Hello J,
I did not want to exceed the bounds of our discussion within the group. The following is only my advice to you and should you make the plunge into Kubuntu this is the forum to use and be part of in the future. For others reading this, my friend is planning on buying a new PC this summer and asked me about my opinion.
Anything you buy today will come with Windows 10 already installed. If you are not already familiar with Windows 10, I would say download a Linux distro of your choice, ISO burn the CD, and reformat 100% to Linux. Popular distros are Mint, Ubuntu, and Debian. There are some "novelty versions" like Slackware and Damn Small Linux (DSL). There are other variants of Ubuntu made to conserve space and function; Lubuntu and Xubuntu are some examples. Have a look around before you decide.
My secondary recommendation would be, (assuming you still have your XP CDs) reformat and partition the drive in 2 partition using the Linux Live CD. Setup the partitions as NTFS for windows XP and the other Extendend 4 (ext4) for the Linux. Then dual boot until you get comfortable. I was dual booting for roughly 6 months and I noticed I was booting up Linux more than XP. I don't think dual booting Win 7, 8, or 10 with Linux would be a good idea, since I have read about issues. I don't strongly recommend this at all, I only put it out as an alternative because you are currently a Windows XP user.
All those units at the clinic operate Debian, with a classic Gnome desktop. But I didn't set them up, my partner did that on his own. My preferred flavor is called Kubuntu 14.04 this is Ubuntu with the KDE desktop released in April of 2014. I wouldn't go higher version than 15.10 unless you like to experiment with new OS. New distros are released every 6 months in April and October.
As for those games and other Windows software you desire to use. Once you have the Linux on your machine you can use WINE in one of 2 ways. For the average user you can install "Play on Linux", which is a hand full of GUI scripts and icons to make it "simple" or the advanced user can install wine and create your own custom shortcuts and scripts. WINE is not emulator, it only redirects the pesky DLL calls and points out the alternative call to a Linux library file instead. Running WINE doesn't take up a lot of memory or resources either. There is a WINE application database available to see what runs best.
You are welcome to bring your new PC over to my place, if you are having issues getting up and running. However I think you will find out, installing Linux is a lot easier than it sounds.
See you in the game.
I did not want to exceed the bounds of our discussion within the group. The following is only my advice to you and should you make the plunge into Kubuntu this is the forum to use and be part of in the future. For others reading this, my friend is planning on buying a new PC this summer and asked me about my opinion.
Anything you buy today will come with Windows 10 already installed. If you are not already familiar with Windows 10, I would say download a Linux distro of your choice, ISO burn the CD, and reformat 100% to Linux. Popular distros are Mint, Ubuntu, and Debian. There are some "novelty versions" like Slackware and Damn Small Linux (DSL). There are other variants of Ubuntu made to conserve space and function; Lubuntu and Xubuntu are some examples. Have a look around before you decide.
My secondary recommendation would be, (assuming you still have your XP CDs) reformat and partition the drive in 2 partition using the Linux Live CD. Setup the partitions as NTFS for windows XP and the other Extendend 4 (ext4) for the Linux. Then dual boot until you get comfortable. I was dual booting for roughly 6 months and I noticed I was booting up Linux more than XP. I don't think dual booting Win 7, 8, or 10 with Linux would be a good idea, since I have read about issues. I don't strongly recommend this at all, I only put it out as an alternative because you are currently a Windows XP user.
All those units at the clinic operate Debian, with a classic Gnome desktop. But I didn't set them up, my partner did that on his own. My preferred flavor is called Kubuntu 14.04 this is Ubuntu with the KDE desktop released in April of 2014. I wouldn't go higher version than 15.10 unless you like to experiment with new OS. New distros are released every 6 months in April and October.
As for those games and other Windows software you desire to use. Once you have the Linux on your machine you can use WINE in one of 2 ways. For the average user you can install "Play on Linux", which is a hand full of GUI scripts and icons to make it "simple" or the advanced user can install wine and create your own custom shortcuts and scripts. WINE is not emulator, it only redirects the pesky DLL calls and points out the alternative call to a Linux library file instead. Running WINE doesn't take up a lot of memory or resources either. There is a WINE application database available to see what runs best.
You are welcome to bring your new PC over to my place, if you are having issues getting up and running. However I think you will find out, installing Linux is a lot easier than it sounds.
See you in the game.
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