| wIndependence Day Essay: Blue Monday to Tux Tuesday |
by Terrence T. Cox (July 11, 2002)
or, Eight Days to Lower Blood Pressure
Monday morning, January 5th, 2002... after arriving at my desk that morning and proceeding to retrieve the first email of the new year, I started this year as I ended the last. The blue screen that ensued was the beginning of the end of Windows for me.
Linux had, up until now, been a hobby. Something I dabbled in, a cooler 'toy' to play with when my mainstream 'toy' misbehaved. However, my mainstream toy had become unruly and irritating. I decided on that fateful day that Linux was my solution. I work at a large corporation and knew that getting approval to use Linux on my desktop would be near impossible if I didn't come to the dance fully prepared. Thus, I launched my 'proof of concept', my home PC. If I can convert my home PC to linux and find applications and utilities to do EVERYTHING I would normally do, I could be confident in convincing the doubters at work. Fortunately, working in IT meant I knew who was who, and what kind of turkey I needed to be able to talk.
First thing to do was make a list of everything that I use my computer for at home. This actually takes a bit of time when you get right down to what most computer geeks truly do at home. My list consisted of the following:- Internet browsing
- Multimedia Streaming
- Watching DVDs
- Playing Games
- Programming
- Administration of Home Network
- VPN to Work
- Email and Newsgroups
- Chat
With this list, I installed Linux and went to work determining what was what. Browsing was quickly resolved with a number of generally compatible browsers. I settled on Mozilla as I liked the organization bar on the left for links and searches. Multimedia streaming was accomplished using XMMS and/or the KDE Multimedia utilities that came with my distribution as well as with CodeWeaver's excellent Crossover Plugin. Although game play is more limited in Linux, I was surprised at the one's I could continue to play (Unreal, Quake, Return to Castle Wolfenstein). Programming was easy, it was all right there. Administration of the home network was easier now than it ever was with Windows. VPN was a bit of a challenge, but IPSEC and a bunch of FAQs later, I am surfing the work network. Email using Evolution (which also connects to my work Exchange server) and any number of newsgroup viewers solve that problem. Chat using GAIM and xIRC and we are left with DVD movie watching.
I make DVDs a different topic for two reasons. The first is, it shouldn't be as hard as it is to get going. The fact that Hollywood can dictate to me what OS I have to run to watch a movie that I legitimately own is ridiculous. I basically have to commit a crime in order to watch 'The Matrix' on my screen. Second, it wasn't exactly straight forward to set up probably because of the first point. Once I got the codecs needed and Xine configured correctly set with the raw devices and pointers necessary, I can now watch full screen movies with sound in Linux with no problem, but I digress...
Now to the office - a couple of LAN parties at the house were enough to get a bit of buzz going about how I manage to never boot Windows anymore. A friendly bet with the guys in the department is all it takes to get permission to try and do my job using Linux! The conversion at the office was much simpler. The gaming and multimedia/streaming concerns were not paramount (although the previously gained knowledge was useful) but the conversion to office applications was. Since I wasn't thrilled with the new ?nominal charge? for StarOffice, OpenOffice seemed to work fine up to and including Office XP documents and spreadsheets. Evolution connects fine to our Exchange Server for sending and receiving mail and I can even share out my schedule calendar for anyone who needs it. How do I administer the Windows NT/2000/XP servers I am in charge of do you ask? Rdesktop baby . . . works just like Terminal Services and no license needed.
The bottom line (since that is what the suits care about) is this. New PC, Windows XP Pro, Office XP Pro, Visual Studio C++ and my code editor would have cost $2450+... cost of implementing duplicate functionality in Linux was $929 (PC was $900, CrossOver Plugin $29). Does my productivity suffer? NO. I can quantify no less than an additional 22 minutes per day is available for accomplishments since I am no longer rebooting and futzing with an OS that is not stable. Do I have any tradeoffs? Not at work and only minimally at home. What does this mean? So far, 13 conversions total - 3 at work, 10 at home and counting... Total time to convert both work and home was eight days and blood pressure points lost since is roughly twice that!
About the Author: The author, Terry, has been using Linux since 1993 and has recently converted his everyday work and home computers to Linux completely. To unwind from his stressful 'non-Linux' related troubleshooting at the office, Terry generally likes to play online and FPS games until he can't see. You can also visit his (non-commercial no-popup) website and send him an email . . .
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Please note: The opinions expressed in this essay are those of the writer, not of the management or staff of DesktopLinux.com.
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