Monday 24 January 2011

The Top of my Desk.


While I've slowly been tapping Alt-F4 for many years, I'd always had trouble finding a mature Linux desktop OS that I was really happy with. The problems were small and varied, but often there was something that stuck out as either a grumbler or deal breaker. It feels like I *should* be using Linux but its normally a bit uncomfortable, and a few windows games and apps have always provided excuses to stay with Microsofts burnt offerings.

While making a few hardware changes to my PC, it was left out-of-action while awaiting an RMA on a new component so I lugged my Ubuntu machine on to the table and braced myself for the worst. And as it happened the worst wasn't as bad as I'd expected. Wanting to be prepared I upgraded to Lynx, made sure Chrome was working and felt my way in the dark from there.

As a disclaimer, the Ubuntu machine is an old Core2 Duo with 4GB and an HDDs for boot, swap and data. I'm trying hard not to compare its performance to a modern PC, although obviously the weakness of the hardware are going to colour my experience.

First impressions were pretty good and I soon appreciated how dominant online services really make your desktop OS choice all but irrelevant. With Chrome installed I realised I was halfway there - having Mail, Docs et al. available at my fingertips. Google have been a key player in opening up the OS market for competition with a single power-play, and the old-world two horse race between Microsoft and Apple will never recover.

More than a day or two of Ubuntu was a stretch for me, so I installed Wine for Steam and my game(s) of choice. Installing was almost painless - (it was DOA and I had to google the errors) - but after a bit of dicking around it all worked. I'm not sure if I'm getting the performance I'd expect from running native, but its running all the same. I couldn't say games weren't a problem, but being able to install and run Team Fortress 2 without drama and trauma explains why there isn't a commercial Linux client available. Its just not needed.

I was also able to try out some Linux-specific software, in this case Darktable. Its a photo darkroom app that gives you white balance, and many other tweaks to just bring up the standard of your pics. Kudos to the Darktable people, it does what it does really well. I kind of felt weird not being able to airbrush, and perform a few other effects but Darktable assumes you took the right picture to start with and provides you with the Dark Room / Light Table tools and effects essentially allowing you a bit more control over the developing process.

Overall, Desktop Linux wasn't painful because I didn't have to learn anything. In years gone by, there was a brainwidth overhead which a more idiot-proof OS abstracted me from. I had a couple of problems with Eclipse Galileo and with Spotify. The former wasn't much more than "Sudo just fucking work" and the latter I suspect I shall work around with Wine or VirtualBox.

However even the worst gripes I've got are pretty minor, and nothing that would stop me using Ubuntu as a casual Desktop OS. The warm geeky feeling of running Linux finally washing over me, this brief cup of Ubuntu has taught me just how much the desktop market has shifted. Its reminder of how quickly things can change might serve as a glimpse of the future.