It's never too late to learn new things...
I did spend about two hours a day during two years to try to learn Linux in a VirtualBox surrounding.
From several distributions and with several different Desktop Environments.
But none could please me and I could not get used to the user interface of Linux.
Please don't come with: did you try this distribution, did you try that DE? I really tried a lot and almost all possible DEs!
Just a simple example: in Dutch we use several accented characters,.
Not as often as Germans or French people do, but yet a lot of them.
I have the habit of typing them with ALT [numeric keyboard] , for instance ALT 248 for degree symbol or ALT 139 for ï for the word 'geïdentificeerd'. Some of those characters can be typed in Linux that has US keyboard with dead keys, but just a bit different from the way it is done in Windows.
In Windows, you can just type an ' followed by e for é, the same for Linux. But ' followed by any character that has no combination, like 'g can be typed straight as 'g in Windows. But in Linux, that results in strange characters: I have to type a space inbetween. After ca 30 years of habit that's not so simple to get into me... I know there are other methods, but those are very much different from Windows, so switching between Windows and Linux and back becomes a crime...
Other example: I tried to get my Epson flatscanner working. And yes, after a lot of searching I found some driver for Linux working with my scanner. But a scanner program, equal to the Epson app, that was provided with the scanner, i never found that. There are scanner programs but it appeared that they need coded installation. And after finding the right coding for the used distribution (why are they so different, every distribution seems to have its own coding), I noted that the found app was never reaching a fraction of what my Epson app in Windows can achieve.
Another example:
I have a HP color laser printer, that can print double sided, but only when I turn the stack of paper by hand, replacing it in the papertray. In Windows, that's a very simple handling. In Linux, I never found any driver or program that can do the same as inWndows: tell the program that I want to print doublesided, the even pages are printed first, I get a signal that I have to turn the pages, do that, stay at the printer, push a button on the printer and then the uneven pages are printed. I really was of good will and only for this purpose I have spent many, many days in trying to find a solution. Again held back by those awful codes to install drivers. As if I was back in the 80s when I was working with DOS batches, but now much more complicated. I never found a good solution, would have to manually give a print command for the even pages and then after turning the pages a new command for the uneven pages. The PC is not close to the printer, so you can get the frustration that was growing.
And the trial of updating my TomTom navigating system trough Linux failed completely. They only have apps to manage updates in Windows. Moderner (and more expensive) navigating systems often use a direct wifi link, but I did buy that system not so long ago.
Those are just a few of the problems I met when trying to adapt to Linux. So it's not just like that that i decided not switch over to Linux. It was a lot of experimenting I did, because I thought I could manage it, but appearantly I really am to old to learn a completely different system! And the fact that I would never really switch over because of my wife, which I explained in #93, came upon that. A few years ago I had a heart stroke which did end not too bad, but had set me to think about such things (and many more other things as well of course).
BTW. For none of the above mentioned examples I need a solution, because more than a year ago I have decided to remove all VirtualBox snapshots from my PC and they will never come back. I am done with Linux!
Better to spend your free time with friends or family...
That certainly is true! I have plenty to do.
I just don't feel any need to call Linux 'crap'. It is just another OS that has it's charms, but not for me.
But al in all: this is a Windows forum, so that ends my contibution to this Linux thread.
