Several months ago, I was so fed up with the Windows OS that I told a geek friend of a friend of mine (I’m not a geek, and I don’t have geek friends) that my current IBM Thinkpad R32 laptop would be my last Windows machine. “Next time I buy a computer, it will definitely be a Mac,” I said. The geek told me that if he ever thought of moving from Windows, then he is going to go with Linux.
At that time, I had already read a lot about Linux and the open source movement, and I really liked the idea and the concept behind them, but I was convinced that these stuff are for geeks only. I mean, I may be a tech-savvy boy and everything, but I’m so far of being a computer geek that knows all about all. I was not satisfied with Windows, but I was trying to put up with it until I get a fortune to buy a Mac.
However, I don’t think I can take it anymore. Enough is enough. I have been thinking about it for sometime, and I have finally come to make a radical decision: I am moving to Linux. The first step is to list the applications that I use frequently, and check if they provide a version for Linux, or if there is available alternatives. So, let’s see.
Most of the applications I use are either compatible with Linux, or there are good alternatives for them. But I’m still looking for a good media player to play music and movies, a light graphics editor (I know there is GIMP, but it is usually compared to Photoshop. I use Paint Shop Pro, which is light, easy-to-use, and has some nice advanced features, and that makes it perfect for my basic needs), and a good application for writing CDs (I currently use Nero). If you know any good apps for these tasks, please let me know by leaving a comment here, or by email: saudijeans at gmail dot com.
The decision of Serdal to move to Linux has encouraged me to take this step, and I think I’m going to use Linux Ubuntu. I would like to hear any advice or suggestions you have on this topic. Thank you.
Saudi Jeans 
That’s a nice move and good way of thinking you got. I really encourage you moving to linux or Mac, just get out of the “window”.
As far as the applications, gimp is really light, on my laptop (Pentium M 1.8GHz 1GM RAM) it takes about 3 seconds to start!
In terms of a CD authoring software, K3b is one of the best, if not the best. You can create VCDs, DVDs and more. It can also encrypt your DVDs ;), added to that, Nero has released a new version for Linux, but I’m not sure if it is free of charge.
Audio players, wow, there are a lot! (amaroK, xmms, beep media player and more) and if you need more help, I suggest you visit Linux 4 Me.org or let me know if you are in Jeddah so we can arrange a meeting to joing our JedLUG
Thanks for the instant response, Yousef. My laptop is IBM Thinkpad R32 (Pentium 4-M 2.0GHz 256MB RAM), do you think I’m gonna face any problems? What is the necessary things that I need to know before moving?
Linux on IBM Laptops, ThinkWiki.
Good sites for Thinkpad Laptops.
I personally use Mac OS X, which, much like Linux, is based on the UNIX operating system. The only difference between OS X and Linux is the elegant design and wider software compatibility.
Soon enough OS X will be released for Intel machines so you can get it and run it on your Thinkpad :-)
Once you go mac, you can never go back! I am a software engineer and I used to do my personal programming on Linux and all the other stuff on Windows. Now, all my personal applications, programming or otherwise, run on my PowerBook :-) I love it!
mac is the best. as an architect, i use mac all the time…windows is nothing next to mac..plus mac has itunes, which is compatible with ipod….bas, mac is the best…
mansour
I’m glad someone said it! I just bought a sony Vaio last year and I hate it!!!!! I am so tired of Windows! I’m moving to MAC or if I have enough time to study up on Linux I’ll do that! Windows is going down as far as I’m concerned!
–Unhappy Windows Customer– lol
I hear you about finally coming to the end of your rope with Windows. I did that very thing just last month and bought a Mac iBook. Now I’m wondering why I waited so long to go Microsoft free!
Interesting blog you’ve got. I like your writing style. Keep up the good work!
Good on you for wanting to try out new things! I came across your post while browsing Blogger. Linux has come a long way and a lot more user-friendly than say 5 years ago. I have an iBook and a dual-boot desktop pc with Windows Xp and Ubuntu linux.
How About Mplayer. It is a nice player. plays everything almost every vedio and audio format except real formats for which we have real player for linux at its real’s website and Mplayer website is http://www.mplayerhu.com. by the way nero’s linux version is not for free.
For music I use XMMS (resembles winamp a lot) and for movies and videos I use Xine. Very nice player if you have all the codecs installed. Will play almost anything. Other players I’ve heard of that are supposedly very good: BMP (Beep Media Player) and AmaroK (for music)
I have systems that run Winblows (2000, XP Pro and XP Home), Ubuntu Linux and Mac OS X. I gotta say, without a doubt, Mac OS X is the best of them all. Anything but winblows. I do nothing but work and play on my Macs and the Linux box, all I do on the windows machines is apply security update after security update after virus definition update after virus definition update and so on ad infinitum.
I switched to Linux about a year ago on one of my machines. I use Slackware which you can download for free. I have heard that red hat is very good for new users. I believe that you can drop the disk in and it loads like windows. As for applications, I use open office by sun. I think that’s free too and it’s compatible with Microsoft Office. You can save your files as .doc so they are usable with Word. It also has a comparable excel program.
Good luck with Linux, there is a growing community of people using Linux so there is a lot of resources on the web. Try google.com/Linux for help or Linux.com. I know I have enjoyed using it and I am in no way a computer geek.
We use linux here at work (fedora) and along with openoffice, firfox and thunderbird it makes for a good stable desktop system these days. One of our boxes has been running a desktop non stop for a year without being rebooted at all.. very cool.