I need a recommendation for a non windows OS

[harry chickpea]

Slightly off-topic, but compared to even the older photoshop versions Gimp is a kludge. I'm using it, but I am not happy with it and may end up finally buying the current photoshop.

Apache or Libra? There are things you can do with Apache that are needed these days, but I often find myself going back to MS Works for fast input that isn't kicking back at me. I don't need red lines when I type, I don't need suggestions, there is something called editing that is done after the creative juices have flowed onto the page.

Can you imagine Robert Frost trying to write on a modern computer?

"Whose woods these are..."

find land ownership on Plat-y-plus.

whose woods is an inversion, a more correct form is "The owner of the woods is uncertain..."

were you thinking of golf clubs or small forested areas?

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by fastninja500

Well, StephenMM did mention that his "previous computer had Linux and it worked fine" and "I'm not a techie but not an idiot either, so something that would be relatively straight forward to install and use would be nice.". So StephenMM has some experience with Linux. He can try them before installing anything, by downloading the .ISOs and putting into a multiboot flashdrive.

I agree - Kali, ... I wouldn't recommend to a novice.
Parrot, however, is very simple to use. It just "looks" different. There's a Home Edition, for the everyday driver and a Security Edition, for those willing to explore and learn more. The Security Edition is more interesting to learn on. But you don't have to. With all the free software available, it definitely can be used as a daily driver.

And he did mention "old Win 7 laptop", so a lightweight linux distro would probably be best because Fedora and Ubuntu and their derivatives are becoming more "resource hungry" than they used to be.

Installation is a breeze. Two or three clicks and it installs pretty quick. Certainly faster than a Windows, Fedora or Ubuntu install.

But that's just my 2-cents.

All very valid. Parrot did seem like any other end user friendly distro and not some security/forensics focused distro but also, as you mentioned, it has different versions. He might be able to handle it.

I agree on Fedora, Ubuntu and most other distros. That is why I mentioned Kubuntu over Ubuntu.
I didn't know about MX Linux but I read up on it and it looks very promising. If he gets the XFCE version, that should work nicely on an older machine.

Fluxbox edition seemed very interesting and especially on an older/slower machine, I might give that a try!

I consider a user having decent GNU/Linux experience if they are not asking for help here.
What I mean is, would you ask for Linux help here? Not likely.

Even if you needed help, you would go to a Linux forum because you know you are far more likely to get the help you need there, and faster, too.
I might be wrong but that is the opinion I formed from what I have seen on this forum over the years.
Either way, it is all good!

Hopefully, the OP will get something useful from all this.

[Deuce88]

Go to an Apple store or a BestBuy and try an Apple computer. You might like it.