Fourjays Veteran Posted February 25, 2008 Veteran Share Posted February 25, 2008 Recently a friend decided to give Linux a go which has (in addition to numerous XP problems for me) tempted me to try it myself again. I've lost count of how many times I've given Linux a go now but there always seems to be something that niggles me and sends me running back to Windows (last time it was having to reboot to Windows to do design because of IE). However I seem to hang-on to it longer each time so maybe this time I will stick with it for good. :) What I'd eventually like to have is a Linux boot that I am totally comfortable with and has all my work/productivity stuff on it and a "lite as possible" XP boot with games on it - I don't want to have to boot to XP for anything but games. I've spent a few hours today researching various questions and have thought of more since. I'd like the opinion and advice of Neowinians so my latest Linux expedition may be a total success. :D 1) Since last trying Fedora, I've got a DVD Writer (why did it take me so long?). I used the LiveCD Fedora install before. What is the difference (apart from size) between the LiveCD and the 3Gb DVD versions? Can't seem to find any information about this and I'd like to know if it is worth downloading the DVD version or not. 2) I currently use Nero for creating video DVDs with custom menus. I've read a few articles about possibilities (ManDVD was the name of one) although information seems altogether sketchy on menu creating DVD video creators. I've also read that there is a Nero Linux (does that have a menu creator, or just the Burning Rom?). Any advice regards good Linux software for doing this? 3) Last time I felt "naked" using Linux in regards to security - no AV, no FW. I know it is more secure than XP but it can't be invincible. What security threats should I be concerned about on Linux and what software is good for protecting against those threats? It is also worth noting I will be running apache/php5/mysql for local network use (no email server though). Does this change anything security wise? 4) I found lots of information on running IE on Linux (I'm a web designer/developer). Some articles sounded positive, some sounded a bit hit and miss (even regards the same program - "IEs 4 Linux"). Has anyone used "IEs 4 Linux" and is it any good? Are there any alternatives that are worth a look at? 5) I would also like to run Safari. From what I've read it isn't possible to actually run Safari on Linux, but the same engine can be used in another browser if the browser is created using it. Has anyone had any experience of getting Safari, or the Safari engine, running on Linux? 6) Launchy. Not sure I could live without it. I've read about GnomeDo as an alternative. Any experience with/alternatives to GnomeDo? 7) I had NTFS support through ntfs-3g before, but I don't remember if there were any limitations other than the permissions not working (for obvious reasons)? 8) Are there any regular system maintenance tasks that should be done to ensure smooth running (the kind of things CCleaner does for XP; clearing various caches, historys, etc)? What about defragging? 9) My XP is a little bit of a mess in certain areas. Once Fedora is installed I'll want to attempt to fix/clean XP as necessary. Assuming it can't be sorted, would there be any problems with reinstalling XP after installing Fedora? How would I recover the boot menu as XP will overwrite the MBR? 10) The GIMPs interface has always seemed a bit unorganised to me and even more so after using Photoshop (I used the GIMP first). Are there any alternatives to the GIMP as a replacement for Photoshop or is it a case of trying to get used to it? 11) Can I get the new MS "web-fonts" (Calibri, Cambria, etc) in Linux? Will it use any of the MS fonts (Vista or XP) when requested in a web page (I don't remember if it did or not)? 12) I've tried quite a few different editors for HTML/PHP on both XP and Fedora (when I've been using it) but always tend to stay with notepad++ eventually. I can run Notepad++under Wine, but I'd rather have something native. What ones would Neowinians recommend for Fedora? I'm not after anything particular fancy - good syntax highlighting, tabs, maybe a built-in directory browser and it remembers the tabs when I next open it. Errrrr.... I think that's it. Think I've asked enough questions? :laugh: Hopefully this will be the last time I ask a bunch of stupid questions before using Linux. :p Thanks in advanced for any advice. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foub Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 2) I currently use Nero for creating video DVDs with custom menus. I've read a few articles about possibilities (ManDVD was the name of one) although information seems altogether sketchy on menu creating DVD video creators. I've also read that there is a Nero Linux (does that have a menu creator, or just the Burning Rom?). Any advice regards good Linux software for doing this? You can get the Nero for Linux here. It is suppose to have the same functionality of the Windows verion except for using on multiple drives at once. http://www.nero.com/eng/linux3.html 3) Last time I felt "naked" using Linux in regards to security - no AV, no FW. I know it is more secure than XP but it can't be invincible. What security threats should I be concerned about on Linux and what software is good for protecting against those threats? It is also worth noting I will be running apache/php5/mysql for local network use (no email server though). Does this change anything security wise? There are some freeware AV and FW programs for Linux. You can even find many of them included in the ADD/Remove or repository sections of each distro. 7) I had NTFS support through ntfs-3g before, but I don't remember if there were any limitations other than the permissions not working (for obvious reasons)? Ubuntu 7.10 now have complete NTFS support built in. It can now read and write to a NTFS partition. 8) Are there any regular system maintenance tasks that should be done to ensure smooth running (the kind of things CCleaner does for XP; clearing various caches, historys, etc)? What about defragging? Defragging is not really necessary under Linux since it organizes the files differently, especually if you format to ext3, but every 25 boots it will pause and do a sort of a scan disk operation to check your drive for errors and the like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyro Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 1) Since last trying Fedora, I've got a DVD Writer (why did it take me so long?). I used the LiveCD Fedora install before. What is the difference (apart from size) between the LiveCD and the 3Gb DVD versions? Can't seem to find any information about this and I'd like to know if it is worth downloading the DVD version or not. >> Live has only necessary files to run WM and some popular apps (Messenger, Browser, etc) DVD has all binary rpms for all available apps supported in Fedora repo, you normally never have to stay connected to internet when installing applications from DVD . 2) I currently use Nero for creating video DVDs with custom menus. I've read a few articles about possibilities (ManDVD was the name of one) although information seems altogether sketchy on menu creating DVD video creators. I've also read that there is a Nero Linux (does that have a menu creator, or just the Burning Rom?). Any advice regards good Linux software for doing this? >> You can try gnome-baker or braserio ( yum install gnome-baker or braserio ) but k3b is good its popular one. 3) Last time I felt "naked" using Linux in regards to security - no AV, no FW. I know it is more secure than XP but it can't be invincible. What security threats should I be concerned about on Linux and what software is good for protecting against those threats? It is also worth noting I will be running apache/php5/mysql for local network use (no email server though). Does this change anything security wise? >> humm.. well , you can install Firestarter ( yum install firestarter ) its kinda like ZoneAlarm. security is huge and seperate topic, I have posted about it in some other thread here. 4) I found lots of information on running IE on Linux (I'm a web designer/developer). Some articles sounded positive, some sounded a bit hit and miss (even regards the same program - "IEs 4 Linux"). Has anyone used "IEs 4 Linux" and is it any good? Are there any alternatives that are worth a look at? >> Check http://frankscorner.org/index.php?p=ie6 6) Launchy. Not sure I could live without it. I've read about GnomeDo as an alternative. Any experience with/alternatives to GnomeDo? >> http://do.davebsd.com/ Gnome-do is nice, i have installed it ( yum install gnome-do ) but dont use it much but its nice handy app for fetching all stuffs in quick ( im's bookrmarks, emails or apps ) 8) Are there any regular system maintenance tasks that should be done to ensure smooth running (the kind of things CCleaner does for XP; clearing various caches, historys, etc)? What about defragging? >> humm, only thing i ever do is clean cache of Firefox etc, Ext2/3 does'nt need defragging actually but you can do it using some apps , dont know which ones. 9) My XP is a little bit of a mess in certain areas. Once Fedora is installed I'll want to attempt to fix/clean XP as necessary. Assuming it can't be sorted, would there be any problems with reinstalling XP after installing Fedora? How would I recover the boot menu as XP will overwrite the MBR? >> Even if Grub does'nt recognize your XP , you can easily edit boot sequence or add entries in /boot/grub/menu.lst 10) The GIMPs interface has always seemed a bit unorganised to me and even more so after using Photoshop (I used the GIMP first). Are there any alternatives to the GIMP as a replacement for Photoshop or is it a case of trying to get used to it? >> Well you can try http://www.inkscape.org/ ( yum install inkscape ) 11) Can I get the new MS "web-fonts" (Calibri, Cambria, etc) in Linux? Will it use any of the MS fonts (Vista or XP) when requested in a web page (I don't remember if it did or not)? >> You can install fonts in ~/.fonts and run "fc-cache" to install it, then when you want to change fonts, you will see this new ones in list. 12) I've tried quite a few different editors for HTML/PHP on both XP and Fedora (when I've been using it) but always tend to stay with notepad++ eventually. I can run Notepad++under Wine, but I'd rather have something native. What ones would Neowinians recommend for Fedora? I'm not after anything particular fancy - good syntax highlighting, tabs, maybe a built-in directory browser and it remembers the tabs when I next open it. I find Gedit with some plugins/modifications nice enough to do normal web-coding, you can try http://bluefish.openoffice.nl/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And Nah, not stupid questions, this are Q's for someone who has used linux and want to try moree. Enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fourjays Veteran Posted February 26, 2008 Author Veteran Share Posted February 26, 2008 Thanks :) I'm going to give Ubuntu one more go. I had a lot of problems with it the first 3-4 times (problems with the xorg.conf changing under updates, login resolution/refresh rate different from desktop, grub.conf being destroyed under updates), then finally totally gave up (and switched to Fedora) when they spontaneously removed some support for SATA on older Intel chipsets from the kernel (which meant a workaround causing a 10 minute boot time or no boot). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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