That's great.

Right now, my Dell laser printer is working now and it's only a year old. But when it dies, I might consider an HP as I read and heard, HP is a very supported brand in linux.

Linux only (with rare exception) for something like 13-15 years now...

I have two machines which boot into Windows (one a recent Win 8.1 machine), a machine running WinXP for flashing updates to embedded devices, and the aforementioned Win 8.1 machine, which I needed for completing a 2nd Bachelor degree program in Comp. Sci. (two courses required the use of a Windows machine, and proctored exams were only supported on Windows or MAC). The laptop's HD will be wiped and Linux installed, right after I use the machine to root my and my girlfriend's phones (older phones running Android 2.3, with tons of bloatware).

The Linux kernel could support many, many different hardware devices and the FreeBSD kernel a lot less - what matters is whether or not it supports your hardware.

FreeBSD runs great in a virtual machine. It didn't run that great on my 6 year old laptop, and won't even boot on my new laptop.

I have one machine that dual-boots Windows 7 and Linux (currently Mageia 4). From time to time, I boot into Windows to keep it updated and remember what I'm missing. I use that machine mostly for watching media while I sit at this machine (Slackware --Current; I'm in a BSD VM right now) mucking about on Linux Questions and trying to learn new things.

The other two machines I use regularly are Mint 17 and Slackware.

I guess you could say that I'm almost Windows-free, but I do like to keep my Windows familiarity up-to-date.

linux only here, android smart phones, even put linux on my linksys router (DD-WRT)

Regarding the pitfalls of ditching Windows, one problem I have encountered is that Open Document files (e.g., as generated by Libre Office (LO)) are poorly handled by Microsoft's office suite (whatever they are calling it these days, Word, Excel, etc.). Libre Office will generate .docx, .pptx, and .xlsx files (and earlier MS formats), but they are often not accurately displayed by MS office. I don't know if the fault lies with LO and/or MS software.

Equations and graphics translate particularly badly to MS and often not at all.

I have found that Libre Office is better at handling MS file formats than MS is at handling Open Document formats. I suppose MS did not want to do Open Document at all, so they did it badly.

My conclusion is that if you need an office-suite-format document, you must generate it on the platform where you want to use it.

The only exception I am aware of is that PDFs from either LO or MS will usually display properly on any platform.

Re #52, @flshope.
... Or use an MS compatible office suite : SoftMaker FreeOffice for Linux
http://www.freeoffice.com/en/ Is proprietary, but free to use.
Very fast ... and has a small footprint.


P.S. : I use Linux OS`s only.


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Turned on my first computer in 1980. Have never had a Windows OS on any that I have owned.

I somehow always get volunteered to fix people's windows machines.

Just say "No"!

1 members found this post helpful.

Yes I finally ditched Windows about 2.5 years ago and don't wish to look back.
I originally came across Linux back in 1999 but wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Over the few years since I must have briefly installed it again once or twice again. But as of Ubuntu 12 have tried to keep pushing it forwards. It takes a certain maturity of the user to see a project like a Linux box through. It's not enough to ask what you can for Linux or what Linux can do for you.

My Laptop is Linux only, my desktop has a HD with 10.9.5 on it so I can work from home when needed, my wife has a Mac, my daughter is on a Windows box I built for her.

In the last 10 years, I used Windows 7 just to complete my college education. I usually only booted into Windows 7 to use MS Access and .Net programming. The rest I either ran in Wine or natively. My professor's were not happy with me because the college I went to was one of those for profit, Microsoft supporters. Everything was pretty much based running a mixed environment of Windows, Linux and OS X in the labs.

The final/thesis was based on setting up a mixed network with routers, switches, PCs, various servers, mobile devices... pretty much most devices that can be networked. Had to install, configure, secure, penetration test, write security policies, risk assessments, the works. The project was meant to simulate a group of contractors helping a start up business establish a company infrastructure.

The funny thing was that (group project) none of the other students in my graduating class had the slightest inkling how to set up a Linux server. All services on the network were ran on CentOS servers. The only Windows/OS X machines were the workstations. My group partners and I were the only group to receive full credit on the project. All other groups received 70% credit or less.

Aside from my sparse use of Windows 7, I skipped Vista, and used Windows XP because I felt it was probably the most productive version of Windows. Prior to that most of my use of Windows was in Windows 95 and 98; very painful.

As far as Linux goes, I've always ran either Debian, Fedora, CentOS, Gentoo, and recently Slackware. Started using Linux in 2002.

I don't wish to be alarmist but I thought Windows 10 was still spyware sending everything back to Microsoft for them to share as they see fit (as per EULA, not being paranoid here)?
I'm also posting this because I am itching to ditch Windows 8.1 for the slightly more civilised Windows 10 but can't face inputting things like passwords to email accounts and credit card details for them to be relayed to Microsoft "partners".