Win an SSD this Windependence Day - What Linux Software Do I Need?

[geekinchief]

[widget="https://gleam.io/8s3kP/toshiba-ssd-giveaway", 800][/widget]

I use Windows 10 every day, but in honor of July 4th, I'm going to try something different and use desktop Linux for a full day of work. I have used Linux many times but never as my primary OS for work and I'd love some recommendations.

What flavor of Linux should I try?
I need Linux software to do the following things:

1. Photo editing
2. VPN (using an OpenVPN system so probably OpenVPN)
3. Editing code, primarily HTML and JavaScript.
4. Video conferencing / chatting with people on Skype.
5. Email client, compatible with Office 365 account.
6. Obviously web browsing, but I plan to use Chromium for this

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the world of the Penguin...get it?
Since you're new to this side of the world, I'd say Ubuntu but if you want customization in your Linux, you can look into Mint. Apps can be downloaded at your heart's content using the terminal.

This should get your feet wet!

 

[Grobe]

Personally, I would recommend using Linux for longer time that just one day. If you're very used to WIndows, there will be a period at first when it feels like a hassle and you probably want to drop the Linux project.
But listen - If you actually do continue using Linux - participate in distro forum, learn to use etc - there will come a day where you don't want to go back to Windows. So it was for me.

For the apps, I can answer to some but not all.
1. Gimp for sure. I'll also reccomend looking into Inkscape.
3. Geany
5. Here I would just using Chrome (not tested this on Chromium) to log into your outlook account, and from there you can use the Office apps. LibreOffice is the reccommended one to install locally, anyway.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

With SSDs it is all about the SPEED. Capacity is almost right there with it though. If you've got the SPEED but only 64 GB of it, it isn't going to do you as much good.

 

[USAFRet]

0. The OS. LinuxMint is a good place to start
1. Photo editing. GIMP and Inkscape. Darktable if you also want to process RAW images.
3. Lua
6. I still use FireFox.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Linux distros have come a long way since I first played with them. However, for those kinds of professional uses there are only two distrobutions you should pay attention to in my eyes... Red Hat and SUSE. Both are very well supported, have a multitude of features, good package management, and are fairly easy to use... as far as Linux goes.

I lean towards Red Hat myself, it is more popular, which means more people to help if you have issues.

 

[Teejers]

I use Windows 10 every day, but in honor of July 4th, I'm going to try something different and use desktop Linux for a full day of work. I have used Linux many times but never as my primary OS for work and I'd love some recommendations.

What flavor of Linux should I try?
I need Linux software to do the following things:

1. Photo editing
2. VPN (using an OpenVPN system so probably OpenVPN)
3. Editing code, primarily HTML and JavaScript.
4. Video conferencing / chatting with people on Skype.
5. Email client, compatible with Office 365 account.
6. Obviously web browsing, but I plan to use Chromium for this

Definitely stick with Ubuntu if you're only using it for a day. Install Synaptic to find and install all your other necessary productivity software programs easily.

 

[theLaminator88]

For a distro I would recommend Fedora or Ubuntu. Fedora is upstream of RHEL/Centos, and Ubuntu has TONS of forum support. Oracle Linux is another option and what we run all of our servers on because it is basically a RHEL clone, but the enterprise licensing costs much less than Red Hat. Their support has been awesome as well compared to our experiences with Red Hat in recent years. For desktop use I stick with Fedora though because of the updated kernel (Oracle's UEK is also at 4.x for OEL7) and access to an increased number of packages when compared to RHEL/Centos out of the box.

I'm a huge fan of GIMP for open source photo editing. I have it installed on my Windows desktop as well as my Fedora desktop.

I use the Office 365 web client when I need to use Office (I almost prefer the Outlook web client to the thick client on my Windows desktop) from my Linux box.

 

[fortyeightbits]

I second the others on Ubuntu, it's my personal favorite. And of course the most important SSD feature is speed! What else matters?

 

[Coldshard]

Speed for the SSD.

Ubuntu and Gimp are both great options.

 

[USAFRet]

Why to buy an SSD?
SSD features, in order:

Speed
Noise
Heat
Vibration


Which SSD to buy?
Reliability
Compatibility
Known trusted brand

 

[Wes006]

Reliability/data integrity is the most valuable feature to me; speed comes second.

 

[saleksa25]

For SSDs it is definitely speed.

 

[Wes006]

As far as the Linux question goes, you could try Zorin OS (Ubuntu based) as it shares many UI similarities to Windows.

 

[saleksa25]

How do I get a permalink to my comment?

 

[USAFRet]

How do I get a permalink to my comment?

At the right of your comment, click on the Time link.
The browser Nav bar will show that specific link.

 

[eojhet]

The most important SSD feature? I just go for bang for buck performance really. As long as it is quick and budget friendly, I don't much pay attention to features for my storage device.

As for the Linux distro: I find Ubuntu to be the easiest OS for someone coming to the platform from Mac or Windows.

 

[Ryan_297]

The most important SSD feature? Performance to Cost is prob the top item I look for as well as a history of quality.

Linux distro: Ubuntu Studio https://ubuntustudio.org/ is a nice distro for media content.

 

[chemy]

I think it's not a single thing, for me the best of SSD is durability on portability (in a laptop) but also the speed which is better than spinning discs.

 

[chemy]

I think ubuntu would be a nice option, I only used Linux for IT services so not a good source of knowledge but the one which is very friendly and with that you can get to the other functions.

 

[Outrun1986]

The most important SSD feature is capacity to me.

 

[Outrun1986]

I would use Red Hat Linux.

 

[chadwick.ferguson]

1) most important SSD feature is speed

2) Flavor of linux to try: Ubuntu

 

[dbronkalla06]

What flavor of Linux should I try?
I am a fan of Mint and OpenSUSE.

Most important SSD feature - Speed

 

[Krazie_Ivan]

SSD feature... value? definitely a limit to what i'll pay for speed & usefulness.