Have you ever asked yourself this question, “What is that one piece of software without which my computing experience, is just incomplete?”
I bet, if and when you ask yourself that question, one of the answers would be a popular browser like Mozilla Firefox(Flock, in my case) and much above anything else in that list would be Microsoft Office. A computer just seems incomplete without Microsoft office. To this day, I would say that Microsoft Office is the best thing to have come out of the Microsoft Office(pun definitely intended).
And since moving to Ubuntu over the last month, I didnt have many reasons to miss my Windows XP, which lost its position as the primary operating system to Ubuntu Hardy Heron(8.04). Everything I wanted was available on Ubuntu. Browser of Choice - Flock. Video Player of Choice - VLC Media player. Audio Player of Choice - Amarok, plus rhythmbox.
Office Software - _______________________? I know many of you would jump at me at this stage and say - “What about Open Office?”
Well lets face it guys, the guys at Open Office have been doing a good job no doubt, but nothing can replace Microsoft Word for me. Google’s Online Documents are great for collaborating editing, but still an offline utility is a must I feel. Google Docs can just not replace Microsoft Office.
Amongst utilitarian Software - Adobe Photoshop is another that ranks high on the list, due to sheer utility rather than frequency of use, and sad - PhotoShop CS2 is available for Windows, and also for Mac, but not for Linux.(Clearly because of the proprietary nature of the software - point taken).
So my computer experience, was sans Adobe Photoshop, and Office. And then I got hold of WINE, and installed the Wine windows emulator for Ubuntu.
Well, for those who are hearing wine for the first time in a context other than what involves tall greenish tinted and corked bottles, WINE is a windows emulator, and to cut a long story short, provides a middle layer between your application and the underlying unix, which leads the Application(designed for windows) to believing that it was actually running on a windows machine, rather than a linux one.
Thanks to wine, I installed the emulator and then installed photoshop. For more on how to go about doing the same, read the instructions at this lifehacker site.
http://lifehacker.com/396590/run-windows-apps-in-linux-with-wine-10
All things fine so far, and photoshop installation goes on like a charm. And then I click on that photoshop Icon and I get this weird error, saying there is an error and Adobe PS CS2 needs to be reinstalled to continue. So if any of you gets this error, on Ubuntu hardy heron, its a simple tweak suggested by this site that will help you
$sudo sysctl -w vm.mmap_min_addr=0
Site: http://wiki.winehq.org/PreloaderPageZeroProblem
More at the site.
Well thanks to WINE, now I have photoshop running on my Ubuntu Machine! Hurray! Now, if someone helps me install Microsoft office on Ubuntu, in addition to words like gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation, I would also give away my windows XP cd gleefuly.
Cheers!
Well in other news, I went to the hostel office today and picked up the lot for my room. Was hoping pretty hard to get the K or L block, which would mean new blocks with balconies, ceramic tiles and designer wardrobes. Well that was not to be - yours truly landed up with a old block. H 110 is the room number, a dusty old room - but the window opens to a land which I in my usual exaggeratory tone could call - FOREST, so might be I might have good stories to tell about that place.
Did I ever tell you, that it was always my dream when in Surathkal to have a hostel room overlooking the woods, with a trail running throught it - Might be a few birds thrown in to add their sounds,there is a possibility that H110 could offer all that.
Good Night,
