News: News on what is happening with my website.
Miscellaneous: I have an assortment here, from unusual english words to game reviews. I also make some recommendations on application downloads.
Programming: Things I do related to programming.
The biggest thing right now is the Tag File System idea.
Linux: Since I enjoy running GNU/Linux I wanted
a place I could place my contributions, be it criticisms or not
ZZT: This leads to a different site located on my school server. I have left my old ZZT games here. It's a piece of my past I can't leave off my website.
About me: Many different ways to contact me via the internet. All website errors and suggestions should be directed to nascent (at) freeshell org

Should you Switch to Linux?

You may not know much about it, but have heard that it can replace Microsoft Windows. If you're asking yourself "Is Linux right for me?" then you might also know the transition to Linux from Windows is not always smooth. I wish to help you gage if Linux is right for you, and to this I will ask questions related to your computer use.

I am going to begin this project by just asking the question and responding to possible answers, I hope to snazzy this up with some javascript in the future, and give a more detailed report on actions that should be taken.

Are you interested in using Linux? or Are you interested in giving up windows?

There is little point in suggesting a switch to Linux if you are not interested in using Linux or giving up your current Operating System.

Do you currently run antivirus software?

Unfortunately if you switch to Linux you will have little need to run an antiviral program on your computer, this is due to the current lack of viruses on Linux based systems.

What, in years, is the approximate age of your computer?

Older computers tend to perform better with Linux then on Windows, or even Mac. This is due to its ability to scale easily, and even so, older hardware still runs the fancy 3D desktop at decent speeds.

Do you game?

Just the ones that come with windows?: Playing Solitare on windows can be fun, but Linux does not stop with the just the standard games Windows comes with, but an assortment and if that isn't enough you can download many more from a repository for free.
Online games?: Games online are generally written in Flash, these games will still work in Linux, though flash my not need to be installed first.
Do your games rate platinum or gold on winedb?: If the games you want to play are rated platinum or gold it is likely you can get them to work. This is not a perfect system and you could run into problems so you may want to try it on your buddies linux box, but otherwise you should be fine switching, unless you want new games that aren't out yet.

What tasks do you usually use your computer for?

Word Proccessing: To write papers, create spreadsheets, or make presentations the opensource OpenOffice is an excellent alternative to MS Office
Image editing: To edit images Linux has a free alternative to both MS Paint and Adobe Photoshop the program is called the GIMP
Web browsing: Linux fully supports the internet, while dialup modems may be harder to set up, broadband works with little to no effert. Ubuntu's default browser is the popular Firefox.
movie/DVD playback: Linux lets you play all you videos and DVDs, Ubuntu and other distributions require you to download decryption separately to watch DVDs.
jukebox (music): On the music side of things you have a lot of good options, Ubuntu comes with Rythmbox...
YouTube: Yes, this works.
Internet TV (ABC, NBC, FOX): Internet TV though ABC, FOX, or NBC is very poor...
Cable TV (Tuner card): While many TV tuner cards are supported, it will require more research to find out if your card is supported...
Video Editing: I can't really comment on this on at this time.
audio editing: It is suggested that you use Audacity for your audio editing needs.
CD/DVD burning: A good number of burners are available, Nero even lets you purchase a Linux version if you wish or you can stick with things like K3B or xCDRoast.

check some things you feel are important.

Never need to touch a terminal/console.: Linux is still making headway to not needing to use the console. It is not there yet, but in truth the terminal really is your friend...
Visual effects (eye-candy): Eye candy is not left only to Windows and Mac, with the great efforts going into Compiz-Fusion visual effects greatly surpass both of the major competitors.
a need to restart daily: Sorry to inform you but Linux being a stable enough operating system that it can run for years without needing a restart, you will not be required to reboot your machine periodically. You can however restart any time you wish if you start to miss such activities. Not only is restarting rarely needed but once the system is installed you won't have a need to reinstall.

While it is not likely you will loose your data during an installation of Linux, it is a good idea to do a backup of any data you want to keep on to an external hard drive or DVD.