default.
With Windows 10/11 I think Microsoft were trying to steal some of KDE’s best features. By default it looks very much like a Windows desktop but lots of people mod it to look/act like macos. Some people struggle with the options it provides.
Then there are lots of other desktops, for example Cinnamon takes Gnome and turns it into a normal desktop.
Personally I would suggest Kubuntu as your first attempt. This is a fairly decent install guide.
Ubuntu tries to minimise the choices you need to make and the 6 month update cycle keeps it fairly stable.
Kubuntu is Ubuntu it just makes KDE the default instead of Gnome.
I recognize some of those words!
But seriously thanks for the write up. I used Ubuntu WAY back in like 2010 for media storage. I imagine it’s come a long way since then.
The only thing that I think is a little complicated these days is make sure that you’re not reliant on a particular Windows-only app. For the vast majority of common apps, you’re going to be fine, and it’s sounding more and more like even gaming on Linux is not only fine, but getting to the point of being the best way to do it. If you do have a particular app you rely on, I’d look into the various ways that you can get Windows apps running on Linux (which can be a little tricky, but usually not too bad.) But even like 10 years ago, I built a machine for an elderly family member, put probably some flavor of ubuntu on it, and I never had to troubleshoot that machine.
Thanks! How are open office apps these days? Now that Word/Excel is dog shit and subscription based, that’s the only windows only app I think I’d need. Even my recording and video editing apps supposedly run on Linux.
They’re so desperate for AI to be a thing.
AI is absolutely “a thing”, not sure there’s really a debate about that. The desperation here is they want to be the first company to completely immerse itself in Generative AI, but they’re moving so fast they’re just shoving every experiment they can come up with down their customers’ throats.
AI is going to be a huge part of the future, but Microsoft might not be a part of that future if they fuck up with over implementation of nascent tech.
My bad, I should be more specific. They’re so desperate for a fancy chatbot to be a part of everybody’s workflow that they’re going to add a special key that is not needed, or wanted by the vast majority.
I hope this can be remapped to something useful.
