Trying to migrate from Windows to Linux

[rfkrocktk]

I'm a Windows user. I always have been, and I think I almost always will have a use for Windows.

However, I really want to give Linux a try. Apple is not an option for me, but I think I could do with a break from Windows and I want to see what's out there. So far, I've looked at Ubuntu which seems pretty sweet, but I wanted someone's opinion on what distribution of Linux I should try. I'm a developer on the Flash/Java platforms, I use Adobe Creative Suite pretty often, I think that Eclipse supports Linux, half of my music is in .wma... so I don't know what's supported or where to start. Could someone help me out or point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

[techieMoe]

So far, I've looked at Ubuntu which seems pretty sweet, but I wanted someone's opinion on what distribution of Linux I should try. I'm a developer on the Flash/Java platforms, I use Adobe Creative Suite pretty often, I think that Eclipse supports Linux, half of my music is in .wma... so I don't know what's supported or where to start. Could someone help me out or point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

You can play WMAs in Linux if you download the proper codecs. In Ubuntu this is as simple as installing ubuntu-restricted-extras from Synaptic Package Manager.

Java runs great in Linux, and I've done some development work using the Linux Eclipse client with no issues. I'm not so sure about Flash and the Adobe Suites, but you said yourself you intend to keep Windows around. I'd boot into Windows for those apps, personally.

As far as which to try, that's a really hard question to answer. It's mostly up to personal taste. Most major distributions have exactly the same features and capabilities. If there's a program you like on one, it will work on another. It's just a matter of which Linux fits your style best. I'd recommend looking at the most popular ones on DistroWatch.

[danielsmw]

frkrocktk,

Welcome to the Linux community, and these forums! I hope that Linux will end up working out for you and complement your Windows system. As for the distribution, it is my opinion that Ubuntu and Fedora are both good for a first system. They are both very stable and compatible with many, many programs.

Java is, of course, cross-platform, so Eclipse will work "natively" (in a manner of speaking). I've never had any problems with it in Linux. However, I've never developed Flash, so someone else will have to pitch in on that point.

As for Creative Suite, you won't be able to natively run those programs. So, if you want to accomplish tasks related to those applications on Linux, you have three options:

(1) Install alternate programs. Gimp is an exceptional program that can replicate nearly every function of Photoshop, except for CMYK color conversion (not sure if you'll be needing that). Several other of the CS products also have OSS counterparts; Inkscape and Scribus come to mind. However, you won't be able to get the entire feature rich suite that you'd enjoy in Windows.

(2) Install a Wine-like compatibility layer. Wine is a free, open source program which establishes a compatibility layer of sorts (they call it a bottle) in which Windows programs can run and be translated to a way Linux can understand it. Compatibility has increased significantly over the years, but it's not perfect, and there are bound to be issues with high-end and complicated programs like you'd find in CS. There are also commercial versions of Wine which have better compatibility, and some of them may even claim to be nearly 100% with some Adobe software.

(3) Install a virtual machine on the Linux box. This is kind of cheating, of course, but it gets the job done without rebooting. But if you have a Windows machine nearby, there's really no reason to do this, in my opinion.

I've always found music conversion to be complicated, but it can be done, and you might even find codecs that will allow you to play wma files.

Hope it works out for you! If nothing else, I think you'll be very pleased with your development options.

[rfkrocktk]

Thanks for getting back to me guys!

I develop in FlashDevelop on Flash Platform, it's a .NET program :\
Good to know that there are translator programs. I heard something about running two os's on one box and being able to seamlessly switch between them. How easy is this to set up? I know about dualboot systems, but I don't want to have to reboot every time I want to change what I'm using. I'm just weighing my options here

[danielsmw]

Yeah, running two os's at the same time is called paravirtualization. It's my understanding that the de facto standard for this is a program called Xen, but I've never used it myself. Might be worth looking into. I heard you can get up to 95% efficiency on each operating system (compared to "100%" efficiency running by itself).

Let us know what happens!

[techieMoe]

I heard something about running two os's on one box and being able to seamlessly switch between them. How easy is this to set up? I know about dualboot systems, but I don't want to have to reboot every time I want to change what I'm using. I'm just weighing my options here

Well, the only way I know of to accomplish this is to install one of the operating systems in a virtual machine environment, using a program like VirtualBox, VirtualPC, VMWare or Parallels. This essentially gives you a sandbox inside your host OS to play with a second OS like it's a separate computer.

The downside to this is that performance will be much slower than a native installation and you'll get no 3D graphics support at all. This means no flashy desktop effects or 3D games on the virtual OS. If that's acceptable, virtual machines are a very safe way to play with a new OS without the risk of screwing up your existing system, because they allow you to basically delete the machine and start over if something goes terribly wrong.

[rfkrocktk]

Installing VirtualBox right now. It looks like a great bet. Xen seemed extremely complicated to install so I went for VirtualBox. Thanks guys for getting me started. I can't wait to fire up some Linux distros and get going!

- TK