At present I run a desktop under Windows 7. I bought one of the first 64 bit
pcs running Windows 7 - so new that there was no proper driver for my HP
printer/scanner and so for a while I had no OCR software. It was great at
first but a number of registry errors built up and in spite of buying a
registry cleaner it is running slow, and I am told what I 'should' be doing
is to spend real money employing a microsoft certified person to maintain
windows twice a year! So I want to move to Linux, but how? I cannot afford
to be non operational for long.
I have decided I really need a laptop and so intend to get that running
under Linux first. It seems that buying one with Linux pre installed is not
the most economical option. I can buy a TOSHIBA Satellite C850D-11Q 15.6"
Laptop from pc world for £290. It has 320 GB hard disc so I could afford to
have Windows and Linux installed at the same time. I don't fancy a cloud
computer. I would continue to back up user files on memory sticks. Having
Windows there would help if I had to back to pc World with a suspected
hardware problem. My intention would be to install Linux straight away. I
have a few questions please and would be grateful if someone could answer
any he/she is able:
1. Is this the right way to go and if so what distribution would you
recommend? Should I buy DVDs or download?
2. Is it simple to find say printer drivers that run under Linux? I seem to
remember that when I phoned HP they had no drivers for Linux. Their software
for the HP printer/scanner/copier has things like OCR software included, but
if this was not included in the driver I could find, could I scan something
as image and use different software to convert to character? Not that I do
this very frequently.
3. Do I need antivirus software? (MACs now do) Any other security software
essential?
4. Does Linux have a full screen console? (see below)
5. Does Linux have the equivalent of DOS batch files?
FYI I run the following software at present:
Open Office
Foxit pdf reader
Firefox
duckduck search engine
Windows live mail - but would use Tbird.
Free Pascal: I am not up to writing Graphics interfaces so keyboard input
and display output is via the 'console' which in Windows is no longer full
screen - very annoying. I initiate both compiling and running of programs
using DOS batch files.
Avast antivirus.
I have in the past created a website by typing naked html into a text
editor. Have also written a bit of javascript and php. However in the future
I will stick to using wordpress.com.
I am a dinosaur brought up on punched cards and struggle to keep up.
regards
David Smith aged 72
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