Slashdot Mirror
Cooking With Linux
Georg Tobin writes "LinuxWorld open source editor Kevin Bedell conducts a very interesting interview with Michael Stutz, author of the new Linux Cookbook, 2nd Edition, on the language of the Linux command line, cookbooks, economics, and what applications you absolutely need Windows for."
>> Linux is loaded with applications, everything you need.
That doesn't seem true to me. There are lots of areas where Linux applications could use improvement. Photoshop for example (GIMP, while on the good track, is still way to go in this area).
I mainly agree with the points outlined, but not everything is perfect, and Linux still has some catch-up to do in some areas.
The examples I am most familiar with are animation (as far as I know, no Linux program exists to create Flash animation, and the only 3d animation program I'm aware of is Blender), professional audio (fun with ALSA, anyone?), and graphics (aside from the GIMP issue, what about vector graphics and publishing?).
Flash for Linux, DrawSWF, Spalah Flash, SWF Tools gAnim8, and OpenOffice all do swf with varying degrees of utility.
I won't even try to list the 3d tools - there are hundreds, from POVRay frontends to full-on commercial packages like Maya. I find it hard to believe anyone seriously involved with 3D animation could fail to be aware the role of Linux within the industry. It's Dreamworks, ILM, Disney, Weta and Pixar's main platform, for fuck's sake.
There are plenty of pro level audio tools for Linux too. Just have a look on Sourceforge or Freshmeat.
Look mate, not knowing something is not a problem, but parading your ignorance when a couple of minutes with google would have enlightened you is just FUD-spreading. Give it a break, please.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
"no Linux program exists to create Flash animation, and the only 3d animation program I'm aware of is Blender) ... and graphics (aside from the GIMP issue, what about vector graphics and publishing?)."
:P
For 3D, you could get XSI or Maya. Both are very high end apps. (You'll find them both at ILM, for example.) For 2D, if you're a professional, GIMP is a pain in the ass. I've heard WINE will run Photoshop, though. For vector... no idea.
If you're doing 3D or 2D professionally, now's not the right time to be running Linux. Believe me, I would have switched years ago if I could have. Fortunately, Windows (2000 or even XP anyway) isn't the piece of shit that Slashdot pretends it is. The main reason I want to switch to Linux isn't because of stability or security problems with Windows. (I'm not even having those problems.) Rather, I'm interested in its automation capabilities. Scripting's kinda fun.
"Derp de derp."
"If you're doing 3D or 2D professionally, now's not the right time to be running Linux."
Oh.. oops. I left a sentence out. Without it, it sounds like I'm doing a 180 here: I've been interested in XSI for a while now. While researching it, I ran across some complaints about XSI running under Linux. From what I understand (note: This is 3rd hand information, I haven't tried this) XSI's port to Linux didn't go over so well. I imagine Maya runs just fine, but XSI's been poo-poo'd quite a bit. However, if you really had to do 3D and you didn't need to worry about making 2D textures or compositing, you'd do alright with Linux in 3D.
Sorry, I was too quick to hit submit earlier.
"Derp de derp."
Linux is good for:
- Scientific apps (I know Astronomy best but as I understand it there are other areas where Analysis tools are all written to run under Un*x)
- Running as a web/ftp/mail etc. etc. internet server
- Teaching developers to code in a number of languages without forking out tens of dollars on costly development environments
- Generally running in places where otherwise licensing costs would be prohibitive.
- Users who want more control over the environment, and can afford the time configuring it correctly.
Windows is good for:
- Writing documents (Word, Excel etc. suck but they're still better than anything else I've seen)
- Presentations, Graphics, Video editing (though plenty would argue Mac's better still).
- The many tasks where there isn't equivalent software under Linux. Can you beat Chessmaster, Fritz, Chessbase, Shredder, Tasc Tutor for chess on Linux? Certainly not. And I'm sorry but gimp is a poor replacement for Photoshop/Paintshop pro.
Why the hell would anyone want to use one OS where another works better? Until there are a LOT more feature rich easy to use applications and more variety under Linux than Windows that's the way it is. Using Linux for running office software is like using a saw to hammer in a nail. Using Windows as a high volume web server is similarly absurd. Don't let Linux zealots or Windows money hungry corporate sales people fool you into throwing away this common sense principle.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Can't speak for everyone ... but even way back when I was using windows I only had 5 or 6 games. They are all sitting next to me, and half of them run better under wine than natively on windows. Dont laugh, its true. The only one that doesnt run is Age Of Empires. Although I am sure if I wanted to fiddle with it ..... I could make it work.
At this point I would guess that 50% of all major PC games run fine either natively (ID games, UT etc) or through wine. Given the target market and the other advantages using linux thats a good enough statistic for now.
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." --Albert Einstein
Rule of thumb, don't listen to Linux users when you want to know how good or bad it compares to Windows or other operating systems. I mean when I read:
..I refer to the area of e-mail viruses - they just don't make them for Linux like they do for Windows...."
"Michael Stutz has used Linux exclusively for over a decade."
and then:
"Q: Do you think that Linux has enough applications that people can completely leave Windows behind?
A: Absolutely"
and then
"Q: Is there anything you need to run Windows for?
A:
Its clear that this man has really no clue at all. His Windows knowledge seems to come directly from the yellow press and his Linux knowledge seems pretty biased, after all if you use it for ten years exclusivly you might actually think that some of its issue just have to be this way and couldn't be solved otherwise. And neither seems he have much clue about what people are actually doing with Windows today. After all I think he his quite right with his limited viewpoint, todays Linux doesn't compare that badly against a ten year old Windows, sad truth is that Windows and its application has moved a lot forward, while Linux is still 10 years behind.
Linux has its niches and areas where it can show its benefits, but simply claiming that its a perfect and complete replacment for Windows today couldn't further away from reality and is only damaging Linux fame. Lies don't help, be honest about what Linux can do and especially about what it can't do, then you might have a chance that people will continue to listen to you and not just turn back and think of you as some Linux-fanboy.
I would say this: if you need these things, buy a Mac. For this sort of thing, macs are down right affordable. I have heard some complaints about them, but overall the creative types seem to like them and use them. All the software you need is there, it's pretty, and it is loosely based on UNIX. I think that Linux should stop feeling threatened by Apple/OS X and act more like multiplatform OS X-lite (now, don't flame me, I'm a linux user, and it hurts to admit that Linux isn't perfect). Macs are close enough that we should hesitate to point people to them if they say, "linux doesn't have specialized piece of software X" because Mac, in many cases, will. Unless it's a game ;)
Yes, linux is great and I use it at school/work all the time for CAD software, office programs, and the like. But have you ever tried setting it up on a laptop? It installs fine but getting decent power management with recompiling things into the kernel or messing with some drivers is near impossible. I easily get almost an hour more out of my T41 in Windows than in Linux. And don't even get me started on trying to get my wireless drivers to work reliably. Linux has a long way to go here to catch up in the mobile market.
The United States is no longer a world leader in art and culture. The most popular word to describe its citizens today is "consumer." Our cities are decaying and dangerous. The implications for the younger generation are terrifying. But with Linux, we could turn all of that around!
Hell-loo?
Fortunately you can benefit from this book even if you don't share the author's view that Linux is the key to the survival of American civilization. I found the 1st ed very helpful in my transition to using Linux as my main system (although I still keep Windows around for reasons other than downloading viruses and worms).