Ed Sutherland wrote:
Let me hasten to say this is not, as the subject line might seem to imply, a Linux-bashing question. I'm considering moving from Windows XP to some form of Linux, most likely debian. I'd like to know beforehand, what functionality I'll lose when moving from Windows to debian. For instance, point-and-click ease-of-use in installing applications. Another example: multimedia, such as playing MP3 audio files or downloading pictures from my digital camera.
There are plenty of point-and-click tools. The main thing is that you need to educate yourself on the choices and then choose one. As far as multimedia, there are plenty of options. Personally I use xine and get the w32-codecs package from Marillat, but others prefer mplayer or any of the other number of available front ends. Downloading pictures from a digital camera is much easier than in Windows. To start with, there is no need to install extra software. You simply plug in your camera and if it is recognized (by a program like gPhoto), it will Just Work(TM) and you will be able to copy directly to and from the camera just as though it were any other mass storage device attached to your machine. As far as installing applications, with programs like synaptic (GUI point-and-click) and aptitude (console-based, but still very easy to use) it is simply a matter of choosing your new application, and telling it to go. The debian archive has more than 14,000 packages now. It will probably take you a while to discover what all of them are and you will likely only ever use a small fraction of them, but almost every available and commonly used free software program is already packaged for Debian. If the event that you find one that is not, or you have non-free program that you buy (like VMWare or Matlab), you can use the great program called checkinstall to manage your installation of programs that are not natively part of Debian. This allows you install programs and not worry about any difficulty in uninstalling them later. This is one program I sure wish I knew about when I was a newbie. Incidentally, if you are going to use Java (by installing a Sun or IBM JRE or JDK) then I highly recommend that you look at java-package. That is a neat little utility that will take the binary install package from Sun or IBM and Debian-ize it on the fly so that your Java installation can be managed like the rest of your Debian installed programs.
I like the 'back-end' stability that Linux has, but question whether that stability will be negated by a more difficult user interface, or lack thereof. Windows users poo-poo Linux while fans of Linux complain Windows is straight from h*ll -- isn't there a middle-ground truth? Thanks.
Much of it has to do with choice. That is Linux's greatest advantage over most any other OS. The variety of choice. Naturallym some people dislike it. Like when someone spends 30 years in prison, a return to free society seems to overwhelm them with choices at every turn. In Windows-land many things are forced on the user with no easy avenue for change. In Linux-land everything is your choice. If you are having trouble choosing, then Google or post here on the list and I'm sure that you will receive plenty of replies from people on all sides of any particular choice. Such as, which text editor is best (vim, of course) or which window manager is the slickest (naturally it is WindowMaker), and so on. I know I have sort of flooded your request with lots of info, but I hope you find it helpful. Regards, -Roberto Sanchez
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