Moving from Windows PC to Linux Environment

[getvisible]

I've finally had enough of Windows OS's. After a few problems today because of window's SP2 related issues I've bought myself a new pc and going to be running Knoppix on it.

Does anyone have any experience of this OS and do you have any tips?

I'm still fixing the other pc and on my spare "in case of emergancies" one :-( but I can't let M$ hold me back any more - is this wise?

Ta,

Lee

[Nosmo_King]

I would love to move away from Windows... and many times over the years I've dabbled with various Linux distros.

There are two problems for me - there isn't a decent Web Design package and more importantly... most of the world uses Windows and IE. The only way to know something works with Windows/IE is to use it. I got fed up with two Pc's or dual booting.

If you just need to surf the Web and stuff - go for it but you'll soon miss what you took for granted with Windows. IMHO, there isn't a decent Linux desktop yet that really will compete with Windows.

[Rich]

What made you choose Knoppix? I hadn't heard of it before (which isn't saying much, I'm shockingly out of date after a few years out of IT)

[getvisible]

What made you choose Knoppix?

just some developer mates.

They gave me the dvd of it. The great thing is that you can run the whole OS from a DVD!

I've just booted the Knoppix OS and could get into all my files. I've know started copying the most important ones via a flash drive to this new pc.

I take a back up every two ours via Norton Ghost to an external hard drive. But this old PC (4yrs) somehow didn't recognise it.

Without Knoppix I'd be very frustrated.

So I recommned everyone burn a copy (its free) on to a dvd and have it lying around just incase the normal solutions don't work.

[uklejon]

I tried it a few months ago and gave up in the end, went back to XP Pro.

I partioned the drive and installed Mandrake 10.1. Whilst the general OS is excellent I had so many small problems.

No decent web design package. NVU is crap...sorry!
Useless for ASP or .NET design.
Got stuck when someone sent me a power point file.
lots of other little things that were problems.

I ended up having to keep booting up windows to do small jobs.

IMO any Linix system is not yet ready for mainstream use. It is an excellent OS but is not compatible enough with windows yet.

Jon

[dmorison]

I've worked almost exclusive within a Linux environment for nearly 3 years now, and currently using Ubuntu as my main desktop OS...

http://www.ubuntu.com/

For browsing, Firefox is all you need.

For development - I use "KDevelop", which although is officially a KDE app it runs fine under Gnome which is the default desktop environment installed by Ubuntu . You can install it, and just about any other Linux app online simply by clicking System > Administration > Package Manager.

For FTP / SFTP, "gFTP" does everything you could want - and has a superb bookmarking system that is far easier to use than most other FTP client's favourites system.

Graphics of course there is The Gimp (installed by default); and a great SVG (scalable vector graphics) editor called SodiPodi (can be installed directly - see above) - ideal for designing logos etc. that need to scale well.

For multimedia - simply go to Package Manager and get Video LAN installed - there's nothing it can't play. For MP3's I use xmms which is a Winamp clone.

OpenOffice.org (installed by default) has come on along way and is perfectly usable for just about any word processing / spreadsheet task you can imagine, and will open and save MS Office documents as well.

Gaim (GNU Instant Messenger) - again installed by default - supports virtually all IM networks, and works fine if you don't want any bells and whistles like video conferencing and stuff like that.

But the best thing of all, is Linux just keeps on working. When you install things, you just get the app installed; you don't get stuff added to your startup group, new system tray applications taking up resources - none of that nonsense. In 2 years time your system will boot up just as fast as it did when you first installed it.

Highly recommend - you won't look back

[uklejon]

Originally Posted by dmorison . OpenOffice.org (installed by default) has come on along way and is perfectly usable for just about any word processing / spreadsheet task you can imagine, and will open and save MS Office documents as well.

I've not found this. It doesn't open MS Word formatted docs as they would look in Word, you have to play around with the layout. One of the reasons i switched back to Windows.

GIMP is superb but it has one hell of a learning curve. No where near as easy as PSP or Photoshop CS.

I just don;t think any Linux based system is ready for the general desktop yet! I wish it was as i'd love to use it full time.

[Gavinio]

Linux is great to install on an old PC or laptop - if you've got one lying around that struggles with XP - whack Linux on it.

[justhomdotcom]

I've also got unbuntu installed on one of the spare desktops in the office but it's one of those things that i never get the chance to have a proper play with and probably never will.
I liken it to the stage where I HAD to move from my Amiga as a development PC to your regular IBM PC , the only difference with that was that I had to make the move , whereas with linux the incentive to relearn and get used to a different enviorment just isn't there.

[hrbs]

I use linux for the office file/email/web server/firewall (sme server from www.contribs.org - now version 7, I have used since v3 was released years ago). Dead easy to install and use and can be managed through a browser/ssh on any pc on the lan or can be set up to be managed remotely through a browser or ssh. The latest server took 30 mins to install, set up users, file sharing and email (on a 250GB drive)!


But like most others I can't get to grips with linux as a desktop and especially as there aren't any Accounting packages available that my clients are likely to use (Apart from web based packages still in their infancy in UK).

A friend of mine is a Linux fan but only uses the browser/dvd burner/open office and gimp - he has to boot up an XP machine to do web design (through gritted teeth!)

Keith