Kicking Windows to the Door

Ok, so you have made the leap to the world of Linux, but perhaps you still dual boot to run Adobe PhotoShop or some other program due to not knowing if there are equivalent (or near equivalent) programs available under Linux. What can you do?

Well, luckily, there are a variety of ways to kick the Windows habit.

1) Wine - Wine is a Windows compatibility layer, and it runs under Linux. It will allow you to run a variety of Windows programs under Linux. There is an application database you can search to see if your program will work with wine, and how to install it. If your program is not listed, you can still try and install it by running the install.exe (or setup program) with wine. Please submit your experience to the applications database so others may learn from your experience.

2) Linux App Finder - This site categorizes a list of common Windows programs and maps them to equivalent Linux programs. Depending on what features you require/use, the Linux alternative may provide a reasonable functional equivalent. However, for more complex Windows programs and the power user, you may need to experiment with one or more alternatives to get the right mix for you.

Pay it Forward Works for Linux Too - Part II

Well, it's only been a short while, and I have already seen two of my friends switch a friend each to Kubuntu.

It seems the concept of "pay it forward" may actually work in the real world. I guess time will tell.

You may also find this post on the Ubuntu Forums to be an interesting read on what people find is their last hang-up on switching completely to Ubuntu, or what finally tipped the scales for them.

For some, it's a working Adobe PhotoShop via Wine. For others it's the availability of a comparable Office Package. Whatever their reasons, people are continuing to make the switch daily.

State of the Nation...

Well, no - not really... more a state of what I am working on currently (or more accurately - haven't been).

I've been pretty busy with work as of late, just having returned from Mississausa for our quarterly managers meeting.

Anyway, it's been a number of weeks since I last provided any updates, so here goes:

1) Wine-Doors is progressing nicely. I have been testing snapshots of the application on and off, and I think this is going to be a great little application.

2) Bug fixes and general ebuild updates - it's a constant battle to ensure we keep up with the latest portage revisions. Most times I get the ebuilds bumped on the same day, however, if I do not, wait 24 hours before posting a bump request as a courtesy. No one likes a zero day bump request

3) Teaching myself python. Yep, I went out and bought my first dummies guide for python. I already know how to program in about 10+ languages, so python should be a breeze. Really, all I need are the basics for the syntax, etc. Anyway, the goal here is to get up to speen on python so I can possibly write some screenlets myself :)

Anyway, I hope to get back to tackling some of the items on my TODO list soon.

Kwine - KDE Wine integration

A while back someone posted up a package for better Wine integration into KDE. This appeared on KDE-Look, and seeing as I was both a Wine and KDE fan, I figured I'd try it out.

First, I did the manual compile thing. Worked fine. Then, the next logical step was to package it up for inclusion in an overlay. Well, I had this done a loooong time ago, and it's been sitting in my local overlay for ever.

Anyway, it's now hosted in Xeffects overlay.