I'm a long-time user of free/open source software, and write various things for both fun and profit. I don't take myself all that seriously and I do all of my own stunts.
You can find me at these fine establishments on the web: Open Source Musings, The Monday Kickoff, Weekly Musings. and The Plain Text Project.
Authored Comments
I had a similar situation a few years ago. The hard drive on my wife's laptop, which was running The Operating System I Shall Not Name, died. She didn't have the license key, and didn't want to shell out for a new version of said operating system. I bought a new hard drive, installed Linux Mint on it, and despite a few hiccups with printers (devices that my wife never gets along with) it's been a smooth ride.
Good choice. It's what I use on my tablet, and hasn't let me down yet. Best of all, you can get Markor from F-Droid.