Calling Linux/Ubuntu users

googler

I'm toying with the idea of switching to Linux/Ubuntu altogether, but every time I toy with the idea, I find myself wondering "Can Ubuntu do this?"... so I made up a list of the most common things I do on my PC, and wondered if anyone can spot any roadblocks? Anything that I absolutely would not be able to do if I switched....


Web Browser(s)

PDF reader

Malwarebytes, McAffee Security Scanner

Disk Diagnostic tools

GNU Backgammon

Photo Editors

Word Processors (Word and Libre Office)

Spreadsheet

Music file tagger (mp3tag)

CD ripper (EAC)

DVD player (Cyberlink PowerDVD)

Video player (quicktime, Win Media Player)

Video editor (Win Movie Maker)

Music editors/players (foobar, Audacity)

iTunes

Logitech Media Server (to control Squeezebox Touch music player)

CPU & Fan Speed monitors

CD & DVD burning tools

Undervalued

googler wrote: »

I'm toying with the idea of switching to Linux/Ubuntu altogether, but every time I toy with the idea, I find myself wondering "Can Ubuntu do this?"... so I made up a list of the most common things I do on my PC, and wondered if anyone can spot any roadblocks? Anything that I absolutely would not be able to do if I switched....


Web Browser(s)

PDF reader

Malwarebytes, McAffee Security Scanner

Disk Diagnostic tools

GNU Backgammon

Photo Editors

Word Processors (Word and Libre Office)

Spreadsheet

Music file tagger (mp3tag)

CD ripper (EAC)

DVD player (Cyberlink PowerDVD)

Video player (quicktime, Win Media Player)

Video editor (Win Movie Maker)

Music editors/players (foobar, Audacity)

iTunes

Logitech Media Server (to control Squeezebox Touch music player)

CPU & Fan Speed monitors

CD & DVD burning tools

As far as I know genuine MS Word is not available for Linux which triggers my general warning that Libra Office etc, whilst OK up to a point, can struggle with more complex documents and templates created on the real thing.

Fairly sure iTunes is not available for Linux either.

pramsay13

What undervalued said.
I changed about 10 years ago and have never regretted it although I wasn't tied in by Apple.
If you're unsure you could test it out using a live cd / usb or even do a dual boot for a while to make sure.

martinthebandit

Why not instal it alongside windows and have a play?

https://hackernoon.com/installing-ubuntu-18-04-along-with-windows-10-dual-boot-installation-for-deep-learning-f4cd91b58557

boliston

the only program i need to require windows is quickbooks which i get around by using wine - i use darktable instead of lightroom which i prefer to lightroom

S0litaire

No iTunes directly but their is "WINE" (Wine Is Not an Emulator) which can get some versions of iTunes up and running in Linux. Or you can use Virtualisation to spin up a small windows install and use iTunes via that.

Libre/Open Office is very much compatible with day to day MS Office documents. It might throw a wobbly if things get too complex (i.e. some specialized spreadsheet analysis).
About the only issue I found in day to day usage is Font types, Linux/Ubuntu don't have Microsoft's own fonts installed by default, that can cause a few issues when using the same document between MS and Open Office. (but it can be sorted with a few Linux commands)

As for other items:

Web Browser(s) < Everything except for I.E.

PDF reader < PDF reader "Document Viewer" is installed by default.

Malwarebytes, McAffee Security Scanner <As for Anti-Virus I use ClamAV. As for Malware, Sophos has a good free malware scanner :
https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-linux.aspx

Disk Diagnostic tools < yup everything from reading S.M.A.R.T. info to recovering data from drives is available.

GNU Backgammon < yup as it's open source it's available

Photo Editors < Gimp is a powerful image editor. but their are other simple photo editors (crop adjust red-eye) installed by default.

Word Processors (Word and Libre Office) < See start

Spreadsheet < part of Libre office suite

Music file tagger (mp3tag) < available but never needed to use them.

CD ripper (EAC) < yup https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CDRipping

DVD player (Cyberlink PowerDVD) < CyberLink Used to sell a Linux DVD player in the past (Bought it in '08 and hardly used it!) But these days, VLC will play/Rip DVD's and some Blu-Rays with the right drivers installed.
**UPDATE**
Looks like Cyberlink stopped making a Linux version years ago!

Video player (quicktime, Win Media Player) < See VLC or you can use another player called MPV

Video editor (Win Movie Maker) < this is a sticking point. I've personally not found a good easy to use video editor like Movie Maker
Here are a lit of the best : https://itsfoss.com/best-video-editing-software-linux/

Music editors/players (foobar, Audacity) both are available in Ubuntu (even the Windows only FooBar2000)

iTunes < WINE or Virtual Machine See top

Logitech Media Server (to control Squeezebox Touch music player) < Yup linux version is available from Logitech website

CPU & Fan Speed monitors < yup depends on Motherboard

CD & DVD burning tools < yup

AndyPix

No MBAM on Linux yet as far as I know ..


As as for Mcrapee - you should ditch that whatever OS you use

keith969

googler wrote: »

Web Browser(s)

Chrome works well on Ubuntu.

googler wrote: »

Word Processors (Word and Libre Office)

Google Docs is quite usable as an alternative for Word if you're not doing anything too complex. And has the advantage of making sharing docs easy. Same with Sheets as a simple replacement for Excel.

Undervalued

S0litaire wrote: »

Libre/Open Office is very much compatible with day to day MS Office documents. It might throw a wobbly if things get too complex (i.e. some specialized spreadsheet analysis).
About the only issue I found in day to day usage is Font types, Linux/Ubuntu don't have Microsoft's own fonts installed by default, that can cause a few issues when using the same document between MS and Open Office. (but it can be sorted with a few Linux commands)

Personally I think you are being a bit generous there but it does depend on your definition of "too complex". I have seen real issues with company or university produced templates that seem to work perfectly for users of the "real deal" but cause endless hassle at best on Libra etc.

Fine if you are only producing your own stuff but not worth the grief if you need to interact with others on the same documents.

psychic_teabag

You can of course try libreoffice and gimp (and perhaps others) on windows before making the switch.

I used to like a video editor called avidemux - seems to have been dropped from the debian package archive, though still available on the web.

Others have mentioned testing from a live cd - one caveat is that while it's functional, it can be very slow due to slow access to the media. A usb stick would probably be a bit better.

All the virus checkers I have come across for linux have been scanning for windows viruses, on the grounds that linux is typically used as a server for users of "proper" computers. So I've never bothered.

The one time I was caught by surprise was when some software installed itself - I had configured sudo to not bother prompting for a password. (It was legitimate software - I just hadn't expected that the installer would succeed.) So I fixed that pretty soon afterwards.

debitcardmayhem

Since you have a valid license for windows, dual boot first, then if you are happy then run windows in a vm , and it can be used that license , but you may have to call Microsoft for another one. I did that and since they agreed it won’t be running at the same time on two physical machine they were happy.:eek::cool: