[scribus] Linux vs Windows for Scribus ?

[John Culleton]

On Tuesday 08 September 2009 10:24:56 Jeffrey Silverman wrote:
> Well, partially I'm just trolling.
>
> But really, I have a basis in reality for that statement. Although 
the
> basis may be dated, I dunno.
>
> Fedora, nee Red Hat Linux, has always been very "bleeding 
edge", and
> because of that, tends to have problems that other distros do 
not.
> Bugs, lack of polish, stability issues.
>
> Please note that the last time I used Fedora was in 2004, with 
FC3.
> FC3 was a nightmare. I had used exclusively Red Hat distros up 
until
> that point. RH 7-7.3, 8, 9, RHEL 3 and 4, Fedora 1,2, and 3. 
Fedora
> was always just frustrating and missing stuff and in need of 
serious
> tweaking before being actually usable.
>
> Then I discovered that there really were some other options out 
there,
> and that using a Linux desktop didn't always have to mean 
constant
> tweaking, frustration, and headaches. I switched to MEPIS at 
that
> time. MEPIS is/was amazing. The problem MEPIS had/has, 
though, is a
> somewhat brittle upgrade and maintenance path, otherwise I 
recommend
> MEPIS on my short  list. Then I discovered Ubuntu and finally, 
Linux
> Mint. I always recommend Mint at this point as my first 
suggestion. It
> is like Ubuntu++, and Ubuntu is pretty good. Mint comes with 
all of
> the good things about Ubuntu[1] and adds extra polish, ease of 
use,
> tools, and features.
>
> I have never used SuSE, but I've test driven it a couple of times, 
and
> it never quite felt right to me. In much the same way that 
buying a
> car is a personal choice. I would probably not buy a Toyota, for
> example, just on the aestheics, but it is so personal a decision 
at
> that level. So, too, is the choice in Linux distro these days. Mint
> just feels right to me, in addition to having great features and
> polish.
>
> My recommendations for new Linux users, not necessarily in 
order:
>
> 1) Linux Mint
> 2) Ubuntu
> 3) MEPIS
> 4) PCLinuxOS
>
> Others will stick Fedora, SuSE in there. Still others will stick
> Debian in. And some retards will even recommend Slackware to 
new
> users. (If you are a new Linux user but happen to be a 50 year 
old
> Unix sysadmin, then Slack might be alright.) 

Well I was well past 50 when I first encountered Linux but 
otherwise I qualify I guess. I have been using Linux, principally 
Slackware, since that distro came in a tray full of floppies.  Tried 
Red Hat once but it had too much proprietary software. 

 But it has been my observation that:
 useful work (like cover design)
is supported by  
applications software (like Scribus)
 which resides on a gui 
which resides on an OS.  

All these levels of software tend to grow but not necessarily get 
better. After many years with Slackware and KDE I have given up 
on KDE4. To put it another way I find that Xfce gives me more of 
the features and the look and feel I am used to with KDE than the 
latest KDE does. So I have switched from KDE to Xfce on my 
primary Slackware partition but also on my Debian-like partition. 
My Debian-like partition has an OS called Xubuntu, basically 
Ubuntu with Xfce.
So I have approximately the same interface on either partition.

It is very easy to download Inkscape, another important tool in my 
publishing toolkit, onto a Debian derivative but just about 
impossible on Slackware. It is also virtually impossible to compile 
it on Slackware.  So I downloaded Inkscape to Xubuntu.

Now I am in the process of migrating Inkscape 46  from that 
partition to my main partition. This  is easier than figuring out 
what editions of which Gnome libraries have to be installed for a 
successful compile on Slack. 

In short I am picking and choosing and where necessary voting 
with my feet. You can do that more easily in the Linux world than 
in the Windows world. If I don't like the Gui I can choose another.  
But my wife's laptop is stuck with Vista and its Gui because HP 
will not support the drivers for XP, an older but much superior 
version of MS Windows. 

There are no universal solutions.  So I mix and match. 
 
John Culleton
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html