Linux operating system users

[jimsnarocks]

The hard drive crashed on my computer a few months ago. I went and bought a nice little HP laptop and went on about my business. A few days ago I took out the old computer and backed up all I could from the dying harddrive onto my external hard drive, took out the defective drive and replaced it with a new STAT 500 GB drive. I started looking for operating systems and have decided to try Fedora by Linux. Anyone here familiar with the system? Pros and cons please.Thanks. Jim

[Nighthawk]

my one and only experience with linux was years ago. it totallly sucked. windows 7 home premium 64 bit if you have the ram to suport it.

[chewydog]

I recently installed Ubuntu on a build. I find it great for surfing the web, streaming video, etc. As far as getting certain hardware and peripherals to work with it, not so much. For instance, it recognizes my printer but I cant print. My Tomtom won't download updates etc, etc. A lot of my issues are probably user error, and I'm sure there are work arounds, but who has time for that? I have Win 7 on another computer and seems to work smoothly. I was trying to avoid the high price of Window products. My 2 cents.

Edit: Just realized I can't run Netflix in Linux either...

[LadyFisher]

When we owned our own server back when we were in WA, we ran a Linux Red Hat system and it really worked very well.....probably obsolete by now. *S*

[billhouk]

If you are a professional or a computer hobbiest have fun with Linux. If you simply want to use your computer try Windows. Windows 8 is having some installation issues with machines older than 18 months so the Win 7 suggestion is a good one. I have been an application developer and IT executive for almost 30 years so take my advice with a grain of salt... I have been developing with Microsoft tools for the last 20.

[chewydog]

Jim, any particular reason you chose Fedora? After this thread started I did a little research and may give Linux Mist a try.

[jimsnarocks]

I want to thank those who gave me feedback. I did purchase the Linux Fedora for $5.00 with free shipping. I installed it yesterday afternoon and was amazed at how smooth it has gone so far. This thing has a very small footprint, doesn't have to be registered and I can give the disk to others to use. There are some things that are taking some getting used to like using firefox/google as a search engine instead of msn dot com. However I started out on PCs using DOS and this is a lot easier than that was. I've been using windows since 95 and there are expectations I have with Fedora that are taking a little time to adjust to. It's only been one day and I'm online and writing on FAOL. That's cool.
Chewydog, The reason I selected Fedora over other Linux operating systems was because it's basically a beginner version and said to be easier to navigate with more than some of the more sophisticated operating systems put out by Linux. If you have time, read the comparisons of IOS MS and Linux. Then look at all the different programs offered by linux and their prices compared to MS and IOS. It might surprise you. It did me. I'm beginning to like it. Also when I figure it out I can easily and cheaply upgrade to more sophisticated systems.
Nighthawk, I did purchase a windows 7 home premiun 64 bit that came with a memory stick. The memory stick is for a tower and will not plug in my laptop anywhere. The windows 7 will not install on my laptop because I don't have the RAM to support it. My bad on not reading the entire product description on ebay. Also no returns or refunds. I paid around $80. for it and might get that back on ebay if I'm lucky. Jim