I'm seriously thinking of trying Linux as a new install primarily to run Inkscape and Gimp for production work.

At the moment I run a few machines with WinXP but they are pretty full up with cruft and fall over all the time.

Can anyone give me (real world) reports on if Linux is more stable that WIndows. I know passions are raised by these kind of questions but I am really looking for opinions from people who have actually run two machine with a base install and just a few programs like say Inkscape and Gimp installed.

If so:
What are the speed/memory comparisons with the same memory and free space?
What would be a sensible spec for modest graphics work?
Any noticeable difference on crashing?

Bonus question: Any experiences with Wacom tablets on Linux with Inkscape/Gimp

All feedback appreciated

Good question: Is Linux more stable than Windows XP? I would answer that with yes and no because it depends and many variables. You could totally ef up either operating system and walk away thinking that both suck. It mostly depends on the guy sitting behind the keyboard.

I use both WinXP and several Linux distros, mainly Ubuntu and openSUSE. I don't have problems with any of those operating systems. I like to run things lean and don't like to layer them down with junk that I don't need...meaning software that I don't use. That extra junk is more of an issue with Windows I think because it's slows the computer down after awhile. All of my computers are “stable” so the Inkscape and Gimp experience doesn't feel different to me. The reason that I use Inkscape in the first place is that it's cross-platform software. Since I am stuck on a Windows XP machine at work and only use Linux at home it's nice to have my graphics software work on anything. That I am grateful for.

As far as performance gains go on Windows and Linux and Inkscape, sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't depending on your hardware. At work I have a beast for a workstation that's about as tricked out with high end hardware as one can get (I am a Design Engineer). At home I have more of a budget to mid-level machine. I never really try to measure performance between the two since they are completely different computers. However, I must say that I am not dissatisfied with either Windows or Linux. I prefer to use Linux because I think it's a better operating system but in terms of productivity, either one lends itself to getting work done. I could go on and on about the differences between the two OS's and why I prefer Linux over Windows but I think I'll cut it short. All comes down to personal preference. Use whatever OS you feel most comfortable with, whether that's Linux, Windows or Mac.

Maybe some others would like to pipe in with spec recommendations. I like to have a couple gigs of ram and at least a 128mb graphics card (I like nVidia) and a fairly newish processor. More is always better.

Inkscape does crash every now and then but this isn't really an issue for me. I save my work often when I am working on a project that's important. Just a habit. Inkscape seems to crash on either operating system. Not ever sure what causes crashes...could be a billion things.

I do have a Wacom tablet but it's a small one. It's a 4x6 USB Graphire. It probably works a little better on my Windows machine but I haven't ever had any problems with it in openSUSE and Ubuntu. Some folks had some problems with the Bamboo in Inkscape. Not sure if those issues have been fixed.

If you are interested in Linux then I would suggest giving Ubutnu a go. After you get your feet wet and learn the basics then perhaps move on and try another distro. Maybe try the new Wubi installer that comes with Ubuntu 8.04. That let's you install Ubuntu from Windows and let's you uninstall it when you no longer want it. This will give you a dual boot system and it will allow you to measure performance with the same hardware.

I recently made a shift from win (10 years) to linux, on the same machine. For a while I had ubuntu but when I reformated C: (winXP) I couldnt get ubuntu up again and I couldnt install a newer version, maybe it was hardware compatibility I dont know.

Im now on fedora 8 and I can tell you that if you don't use buggy addons etc it is more stable than win. I only experienced crashes connected to advanced screensavers and compiz fusion desktop effects. When I don't use those there are no crashes. Although I think the compiz crashes because of a bad install, I noticed some weird behavior that no one can help me with, I'll reinstall when I catch some free time, the compiz crashes are rare.

Inkscape and gimp seem to boot up faster on linux, and work faster, but its only my subjective feeling, I didn't measure it.
Inkscape crashes on both windows and linux, the crashes are related to bugs in inkscape, not the platform. It is true that some bugs are platform related, I don't know which platform counts more bugs but recently when 0.46 was about to be released windows version had a bunch of very difficult ones. But that may be because there aren't many windows inkscape developers.

All in all Inkscape and gimp natively live on linux, and I'd expect better performance and less problems there.
I'd also like to add I love fedora, I'm glad I switched. The differences aren't that big, maybe there are more issues on linux because not all features you get used to on win are available there (I havent found a way to print borderless on linux), and there is definitely some learning to be done if you want to work on linux, but on the other hand there is the price difference and security issue, I just love the feeling of being protected on linux, things are really great there. I hated win for that, I always had to have a great firewall/antivirus/antispyware, I had virus problems on windows with anything else than Zone Alarm, and any of them eat up too much memory at all times and processor power during (frequent) scans. Linux security is so unobtrusive, the only time you need to think about it is when some extra permission is needed to be setup.

I'm a Windows man, but not by choice. Windows just has the stuff I need and want. I've never ever used Linux as a primary OS, but have installed it countless times with the intention of using it, as well as used it for servers.

If you're unsure about taking the leap, there are plenty of ways now that you can get to know Linux without having to give up Windows. Previously you would dual boot, but with Ubuntu Wubi you can actually install it in Windows making it hassle free. Alternatively you can also run it in a virtual machine (VMWare server is free, and there are plenty of distributation available for VMWare Player). Although, I wonder if I would be using Linux more had I given up Windows cold turkey.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.

I have tried dual boot Ubuntu installs in the past and everything worked ok but I could never get over the 'hump' of porting every bit of data I might need to Linux. My laziness mostly and ironically fear of 'losing' tiny utilities that I had come to depend on every day like a mini card file with all my passwords in it! I know there is software out there to do the same things but it's just the learning curve that gets in the way and finding the right software. In the end I used to just choose to boot into windows for convenience and familiarity.

Still I am fairly confident now and a number of conversions like doc - pdf are a lot easier now and available online (Zamzar(like Google docs) and Open Office. I think for doing graphics work Gimp, Scribus and Inkscape are now mature enough to clinch the deal for me.

I wonder about a couple of specialised utilities like Arles image page creator for producing gallery pages I know it's not ported to Linux and some HDR photo editing software which maybe specific to Canon but I guess if I take the plunge I will figure a work around.

It's good to hear that in reality there may not be much to choose between Linux and Windows in terms of functionality which has to put Linux ahead of the game when you factor in the relative costs!

I originally bought the first version of windows so that I could run CorelDraw so I go way back with vector graphics but with CorelDraw now costing mega bucks and losing my install discs that I need for an upgrade I am delighted with how much I can do with open source.

Thanks again for the input.

Well, I'm coming up on my 6th year anniversary when I started using Linux. Once you get over that first 3 months then Linux becomes like heroin and it's hard to stop using it. That how they get ya. They put an addictive chemical in the kernel and it...never mind.

Anyway, I find that it helps to first use as many cross-platform apps as you can so it eases the transition and reduces some of the learning curve. Things like Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera, OpenOffice, Gimp, Inkscape, Scribus, Filezilla, VirtualBox, Audacity, Avidemux, Pidgin, Imagemagick, MPLayer/MEncoder/FFMpeg, the list goes on. It's sometimes hard to break yourself from big proprietary apps...they usually work very well...but soon maybe it will start bothering you that you're shelling out a lot of money for those applications...unless you have a lot of money. I suppose some you have to have in order to get a paycheck each week but at least try to use something open-source or platform independent when you can. You might be surprised at how well it works. Often times things don't quite work the same and you have to sacrifice a little but in the end you'll get used to it and then swear by it (and your nostrils will open up and you'll breathe better...ok...maybe that's stretching things ). And if those apps just don't have what you need to switch to it then let the developers know about it.

How is Linux like a heron? I thought it was more like a penguin. Oh no the drugs are wearing off....

Seriously I think you are right and using so many functions within Firefox, not only blogging apps like Scribefire but FTP and then online googley things like documents and spreadsheets I am hopeful that the transition will be less painful than even two years ago. I do all my email on-line from gmail so that was goodbye to outlook (thank god).

I guess i should check that all the firefox addons will work in linux. So much to do, so little time...

How is Linux like a heron? I thought it was more like a penguin. Oh no the drugs are wearing off....

That was classic heathenx right there. I'm the typo king and I rarely double-check my posts until after I post them. Let me change it to save myself further embarrassment.

microUgly wrote:...with Ubuntu Wubi you can actually install it in Windows making it hassle free....

Well thanks for the heads up. I have taken the plunge and installed from Ubuntu Wubi. It has all gone good so far (fingers crossed ). It managed to install on a slave hard drive and connected up to the net via my home router without a hitch. I've got Inkscape and Scibus onboard. I see it does still require a reboot to change from one OS to the other from a dual boot menu at start up time but I also see that Wubi is gracious to allow windows to be the default system in the boot menu so the default if you don't touch anything is that it boots into windows. (the last install I did it was the other way around and it would boot into Ubuntu as default)

Still to do after the 205 updates are done:

I need to:

install samba for windows networking
install wine to run azz card file
install Synfig for fun
itunes?
move my preferences and passwords over from my laptop firefox install. (Maybe i will just have to reconfigure things like scribefire?)

All report back here in case anyone is interested.

Can anyone tell me if all the Firefox extensions just run natively on any OS or do they have to be built as seperate versions?

All the best Dave

I think I simply copied my Firefox and Thunderbird profile (to a right folder on Linux) and everything worked fine (I have 16 extensions). Maybe there are cases where you'll need to uninstall the addon from win and install the linux version.

Addons gave me more trouble when upgrading from FX2 to FX3.

FF addons aren't OS dependent - just download them the say way you would on Windows.

for the last couple of years, windows was faster than linux on the same hardware (with the same features running, that is)

however, you can't really strip windows back that much... but if you want to trick out a linux installation through software, it's easy to pull off a lot of the extra stuff that you don't need.

i have two computers. one is windows (because it's plugged in to two monitors... linux STILL sucks at dual monitor set ups) and the other is linux (ubuntu on an eee pc) and there was just a huge jump recently in terms of video drivers and compiz such that linux is now as fast as (if not faster) than windows in the video department... so choosing windows for video capabilities isn't so much a valid point anymore.

honestly, all operating systems are the same. they each suck in their own way. the chink in winxp's armor is viruses... so you have to be an intelligent web surfer.

linux has hardware issues (my sound card has never had functional drivers... they crash every couple of hours)

OSX forces you to do things their way and if something breaks, there's NO WAY TO FIX IT (like the microsoft office bugs that have been going around... bad shit)

Thanks for your comments, whoever you are . I am getting a picture from peoples comments and I realise, in fact I think I already knew, there is no magic bullet. Computers are just big, complex, dumb tools and you have to learn how to use them intelligently. I do think Linux and the open source world helps us learn how to use them faster and more intelligently.

With regards viruses; I have learn from windows how to protect against them but I agree that Linus appears to be more secure if you look at the figures. Certainly the security levels and the way it is so trivial to set up users etc. is very reassuring.

In the few days I have been running Linux full time I have found several very good Linux graphics programs for my nine year old that are way better than anything I have found on Windows. I think that is down to the ethos of Open Source. (Darn if I know how the creators make money) The alternative are psudo educational free commercial games that are either product of TV channel advertising. But the second issue is that these programs, like Inkscape are better because they are extensible and standards compliant and, I guess, crated with passion and enthusiasm.

The issue of sound card drivers and a two-hours-between-crash figure is gloomy but I guess it is going to change and there is a momentum in the air for bigger changes more quickly. I think Vista has done more for Open Source than anything.

Thanks for the note about twin monitors. I am an keen twin monitor user and I would be looking at that in the future. I have a twin head (old now) matrox card. Any experience on them versus using two graphics cards in different slots?

Deepmonk wrote:(Darn if I know how the creators make money)

They don't At least, not from their Open Source creations. They do it because they want software that works the way they want it to.

Deepmonk wrote:Thanks for the note about twin monitors. I am an keen twin monitor user and I would be looking at that in the future. I have a twin head (old now) matrox card. Any experience on them versus using two graphics cards in different slots?

I wouldn't worry too much about that. While I have no idea how support for that particular card is (google might know?) twin head support in linux has existed for at least 10 years and worst case is probably that you have to get your hands dirty manually editing some config files (but most often you can find instructions somewhere on exactly what to change).

Deepmonk wrote:In the few days I have been running Linux full time I have found several very good Linux graphics programs for my nine year old that are way better than anything I have found on Windows. I think that is down to the ethos of Open Source. (Darn if I know how the creators make money) The alternative are psudo educational free commercial games that are either product of TV channel advertising. But the second issue is that these programs, like Inkscape are better because they are extensible and standards compliant and, I guess, crated with passion and enthusiasm.

Most free software doesn't make money.

But if you're in my position, that is you have benefited from FOSS, then you give back where and when you can. And no, you don't have to be a Programmer Extraordinaire. Documentation is always needed. And if not, post a blog of your experiences, including all the things that have gone wrong; and laying the blame on where others have fucked up. Your bad experience could lead to a change that helps.

FOSS is a community. Be a part of it. Share your experiences, your thoughts, and your opinion.

Deepmonk wrote:With regards viruses; I have learn from windows how to protect against them but I agree that Linus appears to be more secure if you look at the figures. Certainly the security levels and the way it is so trivial to set up users etc. is very reassuring.

I'm feeling pretty safe running Linux without a virus scanner. Someday that might change, but for now that fact alone already gives a huge performance boost!

It's also a known fact that most of the Inkscape dev's use Linux, more than any other OS. So you will find that the Linux builds are usually a small step ahead, both feature-wise and bug-wise. On the other hand, it's much easier to install a development build on Windows than on Linux, especially when you're looking for pre-compiled builds

Diederik