Originally Posted By: Sierra048
Thanks for the vote of confidence and inspiration for trying this out. A lot of what you all spoke of after my post is still pretty "Greek" to me. As a novice, what would your suggestions for me be moving forward with this process. I'm not a power user/gamer. Just web surfing and word processing/spreadsheets. Of the many programs I've seen mentioned, and honestly not knowing about them, which would you suggest as the easiest, and the most logical first step. My hope is that once able, hopefully, to make the transition, and still have my present capabilities, I would be more confident to experiment. I'm no spring chicken and my children helped me get to the point I'm at now. Unfortunately, neither are close anymore, nor do they have the time, to guide me through this journey. Thanks again for all the help.
Like simple gifts suggested, burn a DVD (have to burn as an ISO image) or make a boot-able flash drive if your computer will accept it. Most of the newer ones will. When using Linux from a DVD or USB drive, NOTHING is permanent and does not affect your original operating system in any way- though you do have the option to install it from the same screen that you would select "Try Linux without installing".
A few of the common, heavy hitters are Ubuntu, Mint (both MATE and Cinnamon), Lubuntu and Xubuntu. Zorin is a neat one, Elementary is another. There are literally HUNDREDS to choose from!
I too was in the same boat as you- it's truly not that hard to do! In fact, it's so easy to switch- it literally only takes about 15 minutes or less to be working on the computer once you've started the install process. Most of the distributions contain pretty much every driver you'll need to be up and running- in fact I have only had to search for one so far for our shop computer (after several installs of various distros). It was out there, but wasn't installed yet on the distro we have on the shop computer (we had the old version of it, which didn't work with our brand new printer).
I'm still not tech savvy, but as was mentioned, there are a couple of quite knowledgeable people here who are always willing to help a fellow out- which I greatly appreciate. There's also a huge online community out there, and they're also very willing to help. Heck, it even goes so far that there's Linux User Groups (LUGs) who will actually do things for you in person. None in my area though...
So I encourage you to take the plunge! Which ever distribution you choose will more than likely have everything you need already installed to get moving. If there's something you want that didn't come with it- it's typically out there and free.
I hope this spurs you on, to burn a few ISOs or USB flash drives and take look!