Your Advice on Starting Linux (?)

[soundguruman]

Been a while, how you doin?
I want to replace MS W7 with Linux and this is new to me, then if you have any advice to share- I appreciate that very much.
I use W7 for office programs such as Word, Excel, Visio basic 2D drawing (mostly schematics).
I use Firefox browser, and like to watch video online like PBS...
I use music files on Win Media player, like MP3, CDs etc...
I do not use the computer for gaming.

I have a 64 bit quad core AMD processor, AMD HD video card, Gigabyte board.

What would you do as far as the version of Linux software, to maintain compatibility, so I do not lose usage of the files I already have?...and so I can maintain high resolution HD type video playback streaming?

Being anxious to free myself from Windows....but also to be able to backtrack into old files...
What would you do?

Please forgive my idiocy, I am a newbie to Linux, can you point me in the right direction?
I see how cool Linux is....but don't know how to get started. Thanks for any advice.

 

[USAFRet]

Download and burn to DVD a Linux LiveCD.
Boot from that.
Play with it.

No changes to your current system.

Try LinuxMint, or Ubuntu.

 

[hackerk]

if you are very new to Linux. the best way to start using the Linux with is ubuntu. find a stable releas of ubuntu and backup your c drive then format and install ubuntu. i am advising you to use ubuntu because it comes with user friendly gui in installation procedure also. then also it is quite tricky to install Linux so goto youtube and find the install guide for that then you can further install packages on it and you can easily use it like windows. All the best

 

[blazorthon]

It isn't tricky to install Ubuntu because as you said, the GUI is decent and it does most things for you and guids you through the rest. However, I have to agree with USAFRet in that it would be best to not install Ubuntu to the hard drive until you're played with it a bit. Another option would be to download VMWare and install it in a VM (VMWare also does most things for you and guides you through it).

If you wanted to work with something like Tinycore or distros that rely heavily on the command line, then you might need a little help.

 

[hackerk]

i am agree with both of the people. but if you choose to go with installation part then the tricky part is when it will asks you to select the file system and other is you have to choose partition the one is boot partition and the other is swap partition. so make sure you do it properly to have access to old files.

 

[soundguruman]

Thanks, I'm already getting some good advice here.
Deeply appreciate your time!
(goodbye windows...I won't miss you.)

 

[skittle]

Be sure to backup your important files incase you accidentally mess up installing...

 

[spankmon]

If this is your only computer it might be a better idea to keep Win7 intact and dual-boot with Linux. I would recommend using Mint 17.3 xfce because the desktop effects (compositing) can easily be toggled off without destroying the beauty of the desktop. When the effects are on, you will experience screen tearing while watching videos in the browser. Also suggest using Google Chrome as the browser for watching online video because it supports Netflix natively and Firefox does not.

 

[Alabalcho]

Thanks, I'm already getting some good advice here.
Deeply appreciate your time!
(goodbye windows...I won't miss you.)

While OpenOffice / LibreOffice is good with Word/Excel support, you will have hard time finding something to deal with Visio files. As @Spankmon suggested - do not severe permamently your ties with Windows.