What are you using your linux for ?

[drfalkor]

I'm really bored, and I was wondering - what do you guys use your linux(ubuntu/kubuntu breezy etc...) for ?
I'm using it for gaming(only native games), internett browsing, programming(I'm trying to learn it) and music.
I've been using linux for 2-3 years now. :)

[ardchoille]

I use my Ubuntu 5.10 box for:

Internet surfing - Firefox, gwget, gftp
email - Evolution
PIM - Evolution
Office documents - OpenOffice.org
Games - only native Linux games
Music - xmms, grip, easytag
Programming/scripting - python, glade2, anjuta, bash
DVD's - xine
username/password storage - revelation
Encryption - gnupg, seahorse
DVD/CD burning - graveman, cdrecord
Graphics - GIMP, inkscape
IRC - irssi, XChat
Personal Finance - Grisbi

I have found that Ubuntu does everything I want.

[Griff]

Hmm. I use it for gaming, browsing, media storage (music, anime, mangas), GIMP'n, and learning about the software side of comps. Been on Ubuntu for about 3 months...and I have never been happier with my OS. :cool:

[drfalkor]

gimp is not as good as Photoshop(or, maybe I'm just addicted to photoshop?)
I hope there will be photoshop for linux one day :) cuz I dont wanna run it via wine :)

[TDonaghe]

I'm using Ubuntu for pretty much everything except City of Heroes. I'm not sure what else Windows is good for at this point. Oh yeah, I can't get to my bank's website except through IE.

[thekiller]

I simply use linux cos i can get anything i might need anytime, and for free !:D

[KEMitchell]

i use linux because i can afford it... and all the applications to go with it, too!

seriously:
as a development platform, its by far superior to MS Windows. windows essentially emulates the kind of build power on the POSIX systems.
as a LaTeX typesetting system, its better by miles, most recently thanks to Kile, which is fantastic
for network testing, its got a zillion free tools

ill agree with the general sentiment: Adobe PS > GIMP
but also very much with: cost(Adobe PS) > cost(GIMP)
and: GIMP > PSP
as well as: many people who "demand" photoshop for professional reasons just want to look professional. They have no idea how to tune filters or can even remember which ones do what.

plus its my only grounds for feeling superior to fellow students and coworkers ;-)
(except maybe the Mac OSX geeks, who despite my constant reminders that i can run a NEWER version of FreeBSD for FREE on WHATEVER hardware and WITHOUT the shiny, cpu-intensive, anti-aliased crap, STILL maintain their aloofness... darn them!)

For those caching my personal information for the goverment:
I dual boot Kubuntu 5.10 and WinXP Pro on My Acer TravelMate 3200
I dual boot Debian 31r0a and WinXP Pro on a custom-built PC

[drfalkor]

intressing.
And here is another thing - How many hours do you guys use for "computing time" ? and do you guys have a life ?:P
I use all my waking time behind the screen, and I dont have a life :( well, lets hope I get a life soon ? :)

[drfalkor]

ill agree with the general sentiment: Adobe PS > GIMP
but also very much with: cost(Adobe PS) > cost(GIMP)
and: GIMP > PSP
as well as: many people who "demand" photoshop for professional reasons just want to look professional. They have no idea how to tune filters or can even remember which ones do what.


Good point, but - PSP ?(Playstation Portable)

[antidrugue]

Good point, but - PSP ?(Playstation Portable)

I guess he is talking about Photoshop Premium (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html).

I use Debian Sarge (not currently using Ubuntu) for:
-java development
-system administration
-watching movies, listening to music
-encoding/decoding media
-browsing the web
-having fun tweaking my system
-etc.

[drfalkor]

Ok - sorry, I was just playing stupid ;)

[Titus A Duxass]

I'm using my linux (Kubuntu) to read this forum.

[drfalkor]

I'm using my linux (Kubuntu) to read this forum.
I can't see a point of using a computer at all, just for that - but eyh, that's just me :p

EDIT: And you'r using windows for the other stuff ? (do you use windows?)

[thekiller]

i kinda liked what Titus said, reading makes learning easier. Ive always been a reader of forums 'cos i like to read....have been using linux for over 5 years, but only recently been posting.

[drfalkor]

i kinda liked what Tatus said, reading makes learning easier. Ive always been a reader of forums 'cos i like to read

Ok, I agree a little bit - it's funny to read forums .

[Corvillus]

Originally Posted by drfalkor
Good point, but - PSP ?(Playstation Portable)
He's probably talking about Paint Shop Pro, which another major Windows graphic manipulation app.

As for what I use Linux for, mainly programming, web design, e-mail, web browsing, IM, chat, pretty much everything one would typically use a computer for (the only thing I use Windows for anymore is games).

[Ruskie]

Yeah, PSP = Paintshop Pro, otherwise his statement wouldn't make sense:

Adobe PS > GIMP > Adobe PS Premium (which supposedly is an improved version of PS)????

Nah. :) PSP = Paintshop Pro. :)

[Perfect Storm]

What I use my Linux for:

web-browsing - Epiphany.
reading and sending E-mails - Evolution.
Native gaming - Dominions 2, riotball, Savage etc. etc.
Emulator gaming - Cedega, Wine, dosbox, UAE (Amiga emulator).
Graphic designing - Gimp, pixel 32, PS 7. But mainly Gimp and pixel 32.
Watching DVDs - with VLC
Listening to music - xmms

[drfalkor]

holy ! thnx for hinting me about Pixel (tryed out pixel 1.0 beta 5 demo).
gosh, its like a photoshop clone :) !
Soon I can remove windows out of my box forever, when the beta testing is over!

*can't waiiiiiiiiiit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Glottis]

I used to use ******* loads, for gaming mostly, but got myself a console for games (probably the best decision ive ever made!), and i now use ubuntux64 for my music / internet / IM / native games / and office stuff, and yes, it does absolutely everything i want it to :D

[twaern]

i use linux, just as a learning curve.. been using Breezy for about 4 weeks..

irc - xChat
web - Firefox
email - Thunderbird
usenet - have yet to find a program i like

games - so far i am hooked on SameGame / Tetris / Burgertown

[xtacocorex]

I currently use Kubuntu for everything with the exception of CAD and my favorite Flight Simulator, Flanker 2.5. I had a harddrive crash a couple of months ago and lost my dual boot, so I have Linux by itself.

Everything means:
- Internet
- IM
- Programming (mainly FORTRAN)
- Running NASA potential airflow code (PMARC 12)
- Klikety and Shisen-Sho (totally addicted to both)
- Learning: Advanced Bash scripting, Python, Ruby
- And the other stuff I forgot to mention

[d1337]

I am using Linux for practically everything related to computing. While I dual boot 5 different machines (2 at home, 2 at work and my laptop), the only MS apps I run are QuickBooks for payroll, FedEx Ship Manager and occasionally play games on the MS side. Most of my dualboot boxes rarely get booted to MS. Above those 5 machines, I also have 1 Ubuntu server at home, 1 Debian production server at work, 1 Ubuntu only workstation at work and 1 Ubuntu only laptop that I have assigned to a salesperson.

The "Free as in beer" spirit as well as the affordability of not having to carry MS licenses and upgrades has been a real life saver to my business. In 2004, I spent $550.00/month for support on a proprietary SCO/Unix server running my business software. A friend helped convert me to Linux and an Open Source application called SQL-Ledger for my business needs (with exception of payroll). Support for this application currently costs me less than $200/YEAR if I opt to buy the manual (which I do, mostly for a small bit of monetary support for the developers). In essence, I rely on Linux to run my medium sized business ($1million+ USD/annual gross revenue) as well as for personal brain exercising :) ,not to mention browsing (FireFox), E-Mail (Evolution), Office (OOo), Music, DVD (toying with MythTV as well), Gaim, Skype, Photos (F-Spot) and anything else I can find.

d1337

[TDonaghe]

intressing.
And here is another thing - How many hours do you guys use for "computing time" ? and do you guys have a life ?:P
I use all my waking time behind the screen, and I dont have a life :( well, lets hope I get a life soon ? :)

I spend most of my waking time behind an LCD, but I have a wife (also a programmer) and a kid, so we do lots of family stuff, and then I do Aikido (martial arts) 3 times a week. I strongly recommend martial arts for any geek/nerd - getting in better shape via martial arts will also exercize your mind.

[John.Michael.Kane]

I use linux for Anything, and everything. no dual booting...

[Norberg]

- Internet
- IM
- Programming (Bash, Python; C++, Lua, SQL, PHP)
- Movies
- Reading toons of Ebooks
- And alot more.

[lleb]

i use linux for everything except my accounting. for that i use OSx. only due to the fact that the wife does the books and refused to learn a new accounting software when i got rid of my win2k server box after it ate the data off of 3 out of 4 hard drives costing me about 6 months worth of loss data.

i play games like World of Warcraft, thanks to cedega, i browse the web, manage my web server, move files constantly between my house and work via scp and use ssh all the time to help the wife or kids when they are at the house.

i edit graphics with gimp, i IM with gaim, i use OO all the time as it does 99% of what i need to do and very well. thankfully i still have access to the adobe creative suit so i can use indesign as i had been using PageMaker for over a decade, heck almost 2 decades now. that is a program that OO and other *nix based products just cant touch as of yet.

i have tried several, but none of them are near as good as pagemaker or indesign, the upgrade and replacement to pagemaker from adobe. sadly those programs are extreemly expensive, but hey they are worth every penny.

even my kids can use linux and my youngest is 3. sadly i do keep 1 dual boot system so they can play their "kids games" from places like Jump Start as they do not yet work with cedega or wine. i just do not alow the windows box to have access to the NIC so it has zero internet access thus i dont have to worry about any of the nasties that come with windows like malware.

[Dr Von Bon Bon]

I'm using Linux because I couldn't get the admin account for an XP computer so I dived in straight to Linux.

I also want to feel more power over my computer and know that when something screws up that it's my fault rather than the OS's (damn you windows).

So, i now you Linux for absolutely everything apart from music notation becuase Lilypond has messed up my installation of other things.

[YopY]

I also want to feel more power over my computer and know that when something screws up that it's my fault rather than the OS's (damn you windows).

I haven't had any troubles at all with my Windows. User error?

Anyways, I've re-installed ubuntu a few days ago and been using it for... about two days now. I mostly use it for webbrowsing, listening to music, and coding PHP (I love Bluefish), as well as talk to people using aMSN from time to time. On the side, I play around with it. You know, try new things, stuff like that. Dunno wether I'll stick to it, but all I'm really missing is the familiarity of Windows, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and WhatPulse (program that logs the amount of keys you press. There was a Linux version for that one under development, but not much is happening to that one).

[hscottyh]

If your just using windows for your bank website that only takes IE, then why not install IE under wine. There are several automated scripts that will do that for you. I recomend "Sidenet Wine Configuration utility" with the latest wine that comes from winehq. Once you get IE installed, you'll be amazed at how many Windows programs that will work.

That being said.... I try to use the Linux equiv. app for everything. I been playing with Linux off and on for ten years (after I realized OS/2 was going nowwhere).... Everytime I've came back to it, I've been wowed, at how far it's came. But when Ubuntu came out I've really never looked back. But every now and then... it's nice to be able to buy something new and just install the windows software that came with it, and it works, without having to dual boot.. at least until you can hunt down a pure Linux way to do it. I'm still amazed how far The Wine Project has came in the past year!!!!

[Griff]

I simply use linux cos i can get anything i might need anytime, and for free !:D
apt-get just might be one of the greatest things ever conceived.:cool:

[JimmyJazz]

I use mine for everything. I use it for work (graphic/media/web design) and for playing at home. It just works :)

and btw I've tried the GIMP 3.5 and 4.0 should give PS a run for its money. Now to defeat Illustraitor.

[Sirin]

I hope there will be photoshop for linux one day :) cuz I dont wanna run it via wine :)

Nope. Either it will be in RPM format or there will not be one at all.

[drfalkor]

http://www.kanzelsberger.com/pixel/?page_id=12 -Pixel (looks like a photoshop clone)
Maybe I'll trash photoshop, and start to use pixel ? so I can trash my windows forever ! ;)

[Galoot]

I'm using Ubuntu for pretty much everything except City of Heroes. I'm not sure what else Windows is good for at this point. Oh yeah, I can't get to my bank's website except through IE.I had the same problem with a Canadian government site. Have you tried the User Agent Switcher Extension (http://chrispederick.com/work/useragentswitcher/) for Firefox? It fixed my problem. It'll spoof both the browser and the OS.

[dosed150]

i just use mine for internet browsing, using gaim to chat to friends, listening to music and watching dvds

[Helios89]

I've started using linux a few days ago, but i think i'm going to use it for:

*internet
*programming
*music

[bonzodog]

I use my 64 bit box for internet browsing, and IRC mainly, and wikifying on the site below :)

[hscottyh]

I had the same problem with a Canadian government site. Have you tried the User Agent Switcher Extension (http://chrispederick.com/work/useragentswitcher/) for Firefox? It fixed my problem. It'll spoof both the browser and the OS.

Great suggestion!

[briancurtin]

i use linux for not using windows

i browse, IM, and program in it. i dont dual boot, and have been a pure linux user for like 7 months now and love it. very powerful, and ive been very successful with it having very few problems.

[BSDFreak]

Well, i use Ubuntu/FreeBSD/Windows for the same things, i'm more comfortable in Ubuntu than Windows and even more comfortable in FreeBSD, what it comes down to is being able to customize the system to fit my needs.

I use any of those to edit video and audio, programming, browsing, e-mail, IRC, newsgroups and other communication.

[Derek Djons]

I'm using Linux as my primary workstation using all kinds of apts to:

- Browse.
- Perform office duties.
- Listen to music.
- Watch movies.

Since my machine is a notebook I use it everywhere if possible. For instance my past school didn't supported Linux on their network. I started xsupplicant but when I needed some info and help there was nobody available... so that was a dual boot :(

[nocturn]

I have a SuSE server at work running Apache2, Tomcat, PHP, MySQL etc.
My server at home is Ubuntu Hoary, running lots of things, including postfix and mailscanner.

Then I have our desktop machines (now laptops), they are used to manage our store (E-mail, OpenOffice, ...).
I use mine to code, I do graphical design (The Gimp) and a host of other things.

I don't play games however.

[nocturn]

intressing.
And here is another thing - How many hours do you guys use for "computing time" ? and do you guys have a life ?:P
I use all my waking time behind the screen, and I dont have a life :( well, lets hope I get a life soon ? :)

I spend 8 hours a day at work behind a computer. This is a WinXP (fitted with Gvim, Gaim, FireFox, Gimp, ...). The entire time I'm logged in to my Linux server at work.

At home, it tends to change a lot, if I'm designing something for the store, I'm behind my computer quite a lot.

But, I'm married and have a son (and a second kid on the way), so I do have a life...

[chimera]

Web-surfing, running aMule and Azureus (mustly uploading, download a movie from time to time) and playing games (FlightGear, Nexuiz, Warsow)

just about the same things I used windows for.

[earobinson]

Everything

email
IM
web browsing
movies
music
games
office
random entertainment
programing

Its all I use and I use it for everything

[niobe_logos]

Just about everything.

For the past year I've been using Linux exclusively. I use Gaim for IM, GnuPGP for privacy, OpenOffice for for writing and reading Office documents. For web surfing and email, Firefox and Thunderbird. The Apache/MySQL/PHP combo allows me to develop websites and demo them for clients. Most editing is done via Bluefish and Nvu. The parts of my job that require Windows server work are increasingly done via ssh, Remote Desktop, and VNC. As a sysadmin I occasionally need to draw up a wiring floorplan; I just fire up Dia...

Since I have globetrotting family and friends, I've been using Skype and Gizmo to keep in touch.

For the off-hours, music and movies are run by XMMS and Xine, respectively. Streamtuner for Internet radio. My digital audio player, a Samsung YP-MT6, happily mounts on the desktop and lets me load it with OGG files.