Removing Microsoft from the equation - long live Linux

[TeleSkoop]

I am almost there

I haven't had any need for Microsoft products for the past 10 years but now I am stuck.

My current setup is:

Complete image processing (stacking, stretching, editing etc) - PixInsight. Yes, it's not free but cost less than Photoshop + MS Windows, runs natively in Linux (I use Gentoo Linux and KDE) and on top of that, it is specially designed for AP work. Until I decided to go for Pixinsight, I used IRIS with Wine.

Post processing (adding text, frames etc): GIMP.

Sky charts and planning: Skychart a.k.a Cartes du Ciel, Kstars, Stellarium. All run natively in Linux.

Telescope/mount control: Cartes du Ciel, Kstart or Stellarium. All run natively in Linux and work with Celectron CG-5 ASGT mount (and many other mounts), thanks to good people at INDI)

Only troublemaker is my first and only CCD camera ATIK 314L+.

Please, update this list with software you use in Linux and do not forget to add links.

If you have a idea, how to to fix my CCD "problem", please let me know.

[David Smith]

Good to see another Linux convertee on this forum!

Moved to Linux a couple of years ago myself as I was lead to believe my old PC would run quicker - it certainly does.

My new PC now runs solely on Linux and I would not even consider going back!

David

[Parus major]

I actually jumped into linux with gusto about a year ago. Much faster, better looking and 64bit so it recognised the 6gb of RAM.

Then got the problems of having to jump through hoops to get it to start after updates. Went back to Windows xp on the system.

[nebogipfel]

Time and again there are discussions on this and other forums about how to find software for my mac/Linux or how to get software running in emulators or virtual machines when nothing suitable is available for either OS and I can't help saying that my first thought is For goodness sake just get a Windows PC.

I like the idea of Linux and open source and have played around with Kubuntu quite a bit but the fact remains that it needs a lot more tinkering to get things to work and the range and choice of software is very poor compared to Windows.

I would love to see Linux take over from Windows, but until the majority of software both commercial and free/shareware will run natively under the OS I can't see it happening.

Just to be even more provocative I really can't see why anyone would buy a mac? They are more expensive and offer far less choice than PC/Windows

Now I will run for cover!

[JamesF]

How does pixinsight compare with registax for stacking planetary images? I'd be very pleased to ditch Windows as I've been a UNIX/Linux user for over twenty-five years now and I'm just happier with it. Whenever I try to use Windows I always seem to end up fighting with it.

James

[perfrej]

How's this?

I run Windows 7 (only - no dual boot) on a Macbook Pro 15". 8GB RAM, Seagate Hybrid disk (500GB with 4GB SSD front end).

Mac OS X is, in my humble opinion, well behind Windows, especially when it comes to graphics performance. Our proprietary GIS-like software for Ice Management of operations in the high Arctic uses large graphics datasets and just won'r perform as well on OS X.

Anyway, for astronomy use, I am currently trying to run all of it under OS X Lion. I'm fairly well off with that:

OzDave's EQMac for mount control

Nebulosity 2 for capture

PHD Guiding

Stellarium

As for Linux, well, it does have a few points and I install every new version of Ubuntu full of hope. I get bashed every time. Exchange Server support not there, driver problems and, above all, graphics problems. There is no operating system like Linux when it comes to leaving little bits and trails on the screen in various places. It's just not there.

As for Macs being expensive - not really. If you buy a professional style laptop from HP it will be about twice as expensive as te Mac, very ugly but have a warranty worth the name.

2 cents from here!

/p

[angusb1]

The only reason I use windows is the same as the OP. Driver support for my devices under linux. I've been happily using linux for 10 years at work and at home in preference to windows but there are some tasks that you can't do with the penguin unless you can write code for it yourself (and I can't). One of the main reasons I will be picking pixinsight (apart from its excellent postprocessing capabilities) is for its linux support. I'd like to try building PHD under linux but I don't know if it will work with my DSI II colour. Given that my rig is untested at the moment I'm going to start with windows and PHD then move to linux once I've proven it all, otherwise there are just too many variables and I need to know my kit will work before I try it under linux. For the 16HR I'm hoping to use wxastrocapture. It says it will work with the 285 based Atiks but I don't know if it will work with your 314, it may be too new.

[Marmite]

Time and again there are discussions on this and other forums about how to find software for my mac/Linux or how to get software running in emulators or virtual machines when nothing suitable is available for either OS and I can't help saying that my first thought is For goodness sake just get a Windows PC.

I would love to see Linux take over from Windows, but until the majority of software both commercial and free/shareware will run natively under the OS I can't see it happening.

If there are few or no Linux users demanding drivers and applications for Linux, then there will never be any drivers and applications for Linux.

That's what's known as a self-fulfilling prophesy, or a vicious circle, or something like that.

[Dave R]

Please, update this list with software you use in Linux and do not forget to add links.

Here's what I use...

Sky charts and planning: XEphem.

Webcam capture: Qastrocam-g2.

Centering planetary images before stacking: Ninox.

Stacking: Registax (v4 and v6) running under Wine.

Post processing: GIMP.

[Marmite]

Here's what I use...

Sky charts and planning: XEphem.

Two thumbs up for xephem! A big league app.

[todd8137]

i brought a laptop from morgans second hand, dualcore 4 gig a ram 100 gig drive 180 quid for the scope work

[great_bear]

As for Linux, well, it does have a few points and I install every new version of Ubuntu full of hope. I get bashed every time.

Yup. I gave up on Linux long ago (and I'm a software engineer who's quite capable of rebuilding / reconfiguring things).

It's naive to think that Linux is "better" than Windows in the general sense - although I can understand the appeal of the idea. At the end of the day it's just a platform, and as such has its place in certain environments - like web servers and dedicated-function desktop PCs. But for general-purpose high-performance daily Desktop use, it doesn't even come close to Windows. Amateurish UI designs, poorly coded, unoptimal application engines and file format incompatibilities make the experience far more painful than the much-maligned Microsoft Windows.

When I found that I was regularly expected to re-build the software I used, and in some cases even recompile the Kernel, I thought "enough is enough" and went back to Windows.

Whenever I've dabbled in Linux since, it's only a few days later that I start regretting it.

Linux will always trail behind the Windows Desktop due to the nature of its business model.

[angusb1]

I think it depends what you want from it. 99% of what I do with it doesn't involve a gui and once I have built a system to do what I want I leave it alone so I don't spend much time recompiling the kernel etc. I prefer it over windows for its stability, its lack of malware and viruses, its remote manageability and the ease of automating various tasks. I'm happier rebuilding a kernel or making some of the libraries work with a new application than I am constantly having to work out which new piece of malware/virus/MS update (delete as appropriate) has broken my system this week. Its personal preference though, and I don't know if I will be able to guide/capture/postprocess as well or as easily with it as I can with windows so I'll give it a try and see how I go. It's a choice between one set of compromises and another.

Whether its going to be an acceptable platform for imaging or not will only be proved by trying it out. If I can't get the hardware I have working on linux I'll stick with windows. I'm not a linux evangelist - I don't try to convert people to using it over windows - its just another tool in the box for me.

[malc-c]

I dabbled with a flavor of linux a few years ago, and whilst many distro's come with open office etc to appeal to the casual user it was all the hassle I had with driver support for my monitor / graphics card and other hardware that made me give up on and revert back to windows.

I did hear of some company (google ? - nope that's linux based too !) who are developing their own OS that allows windows programs to run directly.... maybe this will be the answer...

[TeleSkoop]

Please, lets not turn this thread into Windows versus Linux flame war. It's pointless and yes, Linux is better, faster, securer... LOL.

The topic is: what astronomy related software do you use in Linux and how.

Everything else is irrelevant and belongs probably to another thread.

At the moment, I have to borrow a laptop from work, to use my CCD camera and I hope, this changes soon. Lets hope that good people at ATIK (for example) realize, it's time to start writing cross platform compilable software.

[chrisshillito]

Sorry but the topic you chose is "removing Microsoft from the Equation - long live Linux" - If you don't want a flame war don't dish out matches!

Chris.

[Macavity]

I loved the "rock solidity" of SuSE linux - a few years back. I've done my stint in "system management" too! Linux application software, when available, was often inspiring and far more creative - But lacked "a certain something" over Windows stuff? At that time I languished in the suicide-inducing world of Windows ME tho!

I am now genuinely pondering a tentative return to linux. As someone, in the past, frequently lumbered with the "joys" of "porting" software, between platforms, I've always been fairly OS neutral? Ones activities should always be (real world) application, rather than operating system, driven though?

[perfrej]

Sorry but the topic you chose is "removing Microsoft from the Equation - long live Linux" - If you don't want a flame war don't dish out matches!

Chris.

Amen!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

One problem which is often overlooked, is that Windows comes pre-installed, whereas you have to install linux yourself. I have installed Windows NT4.0, 2000, XP and 7, and EVERY time there are driver issues (like window 2000 not recognizing a bog standard S3 video board made in 1999, or refusing to boot if a Quantum Viking II UW-SCSI disk was attached to an Adaptec 2940UW controller (only the industry standard one!!)). Installing OpenSUSE is a breeze by comparison, Ubuntu has caused me quite some grief the two times I tried it. Typically I would spend hours if not days to get Windows to "work" (or just gave up on getting the Viking II hard disk working), followed by 15 minutes on OpenSUSE. And I do not dig into /etc/config file editing, I just use Yast2, which gives me all the admin tools I have needed to date.

[great_bear]

I have installed Windows NT4.0, 2000, XP and 7, and EVERY time there are driver issues

I think that one can be argued both ways ad nauseum...

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I think that one can be argued both ways ad nauseum...

Fair enough, except for the part that few people install Windows themselves, but most Linux users do: this is an asymmetry. I do not argue Linux installation is always easier (it may on average be the same), merely that in most cases windows has been installed for you. I do feel people who tried Linux a decade ago and gave up, do not realize how much has changed for the better.

What two students of mine did find, is that the cross-platform volume analysis and visualization toolkit they made could handle (MRI and CT) volumes twice the size under Linux as they could under Windows, on the same dual boot laptop. Memory management under Linux is much more efficient than under Windows XP. Windows 7 may well be better in that respect (I generally quite like it), but has OpenGL issues at times (in our experience coding for the platform).

An OS is just a tool. Pick the one you like best (or pick and mix).

[Macavity]

Fair enough, except for the part that few people install Windows themselves, but most Linux users do: this is an asymmetry.

Heheh. In a nutshell (sic?) Yes - And just what I was thinking too...

Once you enter the world of Laptops... of Notebooks, there is a whole SLEW of pre-installed software, some of which is (albeit entertaining!) rubbish, some manufacturer / system specific - Perhaps crucial. And all you have is this... "recovery" disk?

It's not (rarely is!) about the "ability" of folks - Especially on SGL. <G> We can all "hack it" with the best - If necessary? But there is this... TIME (and energy) investment. I am far less tempted to "wipe" my "Sammy" (NC10 etc.) hard disk... Even if linux lives up to it's reputation.

Aside: There used to be this wonderful thing called "Partition Magic". Hours of pointless partitioning / multi-booting fun! LOL. Sadly it seems to have been "Edged Out" in some commercial takeover? My ultra-conservative ex-BOSS never trusted it. I miss it, anyway...

[angusb1]

There used to be this wonderful thing called "Partition Magic".

Good point. I haven't bothered with multiple OSs on anything for a while but I might go down that road when I try to get my laptop working with linux. If it doesn't work, just reboot into a proven working windows environment.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Partition Magic is not needed for Linux installs. The OpenSUSE installer can reduce the size of existing partitions without data loss, and then creates its own partitions. It sounds creepy, but it works.

[AJE]

If you can run Windows7 on a Mac, can you install and run OSX on a PC/laptop and have dual boot?