Spice up Windows: replace it with Linux; part 1

In my previous post I’ve stated that I’d like to help people to spice up their system by moving from Windows to Linux. But we all know that it cannot be done in an instant. I will explain step by step how are we going to do this so it will be easy for anyone to follow.

We will do it in 5 following steps:

1. Spicing up:Internet applications
2. Spicing up: Multimedia applications
3. Spicing up: Office/Production applications
4. Spicing up: Windows (by replacing with Linux)
5. Play!

So, let’s get started!

This time I’m going to explain how to perform step 1 – Spicing up: Internet applications

As I’ve explained in previous post, Internet applications are used for the following (mainly, of course, and highly subjective):

• Browsing the web
• Reading/Writing email
• Chatting/IM’ing (using instant messengers)
• P2P applications (bittorrent/eMule are the most popular ones).
• Internet Telephony

In order to spice up Internet applications, we’re going to install the following set of applications to answer our needs (which inherently makes our life better!):

1. Firefox – is known as one of the best browsers in the world. It is open source project, and while maybe not perfect on some (in my opinion – poorly written) sites, it is very customizable and expandable through gazillions of extensions. If you’re still using Internet Explorer 6 on your Windows XP box, do it urgently. Firefox is much better and secure browser than IE6, and provides much more functionality using fewer computer resources. Your browsing will never be the same!

2. Thunderbird – is known as one of the best email clients in the world. Just as Firefox (and made by the same team), it is an open source project. It handles email delivery in most known protocols (being POP3 and IMAP) perfectly and without any major problems. It has very good junk control (read spam filter) engine and very good rules engine. The new version (which is 2.0.0.0 at the moment of this writing) has new “tagging” feature which allows you to “tag” (categorize) message with any number of tags and then easily find it by tag without searching. This feature makes Thunderbird to be like Google – allowing to find messages by labels. Great stuff! If you’re still using Outlook Express, move to Thunderbird now – it is faster, more stable and more secure.

3. Pidgin – is one of the best IM clients around. It is an open source project, and the best thing that I like about it – it supports 3 major IM networks I use, namely ICQ, Jabber (Google Talk), and MSN. It means that I only use one client to be connected to all networks at once, at I’m able to talk to all my friends! Isn’t it cool or what?

4. Xchat2 – an IRC client. If you’re on IRC, stop using MIRC and move to Xchat! It is an open source project, has lots of customization options and very nice graphical user interface.

5. Azureus – very good, open source Bittorrent client. Written in Java, has a very good interface, stable and fast. Has many features that other clients don’t have, which makes it faster when downloading your favorite Linux distribution.

6. eMule – also very good client, but for ED2K network. It is different protocol of downloading (different from bittorrent that is), but also very popular and fast. Many prefer eMule to Bittorrent, so make up your mind and choose an application!

7. Skype – the most know application in the world for free internet conversations. It is free, beautiful an allow free pc-to-pc communication.

8. Gizmo Project – very similar to Skype, but uses different protocol. It is also free and allows free pc-to-pc conversations.

Both Skype and GizmoProject also allow calling to regular landline and cell phones around the world for considerably low price.

After you install aforementioned applications, use them. It is important to leave older (read your previous) application aside, just in case. But use these new ones all the time. I hope you will find those application easy to use and transfer your data to new applications.

Next time I will explain how do we install Multimedia applications (and which ones) to make Windows more fun.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

-A.

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows

Spice up Windows – replace it with Linux – Introduction

I decided to write a series of essays about moving from Windows system to a Linux one. There are plenty resources online that can help with this transition. I just thought to make an easy one and with explaining each step of doing so.

First of all, the main issue with the series: it is not intended for the following audience:

• Gamers
• Video/Audio professionals using specialized tools
• Photo professionals using Photoshop
• Professional artists using specialized tools for their work.

I believe that these posts will be helpful to the following minorities of users:

• Internet users (mainly browsers users, IM/Chat users, email users, internet video/internet radio users, p2p users)
• Writers (including bloggers)
• Office/Production workers without specially customized Microsoft Office applications.
• Music, video and movies consumers

I will explain each step in the process and provide information about it.

Good luck you all!

-A.

Update: here are these articles:

1. Part 1
2. Part 2
3. Part 3
4. Part 4
5. Part 5

Technorati : Gentoo, Linux, Ubuntu, gentoo, technology, windows