migrating from Windows 7

[Karl Auer]

On Sun, 2021-11-07 at 18:09 -0500, Slade Watkins wrote:
> - Gaming: I usually play games on Steam (with the exception of
> Minecraft Java)

Some Steam stuff works, some doesn't.

>     - I have an NVIDIA GeForce GT 740 card, which is dated, but I
> believe it has drivers for Linux I can snag fairly quickly after
> install?

In general, the older the card the better the support, especially for
NVidia. Even so - I would test that before committing.

> - Productivity: I used to use Microsoft Office on a near daily basis

Current Libre Office is extremely compatible, unless you are a very
(VERY) advanced user of Word, in which case you will find some things
screw up, especially things like outlining and numbering. You may have
to obtain and install your favourite fonts too. Also, if you use Excel
macros, you will have to convert them. The Libre Office people
basically looked at the seeping horror that is Excel macros and decided
not to bother.

> - Communication: I use Discord to communicate with people regularly.
> I believe there is a (somewhat terrible) Linux client that is
> compatible with Ubuntu

I have not found the Linux client at all horrible, and I use it a lot.

> I'll need a way to spin up a Windows VM rather quickly. I
> have a VMware Workstation license for Linux, so I plan to use that. 

VirtualBox works well, as does KVM. VirtualBox is easier but slower. If
your Windows stuff required performance, forget virtuals on commodity
hardware.

> - Storage Drive: I boot off of a 256GB SSD and store all of my data
> (and some games and other software) on a separate 2TB spinning hard
> drive. I need this to mount on startup for my own sanity, so
> everything works without an issue, and I've no idea how to do that.

Plug it in. Done.

> - Desktop Environments: How much has the default GNOME interface
> changed since 14.04.6 LTS? Should I consider not using GNOME?

Oh Lordy, please don't get us started. Try the many, many possibilities
yourself and choose one you like. No amount of discussion here will
help you.

> interested in giving it a shot assuming I can find things that can
> work for my purposes.

As long as you don't expect  1:1 correspondence between Linux and
Windows, you'll be fine. If there are critical, non-negotiable items
that you must continue to have access to, I suggest testing the
alternatives before committing.

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer

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