It's been about a year since I logged into this site. I'm no longer using Windows. Windows 10 was a dog on this (now) 12 year old PC. I've been running Linux now for the last 4+ years. It's been an enlightening and fun adventure for me. I'd used Linux off and on over the years since 1994 before switching to it full time in June 2018.
So, in June 2018, I decided that since Microsoft was not going to support Windows 7 anymore I felt I needed to take the leap to Windows 10. Reluctantly, I bought it and tried installing it on this PC. It failed the first time (crashed during install) and then after the 2nd attempt, it crashed again after 5 minutes of using it. I never got to register it to I gave the disk and the Product ID to my father.
So after the Windows debacle, I started looking for a Linux distribution (distro) I could use easily. I tried a few oldies I had used in the past but I wasn't feeling those. So I looked for something that I thought would be more Windows 7 like and I found something new (to me). Linux Mint looked to have everything I needed. So, I put Linux Mint on my machine and I absolutely LOVED it! Mint ran beautifully on my machine and it was very Windows 7 like so I had no adjustment issues. No crashes, no slow downs, nothing bad happened at all while running Linux Mint. It is the perfect Windows 7 replacement!
So I ran Mint until February 2020 and I wanted to dive deeper into Linux. So I downloaded a copy of Arch Linux. It took me 3 attempts to get that installed (missed steps and whatnot from me... not an Arch Linux issue). So, I've been running Arch ever since. It's truly an upper level distro. Not for the skiddish. 
Installing Arch is all command line based. In fact, after you get Arch installed, you have to install one of many GUIs if you really WANT to use a GUI. I needed a GUI. I could have easily installed the Cinnamon Desktop Environment (DE) (the GUI that comes default with Linux Mint) but I wanted something entirely different. I went with what's called a Tiling Window Manager (TWM). Basically, a TWM doesn't allow desktop icons. All of the programs open in different configurable tiling layers. So if I have 2 programs running on one screen, I can either have them split the screen in half or I can use any variety of layouts that the programs can use.
Linux is very good at multitasking. In fact, I think it's WAY better than the way Windows multitasks. You can look up the differences online. There are TONS of references on Windows vs. Linux multitasking. But in a nutshell, this old computer runs just as well with 1 or 20 programs running. Nothing slows down at all. It's pretty incredible actually.
So, why have I been away so long? IDK... I just didn't have the need to use forums anymore at that time. Now, I'm on Reddit... A LOT!!! I actually have a couple of accounts there to help organize my interests.
But I've been thinking about streaming with some of my old camera gear since I'm not shooting professionally anymore. So, my plan is to maybe use my 5D Mark II and a 50mm 1.8 lens as a streaming camera. That or the 24-105 lens I have. I think the 50mm 1.8 will be much better with low light situations. I don't know. I just thought of using it today and I remembered this site was always a great source of information when it comes to camera gear. So, I'll probably make a few posts in the gear section trying to get information or see if it's even plausible to even use a Canon 5D Mark II for streaming video.
Anyway, it's great to see this site is still flourishing! I love that! This community was always the best whenever it came to photography related stuff. You're all the greatest!
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