this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Welcome :)
Depending your 'MS Office ' expectations, you should have no issue using LibreOffice. 100% compatibility doesn't exist, though, but for most users it should work more than fine. For the most part, it is only a few advanced features and tools that are lacking, and some layout stuff. I write books under Linux as easily as I wrote them under, well, not a Windows PC in my case: it's a Mac.
I am not a gamer. So, for that I can't help much, but you have the ability to dual boot your PC and chose between Windows and Linux when it starts. Maybe that would let you use Linux while keeping a small Windows partition for your son games?
Here is one guide among many others (I have not used it myself, it's just an example there are plenty more): https://opensource.com/article/18/5/dual-boot-linux
FYI, you can try Linux directly from a live CD (or a USB stick) without even have to install it on the computer. It's really cool.
You can use whatever distro you fancy, you can easily try a few different ones either by using the live CD/USB I mentioned, or by running them in a virtual machine — something I have never done myself as it's a bit too intimidating and techy to old-and-not-much-of-a-geek me :p
I use Debian (on my desktop) and Mint (on my laptop). Ubuntu is based on Debian, and Mint is based on... Ubuntu (from which it has removed stuff I'm not happy with in Ubuntu and added a few others I like). There is no good and bad distro, only those that you like and those that you... like less ;)
Edit: to a beginner, probably more than Ubuntu I would suggest Mint, at least if I can judge on my own personal experience: everything worked out of the box, including my stubborn Apple Airpods.
ONLYOFFICE is fully compatible with doc and docx files. It's what I installed on my mom's computer. She is having an easy time using it. Clients mostly work with doc and docx files, so having an Office Suite that is not fully compatible with those files (like LibreOffice) is a problem. To download ONLYOFFICE you have to search for ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors. Sorry about the Caps, but the official name of the program is in all Caps.