Moved from Windows to Linux - Now what?

Alison ,in an earlier message you mentioned using Opera Mail. Although I do not use this e-mail client , I do use the Opera browser in both Linux Mint and Zorin OS both an Ubuntu repository type of distribution . Perhaps you can also extract Opera Mail through that browser.

Frank in County Wicklow -Ireland

Thanks Berninghausen. I’ve at last dared to click on Thunderbird in Applications which opened it fine, and I set up my email account with no problem. Hurray!!

Just a few things I haven’t (yet) found…

  1. Sent emails. Is there a way to see the emails I have sent?
  2. Is there a way to mark emails in different groups: eg Friends, Family, communication about 3D.

I could do these things in Windows and hope there is a way to do it in Thunderbird.

And, as you say, I already have VLC video player which the technical people downloaded when they sorted Ubuntu for me, and that’s been working fine recently (for mp4s and movs that are on my computer). After selecting ‘Open in VLC Media Player’ on many occasions, it now does that by default :slight_smile: The tutorial videos, on the website where I’m doing a course, still don’t run directly from the website – that seems to be because Flash Player is needed to play them. I guess I don’t have that here. As Flash is no longer supported, and because I can download the tutorial videos and view them, I won’t bother with Flash.

Thanks Wicklowham. That’s interesting to know. I have however, just clicked on Thunderbird which showed in Applications. I filled in my email address and it works fine. Not yet found how to see Sent Items or mark groups of emails (eg from Friends and Family), but at least I can read and reply to emails in my inbox!

Update: The Sent items option has just ‘magically’ appeared! :smiley:

I am using a double-boot system and have installed Linux on other friends computers. You can access all your Windows documents from Linux, and keeping them there is not a problem. To work that way easily, you should setup the Windows partition to be mounted always in the same place using the «Disks» applacation.
Then create shortcut to your Windows documents and put it somewhere (maybe on the desktop). Windows documents are in something like /media///users//Documents (Pictures, Videos…)
As for e-mail, I would recommend Thunderbird.
If you cannot open images directly, it might be because of restrictions of a flatpak or snap installation.

Nothing essential to this thread at all, but

has some obstacles worth mentioning.
FAT32 can’t handle files >=4GB, so one could run into problems here.
And we all know, that files of these sizes are merely common these days.

Your backup opinion: +1

Greetings

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Fast.Edi, now that I think of it, I don’t believe that in 60 years of fooling with computers I have ever messed with a file bigger than 4GB. Maybe some obscure distros, but nothing of consequence. It’s a good fact to know, though.

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Hiya Silvain. Good to hear you too access your Windows documents from Linux and that keeping them there is not a problem. I can access mine easily by clicking on Other Locations > Storage so I don’t think I need a shortcut.

I’ve recently started using Thunderbird for email. Was easy to set up and is easy to use. I like it. On my older computer, for emails in Windows, there was a way to mark emails from friends, family, or work colleagues etc, with a flower, a heart, or little picture of a person with various colours of hair. I don’t know if that’s available in Thunderbird… If not, I’ll just have to get used to being without that. Just happy to have emails working in Linux!

I’ll have to look into what ‘restrictions of a flatpak or snap installation’ means.

You might want to have a look at 4K Video files.

Do I use video files, Mina? Maybe the occasional youtube link, but nothing else.

Hello again Berninghausen
I’m happy to say I’ve now got the videos on the tutorial site working too since downloading the set of restricted extra multimedia codecs, which I did by entering these 3 lines of text into the terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository multiverse
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

I got stuck for a while when a Microsoft EULA came up, to which it was necessary to agree, but enter key didn’t work for it. I eventually found out that pressing TAB and then spacebar worked. Phew! So now I can watch videos on my Linux computer, locally (even from Storage) on VLC, and directly from websites :smiley:

Hmmm. The restricted extra codecs are usually featured prominently in the Ubuntu Software Boutique or whatever your flavor calls it. No matter, congratulations!

Sometimes the EULA dialog box wants you to scroll all the way to the bottom before it allows agreement. Curious what it was all about–haven’t ever found one while driving a Linux distro.

Somewhere in the library (search icon, upper right) there should be several “After you install *buntu” articles that give you tips like installing the restricted codecs–have you checked these resources?

Congrats on this successful step!

Thanks Berninghausen. Greetings for the new year.

It is Ubuntu that I have (dual-boot with Windows; though Windows no longer works). The technicians in the repair shop put Ubuntu there at my request. Don’t know why restricted-extras didn’t seem to be there… or maybe it was incomplete or something… Glad it is there now. Along with getting emails working, my first successful step!

I’ll attach a screengrab I did, after eventually managing to agree to the MS fonts agreement thing.

Yes, I’ve seen the list of things I should do. Will have another look at that soon.

It is Ubuntu that I have (dual-boot with Windows; though Windows no longer works).

I hesitate to suggest irreversible changes, but why not get rid of Windows altogether? If you can access the data stored in the Windows partition and back it up, you could reclaim the space Windows is taking up. It’s not paying its rent, right?

It’s a really big step. I did it, once I moved everything of value from the Windows partition to an external hard drive. The first consideration after safeguarding your valuable files is how much space you can reclaim. One of the benefits of flushing Windows is having a computer that isn’t confused!

Sounds like you’re on a successful path. Best of luck and happy new year!