So I’m still off windows, and for the most part feeling fine.
There are some things I have liked and some things that have been a challenge…but on a whole, I’m still quite happy as a windows free user…
Things I like:
- Firefox…A hint of familiarity for all my web browsing needs… Widows or Linux
- VLC media player…My person favourite for video… Windows or Linux
- Sound Juicer. A nice, no nonsense CD ripper.
- Exaile…A nice little media player, which is rumoured to support the Creative ZEN 4G, with a bit of work. Something I will need to investigate in order to get Laura’s working….
- TorrentFlux…A nice awesome way to download and manage torrents. Requires a web server running PHP, but lets you search, download and manage your torrents from a web interface. Nice to be able to log in from anywhere, or even my blackberry and start downloading completely free legal media. …
- Xampp web server in a box…. Includes Apache Web Server, MySQL, PHP, and FTP in a single easy to install package. Great for running on your home pc for a web sandbox for your projects before dumping them live on the net.
- Wine Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too? Run windows apps in Linux…for those times that you just can’t get it done in linux…
- K3b Liking this CD/DVD burner as well. Seems to get the job done, nice enough interface.
Challenges:
- as previously noted, the Creative ZEN 4G has not been easy to get going. I’ve heard it’s possible, but haven’t had time to sit and dig into it.
- A replacement for windows movie maker. WMM is actually a pretty capable little video editor for the novice who just wants to throw together a quick video of his kid without a lot of experience needed. Looking for a good alternative to that. Hasn’t been terribly easy at this point. Cinerella Cinelerra is a bit intense looking. May have to try Kdenlive next to see how that works.
- Dual monitor + Fancy Effects + ATI card. I can run dual monitor mode, or single mode without any fancy effects, which the nerd in me likes….you know…ooooh…shiney…. more investigation needed.
Those are my only hang ups so far. Loving the rediscovering of my PC, it’s like when I was learning DOS when I was 10 years old. New, fresh and fun. Heck…even Laura hasn’t minded the switch so far. 
Say no to windows…
P.S. I certainly appreciate any suggestions for alternatives to the apps I have listed, I’m just exploring and have no particular allegiance to anything. It’s still fairly new to me. And if anyone has ideas for anything else, for purposes not listed above…please feel free…
I just recently switched to Linux myself, and it’s the most exciting thing I have done with computers in many years!
Actually, the non-linear video editor is Lumiera (it was Cinelerra) and not Cinerella. It’s a bit heavy-wheight, but it does a really good job.
Kdenlive is really cool, but it doesn’t have as much funcionalities as Lumiera. If you want simple video edition, Kdelive is an excelent choice. Consider algo OpenMovieEditor – very similar o Kdenlive, but with a GTK inteface.
Thanks for the notes, and thanks for the tips Bruno, will try them out.