I switched (back) by accident as well - my WiFi is surprisingly unsupported on OpenBSD.

Great story about the switch back, YesItsMe, and thanks for talking about your experience with Void.

I am generally quite happy with Mageia and trying not to go distro hopping, but I have just discovered that one little problem I have had in configuring E on Mageia may be due to a systemd service I did not know existed (as the Poettering monster keeps growing and growing) enabled by default -- and I miss having cutting edge (although I am running the "unstable" version of Mageia on one system). I have looked longingly at Artix (the Arch systemd-free alternative) but Void sounds as if it deserves a look given that it offers a preconfigured E. I might not need that, but I like to support distros that do!

1 members found this post helpful.

You should try.

Here is one of many reasons that I use Linux:

This is the latest example of Microsoft’s Windows Update not working properly and causing grief for thousands of users:
https://www.windowslatest.com/2018/0...or-0x80073715/

.

1 members found this post helpful.

"Not using Windows" is not even remotely identical to "using Linux".

I'm using Solus because Linux distros have a better community generally than the Windows community, is more stable it seems and doesn't have annoying update issues. Also, I like customisability :P

I do use XP on this netbook, but Solus is on my other laptop.

ScarletWavez,

I see that Solus is now up to #5 in the Distrowatch charts.

https://distrowatch.com/

Why am I using Linux? because I like the "Unix way", it fits me much better than Windows or Mac OS ever did, and I've grown very comfortable with it.[removed url]

I went over to Linux about 3 years ago when I became totally exasperated with Windows: constant maintenance, frequent registry defragging, constant threat of viruses and adware, updates sometimes at very inconvenient times. When I realized that Linux was devoid of those problems and much more secure than Windows and Mac, I readily came over. Since there's no Windows programs I can't live without, and the Linux repositories contain all that I need, the transition was relatively easy for me. As an ordinary user, I readily took to Mint since it's rock solid, stable as an OS can get, and easy to use. In my experience, Linux is tops, hands down.

02.10.2018: My wife and I began using a GNU/Linux distribution (specifically Ubuntu) ten years ago after we bought a new Acer computer which had Windows Vista installed (need I say more?). After Ubuntu switched to the Unity desktop, we switched to Xubuntu (and Ubuntu Studio, which also uses the XFCE desltop).

Recently we switched again, this time primarily to GeckoLinux (forked from openSUSE) mainly because, as a rolling release, it is kept always up-to-date and there should be only very rarely (if ever) a need to install an updated version.

For a particular reason, on one of our computers we installed MX Linux (currently version 17). This too is an excellent GNU/Linux distribution and its only "flaw" is that, as a static-release system, it must be reinstalled periodically. MX Linux is even easier to use than GeckoLinux (openSUSE) and it is the only distribution I have ever come across which contains its own complete operating system manual (which can even be printed if desired).

Both of these distributions have excellent and extremely helpful forums. (Frankly, most GNU/Linux distributions have excellent forums in our experiences.)

Windows is, in my opinion, a flawed operating system which is "clunky" at best. Ditto for the much-more-expensive MAC. These two operating systems are, in both our opinions, just giant "marketing" platforms which are constantly exhorting the user to "buy something."

Any GNU/Linux distribution is, we believe, a major step up from these platforms and should seriously be considered by anyone with even a modicum of computer knowledge.

P.S. 02.17.2018: I have been experimenting with Antergos, first on one formerly Windows 10 computer (I use it for experimentation) and now on an Alienware AW17R3, a (formerly) Windows 10 Gaming Computer. Antergos installed easily and works perfectly so far. I really prefer to have a rolling-release type of OS; my wife and I had tried Manjaro (based on Arch) on two different computers (hers and mine) but it crashed too many times (on both computers) - the last time was the last straw. GeckoLinux (openSUSE) is very good but my initial impressions are that Antergos (also based on Arch) is even better. Time will tell.

Ah,yes, Windows Vista, 8, 8.1 and 10, the best reasons to leave MS behind. As you can see, I am a believer in Mageia, but I think that MX Linux has done a fantastic job by offering a complete set of useful tools, a stable base but with updated applications (one of the reasons I have generally avoided Debian and Debian-based releases). I recently set up a pendrive with MX Linux and really like what the developers have done. It is one of the few "derivative" distros that offers true value (IMHO) over what its base has.

Computing became "fun" again after I became dissatisfied jumping through Windows. The initial breaking free of MS Windows came when I created a Coherent partition on my old ALR/386. Wow... an inexpensive computing environment that included a C compiler for free, a scripting capability that made MS-DOS batch files look like a sick joke. A few years later I upgraded my system (486) and invested in a commercial UNIX (Consensys) and used that for several years. While I was learning the innards of SVR4.2 this Linux thing was announced. ``Hmm... let's take a look at that'', I thought. Another boot partition later I had an early version of Slackware installed from the CD that came with Linux Unleashed. Looked promising but I held off switching to it as a primary 'IX until SMP support got closer to not being an experimental feature. Once that came closer, I jumped to a dual Pentium Pro system and began using Linux for most of my computer work at home. In those days, it was getting snuck onto the company network by myself and used by myself and several co-workers to help manage the big iron systems in the company data center. At home, though, Linux was getting used for most things--even word processing in the pre-StarOffice days by using the Applixware package--and that Windows partition was only being booted into for the few commercial games I might play. (My neat trick involving Win95 and Linux was backing up a pristine Win95 install using `dd' onto tape. Tired of that game? Restore the pristine Win85 from tape and install a different one.) My `Year of the Linux Desktop' came when Windows XP scribbled all over itself one time too many and I decided `Screw this!' and left it behind. No more Windows partitions on my computers any more. I'm happy as a clam, too.

1 members found this post helpful.

In 2003, careless use on the internet exposed our computer to a really ugly virus. We were using Win XP at the time, and we eventually had to wipe the hard drive completely to ensure complete removal of all the viruses....(there were several, actually).
Frustrated, I had heard of this operating system called Linux, which was supposedly much less prone to viruses and malware, etc. I bought a boxed set of Red Hat. We were a bit nervous about installing it. It had taken us so long to re-install XP and all of the other programs, and install the printer, we were really afraid we might screw up everything we had been working to restore.
It was surprisingly easy! I just followed the instructions carefully, making sure that I really understood what I was about to do at each step, and our dual-boot Red Hat 9(??)and Windows XP was up and running in just about 2 hours, including installation of the printer. Windows had given me fits with trying to install our old cannon printer. But Red Hat intuitively set it up and everything worked!
Time passed. We went through the evolutions of Fedora, Ubuntu, Knoppix, and settled a couple years ago on Linux Mint. Through it all, virtually everything we needed to do with Windows we could do with all of the various distributions of Linux. And it is all free!
We still prefer Quicken, so we run it on Wine. (Actually, Code Weavers Crossover Office does such a great job with all of their support, that we use Crossover Office wine.) There is nothing that we would ever want to do using Windows that we can't do using Linux Mint. And did I mention that it is all free?
Neither my wife nor myself is a computer guru. Nor are we computer illiterate. But we can do so much with our computer regarding backups, and safety, and it is mostly because of the tremendous support given freely from so many sources; this site certainly being one of them, as well as Mozilla, Linux Mint, and Crossover Office. And, by the way, it is all free, except for Crossover.
If I were to attempt to list all of the reasons individually, it would fill up volumes. But we are quite happy.
Thanks,
owa

1 members found this post helpful.

One school of thought among old-timers is that merely attaching a Windows system to the Internet could be construed as "careless use on the internet". :^/

I recall that when I wanted to get set up as a UUCP leaf node (on my Coherent system; no... I no longer remember the bang path to get to me in those days other than it ended in "!vger") it didn't happen until I'd gotten to know the people upstream from my little box and they could trust that I wasn't going to do crazy crap on the 'Net. (This was around the time of the "Morris Worm" so, IMHO, they were justifiably paranoid.) By the time Win95 was about to be released, the prospect of having millions of Windows users connected sent shivers down many peoples' spines.

The great thing from my point of view is that there's always a solution. I've just sadly abandoned Salix on my laptop, which no longer supports its Banias Pentium M processor. AntiX? Icewm can't handle multiple keyboard drivers and AntiX's version of Xfce is broken. Debian? Their non-pae Xfce installation medium is broken too. Xubuntu to the rescue, surprisingly! After years of Red Hat and Slackware-based distros, I feel a little insecure using something based on Debian Unstable, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.