Detroit, MI
Maricelle Thomas has a MBA with a background in Engineering and IT. She started out as an Industrial Engineer and later moved into supporting and implementing ERP systems and Web Applications. A strong interest in the Arts and Creative fields led to her current gig as a Tech Blogger. Her deep experience in Business Analysis and various technologies enable her to provide her readers with a rich perspective on how technology can improve their daily lives. Check out her videos on YouTube or read up on her latest posts at Google +, Blogger and getlinuxanswers.com.
Authored Comments
People here gave you some great advice in transitioning over. I did have a spare 2009 HP Pavillion with Windows 7 and a 2008 Toshiba Satellite with Vista for backup during my Linux "transition" period. Those boxes were sort of a "security blanket" just in case I needed to use Windows for some computing task that I couldn't think of. Jumped all of those hurdles by now. One thing I wish I had learned earlier was to use "Clonezilla" for backup. I downloaded and installed it on a USB stick whenever I need to back up the entire Linux OS, including data and downloaded programs. It would have saved me so much trouble when I was experimenting with some programs or installing updates that broke functionality. As a newbie, you're better off starting with distros with LTS (Long Term Support). They are more mature, which means you will experience less issues than with the newer releases. The LTS's I know are Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint 13 or the Lubuntu equivalent to Ubuntu 12.04 since it's a derivative of it.
I learn best by "doing". The reason I know Linux is my brother installed it on my 2003 Dell Inspiron in 2011. I haven't missed Windows since. Why? I haven't had to deal with the daily ritual of running anti-virus/malware definition updates, scanning and removal which took up a few minutes of my computing time. I also have successfully found Linux alternative applications which fulfill all of my computing needs. Yes, if there are any specialized applications you need to run, you may encounter some challenging workarounds and configurations but I got through it just fine. I can pretty much tell a Windows user what the Linux equivalents and processes are because I've used Windows so long from the early Windows 3.1/DOS days. When I was at University, I was learning programming on an IBM PS/2 and writing papers in MacWrite on a MAC. If the old geezer that I am can learn Linux pretty quickly, I'm sure a young upstart like you can catch on as well. As for support, the people here are very helpful, the forums for your distribution should be helpful and I answer people's questions on my sites too. I've pretty much answered 90% of my questions by using Google.