this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
76 points (94.2% liked)

Linux

48690 readers
363 users here now

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.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

So, at school we use the whole Office 365 suite for a myriad of tasks.

Teams is used as the main way to share exercises and lesson material, Outlook is used as the resident email service, and you're expected to use OneDrive to store all/most of your data. There are some additional apps that require Windows, but beyond the office 365 suite they are all replaceable.

What I'm wondering is, what distro can run/access those apps without too much hassle and set-up?

I'm looking to do this on a HP probook x360, upgraded to 32 GB of ram. The only peripheral of note I've got is a Ugee drawing tablet, but I can use the openTabletDriver or their own on some distro's.


Edit: Thanks guys!

User helpimnotdrowning recommend Mint! This'll be my first real daily foray onto Linux, so it's definitely a good option. I'll also have a look at Gnome Vs KDE. I've been looking at KDE in the past, but gnome is definitely worth a peep as well.

User BearOfATime, thanks for giving the software name that allows for a seamless VPN transition! I'll also look into the win 10 LTSC. Not sure it's a right fit, but it's always fun to learn more!

As a couple of you recommend, there seems to be a teams flatpak to download, so I'll have a look into that!

Finally, I'd like to thank y'all for the useful and helpful answers! Many of you said to try the webapps, so I'll be doing that! My current plan is to use VMWare (alt is Vbox. VMware works (and looks) better) and try to actively use a mint VM. Not sure If I'll be able to stick to it, and not unknowingly switch to windows, but having it as a starting app should solve a couple issues. Slower start times, sure, but that's not the worst. Your advice is very much appreciated! It's given me a good confidence boost to start. Thanks for that :D

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

So I'm confused. Wouldn't you want Windows? Also outlook can be replaced by Thunderbird.

So basically I see two options. First, if your device has 4 or more cores and 16gb of ram you can run Windows in KVM. If that isn't the case you need to pickup another device or not use Linux.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I mostly want to switch since it feels better. It's a first big step into becoming independent from Microsoft, and I don't like the way they're going with LLM's among other things (I.E. totally oblivious of any security issues or broken code until the internet/EU spanks'm for it)

The main reason though, windows 10 has ShapeCollector.exe to help windows learn your writing style. Windows 11 removed that, and just didn't replace it with anything. Really irks me that.

In terms of thunderbird, school needs to grant permission, which I did ask for. Don't think they've granted it though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Why do you need permission to use Thunderbird but not Linux? It seems a bit weird.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I need permission to load/send data (not sure) via the email. Something something security something something good (but bad)