If you revive the Ubuntu thread, I can help you with that as well. What is holding you back? Are you set on Ubuntu or still considering alternatives?
Thanks for the offer. My main problem is not wanting to cope with the disruption in switching my main operation from Windows to Linux.I use Ubuntu on the Netbook, and have done so for many months. I ran a Bitcoin node on it, and recently set up a Dash node, but I' still a bit undecided about Dash. I've been looking for alternative software in preparation for the move, and texting some of it. For example, I've used Irfanview for years, but there isn't a Linux version. I've found an alternative, and I'm comfortable with it. Many other utilities such as Audacity and Brackets have Linux variants, so I don't expect problems with them.
I decided on Ubuntu Studio because of the content producing software that is included in the installation package. Having most of the packages that I use installed automatically should be a great help in the switch. I planned to remove the HDD from the notebook, and replace it with the SSD. I can then do a clean install of Ubuntu. The Widows HDD can go into a case for connection via USB. This should let me access any files that I need. Does this sound like a good plan?
Sure, you can keep the slow HDD for bulk data later as well. Just remember mechanical drives don't like sudden impacts, so be extra careful.
Before I switched to Linux completely in 2007, I used to use Irfanview as well, but mainly for viewing pictures and not transforming. The traditional tool for that in a Linux GUI is Gimp, but I admit that might be a bit overkill for simple changes.
According to
AlternativeTo, and
Askubuntu; among the programs to try are:
The last one is not open source and can't be used legally in a company without a purchased license.
I have been lazy enough to neglect searching for a decent image viewer. My little photography organizing is done with Shotwell, which along with Ristretto are perhaps not the best choices... I'm going to test out
Nomacs which looks really good, gThumb i used it a long time ago but i guess its much better now. For KDE/QT desktops there is also Gwenview.
Finally as a last resort, nothing stops you from
running Irfanview with wine.
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fappdb.winehq.org%2Fappimage.php%3FiId%3D28442&t=665&c=kU4OCSEZXN-_7g)
As for running nodes, Linux is home for Bitcoin and other altcoin server/node/wallet software. Not sure i would do that in a laptop/netbook tho, it will use more battery and bandwidth. You could, setup a full node in a normal PC, setup a Lightning Node and an Electrum Server, and use Electrum in your laptop configured to use your own server. You can link both using Tor, WireGuard, etc. The possibilities are endless...
Linux puts the fun back into computers, a fun that was run dry by certain companies I'm not going to bother mentioning. But if you happened to use personal computers before those companies dominated the market, you can probably understand what this really means.
For anyone else reading this, consider giving Linux a try.
Start here.
I had a teamspeak server, and that had a free licence. They have changed the licensing though, and it wasn't worth spending the monthly rental. I could use a discord channel, and I might explore that.
Also take a look at
Mumble, its free open source, and its voice quality is unmatched.