If you are considering migrating from Windows to Linux, how about OpenSUSE?
OpenSUSE is the free version of SUSE Linux. It is not all that well known in the US; it’s based in Germany. Among Linux users, it’s generally considered unorthodox because the company has contracts with Microsoft (AKA “The Borg”). Oddly, MS sold more SUSE licenses than almost any other vendor, despite being pretty darned expensive. It was also one of my first exposures to Linux back before the turn of the Millennium.
This is not your hobby Linux. Yet it is much more user friendly than Red Hat and the clones. It’s friendly in the sense that it will save you a lot of heartache if you don’t really need Linux, per se, but simply an escape from Windows for whatever reason. The default KDE desktop is lighter and faster than Win7 on the same hardware, but I suspect it wouldn’t make you all that happy on XP-grade hardware. Instead, it has one of the widest selection of hardware drivers, and these are generally much better integrated than in other brands of Linux. SUSE also tends to automate things rather like Windows does.
So it’s a very good path migrating from Windows if your motives don’t include adopting the semi-religious devotion to the sacred path of Open Source. However, it can be almost as much work as Windows has gotten to be, and it can be cranky in its own right. You won’t do this just for fun; you should possess at least a power user background in computers or get someone experienced to hold your hand. There are some parts of it that simply aren’t ready for the GUI, and requires some commandline-foo. On the other hand, it’s very work-oriented and the configuration tool (called “YaST”) is one of the easiest ways of configuring obscure stuff, including servers, for Linux.
Once you get used to the SUSE way of things, it’s pretty easy to maintain. As you might expect, the primary advantage making it worthwhile is all the security of Linux with far fewer long-term hassles.
Yours truly isn’t in the mood to write up a hand-holding guide right now. If you can install Win7 by yourself, you are smart enough to handle OpenSUSE. One of the main problems is a portion of the defaults aren’t what most Windows users would like. It makes dual-booting between Windows and SUSE easy, but if you want it take the whole hard drive, you’ll have to poke around awhile during installation. I highly recommend you don’t accept the default of creating a separate HOME partition. While the separate partitions make it easy to migrate up to the next version, the installer makes it very hard to give the other (root) partition enough space to be useful.
Another difficulty is that the installer offered no way I could see to check for updates during the installation. You’ll be saddled with a huge collection of updates as soon as you get logged into your desktop. The GUI for this can be a little confusing, throwing conflicting warnings at you. It’s one of the few things very poorly executed. You also may not like the default desktop decorations, because it tends to limit the options. Once you get past the initial hurdles, things get much smoother.
For example, SUSE has one of the smartest firewalls available. It’s default KDE desktop is very easy to configure and most system controls are very well integrated. I frankly recommend you avoid using non-standard repositories. The fonts aren’t as good as Linux can do, but good enough. The default licensed codecs are likely to cover most of your multimedia needs. You can get Adobe’s Flashplayer if you need it. Most of the standard stuff is good enough.
Some very large European organizations, like the municipal offices of Munich, have switched wholesale over to SUSE and things are good for them. It’s worth investigating, but only if you are serious and you don’t actively hate MS. It’s still one of my favorite brands of Linux on some hardware.
Update: Here is an installation walk-through.
Gee-whizz, man, why didn’t write about this sooner? I gotta try this OS out because I’m still on Winsucks XPlode at home.
Well, I tested it again recently when my attitude about computers in general had shifted a bit. I like a lot better now than I did in the past. If you install 13.1, they’ll keep it alive another two years or so, but the next version won’t be radically different and still faster than Win7.
Gotcha, thanks. I’ve always wanted to get into Linux but too stoopid to get round to knowing anything about it. Something to do with too much wine and potato chips, I think.
The advantage in waiting this long is that you have to know considerably less to get good use from it. Most of the hassles with OpenSUSE are pretty generic, not so much Linux-specific. The only place where the commandline really matters is installing software not bundled, but still available from the standard repositories. The GUI version built into YaST is pretty raw right now, and you will get far fewer blunders using something else. That requires you read a tutorial on use of “zypper” and then have some idea what you are looking for. All you gotta do is ask, and chances are I can find an answer quickly.
Correction: You don’t need the commandline; you can do it the old SUSE way with YaST. That’s part of the system menu. It’s about the best way to control software.