I write code in Python and {{{sigh}}} VBA (when in the MS environment). Obviously coding in VBA has never been any help getting in touch witht he finer points of Linux, but then, Python sort-of hasn't either. I do work at the commandline some (LOVE ffmpeg, what an incredibly fast, powerful tool!) and compile my own Blender3D from git / trunk, but to be honest, find that most of what I'm doing has already been done before, so 99% of the time, I'm copying and pasting someone else's work. I guess I'm a fairly casual (as opposed to 'power') user of Linux... well, consider the distro: Mint? should say it all. :)
Great idea, Maricelle. I've been setting up exactly this sort of thing - gratis - for people with laptops running WinXP who, for one reason or another, don't want to give up using XP.
"One reason or another" is usually financial in nature: I think folks are just tired of paying-paying-paying for something that provides minutes of usability bordered by hours of frustration and cost. Think Anti-virus/anti-malware/defragmentation etc... all those aspects of Windows I've happily left behind.
But say that, I am still using Office 2000 Pro for Excel VBA in WindowsXP! No, it's not ideal, bit it's what's available at work (well, they have Office2003). Running XP in VBox, I'm able to be completely productive in an environment that will NOT change, neither the Windows nor the Linux one, and so I can focus on my work, as opposed to learning how to do the same task a different way, because the new version is so very different from the current one.
Some people have time for that, I guess.
I don't.
Whilst installing a Linux Distro - well, Mint, anyway - is reasonably easy, setting up VirtualBox correctly so that I'm able to connect inside of Windows in VBox was a bit more work. So, an article on avoiding common pitfalls would be well-received, indeed!
Authored Comments
I write code in Python and {{{sigh}}} VBA (when in the MS environment). Obviously coding in VBA has never been any help getting in touch witht he finer points of Linux, but then, Python sort-of hasn't either. I do work at the commandline some (LOVE ffmpeg, what an incredibly fast, powerful tool!) and compile my own Blender3D from git / trunk, but to be honest, find that most of what I'm doing has already been done before, so 99% of the time, I'm copying and pasting someone else's work. I guess I'm a fairly casual (as opposed to 'power') user of Linux... well, consider the distro: Mint? should say it all. :)
Great idea, Maricelle. I've been setting up exactly this sort of thing - gratis - for people with laptops running WinXP who, for one reason or another, don't want to give up using XP.
"One reason or another" is usually financial in nature: I think folks are just tired of paying-paying-paying for something that provides minutes of usability bordered by hours of frustration and cost. Think Anti-virus/anti-malware/defragmentation etc... all those aspects of Windows I've happily left behind.
But say that, I am still using Office 2000 Pro for Excel VBA in WindowsXP! No, it's not ideal, bit it's what's available at work (well, they have Office2003). Running XP in VBox, I'm able to be completely productive in an environment that will NOT change, neither the Windows nor the Linux one, and so I can focus on my work, as opposed to learning how to do the same task a different way, because the new version is so very different from the current one.
Some people have time for that, I guess.
I don't.
Whilst installing a Linux Distro - well, Mint, anyway - is reasonably easy, setting up VirtualBox correctly so that I'm able to connect inside of Windows in VBox was a bit more work. So, an article on avoiding common pitfalls would be well-received, indeed!