Thursday, October 11, 2007
Linux Desktop. I did it!
I have now converted over to Linux full time as my desktop. I thought the install would be easy and usability would be more difficult, but it was/is very much the other way around.
I used Sabayon Business Edition as the base because it uses the stable tree and KDE, however the build is now a lot more Gentoo than Sabayon. The install process took about 4 days including compiling (debugging & fixing) over 400 packages. I recompiled the entire system as I modified the make.conf file to suit me and my systems architecture.
I actually learnt to use the files in /etc/portage properly now instead of doing emerge command line hacks (oneshot & ACCEPT_KEYWORDS).
The benefits have been a faster machine, access to free and/or open source software, the power of Linux and total control over every aspect of my PC experience
So here is my list of tools I have used to replace Windows tools:
Issues I am still wrangling with:
Other than that it's all good and I am very happy with Linux as a desktop. I think if you were a newbie and grabbed one of the main stream binary distro's, switching over would be a piece of cake.
I used Sabayon Business Edition as the base because it uses the stable tree and KDE, however the build is now a lot more Gentoo than Sabayon. The install process took about 4 days including compiling (debugging & fixing) over 400 packages. I recompiled the entire system as I modified the make.conf file to suit me and my systems architecture.
I actually learnt to use the files in /etc/portage properly now instead of doing emerge command line hacks (oneshot & ACCEPT_KEYWORDS).
The benefits have been a faster machine, access to free and/or open source software, the power of Linux and total control over every aspect of my PC experience
So here is my list of tools I have used to replace Windows tools:
- Base OS - Gentoo/KDE
- Dual monitor support - Nvidia Linux drivers
- HP Printer Scanner Copier - hplip + kdeprint
- Email - Thunderbird
- Web browser - Firefox & Konqueror
- IM Client - Kopete
- File Management - Krusader
- PDF viewing - kpdf
- Terminal Services Client - rdesktop
- IDE - Kdevelop & Eclipse
- Graphic Editing - Gimp
- Photo Management - DigiKam
- CD/DVD Burning - K3B
- Media Player - VLC & Kaffiene
- Office Suite - Open Office
- Mind Mapping - FreeMind
- eBook Reader - kchmViewer
- Password management - KeepassX
Issues I am still wrangling with:
- Sound card - its stop working after emerge --update world
- Phone sync - For my contacts, appointments etc
- Compiz Fusion - haven't got the wobbly windows working
- GUI tweaks - Gnome apps still ugly, some KDE apps look "flat"
Other than that it's all good and I am very happy with Linux as a desktop. I think if you were a newbie and grabbed one of the main stream binary distro's, switching over would be a piece of cake.
