Compatibility Questions

[MicahD]

Hello,

I'm looking to make the switch to Linux (I have used Ubuntu/Mint before, but not much.) I'll be using the computer for word processing (school), website design/development, listening to music, a bit of programming aside from websites, and some light gaming. I'm currently looking at a few different distributions; Linux Mint, Ubuntu, and OpenSuSE.

My primary issues when choosing between the three are compatibility with Windows/Mac operating systems (mainly speaking about transferring word/website design/programming documents to/from both Mac and Windows, though I'm mostly concerned about word documents working with Windows), compatibility with my laptop, and performance.

I am using a Compaq Presario CQ61-420US, and these are my specs:

AMD Athlon II Dual-Core M320 2.10GHz processor (64-bit)
3GB RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 4200
Not sure about my speakers, but they're made by IDT.

If anyone could give me some help picking which I should used based on what I've presented you with, it would be greatly appreciated =)

Thanks, and have a nice day!

[MASONTX]

I haven't had Word on my computer since 97, nor Windows since the introduction of Vista, so my info may be dated. At that time you could install Open Office on a windows platform, Word would strip out some of the formatting on docs created in Oo, but would read the text. If you don't have to use Word, you could install Oo on your windows machine and your linux machine, and it should read your docs on both machines.

[MASONTX]

I was poking around distrowatch.com, and came across Tuquito, which says it is compatible with MS office file formats. Hope that helps.