im really starting to loose hope in this whole linux thing its soo confusing and hard and none of the old software i use to use on windows has a linux version and i cant get wine to install on my computer and ive heard that its not worht it maybe i should give up and go back to windows any input from anyone is welcomed.... encouragement discouragement whatever what do u all think??? am i just a pitafull noob????????
synth

Ok, here's what I would suggest. Just keep trying. Maybe it's just the distro that you can't get a hang with. I would suggest using Mandrake 9.1 as a start, that's what I'm using as my Linux distro. But keep trying, you can't say you've tried your hardest because you haven't asked enough questions here. It may be a tough go but trust me, in the long run, it'll end up much much better.

see my guide, hopefully it can bring things into focus better - it is written as clearly as i could muster, i would recommend red hat 9.

You just need to download the Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition and read a little bit.

The learning curve is steep at the start, but after learning a few commands and finding a few resources(this forum and the many in fancypiper's sig) it get's better. Don't give up before you get started.

I have used something that is closely related to wine which is called Crossover Office which is made by Codeweavers. It sells for about $60. Anyway, I use it to run the Windows versions of Word 97 and Excel 97 under Linux. Crossover Office comes with an easy to use installation program and from within Crossover Office I ran the Office 97 installation program. Crossover Office also works perfectly with Word 2000 and Excel 2000 but not quite as perfectly with Word XP or Excell XP.

Crossover Office would also allow you to run the Windows versions of Adobe Photoshop, Lotus Notes, Powerpoint and Quicken. It is not a free product but it might easy the transition for you from Windows to Linux.

Do not overlook the excellent Linux software that is already available. You probably already have the free Open Office software installed. The free Open Office is a complete office suite similar to Microsoft Office. I used the word processor in it to write a monthly newsletter for a small singles club for over a year. I used it to create a newsletter in mult-column format that inluded clipart and color photos of our events. I had previously used Microsoft Word for that task but found that doing a multi-coulum newsletter with photos is much easir with Open Office. Open Office comes in a Linux version and also a Windows version.

That might ease your transition to Linux. In the meantime you could always dual boot until you are really ready to get rid of Windows. Someday Windows will probably die on you and give you the blue screen of death. At that point Linux will still be running reliably and waiting to be used. Use whichever product you prefer, or both!

Dual boot linux with your windows.
Hang on: new apps are comming, current apps are maturing fast.
Try other distro. Some are very good in running windows apps.
They have a better software than wine: crossover, win4lin, vmware, codeweavers, etc.


Have fun, be free :-)

I have heard it said that Rome wasn't built in a day.
Good Luck.

I would like to add another thought about using Crossover Office. It is easier to install than most other Linux programs. Using it does not require knowing anything about Wine even though Crossover Office itself is based on Wine. It definately will not run all Windows programs, just a few programs.

Here is what it is like once I have installed the few Windows programs that it actually will run under Crossover Office. I am currently running Red Hat Linux 9 and when I click on the red hat Icon in the lower left corner the usual Linux menu appears. Within that I select Windows applications and then Programs. From that menu I click on Microsoft Word and it opens for me. MS Word appears in a window and it seems to work just as well as if I were running Windows. There is one Linux disto comes with Crossover Office already installed in the $99 version of it, but I can not rememnber the name of it. The $39 version of that distro does not include Crossover Office.

Of course this assumes you already have one of the Windows programs that is compatible with Crossover Office and want to use that.

thanx for all the input all i guess i will hang in there and "suck it up" lol bout getting a different' distro ive tried korel redhat and slack so far and for the time being slack 9 is what i like the most red hat is good i guess but its way 2 slow for my liking. i dont really think its fair to blame the distro cause its not there fault im a dumb noob thats been using windows for a long while. the only real problem ihave w/ my distro is how difficult it is 2 install software cause i have to do alot of command line stuff it takes forever and half the time i cant get the software to work. but when it dose it works good... but the only problem is most windows software that have a linux counterpart/version suck its like they put no effort into the linux software and like all there effort into the windozzzzzz's software its not fair... but i should stop complaing and start sucking it up... thanx for all the input ...maybe someday i'll be the one encouraging a noob not 2 give up and telling him/her that ive been there 2 lol oh wellz thanx alll....
synth

How about posting about which apps specifically you are having trouble replacing, and why? You may be pleasantly surprised!

Steve

Look at this site for some ideas of Linux-Microsoft software equivilants.


Bubba169