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I have a few questions. To be honest, I am in love with this community. The support here is awesome. So, I am 14, and I am thinking of getting Ubuntu, due to it being free, even for future versions. Now, I have many questions for you all.

  1. Do I have to be in the coding community to get the best out of ubuntu?
  2. Can I dual boot it with windows 10?
  3. Can I get windows applications? i.e Word 2010, publisher, ect
  4. Would Ubuntu be good for student work?
  5. Is Ubuntu, or in general, Linux, good for security?
  6. Is there many Anti-Malware programs for linux?
  7. When switching to Ubuntu, does my Hard drive in my laptop get wiped?
  8. Can I download Ubuntu without a USB drive or a DVD drive?
  9. Is the process of downloading Ubuntu long?
  10. Is it hard to get used to linux? Thank you for taking the time to read my questions. I know you might drone when you hear my beginner esc questions and I'm really sorry for that, haha. I really want to switch to Linux due to how supported it is and the fact that it's free.
A.B.
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AdamAsksYou
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1 Answers1

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First of all: Welcome! :)

1) Nope, you really don't. If you're looking for something you'll most likely find answers you can literally copy and paste. I, for one, did not have to really code my own stuff to make Ubuntu a great experience.

2) Yes! Only thing to note is (and I learned this the hard way): Make sure to FIRST install Windows and Ubuntu AFTERWARDS. Otherwise your Ubuntu-Bootloader will get overwritten and it's a little more work to get it back. But when first installing Windows and Ubuntu afterwards, you're good to go :)

3) On your Windows partition you'll absolutely be able to. On your Ubuntu partition there's a free alternative to Office, called LibreOffice. It has something similar to Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Other than that there's a program called Wine that'll allow you to run certain Windows executables as if you were running a Windows machine.

4) Depends. I study Informatics and it's been a great experience all over the place. Being a designer you'll probably lack of the really good programs though. So it comes down to your studies I guess.

5) I can't really answer this, but I didn't encounter any Viruses like I did with Windows yet (3 years of Ubuntu until now).

6) Gotta pass here, I really don't know out of the box. I assume there are some though.

7) Nope. You can choose to keep your stuff. Remember point 2) though (!).

8) You can download it, but you won't be able to run it. You'll need something to boot off, that is an SD-Card (painfully slow if you have USB 3.0 for example), an USB drive or, as you said, a DVD drive.

9) That depends on your connection. The 64-bit .iso file is 1GB of a file, so really not that much. Should be done within a few minutes :)

10) I don't think it is. It'll take you some time to get into it, but give it a few days and you'll be covered!

I hope this helped you a little. Let me know if I can help you any further.

Again, a warm welcome to this community!

Philipp Meissner
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  • Wow! I never expected to get an answer that quick! This is really helpful. I'm now content to download Ubuntu. I'm actually thinking of learning a few code languages now that I've read into it. I really want to help Ubuntu in some form or another :) – AdamAsksYou Nov 05 '15 at 20:09
  • To 5) Ubuntu is definitely more secure than old Windows versions (at least up to XP), because of its stricter user and permissions system. The difference to current Windows versions is small. You can also read my answer there: http://askubuntu.com/q/692307/367990 – Byte Commander Dec 08 '15 at 12:31
  • To 6) there are definitely less anti-malware programs for Ubuntu than for Windows. You need an enabled firewall (default one is called ufw) and you can use e.g. clamav anti virus, but it has no real-time scanner, it just scans on demand. This is because there are currently still less viruses for Ubuntu than for Windows, but you should still use something to protect you, additional to being careful what you do. Big AV companies like Avast usually also offer free Linux versions, but I never tried one. – Byte Commander Dec 08 '15 at 12:35