Before I Get Slack I Need to Know if These Programs Will Work
 

I've been wanting to get my hands on Slackware Linux for a while now. I use (and to a degree, like) Windows and have tried Ubuntu. The latter was not for me for several reasons. But I've always wanted Slackware.
Before I get rid of Windows 7 I need to know if I can use two programs under Slackware 14 (it's now at RC2, I see), or else this idea is a no-go for me: the first program is Corel Aftershot Pro (ASP), distributed in RPM format. I am aware of rpm2tgz, but I've also heard that it doesn't always handle things correctly (something about ignoring installation scripts thereby adding unexpected "gotchas" to rpm-based programs). Aftershot Pro is a quality photo editing software which I will not live without on Linux.
The second bit of software is Nero Linux 4 ... unfortunately, it's also in RPM- only format.
I would appreciate any insight (especially from experience) to running these programs under Slackware. ASP is an absolute must for me. Nero is important too and would be nice to have.

As Corel After Shot Pro doesn't offer a demo of the Linux version, you're going to have to find out for yourself whether it's usable on Slackware. Just set Slackware up in a virtual machine and try it out.

In addition to rpm2tgz, Slackware also actually ships with RPM. You can, on Slackware, install any RPM with "rpm -ihv". You can also use src2pkg to, in one step, convert RPMs to Slackware packages and install them.

Converting .deb packages (such as those available for Nero Linux 4) to Slackware packages consists of unarchiving them with ar x and then repackaging the contents. You can look at, for example, how the google-chrome SlackBuild in /extra does it.

Did some research and only came across one instance of Aftershot Pro on Slackware, and it works, but one testimonial isn't much as encouraging as it may be. I still have questions about the effectiveness of rpm2tgz. What (if anything) does it ignore in the original rpm file during the conversion?

Thanks, dugan ... I just saw your reply. Incidentally, you can get a demo verion of Aftershot Pro from:
http://apps.corel.com/lp/aftershot/download/index.html
As I said in my first reply, one person seems to have it working. But before I throw out Windows I'd like a bit more information. Although I'm really hoping to start using Slackware.

About Nero Linux 4... I used it on Slackware 13.37. Nero Burning Rom worked. Nero Express wouldn't even launch though. Nero Linux is pretty much abandon-ware. I've burned useless a few discs with Nero (regardless the distro I used), something I cannot say about K3b, which I find to be a much, much better and dependable application. The only thing K3b misses is proper Bluray support. Frankly, I prefer to use Nero through Wine than run their native version for those BR discs.

Yup. I just saw the state of Nero Linux 4 and it's definitely abandonware. I'll be happy with k3b based on what I know. But ASP is a deal-breaker for me. Moreover, I'm really excited about using it on Linux.
And I don't want to move to Linux because it's trendy (I have polyester bellbottoms for that): I once saw Slackware in action and was amazed at how simply and smoothly it ran (Slackware is my archetypal Unix), and I immediately saw the potential of Linux. But I need to be pragmatic and do my research before landing on alien shores.

AfterShotPro works perfectly.

My Slackware installation is 64-bit, so I downloaded the 64-bit .deb and used src2pkg to convert it to a package:

That created a new Slackware package, which I just installed:

And then I launched it:

A big thanks! Truly awesome! Just one more thing- is Slackware 14 RC2 stable? (I need the newer kernel to take advantage of the Intel HD 3000 graphics on my Thinkpad).

It's not "stable" as I would use the word (the point of a release candidate is to give people a chance to report bugs), but the release of 14.0 is obviously not far off now. I'm personally willing to wait.

I am finding 14RC2 is pretty good right now, a couple little things, but overall, it's damn close to ready. Just my view on the topic : )

I'll wait a bit but my fallback plan is to get Slackware 13.37 and update the kernel to 3.2.27, as in Slackware 14, while leaving the rest of the system as-is. Hopefully this will get my HD 3000 graphiocs working and I'll have a stable X and userland.

I'm running 14 RC2 on an older Tower, not a production system. My laptop is running 13.37 with today's latest updates, and all is wonderful since I dropped Windows 7 : )

I'm hoping ditching Windows will be as seamless for me too! Mobile1, what do you mean by today's updates? Are there regular updates available for Slackware or do you get those from current?
And what about the idea of leaving 13.37 untouched except for adding the 3.2 kernel?

13.37 has been getting a few updates, today was Emacs & T1lib packages...security patch me thinks.

I'm still running Kernel 2.6.37.6 on my laptop, I don't tend to update the Kernel until stable releases happen. You can try running the newer Kernel, there may be some dependencies 13.37 doesn't have to run it. I don't know for sure if that's the case, but if anything, you may run into that problem : )

Worst case is that I'll be eagerly awaiting 14. Thanks, Mobile1.
And dugan, your help is very much appreciated. I guess this thread can be marked as solved.

"Thread Tools" > "Mark this thread as solved"

Here's a thread about someone who went down this road previously:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...s-card-935776/

I would definitely recommend waiting for 14's release.

My suggestion is to set up a dual boot. There is nothing worst than finding out your favorite program you never used is not supported under Linux, the day you need that particular program and nothing else will work.

I have a couple of applications that will not run under Linux and there is no equivalent programs under Linux.

By dual booting you get a chance to learn and migrate over to Linux; and as a bonus still have your old programs to fall back to if you ever need them.

-JJ

Option - Don't Get Rid of MS Windows
 

Along the lines of what jjthomas suggested ...

I now run Slack as the host and run Win7 in VirtualBox

Dual booting worked for me for a few years until my standard workflow required both MS Windows and Linux. I used multiple computers for a few more years but have recently switched to a single computer running both operating systems and I'm now quite productive with the standard 4 desktops of XFCE, dual monitors, and lots of RAM.

I mention this in case neither rebooting throughout the day nor multiple computers were good options.

Thanks for all your input. I've been considering the various options and am left with two reasonable choices:
i ) Stay with Windows 7
ii) Go with Slackware 14 (The only other distro I would consider is Debian, but the kernel in the stable branch won't support my hardware and I don't want to start swapping kernels this early in the game).
At this point I'd say that having Aftershot Pro, k3b (and Nero seems to work fine in Ubuntu 12.04), Imagemagick and OpenOffice under Linux would do just fine for me. I don't have Microsoft Office, so that's not a concern. But I do have an older version of PaintShop Pro and Photoshop Elements which would be very, very nice to get going under Linux. But neither of those packages are compatible with WINE as of yet. I've been tinkering with the idea of using a virtual machine to get them going but I'm concerned about performance and cooling (I have a total of 4GB of RAM and an Intel i3 on my notebook computer ... I would likely allocate one CPU core, and 1 to 2 GB of RAM to the Windows 7 VM). Also, I would prefer to use VMware Player as opposed to VirtualBox.
The reason I would like to move away from Windows as my host operating system is simply because it's a money pit with a fuzzy future - fuzzy because MS is pushing Metro and I see a day where Metro apps become the only supported format. Goodbye backwards-compatibility... (maybe)
Essentially, when it comes to Linux, it's Slackware or bust. But there is always Windows and I'm not making any changes until the new version of Slackware is released.

There is a deb2tgz converter (from 2008). I have not used it. If anyone has any info on how it works, please post it here.

Hey Dugan, please help-me

# AfterShotPro
Install Path: /opt/AfterShotPro
LD_PATH: /opt/AfterShotPro/lib:
XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS: 1
/usr/bin/AfterShotPro: line 36: /opt/AfterShotPro/bin/AfterShotPro: file or directory not found

Solved...

After install Multilib ASP work fine!!!

Thanks!!