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Going to Work in Linux


Linux may have a reputation as a specialized uber-tool, something used by computer-science graduates to run Web servers or code Internet software. But many users of this free operating system don't employ it for anything fancier than the bread-and-butter tasks familiar to most Windows and Mac users--writing letters, wasting time on the Web, editing photos, or playing a game or two.

That's a change: In the past two years, user-friendly point-and-click Linux programs have become available in most of these categories of everyday-use software, so moving to Linux doesn't have to mean writing your letters to Grandma in a programmer's text editor. These days, if you're so inclined, the main Windows "features" you'd give up by moving to Linux would be frequent system crashes, virus threats and expensive software upgrades.

So what are the Linux programs that can replace the Windows software you're accustomed to? Have a look at this list. The applications in it not only fill vital computing needs but also work so much like their Windows equivalents that you can learn to use them in a few minutes:

Office work: StarOffice (http://www.sun.com/staroffice) is the closest thing to Microsoft Office available for Linux; it even, unfortunately, includes the bloat and featuritis of its competitor. But it happily reads Microsoft Office files and goes beyond the office-suite basics of a word processor, spreadsheet and database to include desktop-publishing tools for designing business cards, letterheads, greeting cards and newsletters.

Personal finance: GnuCash (http://www.gnucash.org) is the closest Linux equivalent to Quicken, and can import your old Quicken files to boot. (You can move Windows files to a Linux system simply by copying them onto a floppy disk.) It's not up to big-business accounting, but it's more than good enough to track family finances. For income tax preparation with Linux, use one of the Web-based tax-processing systems, such as Intuit's Web TurboTax; most of them work with Linux just as they work with Windows or Mac.

Graphics: The GNU Image Manipulation Program, commonly called GIMP (http://www.gimp.org), is a fine, free, feature-rich graphics program, but gPhoto (http://www.gphoto.org) is much easier to use, is also free and is all most of us need for general photo retouching and resizing. (Why all these names starting with "GNU" and "g"? They're references to the "GNU Public License," the standard legalese in many Linux programs that requires them to be distributed for free and with full access to their source code.) Professional graphic artists, however, will be disappointed with either of these programs; they're better off with Windows or Mac for now.

Web browsing and e-mail: Netscape Communicator 4.7 for Linux works almost exactly like Netscape for Windows and is also quite similar to Microsoft Internet Explorer. It is, however, a little less capable than the Windows browsers in some subtle ways: It has no auto-complete option for addresses you've visited before, its Flash Web-animation plug-in is not as nice as the Windows one, and it will get discombobulated by Web sites with bad JavaScript or Java even more easily than the popular Windows browsers.

Online chat: X-Chat (http://www.xchat.org) is the best Internet Relay Chat client I've ever used on any operating system, period. AOL Instant Messenger addicts, meanwhile, will feel at home with Gaim (http://www.marko.net/gaim/), which works almost exactly like AOL's own AIM program. The same is not true for AOL's regular software, which doesn't work under Linux at all.

Games: Linux comes with more little desktop amusements built in than Windows, and more and more game publishers are porting their products to Linux every month (see http://www.linuxgames.com for up-to-date news). But the total selection, particularly of name-brand, mass-market titles, still lags far behind what's available for Windows.

If you do want to make this leap, the big question becomes choosing a distribution--a bundle of the operating system itself, various programs and manuals. Linux users have dozens of choices; after testing the most popular ones, Mandrake Linux (http://www.linux-mandrake.com), with its included, Windows-esque "KDE" desktop (http://www.kde.org), seems best for a first-timer. The Mandrake installation routine, all the way through printer and modem setup, is controlled entirely by Windows-style clicks, not by Unix-style command lines full of obscure computer characters. Mandrake 7.1 costs less than $30 in most computer stores and includes all the software listed above, plus more than 1,000 other programs ranging from simple games to exotic networking utilities. (There are also versions of Linux for Macs--see http://www.linuxppc.com--but that's another article entirely.)

But even though Linux is easier to set up now than it was even a year ago, I still recommend installing it alongside Windows at first (what's called a "dual-boot" system) and making the switch a little at a time. I also strongly recommend hooking up with a Linux user group and getting all the advice you can before your first Linux install.

These groups are one of Linux's greatest strengths: Instead of help lines and hold music, you can ask for, and quickly get, help from your fellow users. The biggest groups in the Washington area are the Northern Virginia Linux Users Group (http://novalug.tux.org), in Chantilly, and the Washington D.C. Linux User Group (http://dclug.tux.org), in Bethesda. Both groups maintain active e-mail lists full of experienced Linux users, who can answer all your Linux questions, and both groups hold regular "installfests" where they'll load Linux on your computer and teach you how to use it--for free.

Don't feel bad about asking user group members for help. It happens; for instance, computer peripherals such as scanners or digital cameras often take some tinkering before they work properly with Linux. Your payback will come a year from now, when you will be answering installation questions from the next generation of Linux newcomers--and when you find your system's been immune to the last three virus outbreaks, hasn't crashed in months and hasn't forced you into a hardware upgrade to be able to run the latest programs.



Robin Miller is editor in chief at Andover.net, the online publishing company that owns Slashdot (http://slashdot.org), a popular forum for Linux users.