Is anyone here using UBUNTU? --- Linnux based op system
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From: John Devereux on 25 Jan 2010 12:58 Tim Watts <tw(a)dionic.net> writes: > On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:56:50 -0800, AndyS <andysharpe(a)juno.com> wibbled: > >> Andy asks: >> >> I am considering switching from WINDOWS to UBUNTU, which is a >> Linnux >> based operating system. >> >> Has anyone here had any experience with it or have any pointers >> that >> I should be aware of ?? > > Yes, yes and yes. > > Hi Andy... > [...] > > OpenOffice (word, spreadsheets and presentations - fairly reasonable MS > Office compatability) The main deficiency I found was the database front-end which seems very limited compared to Access. For most users everything else is equivalent or superior to MS Office. You can of course run almost any program in VirtualBox as pointed out elsewhere, it really works very well - it seems faster than native in most cases due to lack of virus scanner I expect. > Gimp - raster paint progam - very advanced for free software > > Firefox > > Thunderbird > > Pan/Knode/Thunderbird for USENET I use emacs, but it is an acquired taste. > Eagle PCB for PCB stuff and schematics (free version limited but usable, > paid version fairly powerful). > > Cycas for 2D CAD (free or paid) > > Inkscape for vector graphics > > Lots of ucontroller programmer/utility software (certainly decent AVR > support) Other invaluable programs I use are: openocd - for ARM jtag debugging, along with the gcc toolchain. LTSpice - runs well in wine and has been developed with that in mind. [...] -- John Devereux
From: Joerg on 25 Jan 2010 13:40 Tim Watts wrote: > On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:58:06 +0000, John Devereux <john(a)devereux.me.uk> > wrote: > >> The main deficiency I found was the database front-end which seems very >> limited compared to Access. For most users everything else is equivalent >> or superior to MS Office. You can of course run almost any program in >> VirtualBox as pointed out elsewhere, it really works very well - it >> seems faster than native in most cases due to lack of virus scanner I >> expect. > > Agreed. (Worth reiterating that's a lack of open source in general > problem rather than specifically an Ubuntu issue). > > Rekall was showing a little fledgling promise for a while but it died. > knoda is OK for quick and dirty table data entry and IIRC can manage > basic forms. > > But, you're right - there is absolutely nothing that comes anywhere near > Access that I know off - and I tried a few commercial programs on a > trial basis too. > > Access is the one truly decent bit of software I think MS came out with. > Probably because it is an incredibly hard bit of software to write well - > not something I think would be easy for a couple of bods to knock up in > the evenings. It's very GUI heavy on the user interaction side. > For more simple database jobs I haven't found anything with the simplicity yet very nice reporting chracteristics as MS-Works. Dirt cheap, many PCs have it pre-installed, and I can still read in my old database files from 1989. Surpringly few people know about it even though they usually have MS-Works. The robustness has IMHO suffered a bit after 6.0 so I prefer 6.0 or older. Software is often like wine, older is better. [...] -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: John Devereux on 25 Jan 2010 13:43 Tim Watts <tw(a)dionic.net> writes: > On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:58:06 +0000, John Devereux <john(a)devereux.me.uk> > wrote: > >> The main deficiency I found was the database front-end which seems very >> limited compared to Access. For most users everything else is equivalent >> or superior to MS Office. You can of course run almost any program in >> VirtualBox as pointed out elsewhere, it really works very well - it >> seems faster than native in most cases due to lack of virus scanner I >> expect. > > Agreed. (Worth reiterating that's a lack of open source in general > problem rather than specifically an Ubuntu issue). > > Rekall was showing a little fledgling promise for a while but it died. > knoda is OK for quick and dirty table data entry and IIRC can manage > basic forms. I confess I never heard of either of those.... There is one called "kexi", but the version in Debian does not really compete with Access either. But I note the debian version is 2 years old, and there seems to be a new 2.0 series imminent...) This is *particularly* annoying because the only windows program I still need is due to our company database - which I wrote myself! I've been using Debian for almost everything else for ~10 years. > But, you're right - there is absolutely nothing that comes anywhere near > Access that I know off - and I tried a few commercial programs on a > trial basis too. > > Access is the one truly decent bit of software I think MS came out with. > Probably because it is an incredibly hard bit of software to write well - > not something I think would be easy for a couple of bods to knock up in > the evenings. It's very GUI heavy on the user interaction side. AIUI the actual database backend is very bad. But it is a capable and easy to use database GUI development system. > > Writing something that didn't have much gui support for design (say > required doing the design in a declaritive language of some sort) but > churned out nice guis for the users (and even better, could generate and > run those same guis in a scripted web environment) would be an easier > starting point. Once you have that, it becomes easier to then attack the > design-as-a-gui end. Which is all that is needed, since linux has a good choice of powerful databases (and is likely already used for most of the worlds internet accessable ones). > If you don't have decent event scripting on every widget, and proper > subform support it's a non starter... -- John Devereux
From: Tim Wescott on 25 Jan 2010 14:18 On Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:56:50 -0800, AndyS wrote: > Andy asks: > > I am considering switching from WINDOWS to UBUNTU, which is a > Linnux > based operating system. > > Has anyone here had any experience with it or have any pointers > that > I should be aware of ?? What everyone else said. I've been using Ubuntu on a laptop for a few years, and I've had it on my main desktop for several months now, quite happily. I do need VirtualBox -- my accountant _really_ wants me to use her favorite bookkeeping software, and it only wants to run on Windows. -- www.wescottdesign.com
From: Baron on 25 Jan 2010 15:43
AndyS Inscribed thus: > Andy asks: > > I am considering switching from WINDOWS to UBUNTU, which is a > Linnux > based operating system. > > Has anyone here had any experience with it or have any pointers > that > I should be aware of ?? > > Thanks, > > AndyS W4OAH Ubuntu makes easy things hard. Try others before making a firm choice. Open SuSE <www.opensuse.org/en> Live CD's and full install DVD. Though my personal preference is version 11.0 with KDE3.5 desktop. -- Best Regards: Baron. |