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HaRuMaN:
Sounds like Ubuntu is right for you.

I'm currently using PCBSD but it's a bit more technical and not as easy as Ubuntu.

Player 3:

--- Quote from: Slippyblade on October 30, 2012, 10:51:46 am ---I guess one of my biggest stumbling blocks is the concept of "desktop".  With windows, there is one and that's pretty much it.  With Linux, there are several and I guess application use comes to mind.

I use OpenOffice on my windows computer.  Looking at Gnome and KDE as examples, is there a single version of OpenOffice that works on both, or are there separate versions depending on the desktop?  If so, that seems to be a HUGE reason linux hasn't really caught on with the avg home user...  I guess I'm just not totally clear on where the "OS" stops and the "desktop" starts.

--- End quote ---

Those are "workspaces." I hear Macintoshes have those too. If you don't need that many, you can change them somewhere in the options. LibreOffice is better recommended as it's a continuation of OpenOffice. And Linux hasn't caught on because it hasn't been what people are used to. Sort of a chain reaction gig.

And agreeing with HaRu, Ubuntu is probably best for you with its catering to new people. Just learn how its file system works (root is /, not C:\), Unity, sudo, and all that stuff, and you'll be fine. It is a little more command line intensive.

boomerbrian:

--- Quote from: Slippyblade on October 30, 2012, 10:51:46 am ---I guess one of my biggest stumbling blocks is the concept of "desktop".  With windows, there is one and that's pretty much it.  With Linux, there are several and I guess application use comes to mind.

I use OpenOffice on my windows computer.  Looking at Gnome and KDE as examples, is there a single version of OpenOffice that works on both, or are there separate versions depending on the desktop?  If so, that seems to be a HUGE reason linux hasn't really caught on with the avg home user...  I guess I'm just not totally clear on where the "OS" stops and the "desktop" starts.

--- End quote ---

Give Ubuntu a try. They have an app store where you can easily get software that works with it installed. Some of the others may have stores as well. They will have to chime in.

MonMotha:
If by "desktop", you mean "virtual desktops" aka "workspaces", then as was pointed out, you can turn the number of them up or down.  UNIX guys have traditionally liked them a lot as they allow you to organize huge numbers of open windows more easily (I've counted something like 50 open windows on my Linux desktop before, and I wasn't trying to open lots).

If you mean the "desktop environment", then your big choices are GNOME or KDE.  Ubuntu's Unity is essentially a GNOME derivative with an alternate shell (ala some of the "alternate shells" for Windows that change the look and feel a bit but keep all the underlying bits the same).  GNOME and KDE are fairly separate implementations of basic desktop services like message passing, file management and common dialogs, etc.  You can only run one at a time, in general, but you can run e.g. a KDE application on GNOME or vice-versa with a small loss of integration.

OpenOffice in general integrates with GNOME more closely than KDE, but it's a largely monolithic suite owing to its StarOffice/Java heritage and behaves well on either.  Firefox is the same way.

Most of the mainstream distros seem to default to GNOME these days.  KDE seems to have somewhat better integration with GNOME oriented applications than GNOME does for KDE applications.

In general, there's a lot of choice.  There's so much, in fact, that it's almost a detriment.  The "Live" distributions are very handy to figure out what you want.  Many distros, like Ubuntu, actually use the "Live" system to run the installer.  Ubuntu literally just boots the "Live" environment with an icon on the desktop to run the installer.

Most distros will offer to repartition your drive for you and leave your existing Windows partition around so you can dual boot.  Some make it easier than others.  You should always back up your data, of course, but I've never lost data doing this.

Slippyblade:
Thanks MonMotha, that answered the core of my desktop question.  :applaud:

Data, I'm not to concerned about as I keep almost everything on separate partitions.  Though the question becomes, will Linux recognize the Fat32 and NTFS partitions that my data are on...  Hm, LiveCD it is to test.

Thanks a ton for the feedback guys.  I think I'll be making the plunge this weekend.

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