That's heartening. Got a project for the weekend!
tempestuousknave
joined 1 year ago
Just checked it out, It's an I5 6500, a little older than I thought, but ubuntu recommended specs are pretty low: CPU: 1 gigahertz or better RAM: 1 gigabyte or more Disk: a minimum of 2.5 gigabytes
no uefi so I'm good to go. probably
I think it depends on what your goals are.
My main goal is getting off windows, not because it doesn't do what I need (my needs are basic) but because they put ads in my OS. Also, every iteration seems to make a bigger mess of the settings/control panel, and open shell isn't enough for me anymore, although I often think fondly of the IT guy who turned me on to that years back. And the uninstallable (or difficult to uninstall) bloat. And it may just be me, but it seems like there are performance issues - I've a new desktop at work with better specs than the laptop I've kept on 10, and it seems to be panting under some pretty light loads.
I have a perception, which may be inaccurate, of linux as being for programmers who need to customize to suit their projects and thus rather fiddly, so I wonder if going to linux to get away from windows commercialism and constricting UI is just trading one set of problems for a harder set.
WSL sounds like a great option, and from what I just read the install is stupid easy, but I'm unclear if it's a simulation of linux inside of windows or just the implementation of a feature of linux. I imagine the command line is like the windows terminal: a method of more directly calling for your computer to do stuff. So if WSL is just the command line, then it won't simulate how the stuff I want to do interacts with ubuntu, but let me tell my computer what to do like I would in ubuntu?
How important is command line in Linux? Will a casual user need to access it frequently? Will my modest needs be better met by learning it?
That's two votes for ubuntu. I like the idea of a virtual machine protecting me from myself. I've got desktop and a laptop, but need them both active. I've also got an old desktop in a closet somewhere, wonder if the hardware would still be functional enough to learn on. CPU is probably a 7th gen I5, to give you an idea of the datedness.
Thanks for the heads up and the breakdown. I'd like to think I'm clever enough to avoid inputting what is a obviously nefarious command, but I don't think I've fully plumbed the depths of my foolishness.