If you use linux as primary OS ....

[cjnkns]

It seems to me that if using linux as a primary OS we can miss out on a lot of things windows/osx offers.

For example - I have an ipod and I have been syncing it with amarok latley. This is nice but I kind of miss the functionality of itunes ( am I alone here?)

Itunes offered simple downloads of books, movies, and podcasts. But with linux I am having trouble figuring out how to perform all these operations and get them on my ipod. Don't get me wrong I like linux but sometimes it seems like PIA compared to windows or i guess in this case itunes. :)

If you have an ipod I would love to hear how you do it!

[cb951303]

one of these threads again :) you should and will understand that linux is not windows :) they both have different ways of doing things. so if you are looking for itunes functionality then you should stick with windows or macos. it's that simple :popcorn:

EDIT: Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that you should abandon linux

[cjnkns]

understood...guess I can use windows for my ipod and linux for tinkering on other things

[Swarms]

I have a windows install somewhere for syncing my iPhone, but thats it. Linux fills my daily requirements. Plus it runs Spore. :D

[namegame]

The great thing about Linux is the amount of freedom it allows.

Linux doesn't care if you dual-boot with Windows, Mac OS, etc.

Just do what works best for you. If Linux doesn't do something you need, don't use it. And if Windows doesn't do it, use something else.

Personally, neither Windows or Linux does %100 of what I need, but using them together in a simple, harmonius dual-boot does the job for me.

[meborc]

when i use windows machine then i always miss the functionality of linux terminal (windows command line just does not do it for me)... so you see - it goes both ways

use what you like, linux is a choice

[SuperSonic4]

I've had no problem with amarok syncing my iPod and I despise the iTunes store not because of DRM but because I can only use iTunes/iPod to play them unless I burn to cd first.

Some things I prefer in windows, Office 07 is a good example as well as excellent hardware support and printing is essential to vista.
A lot of things are better in linux (read:KDE) such as amarok, boot time, speed, k3b and konsole
Some are good in both, ie: firefox

[Vitamin-Carrot]

use what you like, linux is a choice

+1

[SunnyRabbiera]

I miss out on nothing, as linux fulfills all my needs.

[god0fgod]

There's nothing I would want to use windows for. I do want to buy a Mac though. Linux can offer every I would want right now and does it very well. Or ubuntu does (When it's finally installed).

[SunnyRabbiera]

really i miss nothing in windows...
No more defrags, adware checks, spyware checks, virus checks, no more manual updates of every app I have (the updater in ubuntu makes life MUCH easier).
For me its windows that is harder, not linux.

[mike1234]

It seems to me that if using linux as a primary OS we can miss out on a lot of things windows/osx offers.

For example - I have an ipod and I have been syncing it with amarok latley. This is nice but I kind of miss the functionality of itunes ( am I alone here?)

Itunes offered simple downloads of books, movies, and podcasts. But with linux I am having trouble figuring out how to perform all these operations and get them on my ipod. Don't get me wrong I like linux but sometimes it seems like PIA compared to windows or i guess in this case itunes. :)

If you have an ipod I would love to hear how you do it!

I have used itunes with Wine. It worked great but then I don't have an ipod either. I just don't use non-linux apps. Do I miss Windows? Absolutely not. I have XP pro, Vista Ultimate, Office 2003 pro, Office 2007 pro, etc. Waste of money. Windows never seems to deliver what they promise. Malware, Viruses, Defrag, BSOD, etc. Who needs it? If Windows was a Woman, I'd leave her.

M.

[Thieflock]

I'll agree with you on this. As an OSX, Windows, and Linux user. I don't fully depend on any of these OS's. OSX I use for school because the Macbook is small and has a great battery but talking strictly OS and software. Being a Computer Science student I love my OSX because it has apps like XCode which allows me to compile in C, C++, Java, Python, Ruby and a couple others in one app. Linux I mostly use at home for tinkering, some homework, chatting and the big one downloading torrents. And all Windows for me is a gaming console, unless there is a Windows app that is only for Windows.

[elmer_42]

Linux fills my daily requirements. Plus it runs Spore. :D
WHAT?! You can run Spore on Linux? How? Through WINE? I would love to not have to switch over to XP to play it.

[kk0sse54]

I miss Linux more whenever I have to use windows....:)

[steveneddy]

Choice is very important.

Use what you choose.

[bigbrovar]

GNU/Linux is my sole OS .. at least for the last 5 months i have used only Linux .. do i miss windows.. not at all .. the decision to wipe vista from my lappy was taking because the space it occupies was needed since it was hardly used .. i guess i stopped missing windows long before i officially removed every trace of it... i had an ipod touch once and it worked well with amarok and gtkpod .. i use winff for converting videos ... i have a sony Ericson's p1i and it syncs well with amarok .. like i said i dont miss windows at all .. i actually pity pple that are still locked down to it .. either because of work .. or some game ..all in all i think pple should follow my signature

[cardinals_fan]

I don't like iTunes. I prefer to download free music from sources that allow downloads legally - such as the Peabody Concert Orchestra.

[AndyCooll]

It seems to me that if using linux as a primary OS we can miss out on a lot of things windows/osx offers.
I haven't run Windows on my pc's for 3 years and I've never used OSX, and yet I've never felt I've missed out on anything.
I've never owned an iPod or an iPhone, and I've never used iTunes ...and yet amazingly I've never felt I'm missing out

Quite the opposite in fact. When I use Windows at work I'm always glad to get back to my Linux environment. I find it frustrating to work in what I see as the restricted environment that is Windows. Indeed to my mind it's more a about what Windows and Mac are missing ...freedom and choice being the two obvious ones to start off with ...

However, each to their own. And if a Windows or Mac environment suits your needs better then that is what you should choose.

:cool:

[aysiu]

I used to have an iPod, use iTunes, buy songs off the iTunes music store. I had to call Apple to deauthorize my computer at one point, because I'd formatted it without deauthorizing it first, and I'd already maximized the number of authorized computers for my DRM'ed songs.

When I switched to Linux, I started off dual-booting for iTunes.

Eventually, though, I just changed my lifestyle. Now I buy CDs or I buy MP3s off Amazon. I have a Sansa Clip that supports drag-and-drop, so I don't need iTunes or really any music player to organize my music collection. I don't really do podcasts, so I can't say much about that.

[SunnyRabbiera]

I miss Linux more whenever I have to use windows....:)

same here, I dread when I have to give one of my windows using friends a checkup.

[xuCGC002]

I use Linux everytime I can. WINE is more reliable with all my Windows applications than Vista, which all computers at my school, friends' houses, families' houses, anywhere around me basically. XP is slow, crashes frequently, and sucks in general.
Both are terrible OSes in every way imaginable, and sticking to Linux is the best choice.

As for OSX, it's decent, but crashes a bit.

[perlluver]

I prefer Linux, as I was in Windows one day, I had an epiphany, and asked myself, why was I using this again. I couldn't recall, and I have been enjoying Linux ever since.

:lolflag:

[jflaker]

for the rare occasion I "need" windows, I boot up VirtualBox with a Windows XP guest......problem solved.

Otherwise, I shed my crashed Vista on 2 of 3 pc's for Linux and never crashed yet! It's been almost 1 year.

[AusIV4]

I got my first taste of Ubuntu just after Breezy Badger (5.10) came out. By Edgy Eft (6.10), I was dual booting my laptop (using Windows only when necessary), and running Ubuntu full time on my desktop. Soon after Feisty Fawn (7.04) was released, Windows was resigned to a virtual machine, and today it seldom sees the light of day.

I stick to consoles for gaming, and what few needs aren't met by native Linux applications can generally be handled by Wine. I can easily go a month without booting my Windows VM.

For your iPod question, I feel it necessary to plug Amarok. I use Amarok to manage my iPod (and my music in general). I found a love for Amarok on my desktop even before I started dual booting my laptop.

I like to keep my music on the computer as FLAC so I can transcode to different lossy codecs depending on the target device. Amarok has a plugin that will let me automatically tanscode my music as it transfers them to my iPod.

I'm also a big fan of Amarok's "Context" menu - not only can you seek out album art, but you can also get the lyrics for your current song, or the wikipedia page about the musician.

I also like Amarok's queuing system. With iTunes, I could never change playlists without changing the song that was currently playing. Amarok will let me switch to another active playlist, and start playing from that once my current song finishes. I can also queue up several songs to play - I can select a bunch of songs and specify what order they should be played, but when its done Amarok will just continue with the given playlist. I'm also somewhat OCD - if I stop listening in the middle of a song, I'll be hearing that song play though my head all day; Amarok will let me set a flag that says "Stop playing after this song", so I don't have to be paying attention and stop the music player when a song is over. I can also tell it to stop playing after the aforementioned queue is complete.

My last plug for Amarok is the list of plugins. I use Amarok as my alarm clock. Being a college student, I have to get up at a different time every day. There's a plugin for Amarok that will let me specify what time I have to get up on each day of the week. That's a huge convenience I wouldn't want to give up.

[whitefang5412]

For some that have the gift of two computers, I usually keep one with windows installed, and the other with linux installed, but both of my computers have linux installed. My laptop has fedora core 9, and my desktop is running a default set up of ubuntu 8.04 for my dad, but I found myself gaming on my very nice desktop monitor. I don't really touch my ipod anymore, so its not a priority, but when I get a new laptop for my birthday, this old one will run windows and the new one will run linux.