[plug] Can of Tuna

[Christian]

On Mon, Apr 09, 2001 at 09:58:53AM +0800, Nick Miller wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> A couple of people have written to challenge me on the issue of Linux software,
> along the general lines of 'Anything Windows can do, Linux can do'.

You missed out 'better'. ;-)  Seriously though, I'm probably not the
Linux zealout I think you mistake me for.  I avoid Windows like the
plague because it's just too painful for me to bear anymore.  I like
Unix and Linux has the biggest range of software than the others plus
better hardware support and nice package management (under Debian).  If
Debian released a BSD version I would definitely at least try it.  Linux
allows me to do my work with a minimum amount of pain and with a
generous amount of flexibility.  It doesn't get in my way either to try
and "help" me or to restrict me.  Therefore I like it.  It isn't the be
all and end all by a long shot.  It's just better than most of the
alternatives most of the time.

I don't care too much whether other people use it.  I especially don't
care if the average non-technical user uses it.  I like it so I use it.
It may not be able to do everything you request below (although I
suspect it can probably do at least 90% of it) but our requirements are
different.

 
> The Linux challenge.
> 
> Here's a list of the programs on my PC at the moment that I regularly use. Which
> ones can be replaced, with no loss of functionality, by a Linux alternative? And
> what Linux product, specifically (so I can verify claims).

If you're not subscribed to the PLUG list then you should check out the
web site and read the archives (if you're not already).  The list has
already pretty much answered all these questions but I'll give you my
version.

> - Word

I don't use a word processor very much because it just makes the process
of writing the sorts of documents I write much harder than it needs to
be.  I use LyX which is a GUI front-end to LaTeX.  When I need to do
word processing I use either WordPerfect, Star Office or Abiword.  All
run nicely and can do all the useful things Word can do.

www.lyx.org

> - Eudora

There are LOTS of email clients for Linux so there is lots of choice for
this.  Probably more than there is under Windows!  I personally use mutt
because it is almost infinitely configurable and extremely powerful.  It
also integrates with GNUPG better than any other mail client and its
MIME support is extremely good.  If you want a GUI client then there are
lots of options.  Do a search of Freshmeat or wherever.

www.mutt.org
www.gnupg.org
www.freshmeat.net

> - Microsoft Explorer (inc. news reader)

You mean Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer?  I assume the latter but
there are options for both.  Obviously Netscape 4.x is one option and
includes a news reader.  So does Mozilla.  Galeon is a really nice and
quick web browser although it is still in heavy development (current
version is 0.10).  Konqueror is really quick, includes file manager
functionality and is pretty stable by all accounts.  My personal
favourite news reader is Pan but there are lots of options.

> - Napster

Gnapster does everything I need but there are half a dozen options for
this too.

> - MusicMatch (I use it to play MP3s, with trippy visualisations, and compile them

XMMS does this plus comes with heaps of plug-ins to do all sorts of
visualisations and other eye-candy.  I think there are at least half a
dozen other good options but I've never tried them.

> to burn a CD)
> - CD copier

I like Gnome Toaster but there is LOTS of software out there that does
all this.

> - Ulead Media Studio Pro - video capture, professional edit with plenty of
> transitions, can handle DV, MPEG-1 and -2, MJPEG, AVI etc.

It's incredibly ironic that you've included this in your list.  Recently
my dad has probably wasted over 150 hours trying to get Windows to allow
him to pull down video from his DVC and edit it.  Previously he had it
working *sort of* by disabling all the other hardware in the system but
apparently Windows has recently and spontaneous stopped and now it
doesn't work at all and won't let him re-install the driver he needs.
So, basically, I'm pretty sceptical that Windows can effectively do what
you claim here anyway. But, assuming it can in some bare bones hardware
configuration, I think you'll find Linux can actually do it too.  I
haven't got around to trying it myself but the latest kernel supports
IEEE 1394 and there seems to be plenty of software out there to do video
editing under Linux too.  Programs like Coriander, dvgrab, Kino and
Broadcast 2000 all seem to have this functionality.  Although he's never
been interested in Linux before, my dad has actually been quite
interested in me setting up Linux on his machine so he can actually do
some useful work with it.  I'll be happy to let you know how successful
this turns out.

> - Quicktime

My understanding is that this is a proprietary format and so isn't
supported under Linux.  As a proprietary format, this non-support is
really a feature.  There may be some proprietary program, however, that
supports it either natively or under emulation.

> And games (I'll leave it generic to make things slightly fairer):
> 3D pool
> Racing game
> first-person shoot-em-up
> God game
> Arguing that you can dual-boot two operating systems, Windows and Linux, is no
> answer in my opinion. Dual-boot is a pain. Logically, there is no reason to switch
> to Linux unless A) Linux offers me everything that Windows does, or B) Linux does
> something useful that Windows can't.

I don't play games so I wouldn't know. But since Windows requires
regular reboots anyway, I don't see that booting into a token Windows
partition to play the odd game is that much of a problem.  Linux offers
a stable, reliable, powerful system which costs you virtually nothing.
Windows can't offer this so maybe you should be asking the question the
other way around.

 
> Interested to hear your response. Also generally on the topic: is Linux appropriate
> for the average home user? Or is it still a specialist OS? Bear in mind I write a
> column for the general PC consumer, not the hobbyist or IT professional.
> 
> Caveat: Because of the Easter break, I need responses by Tuesday evening!

Are you going to test out any of this yourself?  (Assuming you know
how.)  You seem to be giving yourself very limited time to do the
research we all know that journalists do before filing a story...

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