Which Operating System do you use an why

[Marion Morrison]

Personally I use Windows 10 for gaming, Linux Mint for my primary (daily) and Apple iOS on my cell phone.
All three have their strengths and weaknesses.

Windows has the lion's share of users and the vast majority of games are written for Windows but due to Windows massive market share they are the primary target for hackers and malware. A negative and positive is now Microsoft has tightened control of some aspect of their OS, positive in that it keeps the OS up to day with security patches , negative in that often the mandatory Microsoft updates "break" something........

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.
Adding 'Wine' will help run many Windows applications if one chooses to do so and even though it's getting better every year it's still somewhat limited.
Linux is also generally more safe primarily due to it's low market share concerning PCs and (for now) the availability of computer games able to run on Linux is still pretty small.
All super computers in the world now run off of Linux.

iOS is the operating system for Apple phones, intuitive and fairly secure. The one real drawback for some is Apple's super tight control over their OS and that's true with OS X which runs their computers. Cost is also a factor specifically in the computer market, they're just expensive.

I also use all three

but I am having trouble with Linux Mint because it will not run Arduino IDE properly

which is frustrating because it is so highly acclaimed yet I cant do practical work on it

Try CentOS. It's a different system..you either rpm or yum and all software goes kinda like Windows updates.
(After you add all the necessary repositories)
No tarballs. It gives one more control over the system, though.
CentOS is like ..Super-Enterprise RHEL
Made to last for years.

I will look into that

is it a Linux distro?

I suspect you've already tried this but just in case you didn't.

Arduino - Linux

I have

no doubt there is a fix to this problem and I will keep searching

So far I can say the Mint is a crisper more efficient OS than Windows 10

It runs on an older computer that is not powerful enough for windows 10

Them tarball OSes..eh,meh..you have more control and can do more things with others.

The CentOS Project

www.centos.org

You'll need to research how to add the repos you need n stuff

"Centos add repo" in favorite search engine.

I think there's a GUI for repo software as well, makes it much easier.

For the time being I will give up on Linux and use my imac to program Arduino’s

but thanks anyway

hopefully I can return to the Linux with another OS like Centos in the future

Ok, here's something to help if you try:

Setup Arduino on CentOS 7

Setup Arduino on CentOS 7 Here I will Show you how you can start your Arduino on Linux CentOS 7. First you need following: 1. Arduino device 2. USB Cable for Arduino 3. Arduino IDE – Free dow…

rajivpandit.wordpress.com

 

[mudwhistle]

Personally I use Windows 10 for gaming, Linux Mint for my primary (daily) and Apple iOS on my cell phone.
All three have their strengths and weaknesses.

Windows has the lion's share of users and the vast majority of games are written for Windows but due to Windows massive market share they are the primary target for hackers and malware. A negative and positive is now Microsoft has tightened control of some aspect of their OS, positive in that it keeps the OS up to day with security patches , negative in that often the mandatory Microsoft updates "break" something........

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.
Adding 'Wine' will help run many Windows applications if one chooses to do so and even though it's getting better every year it's still somewhat limited.
Linux is also generally more safe primarily due to it's low market share concerning PCs and (for now) the availability of computer games able to run on Linux is still pretty small.
All super computers in the world now run off of Linux.

iOS is the operating system for Apple phones, intuitive and fairly secure. The one real drawback for some is Apple's super tight control over their OS and that's true with OS X which runs their computers. Cost is also a factor specifically in the computer market, they're just expensive.

I use Windows 10 for everything on this computer. I've had very few problems with it. I have no desire to change.

I'm thinking on switching to Apple.....

 

[Likkmee]

Personally I use Windows 10 for gaming, Linux Mint for my primary (daily) and Apple iOS on my cell phone.
All three have their strengths and weaknesses.

Windows has the lion's share of users and the vast majority of games are written for Windows but due to Windows massive market share they are the primary target for hackers and malware. A negative and positive is now Microsoft has tightened control of some aspect of their OS, positive in that it keeps the OS up to day with security patches , negative in that often the mandatory Microsoft updates "break" something........

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.
Adding 'Wine' will help run many Windows applications if one chooses to do so and even though it's getting better every year it's still somewhat limited.
Linux is also generally more safe primarily due to it's low market share concerning PCs and (for now) the availability of computer games able to run on Linux is still pretty small.
All super computers in the world now run off of Linux.

iOS is the operating system for Apple phones, intuitive and fairly secure. The one real drawback for some is Apple's super tight control over their OS and that's true with OS X which runs their computers. Cost is also a factor specifically in the computer market, they're just expensive.

I also use all three

but I am having trouble with Linux Mint because it will not run Arduino IDE properly

which is frustrating because it is so highly acclaimed yet I cant do practical work on it

Try CentOS. It's a different system..you either rpm or yum and all software goes kinda like Windows updates.
(After you add all the necessary repositories)
No tarballs. It gives one more control over the system, though.
CentOS is like ..Super-Enterprise RHEL
Made to last for years.

I will look into that

is it a Linux distro?

Yes it is, it's an offshoot of Red Hat Enterprise but from what I read it's more of a server OS, matter of fact it's labeled as "ideal for servers". It's also labeled as "not so great for daily desktop usage". I've never used it so I can't attest to either of those statements, just give it a shot and if it works for you then great.

I was happy with Mint till I was unable to use the first application that I tried

which is Arduino IDE

on widows and mac it just downloads and works

But not so on Linux

Load Mint Debian 4 or MX19 and use the 1.8 package from Arduino, NOT from synaptic. If it stutters, go to Liquorix and run their kernel

 

[Ringel05]

Personally I use Windows 10 for gaming, Linux Mint for my primary (daily) and Apple iOS on my cell phone.
All three have their strengths and weaknesses.

Windows has the lion's share of users and the vast majority of games are written for Windows but due to Windows massive market share they are the primary target for hackers and malware. A negative and positive is now Microsoft has tightened control of some aspect of their OS, positive in that it keeps the OS up to day with security patches , negative in that often the mandatory Microsoft updates "break" something........

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.
Adding 'Wine' will help run many Windows applications if one chooses to do so and even though it's getting better every year it's still somewhat limited.
Linux is also generally more safe primarily due to it's low market share concerning PCs and (for now) the availability of computer games able to run on Linux is still pretty small.
All super computers in the world now run off of Linux.

iOS is the operating system for Apple phones, intuitive and fairly secure. The one real drawback for some is Apple's super tight control over their OS and that's true with OS X which runs their computers. Cost is also a factor specifically in the computer market, they're just expensive.

I use Windows 10 for everything on this computer. I've had very few problems with it. I have no desire to change.

I'm thinking on switching to Apple.....

If you're a gamer then stick with Windows, if not then pay the money and go with Apple if that's what you want. You'll find Mac has a bit of a learning curve if you're a Windows user and it can take a while to get used to it. That said Macs, like their iPhone cousins are pretty intuitive for the way they're set up.
There is another option if you know how to burn an ISO image on a DVD or flash drive (it's actually fairly easy). Download the latest long term support version of Linux Mint, Ubuntu or Manjaro, burn it to the DVD or Flash (thumb drive) put the DVD or Flash in your computer, boot it up, watching the screen that tells you how to get into the boot menu, change the boot menu to the device you just plugged in (easy) and it will boot to that device. Once it's loaded you can look around to your heart's desire without having to install the operating system unless you want to.
The reason I mention this is you can use your existing machine (unless it's really, really old then there's other Linux distributions that work for that) and primarily because Linux is free.

 

[mudwhistle]

Personally I use Windows 10 for gaming, Linux Mint for my primary (daily) and Apple iOS on my cell phone.
All three have their strengths and weaknesses.

Windows has the lion's share of users and the vast majority of games are written for Windows but due to Windows massive market share they are the primary target for hackers and malware. A negative and positive is now Microsoft has tightened control of some aspect of their OS, positive in that it keeps the OS up to day with security patches , negative in that often the mandatory Microsoft updates "break" something........

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.
Adding 'Wine' will help run many Windows applications if one chooses to do so and even though it's getting better every year it's still somewhat limited.
Linux is also generally more safe primarily due to it's low market share concerning PCs and (for now) the availability of computer games able to run on Linux is still pretty small.
All super computers in the world now run off of Linux.

iOS is the operating system for Apple phones, intuitive and fairly secure. The one real drawback for some is Apple's super tight control over their OS and that's true with OS X which runs their computers. Cost is also a factor specifically in the computer market, they're just expensive.

I use Windows 10 for everything on this computer. I've had very few problems with it. I have no desire to change.

I'm thinking on switching to Apple.....

If you're a gamer then stick with Windows, if not then pay the money and go with Apple if that's what you want. You'll find Mac has a bit of a learning curve if you're a Windows user and it can take a while to get used to it. That said Macs, like their iPhone cousins are pretty intuitive for the way they're set up.
There is another option if you know how to burn an ISO image on a DVD or flash drive (it's actually fairly easy). Download the latest long term support version of Linux Mint, Ubuntu or Manjaro, burn it to the DVD or Flash (thumb drive) put the DVD or Flash in your computer, boot it up, watching the screen that tells you how to get into the boot menu, change the boot menu to the device you just plugged in (easy) and it will boot to that device. Once it's loaded you can look around to your heart's desire without having to install the operating system unless you want to.
The reason I mention this is you can use your existing machine (unless it's really, really old then there's other Linux distributions that work for that) and primarily because Linux is free.

When it comes to games I stick to XBOX 360 and XBOX ONE. I'd have to relearn the controls if I tried using my PC.

 

[Ringel05]

Personally I use Windows 10 for gaming, Linux Mint for my primary (daily) and Apple iOS on my cell phone.
All three have their strengths and weaknesses.

Windows has the lion's share of users and the vast majority of games are written for Windows but due to Windows massive market share they are the primary target for hackers and malware. A negative and positive is now Microsoft has tightened control of some aspect of their OS, positive in that it keeps the OS up to day with security patches , negative in that often the mandatory Microsoft updates "break" something........

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.
Adding 'Wine' will help run many Windows applications if one chooses to do so and even though it's getting better every year it's still somewhat limited.
Linux is also generally more safe primarily due to it's low market share concerning PCs and (for now) the availability of computer games able to run on Linux is still pretty small.
All super computers in the world now run off of Linux.

iOS is the operating system for Apple phones, intuitive and fairly secure. The one real drawback for some is Apple's super tight control over their OS and that's true with OS X which runs their computers. Cost is also a factor specifically in the computer market, they're just expensive.

I use Windows 10 for everything on this computer. I've had very few problems with it. I have no desire to change.

I'm thinking on switching to Apple.....

If you're a gamer then stick with Windows, if not then pay the money and go with Apple if that's what you want. You'll find Mac has a bit of a learning curve if you're a Windows user and it can take a while to get used to it. That said Macs, like their iPhone cousins are pretty intuitive for the way they're set up.
There is another option if you know how to burn an ISO image on a DVD or flash drive (it's actually fairly easy). Download the latest long term support version of Linux Mint, Ubuntu or Manjaro, burn it to the DVD or Flash (thumb drive) put the DVD or Flash in your computer, boot it up, watching the screen that tells you how to get into the boot menu, change the boot menu to the device you just plugged in (easy) and it will boot to that device. Once it's loaded you can look around to your heart's desire without having to install the operating system unless you want to.
The reason I mention this is you can use your existing machine (unless it's really, really old then there's other Linux distributions that work for that) and primarily because Linux is free.

When it comes to games I stick to XBOX 360 and XBOX ONE. I'd have to relearn the controls if I tried using my PC.

That's great, I'd have to relearn if I went to XBOX, I'm a PC gamer.
Despite what some people claim there's nothing wrong with Apple or Linux if you choose one or the other as long as you're aware of their differences and limitations. All operating systems are different and they all have their limitations. As I stated in the OP Apple keeps a tight control over their systems so you're stuck with Apple apps or limited non Apple apps that Apple allows. Linux is not for gamers (yet but they're getting there) and the most popular distributions are extremely user friendly so you don't have to be a techie to use Linux unless you want to be. The vast majority of apps (packages in Linux) are built into software managers that are built into the operating system, all you have to do is select what you want, click install, type in your password and it automatically installs the package. The most popular distributions will install the most used packages automatically during the initial install. The on potential drawback is having to install some proprietary drivers and learning where to find them.
Again with both Apple and Linux there's a bit of a learning curve if you're migrating from Windows.

 

[Mac-7]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

 

[miketx]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

 

[Mac-7]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

 

[Ringel05]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

You'd probably have to do more than reformat your drive to run XP, if the computer is less than 8 years old XP might not run half of your computer hardware. Then getting some software to run on XP, good luck with that also. As for Mint, "less software availability?" Since when? What software are you needing or are you simply referring to lack of Linux compatible games?
At least I would only go back to Win 7 if I were you OR reinstall Win 10 and I show you how to easily make it look and feel like Windows 7, even give you an XP style Start Menu.

 

[White 6]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Try these links
How to Format a Linux Hard Disk to Windows

How to Format a Linux Hard Disk to Windows: 12 Steps

Easy-to-follow steps so you can use a Linux hard drive for WindowsWindows operating system and Linux execute best on their specific file systems. It is a known fact that Linux executes better on hard disks that are formatted using the ext3...

www.wikihow.com

How to Remove Linux and Install Windows on Your Computer

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/247804/how-to-remove-linux-and-install-windows-on-your-computer

 

[Ringel05]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Have you tried Gparted? It's in the Repository, it may already be installed on your system.

 

[Mac-7]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Try these links
How to Format a Linux Hard Disk to Windows

How to Format a Linux Hard Disk to Windows: 12 Steps

Easy-to-follow steps so you can use a Linux hard drive for WindowsWindows operating system and Linux execute best on their specific file systems. It is a known fact that Linux executes better on hard disks that are formatted using the ext3...

www.wikihow.com

How to Remove Linux and Install Windows on Your Computer

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/247804/how-to-remove-linux-and-install-windows-on-your-computer

Thanks for the info

I have bookmarked both of your links

I have win XP and win 10 on other computers so there is no hurry to try them, but I’m sure I will in the future

 

[Mac-7]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Have you tried Gparted? It's in the Repository, it may already be installed on your system.

Its been a couple of months and I may have tried it but have sinse forgotten

In any case I stuck the Linux computer in a corner and used the desk space for a Commodore 64

but sooner or later I will try again

I use thumb drives to save OS images and thought I could easily change Linux if I wanted

but it was not so easy this time

 

[Ringel05]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Have you tried Gparted? It's in the Repository, it may already be installed on your system.

Its been a couple of months and I may have tried it but have sinse forgotten

In any case I stuck the Linux computer in a corner and used the desk space for a Commodore 64

but sooner or later I will try again

I use thumb drives to save OS images and thought I could easily change Linux if I wanted

but it was not so easy this time

You need Windows Media Tool on a thumb drive but that will only give you Win 10 (based on my experience). You have to download and install the Media Tool via a Windows computer, use Rufus or whomever you choose to put it on the thumb drive. Toss that thumb drive in your Linux machine, go to bios so it boots off of the stick. Pretty sure you know how to do that but just in case I added it........

 

[Mac-7]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Have you tried Gparted? It's in the Repository, it may already be installed on your system.

Its been a couple of months and I may have tried it but have sinse forgotten

In any case I stuck the Linux computer in a corner and used the desk space for a Commodore 64

but sooner or later I will try again

I use thumb drives to save OS images and thought I could easily change Linux if I wanted

but it was not so easy this time

You need Windows Media Tool on a thumb drive but that will only give you Win 10 (based on my experience). You have to download and install the Media Tool via a Windows computer, use Rufus or whomever you choose to put it on the thumb drive. Toss that thumb drive in your Linux machine, go to bios so it boots off of the stick. Pretty sure you know how to do that but just in case I added it........

I dont have a problem changing from one windows os to another

and back again

there are a couple of applications that I need win 10 for but otherwise I dont use it at all

I like win xp and mac os for other jobs

M y hope was that linux could replace all of them but it didnt turn out that way

 

[Ringel05]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Have you tried Gparted? It's in the Repository, it may already be installed on your system.

Its been a couple of months and I may have tried it but have sinse forgotten

In any case I stuck the Linux computer in a corner and used the desk space for a Commodore 64

but sooner or later I will try again

I use thumb drives to save OS images and thought I could easily change Linux if I wanted

but it was not so easy this time

You need Windows Media Tool on a thumb drive but that will only give you Win 10 (based on my experience). You have to download and install the Media Tool via a Windows computer, use Rufus or whomever you choose to put it on the thumb drive. Toss that thumb drive in your Linux machine, go to bios so it boots off of the stick. Pretty sure you know how to do that but just in case I added it........

I dont have a problem changing from one windows os to another

and back again

there are a couple of applications that I need win 10 for but otherwise I dont use it at all

I like win xp and mac os for other jobs

M y hope was that linux could replace all of them but it didnt turn out that way

Depending on what you use (software) Linux is a great replacement. It's not really a gaming OS and it's limited when it comes to other very specific OS applications. Booting from the Media Creation Tool will format your hard drive even though it's ext4. The problem you might run into is Windows authentication, most likely want you to purchase Win 10 after it installs. If you have an XP ISO you can boot from that and it also should format your drive before installing as long as you boot from the specific media it's on. I've done it myself though not XP, to me XP looks and feels old and clunky and it won't run a lot of modern software, games or hardware.

 

[Ringel05]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Have you tried Gparted? It's in the Repository, it may already be installed on your system.

Its been a couple of months and I may have tried it but have sinse forgotten

In any case I stuck the Linux computer in a corner and used the desk space for a Commodore 64

but sooner or later I will try again

I use thumb drives to save OS images and thought I could easily change Linux if I wanted

but it was not so easy this time

You need Windows Media Tool on a thumb drive but that will only give you Win 10 (based on my experience). You have to download and install the Media Tool via a Windows computer, use Rufus or whomever you choose to put it on the thumb drive. Toss that thumb drive in your Linux machine, go to bios so it boots off of the stick. Pretty sure you know how to do that but just in case I added it........

I dont have a problem changing from one windows os to another

and back again

there are a couple of applications that I need win 10 for but otherwise I dont use it at all

I like win xp and mac os for other jobs

M y hope was that linux could replace all of them but it didnt turn out that way

Just out of curiosity what version Linux Mint do you have and what specific software were you needing that doesn't work on Linux? Also how old is the computer the Linux is on?

 

[Mac-7]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Have you tried Gparted? It's in the Repository, it may already be installed on your system.

Its been a couple of months and I may have tried it but have sinse forgotten

In any case I stuck the Linux computer in a corner and used the desk space for a Commodore 64

but sooner or later I will try again

I use thumb drives to save OS images and thought I could easily change Linux if I wanted

but it was not so easy this time

You need Windows Media Tool on a thumb drive but that will only give you Win 10 (based on my experience). You have to download and install the Media Tool via a Windows computer, use Rufus or whomever you choose to put it on the thumb drive. Toss that thumb drive in your Linux machine, go to bios so it boots off of the stick. Pretty sure you know how to do that but just in case I added it........

I dont have a problem changing from one windows os to another

and back again

there are a couple of applications that I need win 10 for but otherwise I dont use it at all

I like win xp and mac os for other jobs

M y hope was that linux could replace all of them but it didnt turn out that way

Just out of curiosity what version Linux Mint do you have and what specific software were you needing that doesn't work on Linux? Also how old is the computer the Linux is on?

19.2 I think

the linux machine is a celeron with 3 mb ram

as you can imagine win 10 was slow but I have a newer quad core machine with 16mb for win 10

and an older imac that I use because my hand held devices are apple too

the mac is old and no longer gets updates

but I hate planned obsolescence and a long as it serves my needs I’m going to kveep using it

linux and windows xp run just fine on 3mb

 

[Ringel05]

Linux Mint It probably the most Windows like in appearance (in my humble opinion) and is a solid OS that typically requires very little to no tweaking to get things to work and has a massive support community to help out. That's also a bit of a drawback because of the number of people offering different solutions to the same problem and can be confusing to a new Linux user. The other drawback is a steep learning curve with some aspects of Linux like installing programs (packages) that are not in the Software Manager. It's a different file system, there is no .exe to set up new applications.

My opinion is that I like the Linux interface and it loads faster

And since I dont like Win 10 Linux Mint looked like a good alternative

But if fell short for me due to less software availability

So decided to switch to Win Xp but discovered that the hard drive was now in the wrong format for windows and I am stuck with Linux on that drive

Reformat that drive.

I tried

but linux does not have a command to format the drive to windows standards

Have you tried Gparted? It's in the Repository, it may already be installed on your system.

Its been a couple of months and I may have tried it but have sinse forgotten

In any case I stuck the Linux computer in a corner and used the desk space for a Commodore 64

but sooner or later I will try again

I use thumb drives to save OS images and thought I could easily change Linux if I wanted

but it was not so easy this time

You need Windows Media Tool on a thumb drive but that will only give you Win 10 (based on my experience). You have to download and install the Media Tool via a Windows computer, use Rufus or whomever you choose to put it on the thumb drive. Toss that thumb drive in your Linux machine, go to bios so it boots off of the stick. Pretty sure you know how to do that but just in case I added it........

I dont have a problem changing from one windows os to another

and back again

there are a couple of applications that I need win 10 for but otherwise I dont use it at all

I like win xp and mac os for other jobs

M y hope was that linux could replace all of them but it didnt turn out that way

Just out of curiosity what version Linux Mint do you have and what specific software were you needing that doesn't work on Linux? Also how old is the computer the Linux is on?

19.2 I think

the linux machine is a celeron with 3 mb ram

as you can imagine win 10 was slow but I have a newer quad core machine with 16mb for win 10

and an older imac that I use because my hand held devices are apple too

the mac is old and no longer gets updates

but I hate planned obsolescence and a long as it serves my needs I’m going to kveep using it

linux and windows xp run just fine on 3mb

Okay.
Oh and Planned Obsolescence in the computer world is a myth. Consumer demand, technical improvements and computer security drive the market. You have to realize personal computers are relatively very new products and we've been making huge technical leaps just in the last 10 years alone, cell phones and tablets are newer still. When I was a kid computers resided in warehouses and had less computing power than a digital watch, now expand exponentially on that concept through to today, that alone disproves the idea of planned obsolescence.