[Digikam-users] DigiKam on windows instability / a good point for Linux

[Vlado Plaga]

Am Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:22:33 -0400
schrieb Paul Verizzo <paulv at paulv.net>:

> But I do love digiKam when it works!  So much so, that I spent dozens
> of hours trying to do things like install that Ubuntu program that
> uses Windows (didn't work on two computers)

Do you mean the "Windows-based Ubuntu Installer"?
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wubi
I never tried that.

> So maybe in the next week I'll take an old Windows 2000 box I have,
> install Ubuntu or other distro, and use my KBV switch for the monitor
> and keyboard that I use on "The Mothership."

That sounds like a good way to become more familiar with Linux. But you
should be aware of how much faster today's computers are compared to
what was sold before Windows XP became standard (back in 2002?). If
your old computer does not have 768 MB of RAM and a 1 GHz CPU running
KDE (and digikam) on it won't be much fun.

Why don't you backup your "Mothership" computer's data (you should
backup important data from time to time anyway) and install Ubuntu (or
another distro) in addition to Windows on that computer? The computer
can shrink Windows partitions, so you just need 10 - 20 GByte of free
disk space, and when Ubuntu is installed you'll experience a short delay
when booting, to choose which system to boot. But generally Ubuntu today
boots a bit faster than Windows, with all those extra programs (virus
scanner etc.) one usually needs on Windows.

> digiKam is the best similar program out there, bar none.  And the
> price is right!

And Free Software is not just about the price! It's about freedom, too.

http://www.vlado-do.de/free_software/

> No &^#&*))$^^ KDE needed.

KDE's startup time could be better, but since KDE 4.3 or so I like it
again. It's my default desktop now. Gnome is faster, but to me it looks
old-fashioned. Mac OS and Windows are even worse, especially because
neither of them has support for a reasonable windows focus model[1],
and even worse Windows only offers a single workspace. In addition to
Digikam I also like the KDE applications Okular, Dolphin, and K3B.
Rekonq also has potential, but for the time being I prefer Firefox.

Regards,
Vlado

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_%28computing%29

-- 

       Vlado Plaga                        __o
    http://vlado-do.de                 _o/\<,_
    update: 2010-07-03                 (U)/ (u)
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