Developing on Linux systems

[redbullmarky]

Hi all
I'm kinda deciding what to do as far as my setup here goes. On a day to day basis, I use my PC for web design (dreamweaver), email (thunderbird), browsing (FF), etc - no games, etc. I'm looking at the possibility of converting to a Linux-based system, for many many reasons, and have looked at Ubuntu. Also, as two of the 3 programs I use every day are open-source, I'm only left with one commercial piece of software.

My questions:
1) does anyone here develop on a Linux setup?
2) are there any open-source packages that could give me the PHP/MySQL development environment that dreamweaver does (with ability to also preview site), and are they any good (in your opinions)?
3) a nice extension to my last question, what would be the best package to use to enable me to keep better track of re-usable scripts? I have dozens of scripts that I use for various projects, but keeping track of little tweaks I make are quite hard when they're copied in various different locations.

in summary, I'm just looking for a bit of advice in making the switch. Having used Mac OSX and getting a strong idea of all the benefits, the only decision now is in regards to the software available for web design.

Cheers
Mark

[jcombs_31]

Ubuntu is a nice desktop system.  For developing I have used both Bluefish and Quanta Plus.  These programs are both nice, I still prefer to develop on windows and like dreamweaver.  For me, linux is for servers, not really workstations.

[zq29]

I have thought many times about switching my delelopment machine over from Windows to a Linux distro, but there are two things holding me back.

- Photoshop. I just can't get into 'The GIMP', people keep telling me that it has all of the features of Photoshop, but I just can't agree with that. I don't find it very easy to use either.

- Target users. You have to admit, Windows with IE is probably the most popular combo. You need to be able to test your projects on a machine that is similar to your target users. I have multiple machines I could test on, but it's a pain in the arse switching machines just to test minor alterations. FireFox on Linux and FireFox on Windows do NOT render websites the same either - I have noticed that is the case with Firefox on OSX too. I think it's something to do with the way Linux and OSX render type, as it's antialiased...

They're the two things holding me back from the switch.

[redbullmarky]

SA, I'd probably say I'd agree to the most part. I actually use Fireworks MX for GFX, etc, and I don't think they have a Linux version (closest being the Mac OSX version), so that would be a stumbling block for a full development system.
I've installed a copy of Ubuntu on my system to try out properly, so I'll give gimp a go and look around at alternatives. However, I don't do much in terms of gfx so that's probably not such a big issue with me, but the fact that there's such an open-source community (meaning that i'm not gonna get hit in the pocket when using some of these packages) is an immediate plus.

I think that the reputation of security/stability has been the biggest thing for me to make me consider a switch, along with the fact that I don't do anything "PC specific" on my machine anymore. Games are what my PS is for, work is what my PC is for.

As for the rendering - I did notice that, but mainly in the way that it dealt with fonts. On one of my sites, I had 'Verdana' as the font, which on the Mac/PC is fine - but on Linux comes out as something totally different (nice, though!) - a totally OTT serif font.

I dunno. It's not something I'm gonna rush into, but definitely something I want to consider - every day I seem to read about some security issue or other, patches, etc (for Windows), and considering the price of Windows/Dreamweaver/Fireworks when upgrading etc, the open-source road seems a very attractive one to consider.

jcombs, i'll take a look at those. I'd heard of Bluefish, but not as yet taken a good look, so cheers for the tips!

Cheers
Mark

[paul2463]

SA

just for information, photoshop is a fully functioning program in <a href="http://www.winehq.com">Wine</a> the linux wondoze api emulator

the listings of what does and does not work in Wine are here at <a href="http://frankscorner.org/index.php?p=graphics"> Franks Corner </a>

[ober]

[quote]I think that the reputation of security/stability has been the biggest thing for me to make me consider a switch[/quote]
Honestly, I don't think that's a valid argument for switching.  If you're using XP, when was the last time you actually had a crash or a reason to restart that wasn't because of an install/uninstall.  I can also leave XP up for extended periods of time without problems.

And as far as security... I've been using my current installation of XP for close to 2 years now without ANY kind of anti-virus.  I have yet to have any kind of security issues.

I honestly think MS has evolved for the most part that people can't really use that excuse for switching if they're keeping up with patches and using their computer with a little common sense.

[Daniel0]

[quote author=paul2463 link=topic=106500.msg426536#msg426536 date=1157210767]
<a href="http://www.winehq.com">Wine</a> the linux wondoze api emulator
[/quote]

According to Wine's name it's not an emulator.

Wine is recursive acronym and means "[b]W[/b]ine [b]I[/b]s [b]N[/b]ot an [b]E[/b]mulator".

Source: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_%28software%29]"Wine (Software)" on Wikipedia[/url].

[dustinnoe]

Linux is perfect for server enviroments but when using it for desktop productivity it can be down right annoying.  Windows is definitely better for desktop but I would never consider using anything but linux as a server.