Forum Moderators: bakedjake
I'm becoming drawn to the idea of using a Linux operating system for my work as people keep telling me it's the best thing since white bread. A few things are holding me back though.
The first one being the software available, I'm not so much bothered about Dreamweaver (although it would be nice to have a code editor that has color coding and predictive capabilities) as I am leaving Photoshop. I can't imagine there is a software package for linux that is as powerful as Photoshop. If I am mistaken please point this out. Also browsers, will I be able to emulate all the Windows based browsers so I can test compatibility?
My other concern is time to learn the OS, I'm currently putting myself through an intense PHP5 course and I'm worried It will cost me money (time) to break the norm and start working with another OS.
I would be eternally greatful to anyone who could clear up some of my concerns.
Thanks Everyone :)
Firefox [mozilla.org] is quite likely the most commonly used browser on Linux these days; The UserAgent Switcher [useragentswitcher.mozdev.org] extension will allow you to change your UA string to whatever you want. It's not emulation, of course. Additionally, the WebDeveloper extension [webdeveloper.mozdev.org] really helps with the development of web pages. I've also heard decent things about the LiveHTTPHeaders extension [livehttpheaders.mozdev.org].
The learned curve is a steep as you make it, really. If you install a distribution with a good installer that autoconfigures most things, most of the underlying OS is invisible to you, unless you go looking for it. If you install one of the more manual distributions, you'll get your hands on the guts of the OS fairly quickly (like it or not =) ).
One last note; if you find yourself NEEDING to run Windows-only software (a need which seems to be rarer and rarer these days), you can always install WINE [winehq.com], which will gives you a full Windows emulator running under Linux. There's also VMWare [vmware.com], but that'll run you about $200 for a license; whereas WINE is free. OTOH, I /think/ VMWare may be faster, but don't hold me to that.
Can either of you suggest a version of linux that might be suitable for me? Also do you think I will have much trouble finding drivers for my Toshiba Laptop and Wireless LAN card?
Thanks again guys
You mention that you are using a Toshiba laptop: you don't mention the model number, but if you enter "toshiba model-number linux" into Google you should get a few notes/articles about support. I don't use a laptop myself, but I know people who do who swear by SUSE Linux [suse.com] - and SUSE is a great system in any case. It is not free, however, unless you do an FTP install.
But before you start, you should download a copy of Gimp for Windows, as well as OpenOffice for Windows, so you can get an idea of the kind of applications you would be running under Linux.
As for a Dreamweaver replacement, if you only need code view with syntax highlighting and prediction, you can try Quanta (which is part of the KDE desktop environment) or Bluefish (under Gnome). If you want more of a wysiwyg environment, you can try Nvu, but it lacks a but of stability. If you are a programmer, then you have a wealth of choice: Eclipse [eclipse.org] is based on Java so it runs under both Windows and Linux: it is powerful stuff. Another option I like is SlickEdit, which is rather pricey but offers loads of features including predictive coding for PHP as well as C++, etc. Again, SlickEdit has Windows and Linux versions.
Thank you so much for your help, I'm pretty much an all rounder as I work for my self and i'm glad there is a way to run photoshop in a Linux environment. I think i'm going to grab a copy of SUSE over the weekend and have a play with it.
Thank you all for your help.
Karl
If you need IE and Photoshop, you're well advised to buy the crossover office product, it's much easier getting that stuff running on crossover office than it is with Wine, you get what you pay for in this case, since the same group makes both, but if you want no headache installs, go with cross over office.
Do a dual boot. If you need windows only software, you can reboot into windows, do your dirty deed, then boot back into linux for the rest of your day.
I've seen complaints about the gimp not being up to snuff with photoshop. I think if you want high end graphics design stuff, the gimp might not hold up. For many of us, the gimp is far more than we need.
Same thing with wine and vmware. I've seen reports that there's the occassional program it won't run. Easily fixed by having a dual boot system.
But - those two problems are really very minor (if they're problems at all). It's occassionally very useful to have your desktop set up as a server running apache, mysql, etc etc etc.
And yes it's stable, though I've heard that windows is pretty stable these days too.
Be prepared for a learning curve. Not to discourage you - I think there are huge benefits to running linux on the desktop - but it's not just a 'switch and you're running smoothly'.
