I need help!

[DPS]

I hope someone can help me.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I hate Windows.

I have used DOS 3.0 when you could see what directory any program you loaded went to. I am familiar with using the “C” prompt.

I have an E-Machine, Model EL 1852 Desktop that I purchased on 11/12/2011. I currently run Windows XP service pack 3.

Below is a short list of some of the software I purchased (some of which were expensive at the time) that I currently use:

Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard & Acrobat Distiller (Archival of Records into PDF Format & Create/Distribute PDF Documents/Forms), Corel WordPerfect 8 (Service Pack 7), MS Office XP Standard Suite (Version 2002), and QuickBooks (Version 99).

I am familiar with these programs and have years and years of documents associated with them.

I want to find a basic LINUX OS I can use until I die (I am 66). I want to be able to click on the name of a program, have it load and be able to use it. Plain and simple. I don’t know if I will be able to create any commands that will open any of these programs using a LINUX OS or not.

I want to find a LINUX OS that will suit my needs. I don’t know which to use. Once I pick one I don’t want to ever have to change it. I am not sure how interchangeable they are. I want one that is dependable and secure. Sorry but my personal business is my business and not for anyone or any government to look at. I am not doing anything illegal I just like my privacy. That is one reason I have no Facebook, Twitter or any other “public forum” account. I don’t even have a smartphone. I have a cell with time and minutes that I keep in my vehicle for emergencies only.

I am guessing at this point what I want is impossible.

I know it is going to be a long and slow process but I am willing to put the work into this project and I am willing to do my best to learn.

Respectfully,
David S.

 

[KGIII]

Moved to 'getting started' sub-forum.

 

[Linuxembourg]

I've been using Lubuntu for about 2 months. There are a few things to learn but it really hasn't been that difficult. In fact, everything worked on live boot so technically I could've learnt nothing.

You may wish to detail your processing power and RAM, as I suspect it is limited and it should be taken into account when choosing a distro. Given you use XP (really?!!) you will enjoy the default look of many distros!

You will be able to open PDFs, word documents and other equivalents. In any case, you will be able to check by booting up a live distro from a USB.

Once I pick one I don’t want to ever have to change it.

The problem here is that you really need to use a Linux distro to get some idea of what things are, and perhaps like me, you will realise you could've made a better choice after a couple of months.

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @DPS and welcome to linux.org

You may wish to detail your processing power and RAM..

Further to that, can you tell us if your rig resembles this one, and if not, how it differs?

https://www.cnet.com/products/emach...actor-pentium-e5800-3-2-ghz-3-gb-1-tb-lcd-20/

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[Condobloke]

Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard & Acrobat Distiller (Archival of Records into PDF Format & Create/Distribute PDF Documents/Forms), Corel WordPerfect 8 (Service Pack 7), MS Office XP Standard Suite (Version 2002), and QuickBooks (Version 99).

The OP uses these apps/programs.
What are the chances of any modern Linux OS opening any of these?
0

Once I pick one I don’t want to ever have to change it.

am guessing at this point what I want is impossible.

I am inclined to agree.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I hate Windows.

You are certainly among friends here, but moving on is going to be an enormous task.
It may well become a matter of finding alternatives to those programs you have......which in turn will mean learning how to use those new programs. The majority of the alternative programs are free....so there is that to look forward to at least.

The biggest change? .... Your mindset. (no offence intended)

 

[stan]

I can’t begin to tell you how much I hate Windows.

I can't begin to tell you how much we understand that.

I am guessing at this point what I want is impossible.

Some of it may be. You'll probably be okay with PDF and MS Office documents (Word and Excel). You may not be as lucky with Word Perfect or QuickBooks. But remember that these are Windows programs... they likely will not run in any Linux. Please take a few minutes to read: Linux is not Windows. It will take time, research, and work to investigate them and see what you can or cannot do. I'm glad you're willing to put in some of that effort.

I want to find a basic LINUX OS I can use until I die (I am 66).

You're using a 20-year old operating system (XP released in 2001), and you want to jump in and use a different one for another 20 years? Please re-think this. Most of the Linux distributions that we might recommend to you were not around 20 years ago, nor are they likely to be around 20 years from now. The more modern Linux distros are typically easier and more user friendly.

 

[stan]

@Condobloke... excuse me! Sorry I bumped into you!

 

[stan]

I have an E-Machine, Model EL 1852 Desktop that I purchased on 11/12/2011. I currently run Windows XP service pack 3.

Is @wizardfromoz correct with the computer specs that he found? In 2011 you should have got Windows 7 (Windows 8 wasn't released until 2012). Windows 7 was a nice system, one of their best (as was XP too), in my opinion. Did Windows 7 break things for you?

Your Linux choices will be influenced by your hardware capabilities, especially RAM. If the Wizard is right, you may have 3 GB of RAM, and 4 GB is the maximum. That is adequate for now, but this is a good time to consider whether you have the means ($$$) and the desire to upgrade to something newer to run Linux... leaving the eMachine to keep XP and your outdated software intact.

 

[Alexzee]

Picking a Linux distribution and never having to change it wouldn't go very well because support for the os would reach it's end of life.

The longest I've ever seen a Linux distribution supported is 5 years.

Are you open to suggestions?

 

[Jared.]

I hope someone can help me.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I hate Windows.

I have used DOS 3.0 when you could see what directory any program you loaded went to. I am familiar with using the “C” prompt.

I have an E-Machine, Model EL 1852 Desktop that I purchased on 11/12/2011. I currently run Windows XP service pack 3.

Below is a short list of some of the software I purchased (some of which were expensive at the time) that I currently use:

Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard & Acrobat Distiller (Archival of Records into PDF Format & Create/Distribute PDF Documents/Forms), Corel WordPerfect 8 (Service Pack 7), MS Office XP Standard Suite (Version 2002), and QuickBooks (Version 99).

I am familiar with these programs and have years and years of documents associated with them.

I want to find a basic LINUX OS I can use until I die (I am 66). I want to be able to click on the name of a program, have it load and be able to use it. Plain and simple. I don’t know if I will be able to create any commands that will open any of these programs using a LINUX OS or not.

I want to find a LINUX OS that will suit my needs. I don’t know which to use. Once I pick one I don’t want to ever have to change it. I am not sure how interchangeable they are. I want one that is dependable and secure. Sorry but my personal business is my business and not for anyone or any government to look at. I am not doing anything illegal I just like my privacy. That is one reason I have no Facebook, Twitter or any other “public forum” account. I don’t even have a smartphone. I have a cell with time and minutes that I keep in my vehicle for emergencies only.

I am guessing at this point what I want is impossible.

I know it is going to be a long and slow process but I am willing to put the work into this project and I am willing to do my best to learn.

Respectfully,
David S.

You can try using MX Linux, it comes preinstalled with tons of programs, so its bound to have everything you need. However, most, if not all programs you have listed are not available on Linux, but there might be an alternative which suffices your needs.

 

[darry1966]

Mmmmmmmmmmm If want something simple then Puppy Linux maybe an option. No pressure to update constantly and with some work can be a good OS to use for everyday use.

Puppy Linux Home

puppylinux.com

 

[captain-sensible]

Picking a Linux distribution and never having to change it wouldn't go very well because support for the os would reach it's end of life.

The longest I've ever seen a Linux distribution supported is 5 years.

Are you open to suggestions?

then a rolling release might suit; there is never a new release to upgrade to, since its constantly updated

 

[wizardfromoz]

I'll hold off until the OP comes back with confirmation of those PC specs, other than to say:

1. Andy is right on the money with a rolling release, and the likely candidate is Manjaro
2. There are sources to get hold of WordPerfect 8 for Linux, but the installation process may be bigger than Ben Hur to undertake. It looks complicated.

Wizard out for my evening.

 

[Linuxembourg]

The OP uses these apps/programs.
What are the chances of any modern Linux OS opening any of these?
0

0?

PDFs - they can be opened on a million things
Wordperfect docs - LibreOffice opens wpd format, wpg (graphics) etc.
Old Office Format - LibreOffice opens it, opens word 97 too.

I don't use quickbooks, but other than that the OP surely has a better chance than 0?

 

[Brickwizard]

My two penny worth.. with that spec of machine , for a newcomer I would consider Mint LMDE4 with the XFCE desktop [ XFCE is similar in layout to Xp and needs far less receorces than Cinamon or mate] If funds will allow I would certainly look at upgrading the ram to 2x2 gb ddr3,
your Quickbooks might! run using WINE.

Bwiz

 

[DPS]

I want to thank everyone for the comments and suggestions.

I also read the “Linux is Not Windows” article. I get it that I will need to change my mind set. I always say that an old dog can learn new tricks but it just takes more treats.

I am reading the tutorials. As I said in my first post that I was familiar with DOS 3.0 and using the “C” prompt so the idea of writing the lines of code and/or commands are not foreign.

As I get through more of the tutorials I will start looking at the different distros and eventually test run some of them.

People also wanted to know more about my computer.

I have an E-Machine, Model EL 1852 Desktop
XP Home Edition, Version 2002, Service Pack 3, 32 Bit.
Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU, [email protected] GHZ, 3.50 GB of RAM

 

[Brickwizard]

, 3.50 GB of RAM

forget my comment to upgrade the ram its already at maximum for that machine [2x2gb]

 

[stan]

I am reading the tutorials. As I said in my first post that I was familiar with DOS 3.0 and using the “C” prompt so the idea of writing the lines of code and/or commands are not foreign.

You typically will never need to write any code and rarely need to use the command prompt. People here will guide you with commands sometimes, and you can simply copy/paste them into your Linux terminal... when you have one. Most of your Linux experience will be using a graphical desktop and will hopefully look comfortably familiar to you. Linux is not hard to use... it's just hard to get started.

You may have trouble adjusting to new terminology, but that will just take time. Here are some examples: "administrator" in Windows is called "root" in Linux, or the "root user" (also "super user"). Root can also mean something else, the root of the filesystem, described with a single " / " character. That's a forward slash, not the backslash you usually see in Windows. The "taskbar" in Windows is called a "panel" in Linux... it is often at the bottom, like Windows, but is commonly also seen at the top or left side of the screen... but you can usually change it to the bottom if it's more comfortable. And one of the hardest to adjust to is that Linux does not identify drives and partitions like Windows, so you won't see C: or D: type references... you will see "sda" (usually shown as /dev/sda) as your first (or only) hard drive, and "sdb" as your 2nd physical hard drive, or maybe your DVD drive. Take your time and just soak in new terms as they come to you. Use Google to look up anything you don't understand.

The best way to learn Linux is to just do it... download your first Linux ISO and "burn" it to a USB flash drive (or DVD, if you have a DVD burner). You can boot your computer on the USB and run Linux in "live mode" without making any changes to your computer. If you don't like the first one you try, download and try another one. You'll need to install special software to "burn" the USB properly, or else it won't boot (you can't just copy the file to the USB). One of the favorite programs here for doing this is Balena Etcher, but it will not run on XP, so we will have to look and find something else for you. Tell us when you're ready for this step, and we will help you along. You'll need a blank USB that is at least 4 or 8 GB. Bigger USB drives won't help, they only cost more.

XP Home Edition, Version 2002, Service Pack 3, 32 Bit.

Don't let Windows confuse you. Your CPU is 64-bit, as you can see here. You will want to download and test 64-bit Linux distributions, not 32-bit.

 

[Linuxembourg]

One of the favorite programs here for doing this is Balena Etcher, but it will not run on XP, so we will have to look and find something else for you. Tell us when you're ready for this step, and we will help you along. You'll need a blank USB that is at least 4 or 8 GB. Bigger USB drives won't help, they only cost more.

I have to say I don't particularly like Etcher, it doesn't work for some ISOs (without a boot record or something) nor for non-Linux distro (or at least the tiny version of Win7 I tried). Doesn't create multiboot USBs either.

@DPS I have used Rufus previously on Windows. Version 2.18 is the last one to work with XP https://rufus.ie/downloads/

Everything stan says is true. Your use of the terminal will (or at least can) be for one-time stuff like adding a repositary or installing software, and so on. If the software you need is in your package manager (like an app store) then you are all good.

 

[Deleted member 101831]

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