Over the last 10 months I really haven't had any problems or complaints about giving up Windows. No major problems using Linux, and things seem to of gone more smoothly then I would of imagined.
One of the things that made me hesitant about becoming a full time Fedora user was that I thought I would be giving up or losing a lot when it came to software choices. It turns out that this has not been my experience at all. As a matter of fact, I've found that by switching to Linux full time I seem to have more choices for what I do and 9 out of 10 times like the Linux version better than the Windows comparable product.
What I'm Currently Using.
For example my amateur photography work. I gave up Photoshop, and now use Gimp 2.8 , UFRaw, and Darktable. Just about everything I was using Photoshop for, I've found I can do in Gimp 2.8 and when working with RAW files Darktable has been great.
Browsing the web hasn't changed at all. I still use Firefox, Chrome, and FTP with Filezilla.
For my multimedia projects K3B took some learning but once you figure it out blows away anything that I used on Windows for burning music and data cd's.
I've come to really love LibreOffice and in my opinion find it to be just as good as MSOffice. Again, I did have to read a little and learn some of the different functions, but in the end it did exactly what I needed it to do !
For my web design projects I've been using Quanta and Gedit with much delight. Gedit is a really great text editor in my opinion perfect for coding CSS and HTML.
All and all I couldn't be happier making the switch. Everything has worked out great !
What I've Given Up.
I really haven't given up a lot switching to a GNU/Linux based O.S. I've never been a big fan of gaming, so that hasn't been a problem for me. Although from what I understand , Linux gaming is also starting to come a long way. I've given up one multi player online game. I also DJ, and haven't been able to find a program to run my Hercules MP3 mixer.
Mixx is available for MP3 mixers but at the time of my research Hercules wasn't supported. I spent an afternoon trying to set a configuration for it manually with very limited results. With that said, so far that has been the only thing that I haven't been able to do with my Fedora box that I could with Windows ! Not a major loss but I do have to admit, I miss creating the occasional House and Breakbeat mix from time to time.
Things I've Discovered In 2013
and
Future Projects For 2014
Over the course of 2013 I took an old VHS video collection I had and converted it to MP4 . I did this with a really cheap video capture dongle I purchased on Amazon for $9.95. It took a minute to configure, but it worked great. Then after doing some experimenting I plugged my satellite receiver into the video capture dongle and used my laptop as a TV / DVR . I was really surprised with the results considering the entire project costed me under $15.00 with parts.
Based on the results of that experiment, I'm thinking about building a cheap GNU/Linux based home entertainment P.C. for the home. I just purchased a new monitor, and I'm looking into building a P.C. box , use a Linux based O.S. and see if I can keep the entire project under a couple hundred dollars. I'll be posting the results here and update frequently.
Finally
I started the year off with a really bad case of the flu. I had big plans for 2014, and planned on starting the year off full steam ahead. That didn't happen. Today was the first day in about 3 weeks that I felt like busting out the computer and doing some serious work. I ALWAYS HAVE A COMPUTER BY ME. So I was really sick, and actually bed ridden :-(
I had a bunch of different blogs and projects that I was working on in 2013, and decided that this year I was going to trim the fat, and only work on the the projects I was really enjoying. I decided to keep this blog, my amateur photography blog, and The Design Blog@New Aeon Design. So expect a lot more posting here for 2014. I'm also planning on getting more into Command Line stuff as I find myself using the command line more and more now.
One of the other things I'm thinking about changing in 2014 is the distro. I've used Fedora for close to a year now, but I'm thinking about looking into some of the other GNU/Linux based distros available now. This blog is somewhat Fedora Centric for lack of a better word, and I would like it to become more of a general use Linux blog not really based on any particular distro. As much as I love Fedora I think it's time to test the waters with some of the other distros available. With that said "Thanks Fedora for a really pleasant user experience in 2013 !"
Thanks for following, if you made it this far, thanks for reading this long winded post. Hopefully you found it helpful. If you're considering switching over to a GNU / Linux based O.S. and found this post I hope it helps you make the right decision based on your needs. If you're not a die hard gamer, take the plunge into the world of full time Linux users , with a little time and practice I think you'll be happy with the decision you made !
Wishing you all a prosperous and productive new year. Thanks from New Aeon Design, and Notes On Using Linux !
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