Originally Posted By: The_Eric
Weird. I downloaded each from their respective Linux sites and when I clicked the link and when it was finished downloading, it was in a winrar file? When I used the ISO burner program, I selected the rar and it burned it to disk. Review of the disk contents showed only the rar's contents and nothing else.
Maybe this is just a mis communication? I'm not terribly tech savvy, which I know may be a bad thing since I want to transition to Linux. I just know that I don't embrace Microsoft and their business practices and would like to get away sometime.
A ha! OK, you DID get .iso files, which in Windows, with WinRAR installed, show up as WinRAR icons. Gotcha. I'll bet all file formats that WinRAR has associated itself with will show up in your file manager as WinRAR icons.
As long as everything burned to disk A-OK then I suppose there's nothing to worry about! Remember that both Mint and Ubuntu are designed for use by users, not tech-savy people. I administer about a dozen systems for friends, family and neighbours and I never, ever get complaints or questions from them regarding the operation of the OS. I have installed it and the users (non of them tech-savy) just use it without ever thinking about security, updates or how anything works. I especially like Ubuntu's unity interface for this reason: Users put the application they want on to the launcher bar, and simply know one thing: Click on the application you want to use. It's that easy!
You made a great decision. Whether you're going to end up with Ubuntu, Mint, or any of their derivatives you might also want to set up an account at ubuntuforum.org and/ or at the Linux Mint forums - Both are very friendly and extremely helpful; although you'll probably find that operating both Mint and Ubuntu to be much easier than trying to manage a Windows or Mac system.