Converting to Linux

So you've heard a lot about this thing called Linux. What is it? Is it really all that good? Is it as difficult to use as some people claim? How can I get it? Would it be difficult to convert my business to a Linux-using one?

I'm writing this article to clear up some questions for you.

Everyone seems to be talking about using Linux, what is it? Linux is an operating system kernel that is completely free and open source, not closed source like Microsoft Windows or Mac OS. Linus Torvalds originated the project, and still maintains it today along with an expanding team of coders. It's basically a clone of the UNIX kernel, so if you've used UNIX before, you'll be right at home.

GNU/Linux is the operating system that utilises the Linux kernel, there are several hundred distributions ("distro's") that are out today such as Ubuntu Linux, Gentoo Linux and Slackware Linux (to name a few). Each distro differs from the others in the default software that ships with it and the way that it performs certain tasks, some have a noticeable System V influence whereas others are influenced more by BSD. To see a big list of distributions and details on each one, check out http://www.distrowatch.com/.

Is it good? I think so. The main reason why I like it is because everything about it is free of charge (well, a few companies release distro's that aren't free, like Red Hat Enterprise Linux for instance). You can deploy a server running a distro of Linux (I can't be bothered calling it by its full name, so I'll simply refer to it as Linux from now on) for a fraction of the price of deploying a Windows one, you only need to buy the hardware. The vast majority of software for Linux is free and open source too, so you really start to notice the savings after a while. I've been running Linux on my laptop for so long now that the idea of paying for a software package is laughable, I can get a Linux equivalent for nothing! Say you own a company and you need to kit out a laptop for every employee; if you went for what I call the "Microsoft Route", you'd have to get a copy of Vista for each one (or buy a multi-user licence, or a corporate licence whatever) Pricey, whatever way you do it. Then you'll probably need to get Microsoft Office, which is another sizeable slice out of the budget cake, then whatever other specialist applications you use in your company. A lot of dough, if you're a new startup then ouch, it hurts. With Linux, you can just buy your laptops, stick Linux on them, sorted. Download whatever other apps you need for free too.

I have compiled a list of a few software packages commonly used in Microsoft Windows and their Linux equivalents/replacements, this is by no means a definitive guide, bear in mind there are other apps out there developed for Linux that will do the same thing. If your favourite open source project isn’t listed, then I’m sorry :P

Windows Application	Linux Equivalent	Notes
Microsoft Office	OpenOffice	The free office suite, OpenOffice, is pretty darn sweet. And free.
Microsoft Outlook	Evolution	Evolution is the open source community's answer to Microsoft Outlook, it has a calendar, contacts, all those things you know and love from Outlook.
Finance Applications (for example Quicken)	GNUcash	This is a major stumbling block for accountants I'd imagine, you need your specialised apps! If you really can't stop using Quicken, then I'd suggest a package called WINE, which I'll discuss later.
Media Players (for example Winamp or iTunes)	VLC, xmms, audacious	As far as I know, you can even use Winamp skins with Audacious...
Adobe Photoshop	GIMP	This is the big one, the main reason why a lot of graphics designers stick with Windows or Mac OS. I think you'll like the GIMP though. Pity about the name.
Various Disk Partition Tools	Gparted, fdisk	Gparted is nice and easy to use, and provides pretty much the same functionality as Partition Magic and the others, fdisk is more advanced (it's a command-line app) but I really like it. I wouldn't use anything else.
The fact that you have an NTFS partition kicking around that you need to get your data from...	ntfs-3g	Try ntfs-3g, it allows you to read/write to NTFS formatted partitions. Simple.

Thats enough to get you started I think, if you need more then Google is an excellent resource for finding software, all it takes is a simple search.

I mentioned an app for Linux called WINE; you're probably wondering what it is (or perhaps you Googled it... I don't know...). WINE is a Windows emulation environment that sets up an area on your hard-drive that looks like a Windows install, basically it means you can install/run Windows executables from Linux. So that means if you simply cannot live without that one Windows app, you can still run it.

Another great thing to do if you can't break your relationship with Windows is running a Windows install within a virtualisation environment such as Qemu or VMware. This means you can have Linux on a PC, but you can still run Windows if you need it badly.

Another suggestion is to set up a dual boot system, but thats another article...

One of the main reasons people don't switch to Linux is because they hear all the horror stories telling how opaque and unforgiving it is, and they get scared. Most people seem to be under the impression that they won't have any idea how the thing works once they get it installed (if they get it installed...) but this is untrue. Ok, as soon as you install it you might have troubles as its a little different to Windows XP or Mac OS, but this can be said about any OS. People always complain when it isn't what they're used to, but then again, this is a completely different operating system, of course it's different. Sorry, those sort of people irritate me... :D

Provided you start off with an easy to use distro (something like Ubuntu or Fedora) you shouldn't have any problems, provided you read the documentation. And you can quote me on that, the newer releases of these distributions are built so that its easy to migrate from Windows and Mac OS. 

So, where can you get Linux? Thats probably the easiest question to answer so far. Each distro has a website, with a download section. Simple. Some distributions, for example Ubuntu, will offer you something called a LiveCD, which is basically a disc that you can boot into; this allows you to "try before you buy". If you like it you can hit the install button, if you don't, you can throw the disc in the bin and get on with your Windows life. You can either download the .iso image and burn it to disc yourself, or you can mail-order them, and they'll come in a shiny package.

And thats it! You'll soon be loving your new free, highly configurable, easy to use operating system.

Now, some links to conclude:

http://www.distrowatch.com/ -- A definitive list of distributions with information.

http://openoffice.org-suite.com -- Open Office

http://projects.gnome.org/evolution/ -- Evolution Mail

www.gnucash.org/ -- GNU Cash, alternative to Quicken.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ -- VLC Media Player

http://www.xmms.org/ -- XMMS

http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Audacious-11801.shtml -- Get the Audacious media player here.

http://www.gimp.org/ -- Home of the GIMP.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ -- Gparted

http://www.ntfs-3g.org/ -- ntfs-3g, a driver for reading and writing NTFS partitions.

http://winehq.org/ -- The wine project.