A general plan to migrate to Linux -

[cwn33]

Hello from Arkansas,

Brand new to this; I'm Charles and I've read the "...very useful threads that answer the most popular 'new to Linux' and 'new to Linux Forums' questions", and took the distribution quizes. I had been leaning toward Ubuntu, and it came up on both tests.

I use WinXP on a half dozen, or more, computers. I think in 2009 I shall try to get "lined-out" with Linux. No compelling reason, I guess. Maybe just curiosity. I've done a few dual boots using Suse (10.1), Kubuntu (6.10), and Fedora Core 6 - but never really got the hang of it. Also, I think I prefer to have everything on one computer - not dual boot.

The main software I use now, and would be compatible, or replaceable, in Linux, include -

MS Word & Excel >>>>Open Office Writer & Calc
MS Publisher >>>>Open Office Draw
Photoshop >>>>GIMP/ImageMagic
Opera/Firefox>>>Opera/Firefox
Thunderbird>>>>Thunderbird

But there are two programs (MS Visual FoxPro and QuickBooks) that I've used for some time and am pretty entrenched with. These programs won't work on Linux, it's my understanding, except maybe under either of the following:

1) Virtual Machine, like VMWare, VirtualBox, Win4Lin, QEmu
2) Emulation, like WINE

Seems like there's always 15 ways to do everything, and pros and cons with each (not unlike building a house). I was trying to work up an overall plan (that might work the best, present the fewest problems and offer support when I get stalled out), learn all I can about it, and stay with it. I suppose my tentative plan, at this moment, would be Ubuntu and VirtualBox, but it changes constantly. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd sure appreciate it. -

Thanks, Charles

[oz]

Welcome to the forums... hope Linux turns out to be a great experience for you!

[gruven]

Welcome, I too am from Arkansas.

I use WinXP on Virtualbox for various things (zune, blackberry desktop manager) and it hasn't let me down yet. Sure, the open source world changes a lot, but I have no doubt you will be able to keep up. Most distros are set up so that you only have to do a major upgrade or possibly a reinstall every 6 months or so. You don't even really have to reinstall that often, that is just usually how often a new version comes out. Most people go a year or two without upgrading major versions.

For finance programs you can probably try Gnucash or Kmymoney. They are both very capable but may not be what you need.

If the programs run in wine though, I would recommend trying that. That way, you don't have the overhead of running a full virtual machine, unless you have a powerful enough machine to not care.

[GNU-Fan]

Also, I think I prefer to have everything on one computer - not dual boot.
...
Seems like there's always 15 ways to do everything, and pros and cons with each (not unlike building a house). I was trying to work up an overall plan (that might work the best, present the fewest problems and offer support when I get stalled out), learn all I can about it, and stay with it.

Well, I think the con for this plan is that you depend on a capable and convenient system too early. There seems to be no fall-back system, putting you under unnecessary pressure.

Dual-boots are not that bad for starting, actually. There will be several small things different than what you are used to, and some of these you will want to change to your satisfaction. This will be possible of course, but also will take some time.

When I migrated, I said to myself "I will change ONE thing bugging me per day."
(That way, you will also learn a lot about the system)
There was no time pressure, because I could always boot to the other OS in time of need. After some weeks, this became less and less necessary, and I actually started to love the new environment, where everything began to work and look the way I wanted it.

[cwn33]

Thanks for your comments. I'll research those financial programs (Gnucash and Kmymoney).

[cwn33]

Thanks for your comments. I see what you mean about the, "...capable and convenient system too early", maybe causing pressure, but I'd be using one of my computers that is not integral to my daily computer functions. Shouldn't be any pressure. The reason for the "house analogy" is that I'm actually in that process right now - we started our house several months ago. One bid from a framer wrote, "$100 each change out" along with his price, meaning that once he gets something framed and we say, "I think we'd rather have that door opening three feet to the left", that we'll pay extra for it. So, I was just trying to avoid a lot of "changes in progress", realizing that nothing will be perfect. I'll try to read about Debian. Thanks again - Charles