Hi all, it will be the first time I make the jump over to Linux Ubuntu Studio. I will have a new system for it around an ASUS P5Q Deluxe with and Intel Q9950S (I hope I be able to get that one otherwise it will be the normal Q9950) with a Hyper H50 and some decent 8 or 16 GB of RAM (Depending if I get myself a replacement Graphics Card and how much is left over. Everything else I got. Will have to chase the drivers for an Epson Stylus Photo R300 and an Canon Scanner LIDE 60 as well as my other hardware if it does not come with it. Anyone with any experience that they would like to share? I do a lot of Video and Sound editing, use Usenet via NewsRover and the Net I use Firefox for. I do the odd letters on Office and use After Effects with Adobe Premiere. Any tips, liks, pitfalls and other experience that someone would like to share with a total beginner in Linux and 64bit software would be welcome. Many thanks
eeek, might i suggest vanilla ubuntu then add the apps. A few people on here have had nothing but trouble with ubuntu studio. As far as 64bit in inux its absolutely no problem, most of the software you'll want is in the repositories and if its not in those you'll want to compile it from source any way so its no poblem.
I agree, ubuntu studio is fantastic however its easier to use standard ubuntu and get the apps. Ive seen many a story of issues relating to studio that have been solved by installing plain ubuntu.
This is making me now a bit nervous and giving it a second thought. I am an absolute newbie and this will be my FIRST Linux program ever and need it to have it as easy working as possible (at least in the beginning) but this now gives me second thoughts. Apart from this forum I do not know where to look for STRAIGHT answers (and even in here I do not always get them). I guess this is why M$ has such a large customer base. I googled for some help on Linux and in particular Ubuntu Studio but come up with 1000s of pages and do not even know what to look out for. A list of Linux programs and their equivalent in MS Win would be great but I can not find it. I have given above the list of things that I most (to more than 95%) use the puter and Ubuntu Studio seems to have most of it. But the problem is, as my 'old' puter is coming to its end (well the HDD is giving up and as I work with HD content from my cameras I could do with something faster than just an AMD 939 x2-3800+ on an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (even I never use the SLI, but the board is just what I was looking for at the time) and working with XP-Pro 32bit. But with my new build I need something that comes 'in a box' and whith I can get on over a short period of time. I need it for work and loose time as it is at the moment and without something that works pretty much straight away I will loose to much time. Now I want to go over to 64bit and as M$ is just squeezing more and more $$$ out of me I thought I go with Linux and give it a try, but hearing now that I may got problems out of the 'box' I am not so sure again. Is all the Hardware that I got and that I will get supported??? Is there anywhere I can read more about Ubuntu Studio 64bit in PLAIN English and the programs that I need (or come with it)? Is there a forum anywhere that only deals with users of Ubuntu Studio? Please I need some help here because by now I really do not know what to get or what to do. Thanks to you all.
windows/linux programs Hey guys this is my first post (long time lurker ) and i saw an oppurtunity to help! so here i am. SmutjeUK - can you name some programs that are important to you in windows? and i'll try and give you the GNU/linux alternative. But i'll start with a few simple ones: Firefox for most distro's is the default browser Photoshop-GIMP MS office - Open office Wmp - Vlc(not standard but get it by download it'll play almost anything)
When i came across Ubuntu Studio i was amazed by it on there webpage, downloaded both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions and tested them on two different machines. The lastest release didn't want to see my wireless cards, first problem. Second problem, the app's they claimed to be pre installs weren't there you had to search and install them yourself. 3rd, unstable as F**k So i tried version 8 something, still crap! Currently using ubuntu 9.04 with all the apps i wanted. Its flawless!
<3 Hardware manufacturers and MS are either in bed with eachother (that's one big orgy); or the manufacturers can't be bothered with coding drivers for the Linux kernel; or they refuse to release their specifications/code so volunteers in the community can code the drivers. It's not a "Linux problem" per se - in the sense that it's not the GNU/Linux distributions' fault: the blame lies with the manufacturers. The 1000s of pages, well, welcome to using GNU/Linux Sometimes you need to search with very specific terms; but you can also try to join one of the many forums dedicated to the OS or a particular distribution. Ubuntu's got a huge forum (maybe too huge for its own good, though). Try linuxappfinder.com and directory.fsf.org. The latter only deals with free software so you have the added benefit of being on a proverbial moral highground
lol that was an edit for you actually, i remembered seeing in another thread and your sig you saying it was GNU/Linux
This is going to be the start of a beautiful bromance. To not stray too far off-topic: There's also a big Windows-to-Linux-kernel applications list at http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software . If all else fails, and you don't find a suitable, native alternative to your Windows software; you can try to run it in Wine or Crossover. Crossover doesn't seem available at no cost, though, and I'm not sure what license it's distributed under.
Well what can I say. Thanks for all the input. So, you guys/galls reckon I am better of just to get my paws on Linux Ubuntu 64bit? I am using the following programs and sorry but its a bit on the larger side: Adobe Premiere (not elements but the full program) Adobe After Effects Flash Acrobat (Not reader but the full program) Corel Photo Paint 12 Corel Draw 12 News Rover (mainly for .nzb files but also to scroll groups) WinRAR QuickPar AGV Free Spybot S&D Ad-Aware Hardware Firewall so I will need a good software alternative Word Excel Power Point Firefox (but that is already covered) Xvid2DVD DVD Shrink Nero AutoRute 2005 QBase VLC Player Media Player Classic IncrediMail (Guess that would be Thunderbird) An 'old' metric to imperial program and a few other sound and video specific programs. I really do apreciate all your help and as I watch my videos over a media player (WD TV) that reads from an NTFS formatted HDD, can I drop video files just in to that HDD (and the appropriate folders) as WD TV recognises only NTFS or FAT32 (but with FAT I got the problem of file size)? I know 1000s of questions but I am so unsure now and any help would be appreciated.
off topic but whats the metric to imperial program your using, i've just always used web based convertors, but sometimes i am without net access.
I have no idea what some of these even do, but I'll give a go for the ones I think I know: - Flash: if you mean the player, it's in the Ubuntu repositories as flashplugin-nonfree. If you mean creating Flash, I have no idea. - Corel Photo Paint 12: uhm... GIMP? - WinRAR: unrar or unrar-free. The former has slight modification problems in the code (so it's not completely free), but sometimes works better depending on the .rar file. - AGV Free: viruses that run on the Linux kernel aren't exactly en courant. Common sense is all you need (generally speaking), and you don't even have to download that. - Spybot S&D: as above. - Ad-Aware: as above. - Hardware Firewall: if the hardware firewall doesn't work with GNU/Linux (it's worth a googling it though), Firestarter seems fairly decent. There's also a good tutorial on IPCop here. And, as you should always do, check out the FSF directory! - Word: OpenOffice Writer. - Excel: OpenOffice Excel. - Power Point: OpenOffice Impress. To use certain fonts you'd find on Windows, install ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts (non-free). - Xvid2DVD: read this. - Nero: Brasero. There are also a lot of command-line burners which take up even less memory. There's also a list here. - VLC Player: VLC. - Media Player Classic: VLC. - IncrediMail (Guess that would be Thunderbird): Thunderbird is a good choice (extensions etc). For more Outlook-like looks there's also Evolution or KMail. As always, there are a lot of choices. - An 'old' metric to imperial program: go on an adventure and program it yourself? Alternatively, there are a lot of online alternatives such as onlineconversion.com . Ubuntu shouldn't have a problem reading NTFS drives. You may need Samba though, but I'm not sure (I don't have any NTFS formatted drives). However, with the popularity of Ubuntu amongst new users, this question can surely be answered with google/Ubuntu forums. (Actually, if you google it, you'd probably end up on the Ubuntu forums!) You have to realise that this is a major change, and will involve a lot of learning and getting used to new applications. Being proficient in using an OS isn't something you do in one day (unfortunately). However, it is definitely worth the time, effort and frustration. In the long run, you'll stop paying for nearly every software application you use; and you gain a lot of freedom (even if you can't program yourself; you can always ask an acquintance/pay someone to change the code for you and make a program perfect for you).
Imperium is right - getting into GNU/Linux isn't just installing Ubuntu and expecting it to be usable right off the bat. Even though Ubuntu is considered a user-friendly distro, you're going to have to spend time learning about GNU/Linux and how to use the terminal, new programs, etc. Most of this you can probably work out as you go along, but I'd say for the first month or so the Ubuntu forums will be your best friend. NTFS drives can be read with the ntfs-3g driver, which in my experience is very stable and generally doesn't cause problems. IIRC Samba is for reading Windows network shares; it's actually been a while since I last had to deal with NTFS in GNU/Linux as well, so don't quote me on that. I would actually not recommend VLC for media-intensive tasks; it's not nearly as full-featured as WMP or iTunes, even though it's probably one of the best media players around. If you're accustomed to the features of a big media player, moving to a simpler one like VLC would probably not be the best move. The only media player I used was Amarok (until 2.0 shot it straight down the sh*tter), and version 1.4 was wonderful. I hear Songbird is good, but it's basically an iTunes clone with a web browser built in. NINJA EDIT: saw Imperium's sig, had to edit all my Linux entries into GNU/Linux
Complaining and pointing out "GNU/Linux" vs. "Linux" is stupid and just wastes everybody's time. Like somebody wouldn't understand what just "Linux" means... We don't say "Microsoft Windows Vista" either for example, just "Vista" or "Windows".
It's a very 'old' program thats called E-Converter V1.22, it cam in a zip file that contained an exe file called Econ.zip and is/was freeware/beerware (978kb). I have it from the win 95 days and it still runs fine. shame that they never bought an update out as some more unusual (Nautical is one example) measurements are missing but all the usual are there. Very tiny but extremely handy. have a Google it may still be about if not I still got it on a floppy and could forward it (but it is an zipped .exe file!). I just love it and its on every computer at home as it is so handy.
Many thanks for all your help. I realise that it will not be easy sailing but having to pay every so often for Programs from M$ does my head in. I am happy with XP-Pro but need the 64bit version to be efficient in rendering/editing Videos. My next 'BIG' Video project is in Q1/10 so I have till then time to get acquainted. Having again to buy 3 licences for Win7 would burn a hole so big I could get a new camera for that and it may not even run on all of my machines (one is still running ME, I know that some say it was ****, but it does exactly what I need it for but reading though M$ compliance lists for hardware ME will not be compatible with Win 7 and I would have to build another rig and get another licence. That would be 4 licenses just for the desktops, now take the two Laptops and I come to 6 licenses thats about £1200 in our money. Vista crashes so XP I need or Win 7 and as support stops for XP (and this comes straight from a M$ engineer) I rather leave and move over to Linux. I do not mind paying for licences (Adobe got over £3000 of me alone) but M$ is getting greedy and I rather pay some Linux developers than a penny more to M$. Anyway thanks for all your help so far and I be sure that you will hear the name 'SmutjeUK' often over the next few month. Just another one that pops just in my head, any good Usenet programs? I use NewsRover to download .nzb files and to put them back together again as well as surfing the usenet. Is there anything similar for Linux? P.S. The Hardware Firewall is on my MoBo (ASUS K8N......) so I can not make use of it so I will need a software one. Many thanks for all your excellent help so far and I hope that I can re-pay it one day in one way or the other. SmutjeUK
For my converting needs, I use Google (eg. 1 2 3) and Microsoft Calculator + (Plus). Sorry for going a bit offtopic!
For that conversion program you could probably use WINE to run it, it seems to run almost anything that isn't 3d, i've had no luck with games etc and i had trouble un-installing so i'm not a fan. You could also run win 95 or ME or something on a virtual machine using http://www.virtualbox.org/ , i found VB to be quite good, but running it on a machine with a small amount of memory and trying graphical intense stuff makes it a dog lol i i know stupid to try .
For a conversion program (and a hell of lot more) you can always try Qalculate it has both a GTK and QT front end (I guess you'll be wanting the GTK one) or for a CLI program there is qalc, which is what Qalculate uses funnily enough.
To be honest, I don't think it's useless. We're not talking about a huge company, but the work of thousands of unpaid volunteers. They deserve recognition for their work. All GNU/Linux distributions run GNU Project software as their main user-interface software (Gnome, to give " big" example). Calling it "Linux" is, in my view, denying these people their work; and unacceptable. As I've said before: how would you feel if you were one of them, and your hard, unpaid work was uncredited/not realised by the people using it? Personally, I'd be pretty pissed off and not motivated to code any more - and the loss of coders is something the GNU/Linux (GNU/Hurd; Linux; GNU; *BSD; etc) cannot afford. And, to be fair, nobody in this thread has complained/pointed out the term: it appears to be my signature that inspired the edits/changes in terms. It is hardly invasive, and I'm not really a "convert to the Church of Emacs or face eternal damnation!!1" kind of guy. However, I am slightly empathetic, and reiterate my last point: what if you were one of the GNU software coders, and you read every day how people love "Linux", when in fact they're talking about Nano or even sodding Gedit? Thanks for that! I'll be sure to force my English girlfriend to install that on her laptop. It gets on my manboobs when she switches our bathroom scales to "stones" and "pounds". I weigh 80.9 kg, not "178 lbs", goddamnit!
