Alternative to Microsoft Windows: Free software (Ubuntu)

[RedPhoenix]

You can cheat, and do both Mike; the mint guys have instructions to zap cinnamon over the top of unity. The global menu is much more in line with how I tend to work.

I'm still a bit torn between giving Ubuntu another go, or sticking with LinuxMint 12 - with its more 'traditional' interface and more complete software suite...

Red.

[mingle]

I find that the less you tinker with the install of a Linux desktop, the less chance you have of stuffing it up!

I must say the Unity desktop is growing on me. I used to spend hours tinkering with myriad of setting under KDE and Gnome to customise
the appearance of the desktop, which was really just wasting time. With Unity you can customise it a bit, but the simplicity of it is
actually quite refreshing.

As for the global menu - I gave up on that sort of nonsense with the Amiga back in the mid 1990s I just find it a pain in the rump to
have to constantly move the mouse to the top left of the screen to access menus, when I'm working on windows on the right and bottom
of the screen (1920x1080)!

You can cheat, and do both Mike; the mint guys have instructions to zap cinnamon over the top of unity. The global menu is much more in line with how I tend to work.

[mingle]

I've just spent the past few weeks tinkering with and testing Linux Mint 13 alongside my current Windows XP installation.

It's certainly the best Linux desktop distro I've tried (and belive me, I've given almost all of them a go!).

It comes with a pretty complete range of applications 'out of the box' and is fast.

After trying the 32 & 64-bit Mate and Cinnamon editions, I've settled on the 32-bit Xfce version, as being the best of the bunch.

Appearance and layout-wise it's very close to my Windows XP setup, so it feels very comfortable.

I strongly recommend anyone who's looking at giving Linux a go to download one of the
LiveCD/DVDs (http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php) and give it a whirl.

Cheers,

Mike.

[RedPhoenix]

Mint is nice... I'm running the cinnamon edition now.

I like xfce, but am enjoying the gnome3 respin.

Red.

[Dodge]

Mint is nice... I'm running the cinnamon edition now.

Red after you mentioned Mint to me the other day have looked at lots of Mint screen shots etc, but must say I am content with my present ubuntu, although it is only Lucid Lynx 10.04 LTS and is now long in the tooth.

Look forward to having a yarn after your coming trip, for pros and cons of upgrade to Karmic Koala, or move to Mint and very open minded to both options.

[DennisT]

Whenever I think of the operating system debate I think of this...

A spoof of the Mac vs Pc ads

[geebz]

Can anyone suggest a video editting program for linux ?

Ive tried openshot but it is slow and clunky on my laptop and crashes alot. My laptop will run sony vegas no problem so im not sure why it is struggling with openshot.

[RedPhoenix]

Can anyone suggest a video editting program for linux?

Openshot isn't too bad, but KDEnlive is the one I tend to use.

Red.

[sbd]

Can anyone suggest a video editting program for linux ?

Autodesk Smoke is what I use. Pretty good, but sit down before you check the price.

Sorry, I don't have any reasonable suggestions.

[kraley]

Thus the problem of linux is exposed - its all great until you try to do something with it......

[sbd]

Thus the problem of linux is exposed - its all great until you try to do something with it......

What, like high end professional post production? Post houses are jam packed with Linux boxes.

Not really waving the Linux flag though, I'm now using Smoke on Mac & lovin' it. I'm a platform slut.

AVID on iPad is a toy though.

[mingle]

Thus the problem of linux is exposed - its all great until you try to do something with it......

I was a bit like that up until my latest experience with Linux (Mint 13). The 'default' install comes with a great set
of programs already installed. I'd say that 95% of the things I do on my XP/Win 7 boxes I can do straight away
on my Linux install: Excel sheets, Word docs, PDF processing, 2D graphics & photo-processing, media playback.

For those things that need to run under Windows there is a workaround - the Linux "Wine" utility is getting to
be pretty good and all of the Windows programs I've tried so far seem to work fine (Paintshop Pro, VirtualDub,
Garmin MapSource).

Of course there will be some applications that won't work with Wine, so I'll hold onto my XP dual-boot setup
for the meantime. The Linux desktop is not perfect replacement for Windows, but it's getting there.

Cheers,

Mike.

[kraley]

Thus the problem of linux is exposed - its all great until you try to do something with it......

What, like high end professional post production? Post houses are jam packed with Linux boxes.

Umm..... No.

I was addressing the pipedream of linux as a viable consumer desktop os.

I don't doubt that a professional production house could still find a use for it - but i would maintain that this need diminishes every day.

Not really waving the Linux flag though, I'm now using Smoke on Mac & lovin' it. I'm a platform slut.

Osx is just unix that works, man!!!!

[RedPhoenix]

Thus the problem of linux is exposed - its all great until you try to do something with it......

Fanboi.
Beware, or you'll get a hoard of teenage kernel hackers shouting you down. (And Dodge!)

Mac is hardcore BSD with a nice pretty face. Great combination of both worlds, and iCrack is horribly addictive.
There is a risk that you buy (fantastic) convenience with a gradual, comfortable lockin to the apple-way, from which it's hard to extract yourself.

Linux is a fragmented, argumentative, organic, filled with partially completed applications.. but also fantastic for lockdown into special purpose devices - whether they be:
* A simple desktop environment that covers the requirements of a fair proportion of the facebook-browsing population.
* Phones
* Just about every consumer networking device on the market
* A majority of the boxes that power the internet.
* Just about all of the top 500 supercomputers worldwide.

Outside of a small demographic though, Linux isn't ready for the desktop; even if it's dominating the palmtop, embed, and serverscape.

Red.

[kraley]

Fanboi.
Beware, or you'll get a hoard of teenage kernel hackers shouting you down. (And Dodge!)

Its funny - 10 years ago I would have had at least 50 unix boxes in my business - quite possibly more. Now, I don't even own a physical machine besides a client. If I want storage, or processing, or application power I can go to a utlity like EC2 or the like and order it up. At that time, I will decide which OS to run on my virtual machine - I always choose linux, but I think it is just force of habit - one can really pretty much anything on windows that I use to have to use linux for. You are right - my wifi router runs it, and its possible my phone switch does as well. No other boxes that I own.

I was reading an article about a guy who runs a computer science department and they just use Amazon - they actually have no physical machines. Its crazy.

Mac is hardcore BSD with a nice pretty face. Great combination of both worlds, and iCrack is horribly addictive.
There is a risk that you buy (fantastic) convenience with a gradual, comfortable lockin to the apple-way, from which it's hard to extract yourself.

bah - Operating systems used to be interesting - now they are just an ever diminishing layer - most people prize reliability and user experience over 'power' or hackability.

Computing used to be done by techno priests - now computers are appliances. Normal people don't hack their computer any more than they would hack their refrigerator.

* A simple desktop environment that covers the requirements of a fair proportion of the facebook-browsing population.

no - because the minute you have to put someone in front of a command prompt you lose them. Little annoying things like printer and audio drivers, rights and permissions - all the stuff that you and I can do is required to run the system makes it a no-goer for consumers. That, and the lack of a sustainable business model for application developers. The amount of unfinished great ideas in the open source movement is really the biggest problem.