Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex – A Designer & Developer makes the switch
Thanks for all the diggs everyone! Sorry the article went down for awhile!
For some time I have dual booted my Dell Inspiron 600m with Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux. Being a designer and a developer I have had to deal with the necessary evil that is Microsoft for years now and with Ubuntu picking up steam like it has past few years–the time was right to finally switch to Linux. The designer voice in my head says, “What about Photoshop?” and the developer in me says, “What about testing on IE6? What about Coda?” Here’s how I finally made the full switch and the tools I’ve decided to use instead.
But I need Photoshop…
Gimp! Bluefish! Ubuntu-restricted-extras! VLC! Yes, you’ve read all the articles on Digg about the replacement software. Some of them are awesome, and yes some of them kinda suck, and best of all they are all free! Some of you are saying they are hard to use so you won’t switch, but I’m here to tell you that you’re asking yourself the wrong questions. You should be asking things like:
Do I really use Photoshop on my tiny laptop all the time to justify keeping Windows?
Am I just doing basic image editing when I do use Photoshop?
In my case, I’m barely doing any Photoshop work on my laptop anymore. I may do some basic image work–for that I have the Gimp, and it does everything I could possibly want it to.
And just to prevent you haters out there from leaving me comments about how you can run Photoshop with Wine or Crossover Office–I’ve tried every which way and NEVER had I had a fully functional non-crashing version of Photoshop higher than Photoshop 7. Both CS, and CS2 crash and/or freeze. Photoshop 7 vs. The Gimp–I’ll take the Gimp anytime.
I get what you’re saying, but I’m a developer, I need Coda or Dreamweaver
So, you’re a developer and you use Coda, or Dreamweaver… Should you really be saying, “I can’t LIVE without Dreamweaver!” (If you’re not handwriting code, are you really a developer anyways?)
Am I really going to be doing full website development on my laptop?
Yes I might. In that case you have plenty of text editors: Bluefish, Quanta, GEdit, and you have Filezilla or GFTP to upload files.
If you’re a bit like me, you’re not managing huge development projects on your laptop. You may blog, and do some troubleshooting here and there–for that you have all you need with Firefox.
If you just edit a file here and there you can setup a permanent connection to your server via Places>Connect to server. That way I can open files directly with GEdit just like I would with Coda and edit them directly on my website.
A few other notes for developers…
The Web Developer and Firebug add-on both work in Ubuntu, and installing them is a breeze. In fact, rather than rooting around all the freebie websites you can install all your software at once from one place:
Applications>Add/Remove then select Show: All available applications
This includes most of the popular Firefox add-ons that you may do for web development, and some that you just like to use. (I personally love Foxy Tunes which lets me easily navigate my Pandora stations)
What about testing my websites in IE6?
I must admit this was one thing that kept Windows on my laptop for quite awhile. I had an old copy of IE6 on the Windows XP installation and it was my only last excuse for keeping the dual boot. After having to wait 8 minutes for startup everytime I restarted (Thanks to Windows Defender, Zone Alarm, and a few other things) I had had enough.
I googled IE for Linux–sure enough there was already a working IE6 package for Ubuntu. IEs4Linux took just a few minutes to download and install and now I have a functioning installation of IE6 on my laptop to test out my sites with! It even has a strange upside down IE logo!
Fine, there are other alternatives, but seriously–Ubuntu is just ugly and uncool
Here’s the real kicker for why I resisted switching for the longest time… Ubuntu is pretty ugly. The picky designer in me wants a combination of the cool themes plus the smooth animation and performance of OSX.
Enter Avant, Awn-Manager, Compiz, and Emerald. After adding those via the add/remove section outlined above, I have a nice OSX style dock, a cool icon theme, a cool window border them, and after downloading a GDM theme from Gnome-Look.org my computer is looking just as slick as OSX!
After getting GMail and the weather on my desktop with Conky, I personally think I have something a bit better than the silly widget dashboard from OSX! You can install themes for Avant as well!
Conclusion
I must admit, it took me just a little while to tweak things to get them just the way I wanted them. (The avant-window-manager and conky mostly) You may have to get your hands dirty using GEdit and the command line, but ultimately it’s a pretty stable installation, it’s lightning quick, and very easy to connect to the internet.
I must admit I do miss Photoshop a bit, but I still have a desktop computer with the full CS3 suite on it so if I really feel like doing some design work I can–but for now I’ll stick with my Ubuntu.
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About the Author
Tim is the co-owner of Assault, and tends to think he can party twice as hard as anyone. Follow him on twitter @assault Email this Author | All posts by tim
Hilarious, cause I have Windows XP on my PC, and was considering on switching to Unix-based. I was talking to my co-worker Andy about this today and he mentioned that Ubuntu does not have iTunes…..wtf? really.
Okay, i’ll quickly write the software that I use most often and you guys, if you want that is, let me know if you see any immediate issues:
TextPad, Perforce Version Control, Word/Excel, ff3, Eclipse, iTunes, Quicken 2006(this one may be an issue)
What do you guys think? Dual? non-dual? ubuntu? win-xp?
Thanks.
Well Kamil, I think you could switch easily.
Eclipse and FF3 are already native to linux, itunes can easily be replaced by amarok (which I have always much prefered, it can also handle your ipod if thats why you use it), or if you really absolutely need itunes, it can be run via a virtual machine or wine (wine works pretty well from what I have heard), Textpad I am assuming is just a basic program like Notepad, in which case you’ll have no problems with Gedit, which works well as many things, including programming as it supports text color-coding/highlighting etc. Word and Excel can be exchanged for the excellent OpenOffice, some things are a bit different, but it offers all of the features, and you can save it as a microsoft office doc incase you need the compatibility. Quicken will be a problem, there are alternatives, but you may not like them, you could try your luck with a virtual machine though. And I am not familiar with perforce version control, so I can’t offer you advice on that.
The really nice thing about Ubuntu at this point for me, is that for most of my applications I can get them to run in a virtual machine via VMWare or through wine without complaint. Unlike the editor, I run Photoshop CS2 without any issues via Wine, assuming you’ve followed the instructions on WineDB, you shouldn’t be having problems with it.
So Kamil, I’d go with Ubuntu/XP dual boot, then once you try out the programs and decide whether you like the linux alternatives, choose to go all ubuntu or not.
or you can just use OS X and still use photoshop, IE6 is virtualizable (I can refresh IE6,IE7,Firefox Mac, Firefox Windows, Safari, Chrome with a single keypress in Textmate) and the interface is better designed
I really like the places->connect to server option also. You can then edit files with pretty much any editor you want on the server
Quanta Plus is the closest thing to Dreamweaver.
It is a great tool but needs a bit of updating.
You should really consider XP in VirtualBox, it will run Photoshop/IE/etc with none of the problems of WINE. You can even run it seamless mode if you realllly want.
I also have XP and Ubuntu dual boot but cant remember the last time I booted back to XP. VirtualBox does 99% of what I need. The only thing missing is full on 3D support, for which I have to boot up XP.
XP was the best operating system of its time but that time is long gone.
Kudos for moving to Ubuntu, it can be painful at first but after 6 months you’ll never look back. Windows is so archaic and outdated in comparison that it makes me nauseous thinking of being stuck with it.
Good Article!
You should try Cairo-Dock, it’s more of an OS X dock clone.
Cheers!
One thing I was able to do was install a virtual machine (vmware) and have Photoshop and IE7 on that. In my case it was a productive solution. I do know that the new version of Gimp is out, and I think GimPhoto will be updated soon (as I’m waiting to try it). For IE testing, there’s always browsershots.org too (but it’s quite slow when you need to test content pages).
Photoshop CS2 runs in Wine, thanks to Google who published a bunch of patches to correct the major flaws.
iTunes doesn’t work on Wine, at all, not a chance. Sorry. Wine does some pretty neat tricks, but that one is not up it sleeves yet.
To test browsers… well I must admit that I use a virtual machine (Virtualbox) in seemless mode. I do also use ies4linux.
What I don’t like about this article is that it implies that you could not use Ubuntu/Linux on your desktop as your main developing/designing computer.
I do, and I must say that year for year my workflow took much less time to fine tune in Linux then in Windows.
Seriously, how many years you took to master windows? Give Linux that much years, and you won’t have anything to say about Linux, you’ll be a guru and flying around Linux much more quickly you ever could in Windows.
Why not properly harden XP and keep running with it? 8 minute boot time? :what:
I have been really trying to make the switch myself. Currently I am running Ubuntu, using VirtualBox to fill in CS3. I need Flash and Photoshop, no way around it. I have been having some issues getting the seamless Ubuntu+Windows being fully seamless, specifically file sharing, so I use DropBox on ease and it syncs up real fast as well as built in versioning and all that.
Match the themes on Ubuntu and XP and it feels real nice.
“So, you’re a developer and you use Coda, or Dreamweaver… Should you really be saying, “I can’t LIVE without Dreamweaver!” (If you’re not handwriting code, are you really a developer anyways?)”
This made me laugh because yes, myself, wife, and three children can’t live without Dreamweaver. Using it for hand coding for the last six years where I work. I don’t mind. They paid for it.
At home it doesn’t matter much and I try to take my work home with me as little as possible. Everything turns into just a job at some point. Whats really fun is when you reboot a router and suddenly become knighted the resident tech guy on top of your regular work. Never realized how often Mac hardware fails before that. Power supplies, and hard drives are most common.
I’m sorry, I just got home from work. Im going to go curl up in a ball and drink excessivly for a while.
I still can’t make the switch I use photoshop everyday! I still can’t find anything wrong with XP SP3. I hope Adobe will be available to linux sooner rather than later.
Thanks for all the comments everyone–I do still use my desktop for most of my photoshop work.
I think the point I was trying to get across was that if you use your laptop to stay connected and up to date on emails and do miniscule administrative tasks day to day that you can make the switch. I know many people that have their laptop as their primary development and design tool–but I generally use the laptop to do administrative tasks and day to day activities–not full blown development and that’s why the switch was good for me.
If anyone knows, email me and point me in the direction of how I can get CS2 working on VMWare, I would love to get that going if I could!
I recently purchased CS3 Design Premium, and it’s enough for me to make the jump from Ubuntu to XP! lol
I was mainly coming from GIMP and Inkscape (even though i’d obviously used Photoshop many times before) and I must say Photoshop just own’s GIMP for web design. Not necessarily in power (although some filters are more handy on Photoshop), but in workflow and saving time.
*Warning*: Multiple IE’s (6) displayed a webpage as completely broken in XP that an original proper version of IE6 displayed fine. I hate to imagine differences jumping over to it running on WINE.
To make things more bearable in XP (coming from Ubuntu), I’m running VirtuaWin, Task Switcher XP Pro, Zscreen and a non default theme.
yeh.. nah.. i fuggen NEED photoshop. No, it doesnt crash for me and gimp… well,
u must be joking right?
@simon – why run OSX, when you have to pay twice as much for the hardware, then pay as much for the OS, for what? No extra compatibility of programs (advantage of Windows XP) and too expensive (advantage of Ubuntu). And locked down worse than windows.
Why bother? Either save money and increase compatibility, or save more money and take off the training wheels.
And the theming for Ubuntu is infinitely more customisable than OSX – hell there are even blogs around to get you to make Ubuntu/Linux look like OSX.
[...] Random Feed wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptUbuntu Intrepid Ibex – A Designer & Developer makes the switch October 8th, 2008 4:11 pm by Tim | 17 Comments » Being a designer and a developer I have had to deal with the necessary evil that is Microsoft for years now and with Ubuntu picking up steam like it has past few years–the time was right to finally switch. Here’s how I finally made the full switch and the tools and mindset that finally convinced me to pull the trigger. Tags: dell, gimp, laptop, linux, photoshop, ubuntu, windows, win [...]
You had Coda on Windows? How?????
Quicken works fine in wine with some tweaks u can look here
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=107
just a follow up but I can get the full CS3 gamut running just fine on virualbox with an xp guest os. But I figure what the hell, if I’m going to need to install windows anyway, why bother installing linux in the first place. Sad thing was I realised this after three days of setting up and configuring the Linux host OS.
And as for:
“I think the point I was trying to get across was that if you use your laptop to stay connected and up to date on emails and do miniscule administrative tasks day to day that you can make the switch. I know many people that have their laptop as their primary development and design tool–but I generally use the laptop to do administrative tasks and day to day activities–not full blown development and that’s why the switch was good for me.”
You should have just said that in the first place you big dork.
Have fun with your xtreme skreeeeen printing endeavors
I’m also a webdesigner and have been using Ubuntu as the single OS on my machines for 5 years. Unsing Joomla, Gedit, GIMP and Inkscape and that’s all I ever needed.
I must admit, I’ve been postponing the inevitable switch for about 1 year now. I even talked my wife into using ubuntu on her laptop. We now run all major operating systems (osx, winxp, ubuntu) in our office … and I’m typing this from my xp install.
I know what I’m doing this weekend :]
@ Dave K
“Quanta Plus is the closest thing to Dreamweaver.”
You can try Aptana.It comes in 2 versions: one free and the PRO version, that is almost free compared to the price of dreamweaver.
Yeah, I moved from dreamweaver (required by the partner I was with) and tried JEdit, Eclipse with PHP stuff, Bluefish, Kate and settled on Quanta. Made the full switch when I moved from that company. I’ve found that Nothing else apart from JEdit had the simple directory wide search and replace that DW had. Also for file uploads and to manage directory diffs and the like I’m using Krusader (which occassionally I use for quick edits too).
As for the accounting stuff, I use the basic Sage (UK accounting software) under a virtualised windows XP using VirtualBox (tried VMWare first but prefer vbox).
HTH
pbhj
Don’t forget that there’s plenty of web-based solutions for some of the gaps in Linux land. In particular, there are some stellar image editing applications online:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/2008/09/29/8/
Aviary’s software in particular is very photoshop-esque.
If there’s things you’re missing in gedit, don’t forget about the various plugins available for gedit:
http://live.gnome.org/Gedit/Plugins
So, what bugs are you running into with Photoshop CS2 and Wine?
Let us know so we can fix them.
Just add comments at http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=2631
telling us how to reproduce the crash. And be sure to use the latest wine (1.1.6 as of today); we may have already fixed your problem.
I second the Aptana suggestion. I started using it a year ago and haven’t looked back!
Oh an yes, CS3 through virtualbox on an XP image is friggin sweet
Ubuntu is evolving really fast, a new distro is released every 6 months and the difference between them is huge, i’ve used Ubuntu 8.04 but now i’m using Ubuntu 8.10 beta (used it from alpha 5) and i have to say that even alpha 5 is way better than xp in terms of performance, effects, window manipulation and so much more. Plus because is open source it develops really fast so right now maybe it cannot replace completely Windows for most users but really soon it will beat Windows in all most aspects (enough for most users), right now the biggest advantages of Windows over Ubuntu are a huge list of apps (though most of them costs a lot and for Linux are free and in most cases a lot better than the equivalent on Windows) and directx (Linux has a weak support for games)
@Freddy: Linux doesn’t have weak support for games, it just has fewer games for it. There are no technological reasons why linux can’t cope with high-demand games, the issue is that they aren’t being written for it. And although linux does not support Direct-X (and whose fault is that, MS?) it does support OpenGL which is just as capable. In fact, from what I’ve seen OGL3 kicks DX’s ass.
I recently switched to Ubuntu on my laptop, it has worked great for me so far and I have done some minor web development on it. Mainly tweaking my WordPress site (which I need to get back to doing hehe).
I have yet to really mess around with GIMP yet, but I heard GIMP shop has a similar feel compared to Photoshop.
I run a small design boutique out of my home and have been using Ubuntu for the past 4 years and it’s been amazing. I still use Virtualbox to run XP for CS3, but find Gimp and inkscape to be very useful apps. We do everything from advanced web development to print and I can honestly say that running with Ubuntu has made my life heck of a lot easier.
I can’t wait till Adobe ports CS over to Linux, lol. Sign the petition http://www.petitiononline.com/adMaLin/petition.html