Hi, everyone.

Im a linux newbie like my profile says.

LINUX DISTRIBUTION

Im a Windows user exploring the possiblity of switching to linux. I wonder though, which linux distribution is as user-friendly as Windows. I just installed RHEL WS4 and find it user-friendly but not for my wife .. I have also tried Mandrake and Solaris but, again, they are not as friendly as Windows. Or is it just because we're used to it?

I have a concern about RHEL though.. What does the linux community say about Red Hat abandoning support for open-source RH9? Will fedora follow? will the commercial Enterprise Linux reduce the number of users of Red Hat? If it will, then i'll probably look for another linux distribution.. that will be "forever" FREE. What would it be?


FILE FORMATS

DOCUMENTS

Open-Office has remarkable job of allowing users to export and open several file formats like MS's .doc/.xls/.ppt files. So i don't have any questions or comments about it.


AUDIO

I have hundreds of cd albums ripped to both MP3 (to create smaller files) and WMA (-lossless to back up entire CD) formats. Before i do the ripping again, i would like to ask your opinion as to which is the best portable audio format?

I tried APE and also think that its better than WMA lossless in terms of compression. In Windows, only (?) WinAmp supports the format and i find it inferior relative to WMPlayer10. In linux, which player can i use? Or is there anything better than APE?


VIDEO

Similarly, i also created back up of my DVDs using DVD-Shrink (in windows) and play it using VLan. But now, i'm not sure if the ISOs that i created can be used with the linux version of VLan. Which linux software is comparable to DVD-Shrink in creating DVD back-ups as an image file?

And what is the video format recommended by the open-source community?


DEVELOPMENT

I have written many programs in C/C++ and have distributed softwares developed in Visual C++ 6.0. I'm now starting to convert some of these applications to implement wxWidgets to make them portable. My questions is: which IDE should i use that is as powerful as MSVC's?


I know many will say that I need to decide first as to which OS i intend to use, but I think it's BEST to be able to switch between various OS including Windows.


Any comments and suggestions will be appreciated.

I´m new to linux but I´ve noticed SuSE 10.0 is very easy to use. DVD-image contains pretty much everything I need to work on linux and features a nice tool called Yast (Yet another setup tool) which easily allows to update and configure the system.

Have you tried Dev-C++ IDE? I use that over MSVC?

First of all (most probably you know this already): Linux is not Windows, so in Linux most things have to be done different than under Windows. Furthermore, Linux is not the lazy-man's OS, you will always have to learn the basics and spend some time to set the system up for your needs, no matter which distro. But after you managed this, you will be the "driver" of your OS and no more just a passanger. And remember back when you were a Windows-noob and speculated hours and hours, why you have to push 'Start' to exit... ;-)
A good beginner distro? - I would recommend Ubuntu. Not only because it has a really great hardwaredetection (very important for beginners), but also because it is not so bloated like most other distros -- the installation fits into only one CD. But the disadvantage of this is, that you must(!) have a fast and cheap internet connection to post-install all the extra software that you may need. But this is only my favour and the strength of Linux is, that YOU have the choise! Take a look at all the distro-reviews on this site:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/reviews/index.php/cat/2

You can use mp3 as well as wma -- there are several plugins for various players out there that support both formats.

I don't think there is a better lossless format than *.ape (either do I think, that this is better than *.wma). A popular and good player is 'xmms' (but this is only one out of many), and with this plugin it will also play *.ape files:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac-port

About the "VIDEO": I'm not so familar with this, and before I tell you nonsense...

Honestly I have to say, that I searched very long for a good IDE, and that I tried a lot of them, but I guess that there is nothing out there, that really is like Visual Studio. A listing of the most common tools is here:
http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Devtools/ides.html
And additionally: I guess 'emacs' or 'vim' are the most powerful applications for that, they are even much more powerful than Visual Studio and I can't think of anything that cannot be done with it. But there is also a (big) rub: These tools are very, very complex and you will have to spend weeks (or even months) to get just a little clue what it is all about with these. If you are not willing to spend this time, you may also give a very young project named 'Code::Blocks' a try:
http://www.codeblocks.org/

After emacs this is my favourite, although there is no final release so far, and the version "1.0rc2" is buggy as hell. But the latest nightly builds (always use these and not the rc2!!) are quite stable and really worth a try; take a look at its screenshots:
http://www.codeblocks.org/screenshots.shtml

But as always: Just a matter of taste.....

I would avoid getting hung up in "user-friendly like Windows". Rather, it is important to have the system meet you needs. Linux and Windows both need some learning to use efficiently. Anyone that can learn Windows can learn Linux--to a point**

I prefer the Ubuntu/Canonical business model---ie the SW will always be free, but you can choose to hire them for support. I hope they make this work. In any event, don't pay for a distro unless you need the support that comes with it---there are too many free choices.

**There are some things in Linux that are still not seamless (eg printing) When things go well, then not a problem. But when you have to go in and tweak at the CLI, or re-install print queues, it may test the patience of the more casual user.

Please do not post the same thread in more than one forum. Picking the most relevant forum and posting it once there makes it easier for other members to help you and keeps the discussion all in one place.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/rules.php

I'm closing this thread, there's another one in Distributions: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=408880