Got my feet wet - now getting cold feet.

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Thu, Feb 19, 2004 at 09:08:52PM -0500, James Carruthers wrote:
> This is the first time I bring a question to this group. I've only
> started to get my feet wet with Linux. I installed it (RH 9 and 7.3) on
> a couple of boxes at work to see how it might benefit us. It doesn't
> look like management will go with it, however, I am personally quite
> impressed. I've explored around a little bit in KDE and Gnome and
> installed simple things like flash player.
> 
> I am considering installing Linux on my own inspiron 1100 (upgraded to
> 640MB RAM and soon to have an 80GB drive). However, I have some very
> strong concerns. I'd like to hear some thoughts on this to help me make
> the best decision.
> 
> Some of the many problems I have to learn how to solve are:
> 
> *	Will the Linux OS properly recognize all my hardware? I've done
> some reading on the internet and found that installing Linux on the
> inspiron 1100 "is not easy" and that certain things won't work no matter
> what, like the power, but I don't know if that goes for all distros or
> maybe I was reading out-dated material? Should I stop before I start?

Laptops are often full of proprietary hardware in order to make it small
and cheaper.  This tends to make life harder for Linux since the
manufacturer doesn't care about Linux in general.  The choice of
distribution doesn't affect what hardware is supported in general, some
just autodetect it better.

> *	How to extract the volumes of information from my outlook pst
> file and import it into something like evolution? (I have noticed that
> it won't import that format.)

Setup an imap server, copy the mail to there with outlook, then copy it
from imap to your choice of mail program. :)

> *	How to synch with my axim X5?, and would I need a new OS for it
> too?

Never heard of axim X5.  What is it?

> *	Is there an open source pdf writer in the Linux OS?

OpenOffice can export anything it does to pdf.

> *	I do graphic design and layout work, mainly using Coreldraw 10 -
> is there open source software to replace this and will it read my cdr
> files or would I need to save them all as eps or something else?

Well the gimp does graphics somewhat like photoshop.  For vector object
layout I am not sure.  xfig is probably to simple.  Not sure if
openoffice has any layout stuff in it for graphics.

> *	Will the Linux OS properly recognize my usb 2.0 wireless mouse
> and my plextor PX-708UF external drive? Will I be able to "plug and
> play" with the PC card slot - for instance I need to get a fire-wire
> jack to connect to the semi-professional digital video camera I'll soon
> be using?

Assuming the pccard is a standard design with a driver in linux, then it
will just work.  The plextor will work.  To write DVD's will either
require the non free cdrecord-prodvd or the free growisofs from
dvdrw+tools (or something similar to that).

> *	Is there open source DVD creation software available that will
> make full use of my px-708uf for creating and editing digital footage?

There is certainly dvdauthor and things like that.  Not sure how good
the utils are for making the menus and such yet but it's getting there.

> *	Plus, I'm moving to India in 2 weeks. My work will keep me there
> indefinitely. If I make the shift and things start to go wrong how hard
> is it to switch back to XP?

Well you can just tell the XP installer to wipe out everything on the
drive, so well backup your data properly first.

> *	I don't want to have 2 OS on my laptop, as I'll be creating
> videos and I'll need all my hard-drive space for memory swapping and
> writing the movies and software (although, I might keep my old 20GB
> drive apart and separate with XP on it, just in case, but I'd rather
> plug it in to one of my USB 2.0 ports as additional storage - it's not
> the biggest drive, but it is of good quality and speed.)

Well if there are things you must be able to do, then maybe sticking
with what you are used to is better work wise, but trying both isn't bad
either.  Installing Linux does not take that much space, and you could
easily fit a nice linux install in 5G of space, and then make maybe 10GB
for winxp, and make the rest a shared fat32 drive for the video data so
you can try and work with it from both.

> *	Which distro would be best for me?

I like debian.  it may not have the nicest installer, but it sure works
very well once it is installed, and is very easy to upgrade and
maintain.  Lots of good free support on irc too.

> *	And, finally, what questions did I forget to ask?

Probably lots. :)

Lennart Sorensen
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