Chicken and Egg

[Gregory Storer]

On Sat, 2007-12-29 at 10:41 +1100, The Wassermans wrote:
> Having only recently loaded Ubuntu 7.1 on a spare computer, I am
> striving (on and off) to come to grips with it.  I plan, ultimately,
> to switch completely to Ubuntu if I can learn to live with it.  I have
> decided that the best way to determine it's suitability is simply to
> use it as much as I can and attempt to configure things as I go along.
> But I have a chicken and egg problem - how to wean myself off of
> Windows (XP)?  I will also need to assess which, for me, are the most
> suitable OSS replacement for my favourite Windows based programs.  I
> figure this will take me a year.
>  
> First things first. Should I?:
> 1.  Set up a dual boot or,
> 2. Install a second HDD or
> 3. Simply network two computers?
> In each case I might need some assistance/advice.
>  
> I have been watching, with great interest, the flow of emails from
> this group.  So much advice and information.  So much to know!
> Trouble is I don't know what I don't know.  So I am tempted to save
> everything - just in case.  But that is ridiculous!  Does someone have
> a good management system for "just in case" information?  Maybe I
> should just ignore things that are not (yet) affecting me?
>  
> Compliments of the season to all
>  
> Dave W
>  
Dave,

I've made a gradual switch to Ubuntu, started 12 months ago.  To start
with I installed it on an old machine, got it up and running, somehow
converted all my emails from Outlook to Evolution (I think I used a 2
step process to convert to Thunderbird on windows and then to
Evolution).  I kept two machines going for awhile, and found I was using
XP less and less.  Finally, just before Christmas, I purchased a 320gig
HDD for the XP machine, set it up to dual boot and mostly just use
Ubuntu now. (I use XXClone to clone the XP partition onto the new HDD,
then used gparted to partition the HDD for XP and Linux.)

I still use the XP machine for watching movies, haven't yet found a way
to successfully watch then with Ubuntu - and have had trouble with the
video card trying to get it to play nicely with the TV.  I have trouble
with printing in Ubuntu as my HP Laserjet 3100 has no linux drivers.
However, the other printer HP inkjet 3550 seems to work better in Ubuntu
than XP.

Overall, I want to throw Windows out the window.  My kids still use XP,
some of the online games, especially those with shockwave, won't work on
a linux machine.

Archives are a good place for old emails:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-au/
I also have created 'storage' folders where I store emails I want to
keep.  Keeps the inbox clear.

Hope that helps some.

Greg.

>