I've used many different distros of Linux over the past 3 years. I was never using Linux only before because I had other needs. Well, now I feel that Linux can satisfy everything that I need to do, I just need to be reassured that it is possible.

My most important concerns are keeping up my freelance work at home. Is there an easy and efficient way to continue to use Photoshop 7? Yes, I've heard of the GIMP, but I am much more comfortable using Photoshop. I'd also like to keep Illustrator CS2, and have the option to put on Photoshop CS2 when I get some money for it.

Next, I've been using Crimson Editor for about a year and a half. Is there an equivlent that I can aquire for Linux? If you've never used/heard of it, it's a text editor that is very basic, but highlights the syntax for just about every language known to mankind.

I have an nvidia geforce 4, I've never had a Linux distro with that videocard, but I've always heard a lot of problems with nvidia drivers and Linux. How hard is it to get those working together?

How about my CD/DVD burner? Are there good programs to keep using that?

Last, but definitely not least is my iPod. I would love to keep using iTunes if it were possible. But if not, I guess it's just a sacrifice I'd have to make. As long as I could keep updating my iPod sucessfully.

I think that's everything I need help with. If I need anymore I'll just reply with it.

Thanks a lot, hopefully I'll be running slackware only in the near future.

Well, I can't answer all your questions, but GIMP is an excellent program. I'd try it. If you don't like it, photoshop 7 can be run in wine or crossover office.

As for the nvidia drivers, those are always simple to set up. I've never had any problems, and it only takes 5 minutes tops to do.

I was reading about crossover office. Which do you recommend, WINE, or that and why?

Crossover office is (though a commercial product) a far more refined emulation solution. If you are going to be using (relatively) expensive products like Photoshop CS2 for commercial purposes (graphic designer) then it's well worth buying crossover. I believe they have full support for the product as well, so you don't have to depend on us, though we'll still be here for you.

Well, from my experiences crossover office works better for apps like photoshop. As far as I know both worth, but crossover seems hassle free. Nice GUI...adds menus for windows programs..it's just nice. You could always try wine first, and if it isn't for you go for crossover. The thing about wine is it's free .

For a CD/DVD burner... http://www.k3b.org/ . You have to have kde installed *slackware has it by default*. It's the best cd burning software out there :P.

I guess I'll try WINE before forking over 40 bucks for CrossOver. But it's really not that expensive compared to other pieces of software.

I'd really like to get everything done for free though, but it may be worth it.

Thanks for the input so far. I appreciate it.

I suggest Gentoo instead of Slackware. Its easier to update programs because everything is compiled.

You could use VMware and use Windows 2000 to handle all your Windows programs. VMware does support USB devices and it has excellent reliability. The cost of VMware may look horrifying, but it will soon be a steal on what it can do. IMHO, Windows emulators like WINE or Crossover Office are unreliable with very, very big projects.

k3b is a frontend to many CD/DVD writing backends. Just do not use Nero for Linux.

gedit and any many other GUI text editor can highlight for several programming langauges than you can think of.

It is the opposite what people are saying about nVidia being hard. It is easy to install and setup nVidia video cards. What is hard for novice users to understand is not all Linux distributions installs the source or header files for the kernel. Some cases novice users updates the kernel but they do not know better to upgrade source or header files too. ATI cards are pain in the ass and plus you do not get all the features in Linux. nVidia gives all features and also they include overclocking. I do not mess with overclocking because it creates an issue of bragging.

While I don't want to drag this into a distro war, I would like to say that I agree with Electro that Gentoo should be considered, simply because I've used Slackware (among others) and just love Gentoo's installation system. It's had nearly every program I've ever wanted available with only two words: "emerge PROGRAM_NAME".

That being said, I won't continue into a distro war unless the OP wants to know more about Gentoo. It does seem that he's pretty set on Slackware though.

I'd like to learn more on Gentoo if you want to summarize it for me.

It seems it may be more what I'm looking for. Does Gentoo use RPM's?

Gentoo does not use RPMs, but has its own package management system called portage. Say I want to install apache: I just type "emerge apache" and it installs. If I want php with support for the GD library (image library), I do "USE=gd emerge php".

Check out the gentoo homepage. I also love the Gentoo community: in my opinion, it's the friendliest and biggest distro community that I've seen.

My suggestion is to keep Windows but in a separate hard-drive...Win emulation is still in its infancy (imo), so you won't be getting a top-notch product as a result. I support your choice of Slackware, K.I.S.S. all the way...

I believe The GIMP has a skin that makes it look and feel more like Photoshop.

And the slackware packaging system really isn't all that bad once you get used to it.

you download the package
installpkg thepackage
and your done.

Although Gentoo has an apt-like package downloader it can take a long time for a package to compile.

Slackware is closer to generic Linux than Gentoo.

Both are great for hackers and tweak-happy Linux users, so whichever one you choose they both give you a lot of freedom to customize your system.

Is the GIMPshop what you were talking about, or is there another, possibly better one?

I was talking to a friend at work today who's been using Gentoo for a while and I think I decided I'll start with Slackware for now, and when I'm comfortable with it, I'll dual boot with Gentoo. He said it was fairly hard for him to install and took hours upon hours. I don't think I'm up for that right away, emerging everything and compiling it all.

Hopefully I can find out what I need tonight so I can install it. No work tomorrow


I've decided I can get used to the GIMP or GIMPshop. I've been so busy at work I haven't really had time for freelance work, so I'll have time to get up to speed on it. Now the only thing left is my iPod. I have 17 gigs of music on it, and I know there are programs for macs/XP to take the music off and keep it formatted. I'll be googling stuff like that now, but I'd like it in here in case I can't find it.

So any input on iPod use is pretty much what I'm looking for now.

Thanks for all of your help, it's been great since I first came here a long time ago just reading topics. I appreciate you taking your time to help me out for nothing in return.

I have one last thing to add. It seems GTKpod is what I'm looking for. I can't, for the life of me, find my usb charger/connection. It's somewhere in my brothers room, but his room is trashed now because he just came back on leave from Japan. I don't even know if I will find it.

I can't find out if GTKpod will work if it's being connected via firewire, or how well linux supports it. Anyone know of this?

Thanks

Aww, Gentoo's no problem. But I totally understand your point of view.

If you have any questions you'd like to talk over this evening (I don't know how late you tend to stay up) feel free to IM me (if you use it) -- my contact info is in my profile. I don't mean to exclude others from this forum, and would be happy to post conclusions here, but sometimes it's easer to talk things over in realtime.

Ah, but we do get something in return. For those of us who are 'linux missionaries', we get to help spread it. I don't have a crusade against MS myself, I have a crusade for Linux. I use both Win XP (gaming and (unfortunately) Windows software development) and several linux machines, so I understand the balance between the two. I also (and I think most of us do) consider this all a big trading ground -- we help you, you help others, others help us, it all goes around. Nobody here got to where they are (ok, almost nobody) without talking with someone else who had used Linux first.