Did you switch from Windows to Linux? How did you find the process?
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From: Rikishi42 on 13 Nov 2009 05:43 On 2009-11-13, J.O. Aho <user(a)example.net> wrote: > > > Rikishi42 wrote: >> On the other hand: you use Autocad. Is there a program that reads DWG >> drawings? Not likely. There are to few users that use CAD, so you'll need >> some luck there. There are drawing softs, but wether you can exchage designs >> with someone else ? > > LinuxCAD can import DXF, so you can export your AutoCAD projects. > For GPL versions you have QCad which also supports impot from DXF. I know, it was an example. And unfortunately, you can loose a lot of information in DXF. Depends on the version implemented, of course. -- Any time things appear to be going better, you have overlooked something.
From: TJ on 13 Nov 2009 08:39 RodMcKay wrote: > Well, looks like I have my work cut out for me. > > And, YES, I definitely like all those things that Linux provides: > - no need to update virus/malware definitions so often As Aragorn said, "never" is more correct than "so often." Linux is completely immune to Windows malware. There are Linux anti-virus programs in existence, but their function is to trap viruses to keep them from being innocently spread to OSes with less-able immune systems. Be aware though, that you will still be as susceptible to "phishing" attempts as you are with Windows. That sort of thing is OS-independent. > - no need to repeatedly wipe the drive and reinstall!!! That I've > always loved the idea of. Nothing's perfect. Any OS worth working with will have periodic bugfixes and security upgrades, but these are usually much harder to exploit and much more quickly found and patched with Linux than with Windows. The process varies with the distro, but they all have it. Also, most distros have new releases on a periodic basis, for version updates and the like. Mandriva, the one I use, makes a new release twice a year. But unlike Windows, a complete install takes a couple of hours, at worst. That's with an old, slow machine - something else Linux handles much better than the new Windows versions. And the install doesn't stop with just the OS. Most distros include all the most popular apps in their installs - no need to spend hours re-installing and updating things. TJ
From: Maurice Batey on 13 Nov 2009 09:44 On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:50:48 +0000, Stefan Patric wrote: > PCLinuxOS 2009 A very good distribution, based on Mandriva. -- /\/\aurice (Retired in Surrey, UK) Registered Linux User #487649 Linux Mandriva 2009.1 32-bit PowerPack (i686 kernel) KDE 4.2.4 Virtualbox 3.0.4 Firefox 3.0.15 (Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)
From: RodMcKay on 13 Nov 2009 21:24 On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:18:16 -0500, TJ <TJ(a)noneofyour.business> wrote: >RodMcKay wrote: >> I've been fed up with Windows ever since I switched from a Win98SE box >> to WinXP a couple of years ago. But I haven't made the switch for >> various reasons, one of them being the sheer numbers of Windows >> programs I use. I'm ready to see how to do the switch anyway and see >> how Wine works. But that seems to defeat the purpose. >> >> So thought I'd ask for any comments from anyone who has already made >> the switch. I mean, anything has practically got to be better than >> Windows, but just curious as to what the major adjustments might have >> been for other Windows users. thx. >> >You don't have to "switch" all at once. With most distros, you don't >even have to get rid of your Windows installation if you don't want to. >(assuming you have enough free hard drive space) > >I first tried Linux in 2002, with a Mandrake (now known as Mandriva) >distro. I was using Windows 98SE at the time, and put both on the same >computer in a dual-boot situation. I used both for a while, but quickly >became more and more comfortable with Linux. I had never cared for >Windows, having come there from the Atari ST - a much friendlier OS - so >it didn't take much to convert me. While I still have one machine that >dual-boots with Windows 98SE for the few Windows-only programs I still >use, nearly 99% of my computing time is spent with Linux. > >If you've been a Windows user for a long time, the biggest thing you'll >probably have to get used to will not needing to update your >anti-malware programs on a daily basis. > >TJ Yes, that's the beauty of it. What boggled my mind a year and a half ago is that I ran one of the two GUIs (hey, I managed to do some research today at work for a few minutes! I now know that all these distros are just different GUIs, kewl!) off of a CD (DVD?) and was impressed at how quickly everything loaded up. The trouble with running off the CD was that anything I created there in terms of files and folders disappeared once I removed it and I've have to re-do it next time I loaded up. So next step is to figure out how to "install" Linux and work with it slowly. Trouble there is ... where????!!! I'm getting pretty full up in my combined 700gigs of space available, believe it or not! <g> All the stuff I've accumulated off the PVR! I record to DVD-RW and transfer to hdd and then convert to AVI. Oh, darn, shoot! Now to also find as great a DVD authoring program as Womble!!!! This is the biggest hurdle, I think, finding the apps to do what I've come to take for granted on Windows <lol>. The apps were never the problem, it was stupid Windows that is! <g> Well, pulling up those bootstraps! <g>
From: RodMcKay on 13 Nov 2009 21:31
On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:35:38 -0500, TJ <TJ(a)noneofyour.business> wrote: >RodMcKay wrote: >> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:18:16 -0500, TJ <TJ(a)noneofyour.business> wrote: >> > >>> You don't have to "switch" all at once. With most distros, you don't >>> even have to get rid of your Windows installation if you don't want to. >>> (assuming you have enough free hard drive space) [snip] >OpenOffice will output in both new and old Word formats, though it's a >bit better at the older ones. For most functions, OO is just as powerful >as Word. Some of the automated stuff won't work the same, but unless >you're a MS Office power user, you probably won't miss them. And in some >cases, OO is better than Word. A friend of mine was once working on a >very long Word document, using OpenOffice. He happened to save >intermediate copies using OO's native format, and the resulting file was >nearly half the size of the equivalent MS Office file. That's the trouble. I _am_ a power user and have learned VB in both Word and Excel and converted copies of some of my Excel spreadsheets have lost tons of functionality in their OO equivalents <sigh>. I'm guessing I'm just going to have to live with the huge losses ... <g> >> So my resume and some obscure puzzle-building apps may be only thing >> holding me back. That and Outlook. I'm a huge fan because of how >> much I use the power of MS Outlook for mail. I've tried, literally, >> about 40-50 other email programs and none come close. Does Linux have >> anything as powerful as Outlook, by any chance? Probably a stupid >> question but I do love the ease of use, rules, calendar, tasks, notes >> power and even look of Outlook 2000. I do also prefer Excel. I have >> used the OO one but it doesn't do all that Excel does. But I can live >> with the limitations, I believe. But Outlook no. It handles my >> rather large email needs like no other. However, wouldn't like to run >> it under Wine, I definitely would prefer to find a Linux "equivalent" >> to. >> >Well, I hate to give you too good of a crutch, because it would be >better for you to eventually throw them all away - but for what it's >worth there IS a program called Crossover that facilitates the use of >certain Windows programs with WINE. It's not free - what you pay for is >the work they do at getting these programs to work, not the program >itself. And it doesn't work with a *lot* of Windows programs - though >Office programs have received particular attention from them. It may >help you, if you simply must have Outlook. (And Word. And Excel.) Find >more information at > >http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxlinux/ Yeah, I stumbled upon Crossover today. I didn't have much downtime at work but I took a quick peek and that happened to come up. I'm finding that in the year and a half since I looked at Linux that things have escalated. I found a lot more references to Windows users looking for programs emulating some of the great Windows software we can't do without (i.e., Evolution for old Outlook users, etc.). I'm more inclined in personality to want to make a complete switch, I have to admit. I'm hoping that it'll be really only a very small handful of apps that I actually will need to run on WINE, if indeed I don't find anything to equal the Windows versions. Time will tell. [snip] :oD |