Changing the OS

So here are some thoughts about changing OS:

I have been using different versions of Windows for ages (twenty years or more), the worst have been Windows Millennium and Vista, the best Windows XP and Windows 7 (my last version). But there have always been moments when updates broke some functions or programs I rely on. Very bad and not good for the peace of mind!

So when it happened again after installing a new hard disk, it was the straw that broke the donkey’s back. I have been looking at Ubuntu for a while, found the look of it pleasing (don’t laugh, that is something important for me!) and heard nothing but good things from serious sources. I was just too lazy to search for replacements for my Windows apps and to dive into a new OS and so I jumped on the occasion when I had to re-install 7 to change completely.

I downloaded Ubuntu 14.04, created a bootable USB stick and off I went. Windows installation have often been a long and boring procedure, taking more than an hour, so I was positively surprised when it only took less than 15 minutes and I was up and running.

The biggest problem was finding the Linux equivalent of the Windows programs I have been using, even in the Software Centre there are hundreds of apps, often more than 3 for the (supposedly) same task! I spent hours on the web, reading tests for the apps to choose the right one and when I thought I had nailed it I often found after installation that the UI was just not to my liking (to put it politely).

So after two weeks I had almost everything, the only thing missing are the Adobe Creative Cloud apps, Adobe does not have a Linux version of it and as it goes, will never do one and it does not work in WINE, the Windows environment for Linux. No more Photoshop or Lightroom!

For importing RAW files from my camera I use Shotwell, to work them there is Darktable, almost better than Lightroom for the developing, far less good when it comes to cataloguing and managing the photos. I can go with that.

Replacing Photoshop is different, in Linux you seem to have The Gimp or ... The Gimp!

And I don’t like the UI, it just don’t click with me!

So my big work of the next weeks: Learn to love and use The Gimp! 

You must be kidding!

Ok, I have been quiet for a while, two reasons for that:

1. One of my harddisks died suddenly, the one with the OS partition and we had other, more important things to do than buying a new one.

2. When I got the new one (1tb) I reinstalled Windows 7, all my software and wanted to start working on the Martinique photos when a Windows update broke some stuff and I had to start anew. And this happened twice!

So I was boiling! Ready to kick my computer out of the window (no pun intended).

I took a long walk, calmed down and decided to take another route. I dl'ed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64bit and installed it using an USB stick, which worked just great, took about 20 minutes.

There was a time to get used to the new OS, hunting down Linux software to replace my Windows stuff. The bad news Adobe's CC does not work under Linux, nor using Wine!

Well, I found Shotwell and Darktable to replace Lightroom, no sweat here. Especially Darktable is a great app to work and develop RAW files, really!

And to replace Photoshop? Well there really is only The Gimp! And I can't say that I like it, it will take a long time before I get used to the UI (hoping that some day before that Adobe may decide to make a Linux version of Photoshop and Lightroom, and yes I know, hell will freeze over before).

To make it short, I am up and running again and there will be more stuff in the next days and weeks, especially photos from Martinique, my experience with Ubuntu and the apps I use, new photos and so on.

So hang in, the blog will go on!