Linux Instead of Windows


Recommended Posts

I've been in a dilemma about whether or not to stay with Windows 8 or go back to Windows 7. It then occurred to me, why not just use Linux as my main OS? I don't really game a whole lot anymore and a lot of devs are supposedly shifting to Linux.

My question is two part: How many of you use Linux as your main OS and what distro? Ubuntu and Mint seem like the best right now. What is wants is something that does NOT look like Windows.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1121042-linux-instead-of-windows/
Share on other sites

Well, it's a personal choice I would think. Recently I tried Mint 14 RC x64 and it was a very stable and fast OS. If you go Mint 14 RC x64, you will have to implement a x86 program fix, or if you go x86, then you may want to implement the PAE kernel if you have more then 4gigs ram. Not sure if they already have it implemented or not in the x86 release. But I personally do not care for Debian/Ubuntu OSes. But I think the majority of people switching would love it. But it is sort of Windows-like.

I've been in a dilemma about whether or not to stay with Windows 8 or go back to Windows 7. It then occurred to me, why not just use Linux as my main OS? I don't really game a whole lot anymore and a lot of devs are supposedly shifting to Linux.
Windows had worse releases than Windows 8 and kept its predominance just fine. If Windows 8 doesn't succeed, people will just stay with Windows 7 for the next few years, there's no "shift to Linux", never was, never will be (at least in the foreseeable future).

If you really must use Linux though, I suggest Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop.

I've been in a dilemma about whether or not to stay with Windows 8 or go back to Windows 7. It then occurred to me, why not just use Linux as my main OS? I don't really game a whole lot anymore and a lot of devs are supposedly shifting to Linux.

My question is two part: How many of you use Linux as your main OS and what distro? Ubuntu and Mint seem like the best right now. What is wants is something that does NOT look like Windows.

I use Linux (Ubuntu, Centos, Linux Mint) in a Virtual Machine such as VirtualBox which is free, it allows you to run Linux at the same time as Windows. If all you want to do is have a different looking windows you can try RainMeter and Samurize, they can radically change the look of Windows to where you can't even notice it's windows anymore.

I use Mint and WIndows 7. I've been a linux user for a long time, but only for work and development. The desktop experience still sucks in comparison to Mac OS or WIndows as it's full of bugs, lacks polish and lacks consistency. There's like a million different desktop environments for christ sakes (gnome, kde, lxde, unity etc...I'd recommend using Cinnammon or Gnome Shell with whatever distro you decide to try. Those are my favorites.

Bottom line, try using a distro in VMWare or virtualbox and see what you think.

  • Like 3

Well, I'm in the position of having 2 256GB SSD's so I could set up a dual boot. Sounds like Linux Mint x64 is worth checking out since I have 24GB of RAM. I an 100% see what Dr_Asik is saying though. I had just wondered if Linux could overtake Windows as a main desktop OS.

Devs are moving to Linux based operating systems, like Android. Chrome OS is starting to get more popular as well, but there still hasn't been a great push for a desktop Linux OS. Even if Steam goes over, it will probably be some Linux based OS dedicated to gaming that happens to be compatible with Ubuntu and not much else.

As for using it, an OS is an OS. They're all different, but they all do the same things. The real issue is the software that is compatible, although to be honest it makes more sense to run Windows as the main OS and VM into a Linux environment.

Well I installed Linux mint on one of my ssd's. when done, I instead of getting a boot loader for wi 8 or Linux it went straight to Linux. I entered my username and password and it said I would log in in 5 seconds. This was just an and less loop and I never got into Mint.

Well I installed Linux mint on one of my ssd's. when done, I instead of getting a boot loader for wi 8 or Linux it went straight to Linux. I entered my username and password and it said I would log in in 5 seconds. This was just an and less loop and I never got into Mint.

Welcome to the wonderful world of dual booting Windows and Linux.

Seriously, this is why every says VMing in is the way to go.

Although I'm a Debian user, I definitely recommend installing Ubuntu 12.04 if you are a new Linux user. Ubuntu is probably the best supported consumer-oriented distro, and the latest long term support release, 12.04, is fast and super stable.

My only other recommendation is not to approach learning Linux by comparing it to the way things work in Windows. It is not Windows. Many things work differently, and that's necessarily not a bad thing. It will just take some time to get familiar with. The Ubuntu forums and wiki are also an excellent source of information when you need to solve problems or learn how things work. The few Linux users who frequent Neowin are be happy to help you as well (or, at least, I am).

Well I installed Linux mint on one of my ssd's. when done, I instead of getting a boot loader for wi 8 or Linux it went straight to Linux. I entered my username and password and it said I would log in in 5 seconds. This was just an and less loop and I never got into Mint.

You need to change your boot order. In your BIOS, select the drive you installed Mint on and set it as the primary boot device. You can set it as secondary if your primary is your DVD/CD drive, save and reboot. You should see your boot menu.

Welcome to the wonderful world of dual booting Windows and Linux.

Seriously, this is why every says VMing in is the way to go.

It's not Linux's fault. It's the way he installed it. It helps if people know how to use GRUB and what drive to install the boot loader to.

I've been playing with Elementary (www.elementaryos.org). It's still in Beta, but perfectly usable in my limited experience. It's Ubuntu-based and it's beautiful. Stock Ubuntu is a really good distro, too, which is what I was playing with before I found out about Elementary.

  • Like 2

I recommend Ubuntu 12.04 if you want something stable and pleasant to use. Like you, I wanted something completely different than the Windows user experience but I also wanted something well-supported and relatively ubiquitous. I'm a professional developer, and I'm slowly moving from Windows to Linux. Everyone I work with daily used to code in C# and C++ on Visual Studio, but given Microsoft's silence last year on .NET support moving forward, and the speed at which Microsoft now deprecates their tools and technologies (WPF, EF, LINQ to SQL, etc.) many of us have decided on a new approach using open-source tools that we could bring in-house and maintain ourselves if necessary.

CherryPy and Python 3 is replacing ASP.NET, nginx is replacing IIS, C++ (using gcc) is now used for our speed-critical components, and Unity 3D remains as our game engine (since it now supports deployment to Linux). The Unity 3D editor runs fairly well in a VM, but there are several people working on making it work under WINE.

Linux on the desktop, Android on the mobile devices, Ouya for the gaming console... This is exactly what Microsoft feared, but they're late to the party. Kind of like how they were shown Wii-like hardware before there was a Wii, and they scoffed at it. It wasn't until the Wii became popular that they scrambled to release Kinect. Microsoft seems more interested in chasing the market than in innovating these days, which is sad actually. Microsoft R&D has some really cool projects, but none of them ever seem to see the light of day in mainstream releases.

My question is two part: How many of you use Linux as your main OS and what distro? Ubuntu and Mint seem like the best right now. What is wants is something that does NOT look like Windows.

not alot of people here use linux. but it is not about prevalence, it is about usability.

I 'd recommend gnome, KDE, Cinnamon and unity as DE.choice of DE is very important prior to choosing a distro.

Mint is very stable and really good.If I can add another rising distro: Mageia

You should just start using as a new adventure that is worth taking.and believe me, it is worth it.

Well, I have Mint installed in a VMWare Box. Linux is very difficult to install driver or software on. I had to Google command line commends to ge the nVidia drivers and even that failed somehow because I am now stuck on 640 X 480. I also downloaded Chrome and I found out you can't just double click on a downloaded file to install it. It still seems very advanced and only for the very computer savvy, nowhere near ready for prime time.

  • Like 2

I have used a lot of distros. Right now I'm settling with Ubuntu 12.10, using Cinnamon. I have not flipped to the Windows 7 side in about two weeks, and not missing it.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • BrowserOS 0.46.0 by Razvan Serea BrowserOS is a free, open-source Chromium-based browser that runs AI agents natively, offering a smarter, more productive browsing experience. It supports Chrome extensions and integrates AI agents to automate tasks, fill forms, and streamline workflows. Your data stays on your computer: you can use your own API keys or run local models via Ollama, making it a privacy-first alternative to tools like Perplexity, Comet, or Dia. With built-in productivity tools and app integrations, BrowserOS boosts efficiency while keeping control firmly in your hands. Being Chromium-based, BrowserOS lets you effortlessly import your bookmarks, passwords, and Chrome extensions in just a few clicks. BrowserOS works with OpenAI GPT models, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, and local AI models via Ollama or LMStudio. You can use your own API keys and effortlessly switch between providers. BrowserOS Agent Your AI productivity assistant that organizes and manages your browsing effortlessly Quickly list, group, or close tabs Save and resume browsing sessions Search your history and organize bookmarks Switch instantly to the tab you need BrowserOS Navigator – Automate web tasks with ease Navigate websites and search automatically Interact with pages without manual effort Handle repetitive tasks in seconds What makes BrowserOS special Feels like home - same familiar interface as Google Chrome, works with all your extensions AI agents that run on YOUR browser, not in the cloud Privacy first - bring your own keys or use local models with Ollama. Your browsing history stays on your computer Open source and community driven - see exactly what's happening under the hood MCP store to one-click install popular MCPs and use them directly in the browser bar (coming soon) Built-in AI ad blocker that works across more scenarios! BrowserOS 0.46.0 changelog: Run Claude Code & Codex right in your browser — We've extended the agent harness to bring full coding agents into BrowserOS. Claude Code and Codex now come bundled and plug straight into the assistant, so you can drive your browser with the agent — and the subscription — you already use. A brand new experience — A redesigned new tab, a calmer composer, and a rebuilt command center for switching between agents. The whole assistant is cleaner, faster to reach, and easier to live in. New MCP tools — We rebuilt the browser tool surface from the ground up — a tighter, more reliable set of tools for agents to drive the browser. Plus one-click install of BrowserOS as an MCP server into the agents you already run, with automatic URL sync. Chromium 148 — Updated to the latest Chromium base with all recent upstream fixes and security patches. Streamlined — We've pulled back a few features that weren't getting much use — Skills, Soul, and Memory — so we can focus and ship better versions of them soon. Download: BrowserOS 0.46.0 | 181.0 MB (Open Source) Download: BrowserOS for macOS | 485.0 MB Links: BrowserOS Homepage | Github | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Microsoft finally admits its default Windows 11 25H2, 24H2 action broke key legacy component by Sayan Sen Microsoft last week released Windows 11 KB5094126 and KB5093998 as the latest Patch Tuesday updates. Following that the company also published the accompanying dynamic updates under KB5094149, KB5095971, and KB5094156. So far the company has acknowledged two known issues that have popped up after the release which include bugged-out Office apps as well as the Recycle Bin; though there could be more at play too. Speaking of bugs and issues, Microsoft seems to have finally acknowledged a problem that probably has been around for close to a year. That's because back in July of 2025 the company made a default change to the latest Windows 11 versions, wherein it switched to JScript9Legacy on Windows 11 24H2 and later releases. Hence following the release of version 25H2 in October 2025, JScript9Legacy also remained default-enabled. As a result there has been a compatibility issue ever since then. For those wondering, by switching to JScript9Legacy Microsoft intended to improve the security of modern Windows PCs by reducing vulnerabilities tied to legacy scripting like cross-site scripting (XSS), among others. XSS exploits can allow cyber-attackers to attach malicious code onto legitimate websites and use them to execute the code when a potential victim loads such a website. Hence the new JScript9Legacy engine enforced stricter execution policies and improved object handling, which should help mitigate such attacks. Microsoft today has published a new support article detailing the problem. Neowin spotted it while browsing. The company says that JScript global definitions and execution context may fail to persist across scripts, potentially breaking older dependent apps and web-based components that relied on this legacy behavior. In the article Microsoft has confirmed that the issue stems from its move away from the older jscript9.dll engine in favor of jscript9legacy.dll. As mentioned above, while the newer engine was designed to address vulnerabilities and strengthen security it also changes how JScript handles execution context. As a result functions and definitions loaded by one script could no longer remain available to subsequent scripts once execution ended. The company notes that some applications worked correctly on earlier Windows versions because the older JScript engine automatically retained global definitions and execution state between scripts. Under the newer model though that behavior is disabled by default causing certain legacy workloads and polyfill-dependent scripts to fail. Microsoft says it addressed the problem via the KB5077241 update though the fix had not been enabled automatically in the following updates. As such admins must explicitly turn on persistent JScript execution context using a Registry setting that the tech giant shared today. The configuration can be applied to individual processes or system-wide through the FEATURE_ENABLE_PERSISTENCE registry key. The steps have been outlined below: Run the following command to create the feature control registry key: reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_ENABLE_PERSISTENCE" Under this key, create a new DWORD (32-bit) value. Configure the value as follows: To enable persistence for specific processes only: Set the value to 1 for each target process name. To enable persistence for all processes: Add * as the key name and set its value to 1. You can find the official support article here on Microsoft's website.
    • The possibility that milk gathers back into a glass implies that gravity can be 'reversed'.
    • VidCoder 12.20 by Razvan Serea  VidCoder is a DVD/Blu-ray ripping and video transcoding application for Windows. It uses HandBrake as its encoding engine. Calling directly into the HandBrake library gives it a more rich UI than the official HandBrake Windows GUI. VidCoder can rip DVDs but does not defeat the CSS encryption found in most commercial DVDs. You’ll need the NET 8 Desktop Runtime. If you don’t have it, VidCoder will prompt you to download and install it. The Portable version is self-contained and does not require any .NET Runtime to be installed. You do not need to install HandBrake for VidCoder to work. Feature list: Multi-threaded MP4, MKV containers Completely integrated encoding pipeline: everything is in one process and no huge intermediate temporary files H.264, H.265, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, VP8, Theora video Hardware-accelerated encoding with AMD VCE, Nvidia NVENC and Intel QuickSync AAC, MP3, Vorbis, AC3, FLAC audio encoding and AAC/AC3/MP3/DTS/DTS-HD passthrough Target bitrate, size or quality for video 2-pass encoding Decomb, detelecine, deinterlace, rotate, reflect, chroma smooth, colorspace filters Powerful batch encoding with simultaneous encodes Customizable Pickers to automatically pick audio and subtitle tracks, destination, titles and more Instant source previews Creates small encoded preview clips Pause, resume encoding VidCoder 12.20 changes: Updated HandBrake core to 1.11.2. Download: VidCoder 12.20 | 47.0 MB (Open Source) Download: Portable VidCoder 12.19 | 89.3 MB Link: VidCoder Home Page | Github | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jordan Smith earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      BizSAR earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • First Post
      AndreaB earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      Huge Trailer earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      Classifyskilleducation earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      590
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      185
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      76
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      73
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      66
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!