If you didn’t know, I’ve been on Ubuntu for 2 years. Use VMWARE server 1.6 to run XP (for cross compilers and whatnot). Opera for mail and browsing. 99% of the hardware works wonderfully on this HP laptop!

After all is said and done, I feel like the system doesn’t work quite as nicely as WinXP — though it’s close, but the idea that the software is open & free makes it well worth the hassle.

Jim C

thanks in advance for the beverage

Just stumbled on this, a brief outline of font installation: http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/2005/09/09/installing-microsoft-fonts/

As far as sftp is concerned, you needn’t bother with it unless your situation requires encrypted file transfers NOW. It’s only that ssh/sftp have more or less become some kind of standard for file transfers and remote operation. sftp is part of the ssh package and basically provides command-line (encrypted) ftp functionality; it is also well supported on the gnome desktop. For this to work, you have to install the packages openssh-server or openssh-client, depending on which side you are working. But before putting them to use, make sure you read one of the relevant tutorials on the subject that are around on the Internet — otherwise ssh will make you cringe, whine, and commit suicide . Once set up ssh works flawlessly and can also be used from Win/Mac. I would really recommend it in the long run as the benefits are tremendous. You can also have a look at the rather terse manual pages, by typing “man ssh”, and “man sftp” in a terminal window, or use the Help System and go to Advanced Topics -> Terminal Commands Reference -> Applications -> ssh/sftp.

Ah I almost forgot, the f-Spot photo manager also supports exporting to PicasaWeb. Never tested it, but you might give it a try.

Good luck,

peluchín

Emma lists some great alternates (Inkscape is kind-of weak she subs: Xara Xtreme and Skencil.) Probably the one that will help you the most is “Gimpshop.” I can’t work in GIMP, i’m far too used to PS and using wine to run PS can slow it down a little. For quick edits Gimpshop is more usable to me than booting up Wine+PS and easier to navigate than GIMP-straight up, no chaser.

Also: I find that Opera tends to deal with poorly coded websites better than Firefox (although I prefer FFX on a daily basis) so you’ll probably want to DL it as well, just for referencing: “Is it Firefox or StephenColbert.com?”

I’ve been using Linux since 96, using it for professional purposes (working as a translator) full time since then … and my impression would be that you just need a little more patience here… Already you’re saying Ubuntu is very user-friendly, and trust me it will get better virtually every day. If you really hate Gimp, just keep your Win/Mac systems around for a while. Or use Wine or some other emulation/virtualization software to have Photoshop et al working on your Ubuntu desktop. For photo management, try F-Spot, or gThumb. These are native apps (afaik, Picasa isn’t, and Google has become a nasty monster anyway). Making the switch implies some tradeoffs and getting rid of some old habits, i.e. you might lose a feature or two in photo management, but gain many others. It just takes a little time, and trying the choices that are available. In any case, it’s not a good idea getting addicted to just one particular app for a given purpose, especially if that app is provided by a company which could drop their Linux support any second (well that’s my opinion anyway…)

Re the Georgia font — are you referring to the Georgia font found on MS systems? Well, that would be an easy one. Just make a “.fonts” directory (mind the dot) in you home directory, and copy the font into that dir. Or install the whole shebang, open System -> Administration -> Synaptic and select the msttcorefonts package, it contains Georgia and some other common MS fonts. Problem solved (??? -I hope).

Re the websites not looking good in Firefox, my guess would be that they’re not up to web standards. But I could be mistaken.

If you rely on ftp a lot, you could also try the command-line “ftp” built into the system since the old days. Also, you should investigate ssh, once properly set up you can use it as an FTP-like program (under the name sftp), with full desktop integration like ftp — only that ssh is encrypted and ftp is not.

Just my 2 or 3 Eurocents.

Greetings from Berlin,

peluchín

Anyway, i’ve been in Linux before, but never got too far, but since I finished school, just beginning my program career, I understand code much better. So using the Terminal didn’t hurt too badly this time around. Biggest issue I’m having is installing none packaged software (ie, crap I have to compile myself, such as Aptana (unless I’m missing something)).

But it’s been good, stuff works as it should right out of the box, whereas on my Vista computer and other it is a hassle and a half to get them on the interwebs.

It’s good stuff.