Turning to Linux

oldtimer50

oldtimer50

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In a shed in the UK
Well it's been a year since i installed Linux Mint on the two laptops and one desktop at home, and one laptop at work, we still have a Windows 7 laptop just in case.
My point is good bye Windows, so far we not looking back at all, i am not a Linux expert by any means and I am learning all the time but enjoying it.
The kids well they taken to it like a duck to water, the wife loves it says it,s easy and she is not computer friendly at all.
I have tried to say away from the terminal has much as possible, over the year and I only been in there twice more lazy than anything else, this is because I'm thinking of offering it to my customers the more mature ones
shall we say first.
I have offered mint to two customers so far one has not let me know yet he's had it three weeks the other has had three months and wants me to teach him more so I have offered an hour a week more a learning curve for me I think.
I have to say I am surprised that Linux is not more popular than it is in the UK it's free for one and very little problems and comes with Libra office I know it's not as good but lets face it everything there for most users
besides that it just does what it's supposed to do work and it does.
 
I've "upgraded" a few windows XP machines to various Linux platforms for several people who only "surf the net, facebook, look things up, play online games, etc." They didn't want to spend the money on a new machine and are now very happy. Most don't even print or use more than 20% of what it is capable of doing. Bill a couple hours training and they are good to go.
 
I have been selling Linux Mint installs for a few years now. Its been a lot of fun upgrading their older systems to linux Mint and watching them as they learn more and become more productive.

The way I handle the upgrade is by taking their computer into the shop and doing a good cleaning and possible upgrade on memory if needed and possibly a new video card - once again if needed then install Linux Mint. I will go in and tweek some settings such as in the properties for multimedia files (mpg, flv, mp4 ect..) I will set VLC as the default player. I will also setup thunderbird with the fonts add on package and tweek that a bit for some customers. I setup teamviewer for them and offer 1 month free remote service in case they get stuck or have questions. I will also setup their printer if they have one.

Today I have a Older dell tower in for an upgrade to linux Mint. I did a good clean out and added 1 GIG ram to take it to 2 GIGS. Its due out for delivery Wednesday.

I normally stick with the Mate desktop as its very stable. I also do really well with selling add ons like printers, Hardware upgrades.

I have yet to have a customer ask to go back to windows :)
 
I also suggest & support Linux for users who DO NOT have a need for Windows. I have found my Linux customers are usually my best customers as they have fewer issues once they get past the initial learning curve. I also suggest Mac's for those who can afford to get sucked into their evil empire :)

IMHO, if techs are not suggesting & supporting Linux as I do, you are missing out on another revenue stream.
 
kwisher said:
IMHO, if techs are not suggesting & supporting Linux as I do, you are missing out on another revenue stream.
Click to expand...
You got that right! I have a few units like this out in users hands and once they realized what they really have they are quite content with the increased speed and ease of use. And so far, Mint is the distro I use.
 
Altster said:
You got that right! I have a few units like this out in users hands and once they realized what they really have they are quite content with the increased speed and ease of use. And so far, Mint is the distro I use.
Click to expand...

Since your using Linux Mint are you using the Mate desktop or Cinnamon?

If you want some more impressive eye candy that is not hard on the system you can active compix which is pretty cool and works just fine on my system with the default settings.

Start button / control center / Desktop Settings - click on 'Windows' and change the windows manager to compiz. Then logout and log back in.

After logging back in you will see 4 available work spaces and if you click on them you will see that instead of your desktop flashing over to the selected workspace, The desktop appears to revolve like a cube to the next work space. :) There are more detailed settings but I enjoy just this one for now. If I am bored I just click around the 4 workspaces (lol). Its impressive to anyone watching you too :).

Here is a rough example I captured from my linux Mint workstation:


 
shutupdonnie said:
Linux is like that hole in the wall pizza joint on the edge of town that you just have to get people to try and they won't eat at Pizza Hut unless they have to.
Click to expand...

Linux is like that small family pizza shop that a lot of people go to because they make the best pizza in town. MS is like the frozen pizza's you buy at the supermarket - The advertising and picture on the box is actually better than what you eat.
 
coffee said:
Since your using Linux Mint are you using the Mate desktop or Cinnamon?

If you want some more impressive eye candy that is not hard on the system you can active compix which is pretty cool and works just fine on my system with the default settings.

Start button / control center / Desktop Settings - click on 'Windows' and change the windows manager to compiz. Then logout and log back in.

After logging back in you will see 4 available work spaces and if you click on them you will see that instead of your desktop flashing over to the selected workspace, The desktop appears to revolve like a cube to the next work space. :) There are more detailed settings but I enjoy just this one for now. If I am bored I just click around the 4 workspaces (lol). Its impressive to anyone watching you too :).

Here is a rough example I captured from my linux Mint workstation:


Click to expand...

If I remember correctly XWindows, aka X11, has had this windowing feature for ages. Think I saw that shortly after I finally got X11 working on Slackware back in the mid to late 90's. That was back in the W95/98 and OS 7/8 days. After finally getting it working I saw these 4 small squares on the lower right of the screen. Clicking on them I was like, this is almost as great as the GUI. I've always wondered why M$ and Apple did not roll that into the native installations.
 
markverhyden said:
If I remember correctly XWindows, aka X11, has had this windowing feature for ages. Think I saw that shortly after I finally got X11 working on Slackware back in the mid to late 90's. That was back in the W95/98 and OS 7/8 days. After finally getting it working I saw these 4 small squares on the lower right of the screen. Clicking on them I was like, this is almost as great as the GUI. I've always wondered why M$ and Apple did not roll that into the native installations.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the workspace switcher only or the compiz effects? Workspace switcher has been around for ever. But actually what I was referring to is the 'cube effect' provided by the compiz desktop manager. :)

I find that a lot of user of linux do not really investigate the desktop options at all. They just install it and then use "as is". I was actually trying to show the actual cube effect and how to switch over to the compix desktop manager to provide more eye candy.
 
coffee said:
Are you talking about the workspace switcher only or the compiz effects? Workspace switcher has been around for ever. But actually what I was referring to is the 'cube effect' provided by the compiz desktop manager. :)

I find that a lot of user of linux do not really investigate the desktop options at all. They just install it and then use "as is". I was actually trying to show the actual cube effect and how to switch over to the compix desktop manager to provide more eye candy.
Click to expand...

Workspace switcher. To be honest I don't really mess around with the eye candy stuff.
 
markverhyden said:
Workspace switcher. To be honest I don't really mess around with the eye candy stuff.
Click to expand...

I never did in the past either. I was more concerned about a production workstation and stability rather than look neato-cool with eyecandy. But I do like the flipping workspaces. There is very little setup to do this. Infact, Just go in and change the desktop manager to compiz and log out and log back in. The default settings are plenty for me. I have looked into the full cube effect but thats really not for me. I do not need a revolving cube on my desktop. I am more into a solid highly productive workstation :)

Thanks for your reply,
 
Compiz and 3D cube on Linux for those not aware.....

Compiz is hard on system resources and prone to stability issues, but the desktop granular control is far beyond anything in Windows. I'm not sure Compiz is still being maintained.
 
If I remember correctly, Support for compiz was going to be dropped but it was picked up again by someone(s) and is now being supported. Its now installed in Linux Mint Mate Desktop.

That is a great video. My compiz setup isnt that extreme. Its just the default settings.

Yes, Windows desktop has nothing on linux :)
 
Starting using HP Unix (at work, still in USAF at the time) in perhaps late 2000, early 2001; I was pretty amazed with it's default 6 desktops on one monitor, and, 6 more desktops on the other monitor!
 
I have used Ubuntu, which is better Ubuntu or mint? Been thinking of moving away from windows for personal use and work use.
 
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