Transitioning to GNU/Linux
From BinaryFreedom.INFO
[edit] Tips for transitioning to a GNU/Linux distribution
By Chris Mostek
Online on: 2007-05-05
Edited by Michael Fötsch on 2007-06-07
So, you've made the choice to try a GNU/Linux distribution or distro and have completed the installation. But now what? While doing some spring cleaning on my desk, I came across the notes from my last distro installation. Here are the key tips that made my last transition from Windows to GNU/Linux easier.
Be aware, GNU/Linux approaches many things differently than MS Windows: Different isn’t bad, really, it’s not. However, be realistic and expect a learning curve. Remember Windows is not programmed into our DNA, we all had to learn Windows somewhere along the way. A dash of persistence and patience may be necessary in transitioning to GNU/Linux.
A little preparation goes a long, long way: Organize and consolidate your music files, picture files, word documents, spreadsheets and other important data. Save your data to some type of external media for the transfer. You will also be creating a backup if something goes wrong along the way.
Use Mozilla products to prepare your email and browser data for a transfer:
Since email and internet browsing is a large part of our computing life, we’ll tackle these as separate steps to our data consolidation.
If you use MS Outlook Express, a quick and relatively easy method is to use Mozilla's Thunderbird email program to transition your email file. When starting Thunderbird for the first time, the Import Wizard starts up and you can choose the Outlook Express option to import your email, addresses and mail settings. MozillaZine has additional details at this link.
Similar to using Thunderbird on email, you can use Mozilla Firefox to transition from Internet Explorer while still within MS Windows. After you install Firefox, the Import Wizard will launch upon startup. Stepping through the wizard imports your Favorites, cookies, options and stored passwords. This will duplicate your IE setup within Firefox. You can find further directions at this link.
Then save your Thunderbird and Firefox profile folders to your external media. The Mozilla Support website has good directions under the FAQ’s on locating and moving your profiles.
Or simply export your bookmark file from within IE7. If you haven’t gotten too crazy with add-on or plug-ins, you may be able to get away with just exporting your bookmarks. In IE7, click on the “Add to Favorite’s” button, the yellow star with the green plus sign, and choose the “Import and Export” option. This will launch a wizard that will step you through the process of exporting your bookmarks. Save the exported file with the rest of your data.
Check your distro's repository first for software you want to load: Imagine MS keeping a site full of third-party, and often competing, software. While this seems like an alien concept, that example accurately describes the situation for a GNU/Linux distribution. This is a real mindset change for the typical Windows user. We are used to downloading various programs from various websites and executing the installer file.
However, with GNU/Linux, you typically download your software from just a few locations, called repositories, that are maintained by the distro. Software installations are managed through a package manager with a GUI front end, typical examples are: Synaptic, YAST, YUM and urpmi. Running the package manager gives you access and allows you to install the software with the repository.
While you can find .deb files or .tar files to download and install, you may be best off sticking with your distro's repositories, at least up front. It will save you a lot of time and frustration trying to figure out why that program you downloaded didn't work.
Set up support for Wireless Networking and Multimedia formats: Out-of-box support for Wireless Networking, MP3’s, encrypted DVD’s and other proprietary formats varies widely from distro to distro. Take the time to check for your distro’s support and the instructions to add support if necessary. Remember most free software media players will be unable to play DRM-protected files, for example: songs purchased on iTunes.
Note: For more information about proprietary media formats and why it's best to avoid them, see also this FAQ.
Working with MS Office documents in OpenOffice.org: I love the ODF concept. However, I realize that most people I interface with use MS Office. Fortunately, there is a plug-in for MS Office that allows Word, Excel, and Powerpoint to open ODF text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. You can also have OpenOffice.org save your documents as PDFs — whether its a text document, a presentation, a diagram, or any other ODF document. This is ideal if others merely need to read your documents, rather than edit them.
OpenOffice.org can open most Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents, and you can also save in that format if you wish.
Try using WINE: If you have a MS Windows application that you absolutely cannot live without, then you can try Wine to run the application within your GNU/Linux distro. Wine is a free software solution and should be available in your repositories.
See also this FAQ entry for other options that you have.
Move your data: Copy your data from the external media to your “Home” folder which may be under your user name. The “Home” folder is similar to the “My Documents” folder within Windows. For example, the Home folder “Chris” contains folders for pictures, music and documents.
My prior Windows use of Firefox and Thunderbird made importing browser and email settings extremely easy. I simply transferred my Profile folders over and pointed the applications to these profiles. I also like to keep my Firefox and Thunderbird profiles in my “Home” folder to facilitate any future transfers. After all, there is always a another distro to try at some point.
If you want to use Evolution for email instead of Thunderbird, then import each MBOX file into Evolution using File → Import and choosing each individual file. Choose the file without any extensions, Inbox instead of Inbox.msf. Further help can be found at the following Mozilla FAQ.
Accessing Windows files in GNU/Linux: If you opted for a dual-boot installation, you can access your Windows files in GNU/Linux. In a dual-boot setup, Windows uses its own area of the hard disk, called a partition. In GNU/Linux, you can access the Windows partition for reading and/or writing by mounting it.
If the Windows partition uses the NTFS file system, it is usually mounted read-only. Some computers, however, have a second hard disk or a second partition (eg., D:) that you can format with the FAT32 file system. Such partitions can be used in GNU/Linux for both reading and writing and are thus ideal for exchanging files between Windows and GNU/Linux.
You can find detailed instructions about mounting Windows partitions on the Web, for example here.
Test that everything works: Now is the time to make sure everything works. Send a test email to yourself. Check your bookmarks. Play some music and videos. Begin exploring specific applications you will regularly use.
Most importantly, have fun learning and playing with your new GNU/Linux distro.
Copyright Chris Mostek 2004-2006
Copyright Michael Fötsch 2007
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
Note: This article originally appeared in the Free Software Magazine under a different license. I asked Chris Mostek for permission to use the article under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, which he kindly granted. --Michael Fötsch 06:27, 2 June 2007 (EDT)
