The Rabid Quill

After a little fiddling, I got all of the basic hardware (sound, video, wireless) functioning on my ThinkPad T61p under openSUSE 10.3. I stepped down to the 32-bit version in order to ensure the broadest possible compatibility. There isn’t a whole lot written for 64-bit operating systems on the desktop yet. In particular, running in 64-bit mode was making it just about impossible for Flash and Java to work on my web browser.

But once the basic functions of the computer were checking out, I had to see whether or not it would be an acceptable replacement for Windows. There are a number of things I must do with this computer, and what OS I ultimately settle with will be dictated by which ones satisfy my requirements. As of Monday that list was satisfied in its entirety. One little workaround was all it took to get the Java-based TalkShoe client out of Windows and into Linux. The list of features I needed, along with the Linux applications that satisfied them, is as follows:

• A photo manager: F-Spot or Picasa, haven’t made up my mind
• A photo editor: GIMP
• Sound recording and editing: Audacity
• Firewire video capture: Kino
• Video editing: Kino, and soon Cinelerra
• A music manager: Banshee
• Compatibility with at least one online music store: eMusic, to which I already subscribe
• A smooth operating desktop environment: Compiz Fusion; even though my brand-new video hardware is not fully supported, it works splendidly.
• The ability to run the TalkShoe Live! client: It’s written in Java; No Worries!
  

I am genuinely surprised and impressed with how far Linux has come since I last used it. No matter how fast my computer was the GUI always seemed oppressively slow, but this is no longer an issue. It has even been drastically improved cosmetically thanks to the 3D-accelerated desktop features in Compiz Fusion. Hardware support was always spotty under Linux, especially on laptops. Yet somehow almost everything worked, right out of the box, on my brand new T61p. WiFi and sound took some jimmying because the defaults were wrong, but other than that, everything down to the SD Card slot is working just fine. I fully intend to treat openSUSE 10.3 as my permanent OS. I will not do what I used to do with Linux distributions and switch to a different distro frivolously. I have too much to do nowadays to let my computer spend half its time installing operating systems. The only conceivable switch would be from openSUSE to Ubuntu, only because the community surrounding it appears much larger, and the software compatibility is potentially more broad. But I can’t be sure that all the things that are currently working on my system now will work under Ubuntu, so I am committing to openSUSE.

With the Windows compatibility software out there now for Linux, the only thing holding anyone back from making the switch to is their own personal preference, and how attached they are to the remaining Windows-only applications.

So, barring the arrival of some killer app that requires Windows, my Windows XP Professional CD is going to collect dust in the closet. Though I should probably contact Lenovo soon while I’m still under warranty so I can get that Vista backup just in case I want it later.