Transition from Windows to Linux
One of the questions that most Windows users ask when trying Linux is: “Will my Windows stuff work?” Usually, they refer to audio and video codecs, flash, java, and similar content. The answer is that all these can very easily be obtained and installed.
Here are a few guidlines that will make your transition so much smoother:
- Whatever your dilemma is, someone has already had it before. You should use search engines to find the right answers to your problems, quickly and efficiently. Writing something like “ubuntu windows codecs” in the search field of one of the popular search engines (e.g. Google) will yield the required answers.
- You should frequent the Ubuntu forums; the forums are a superb source of help, knowledge and inspiration.
- The Unofficial Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) Starter Guide is always a great place to start.
- Adding repositories to the sources list will allow you to search for packages via the Package Manager.
- Automatic can also be used to obtain the required content.
Note: For the more recent releases of (K)ubuntu, you should try Unofficial Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) Starter Guide or Unofficial Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) Starter Guide. You will notice that there are many similarities between the guides.
Let’s see how you can quickly and painlessly obtain your favorite Windows toys. The examples below are taken from the Unofficial Starter Guide. They require the use of the command line, but you should be confident enough by now.
Installing audio / video codecs
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-gl gstreamer0.10-plugins-base \ gstreamer0.10-plugins-good gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse \ gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse w32codecs
The backslash indicates that the command continues in the line below. If you are not comfortable with such lengthy commands, you can install each of the codecs separately.
Installing Sun J2SE Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jre sun-java5-plugin
You will have to agree to license terms. Upon installation, you will need to configure the plugin to be used as the default Java Virtual Machine.
sudo update-alternatives –config java
Installing Macromedia Flash Player for Firefox
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
sudo update-flashplugin
The list goes on and on. Simple instructions for the installation of IM, chat, P2P, multimedia players, and many other useful applications can all be found in the Starter Guide.
Most common applications
Going over the entire repertoire of goodies is almost impossible, but some applications merit a special mention. As a new Kubuntu user, you will probably wonder what programs you should use and what they offer, especially in regard to your familiar Windows turf.
Below is a very, very short list of some of the more popular KDE applications. Depending on your installation, some of these might (or might not) be installed. But they can easily be obtained, either from home sites or via the package manager.
Amarok – this is a light, simple, beautiful, and highly versatile for Linux running KDE; natively, it does not support MP3 format, but the necessary libraries can easily be added – for example, in Ubuntu or SUSE, via package managers – libxine-extracodecs.
Blender – a 3D creation tool, with excellent animation, rendering, and physics tools (and many more).
K3B – is a superb CD burning utility for KDE, with lots of excellent features, including support for multiple El Torito boot images, audio CD burning, VCD, SVCD, mixed-mode CDs, eMovix CDs, CD copy and CD/DVD ripping, DVD burning, DivX/XviD encoding, blanking of CDR-Ws, writing of ISOs, and a whole lot more.
Kate
No, you guessed wrong; it is not a Japanese WW2 torpedo bomber. It is a very powerful text editor.
Kino – this advanced video editor allows integration with IEEE-1394 for capture, VTR control, an ability to capture video in Raw DV and AVI formats, with doth type-1 and type-2 DV encodings, an ability to export composite movies in still frames, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and many other formats.
Koffice – is a full-featured, integrated office suite for KDE, offering 12 different applications, with standard office word, spreadsheet, database, and presentation programs, but also flowchart, image manipulation, project management, formula editing, and business quality tools.
Konqueror – Konqueror is a combined browser and file manager for KDE.
Kontact – is a personal information management suite; it includes the KMail email client, KOrganizer calendar component, KAddressbook address book management tool, KNode news reader, KitchenSync, a synchronization framework for mobile devices (phones, PDAs), and many other useful tools.
Kopete – an Instant Messaging program for KDE; Kopete supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, Gadu-Gadu, Novell GroupWise Messenger, and more, as well as message encryption and archiving.
KTorrent - BitTorrent client for KDE.
This list is just the tip of the iceberg. You can refer to Kubuntu Desktop Guide for detailed explanation how to use and configure the KDE desktop. In particular, Chapter 4. Common Tasks, contains a wealth of information regarding the KDE applications, including music, video, CD/DVD burning and ripping, graphics, Internet, Office, Programming, and more.
