help me convert to linux!
 

hey
im a linux newbie, fedora core 3 is on its way down to my machine, actually ive had various distros installed over time, but ive never felt comfortable in linux, simply because i dont feel that i ahve the control that i need, that i have in windows. all my questions should be seen in the regard that im used to windows i guess

1: firewall.
i do NOT like the basic firewalls that seems to be built into linux. these seem to be only open port/closed port (at least thats all ive found)
im using outpost pro in windows, i need similar features in linux. for example:
-blocking outbound as well as inbound connections based on rules and prompts when soemthing new wants to connect
- ability to see whats actually connected and to where
-application rules

i want total control, nothing including linux itself should be able to do anything without my permission.

2: anti.virus
is it needed at all ? im using kaspersky in windows.if needed, what do i get?

3: software
i need some kind of software directory for linux, similar to snapfils.com etc for windows

4: can i play real, windows, etc media in linux? what do i need?

5: file system. the linux one is confusing for me. is there any way to see filesystem, folders, drives etc like in windows?also i need a filemamanger with a tree down the left, liek windows explorer.

6: boot manager
last time i tried grub/lilo didnt work well with sata drives. ive only got sata drives, i want it to work. any sugestions?

7: skins
i dont like skins at all, they slow down and have no function. supposedly theres no way of avoiding using bitmaps or whatever in linux? like in windows classic style

8: drivers
last time i had a rought time trying to isntall ati radeon drivers...

8: IRC, may not seem like a big problem, but the irc clients for linux ive seen, i dont care for them. do u nkow any that look and function a bit like mirc?

9: cd/dvd burning. i never found out how to do this. what program to use?

10: image editing
the gimp is ok i suppose, but its not photoshop. are there any better alternatives ?

11: html editor. im used to dreamweaver. are there any similar wysiwyg programs for linux?

12:something like rainlendar and samurize ? i really like to ahve weather, tv listings, calendar on dekstop

13 a pure clean TEXT ONLY email client if possible. emails shoudl be text not html

14 winrar or similar for linux?

---

ok if i can get most of this then i see no reason to stick with windows

any suggestions or replies would be muchly appreaciated, dont make fun of me please, not everyone can be linux experts ;)

Re: help me convert to linux!
 

Originally posted by tahoma hey
im a linux newbie, fedora core 3 is on its way down to my machine, actually ive had various distros installed over time, but ive never felt comfortable in linux, simply because i dont feel that i ahve the control that i need, that i have in windows. all my questions should be seen in the regard that im used to windows i guess

1: firewall.
i do NOT like the basic firewalls that seems to be built into linux. these seem to be only open port/closed port (at least thats all ive found)
im using outpost pro in windows, i need similar features in linux. for example:
-blocking outbound as well as inbound connections based on rules and prompts when soemthing new wants to connect
- ability to see whats actually connected and to where
-application rules

i want total control, nothing including linux itself should be able to do anything without my permission.

Most firewall solutions for linux will be wrappers for iptables/ipchains, and iptables is extremely configurable.


2: anti.virus
is it needed at all ? im using kaspersky in windows.if needed, what do i get?

dunno, I don't use one in windows so don't know where to start.

3: software
i need some kind of software directory for linux, similar to snapfils.com etc for windows

Not sure what you mean; a software directory? software usually installs to to /usr/local or /opt

4: can i play real, windows, etc media in linux? what do i need?

Yup, you need a good movie player (mplayer or totem) and codecs.


5: file system. the linux one is confusing for me. is there any way to see filesystem, folders, drives etc like in windows?also i need a filemamanger with a tree down the left, liek windows explorer.

explorer type file managers aren't that common, but konquerer is fairly similar

6: boot manager
last time i tried grub/lilo didnt work well with sata drives. ive only got sata drives, i want it to work. any sugestions?

7: skins
i dont like skins at all, they slow down and have no function. supposedly theres no way of avoiding using bitmaps or whatever in linux? like in windows classic style

Huh?? Try fluxbox, no skins just your programs.
Hell, you don't need to use a window manager AT ALL.. In fact you never need a graphical display if you don't want. What linux distros have you been trying, linspire???

8: drivers
last time i had a rought time trying to isntall ati radeon drivers...

Ati drivers are still rough but getting better.

8: IRC, may not seem like a big problem, but the irc clients for linux ive seen, i dont care for them. do u nkow any that look and function a bit like mirc?

tried xchat? xchat isn't too far away from mIRC.

9: cd/dvd burning. i never found out how to do this. what program to use?

try k3b

10: image editing
the gimp is ok i suppose, but its not photoshop. are there any better alternatives ?

gimp is horrible, I feel your pain.

11: html editor. im used to dreamweaver. are there any similar wysiwyg programs for linux?

I think quanta might be? There's a separate thread on this somewhere (search for frontpage and sort by date).

12:something like rainlendar and samurize ? i really like to ahve weather, tv listings, calendar on dekstop

Ewww, "channels" heh, thought they went out of fashion years ago :p
You should be able to find something you like, although really the "desktop" doesn't exist in a lot of window managers.

13 a pure clean TEXT ONLY email client if possible. emails shoudl be text not html

pine, nail, mutt, are console only. Or you can set up thunderbird to display and send only in plain text.

14 winrar or similar for linux?
It should install with unrar.
---

ok if i can get most of this then i see no reason to stick with windows

any suggestions or replies would be muchly appreaciated, dont make fun of me please, not everyone can be linux experts ;)

As far as a WYSIWYG html editor, Mozilla's composer mode is pretty good. It's launched by just typing;

mozilla -edit

As far as file managers, both nautilus and konqueror are very good.

As far as e-mail, text only,...
kmail is text only by default, and others have told you about thunderbird.

All in all, I can't understand how you feel you have no control it Linux. I think it's quite the other way, in fact. M$'s slogan should be "Where do WE want you to go, today?".

As far as virus scanners,...
No, you don't really need one. Most viruses are written for Windoze. There are only somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 or so Linux viruses. To catch any one of those, you pretty much have to run the virus code on purpose. Plus, damage will be limited to the user account the virus was run from. Linux user accounts are generally all a user can effect. I don't know of a single Linux virus which is able to acquire root privileges on its own.

The greater danger in Linux is from people manually hacking into the system. If you set up your firewalls well, that won't be a problem.

SuSE 9.2 Pro
 

Greetings,

I use SuSE 9.x with the Grub Boot, and Gnome XDM. Install Firefox for Browser, Run ClamAV for Antivirus, and I don't let my users have speakers... Im a mean IT guy... They will start Streaming up your bandwidth... Firewall is solid... get some example configs... they are all avail.

use IPCOP, on an old x86 box, to act as your router...

Good Luck...

The linux firewall is provided by iptables and it can provide anything you would want out of a firewall this side of openbsd(no failover). However, the graphical tools to manage it are somewhat lacking you are best off writing your own script to get the most out of it.

hey again

thanks for all the replies
i guess my main concern of the ones mentioned above is the firewall. and thats what i mean by feeling in control as well. i wanna know whats goin on on my system

heres a screenshot of outpost firewall in windows http://www.ignoreland.net/op.jpg

this is what i want to be able to feel in control
http://www.ignoreland.net/op.jpg

control is exactly what linux gives you, look into ps (process control) and iptables.