Switch from Windows to Linux - So far, so good.

It's been about 6 months since I switched to Linux.  Right now I'm quite happy, but there were a few bumps.  I'll make this quick, but let me point out that I will NOT be using terms like AVG, Avast, ESET, MSE, Norton, or even the word de-fragment.  Just a reminder that it's more secure, but not bulletproof.  Read on to the end. 

I tried Xubuntu first, because it uses XFCE, a very lightweight desktop (faster on old hardware), but forget about getting the video card drivers working.  Not exactly sure why.
I tried Linux Mint, which found the additional drivers necessary for my AMD video card within minutes of getting the networking up. It seemed to perform well, but I had problems with the screen turning back on after sleeping.

So I finally settled on Ubuntu Studio which comes packaged with  XFCE desktop, and I've got the drivers going on my video card. This distro is built more for graphic & audio/video use, but It's working just fine on this old machine (Single Core AMD 64 3400+ 2 GB RAM, AMD 4650 Graphics)

In addition to all the A/V and graphics apps, I've got all the essential stuff like Libre Office, Chromium Browser, Media playback, and basically everything else one could imagine on a traditional Windows machine.  I've added a remote desktop client (Remmina) to control my WinXP NAS/print server/backup machine. I believe it works with less lag. Dropbox works exactly the same, Teamviewer remote works flawless when I'm at work and need something, and the Ubuntu Software Center is catching up to the Google Play experience (slowly).

I use box.net for work files, and I was shocked to learn there is no Linux equivalent to box sync for Windows. That's because Linux doesn't need an app.  The file system supports WebDav out of the box.  With a catch, though.  I had to learn about WebDav, read a few forums, and edit a few files.  It was worth the work, and now it mounts just like a removable hard drive. Done.

Here's the problem.  Crashplan.  When I made the decision to re-install after the original hard drive failure, I knew I had backups within the last 24 hours.  No risk, I thought, just get Crashplan running on the new machine, and restore my stuff.  As of today, I don't have that working yet.  I have gone back to get a few individual files as they come up, but no full restore.  At this time Crashplan is not running on this machine.  I'm not bashing Crashplan, I'm just having some issues.  In reality, I've only needed a few files in the last 6 months anyway.  The point is to keep looking, keep reading, and eventually I'll find someone who has done it and can get me through it.

I would usually check the Ubuntu Forums, but not today, because someone hacked it and ran off with everyone's info, so I'm off to Linuxquestions.org, or maybe even Google+

After I change my Ubuntu password...