Hello from the US!

Hello everyone!

I'm a student from the United States. I got my first computer (not counting a Tandy I owned in the late 80s) about 12 years ago, I guess (not long after Windows ME came out).

For most of that time, I've used Windows XP and various distributions of Linux. Mainly, I use my computers for schoolwork, connecting to people, website design, programming (just getting into that), and language study.

In XP, I'm somewhere between power-user and expert, I guess. I run XP mainly for 3 programs, including a very old version of Rosetta Stone which, unfortunately, crashes on WINE. So I'm putting the few related programs on an old Laptop with XP...but I'm sure I'll need to add a little RAM. Since I "inherited" the laptop, that's cheaper than buying a new Rosetta Stone!

As for Linux, that's a more complicated question. There are so many distros, and they have changed quite a bit since the Mandrake/Xandros (icky) years! Mostly, I love Slackware, though I like Ubuntu just fine. I was starting to get into Arch Linux, too, but had to put that aside for now (due to above).

With the different Linux distros, the biggest difference is what tools and programming libraries get installed! (Sometimes I feel like a power user...sometimes I don't!) But I really like being able to pick and choose nearly all my programs to install when I install the OS! (Start the install then forget it!)