Linux Graphics Software, Using, Ubantu, Linux Operating System.

Over the last 15 years I have watched and tested the Linux operating system and the Graphics Programs available. I became a big fan of The Gimp and have taught it and used it for years. I even wrote a book 'The Australian Beginners Guide to Digital Photo Editing', which had Australia wide distribution back in 2001. The Book used The GIMP as the main program. But unfortunately I was running The Gimp on a Windows machine....Linux back then was far from an easy operating system for a novice.

What about now? Well I have to say that with the arrival of Ubantu version 9 Linux is ready. I have been using it and testing it for some months now and I am really impressed how user friendly and fast the operating system is. Ubantu is easy to install, easy to add programs, lives happily on a Windows network, has amazing driver support and more importantly has a great supply of Software Applications that would satisfy a great deal of customers needs. All of this is entirely Free under the Open Source Licence.

Graphics Software:
Apart from The GIMP which is a superb Photo Editing Program, Linux now has:

Inkscape:World class Vector Drawing Program comparable to Illustrator or Corel Draw.

Scribus: Serious Desktop Publishing Program similar to In Design or Quark Express.

Xara Xtreme: Another brilliant Vector Drawing Program similar to Corel Draw or Illustrator.

Adding Fonts is now a breeze using Fonty Python. There are Photo Batch Programs such as Phatch which allow you to process groups of Images with special effects. There are Screen Capture programs, PDF Editing programs and Web Design Programs such as Komposer.
Then we have the superb Open Office suite of applications that include a Word Processor, a Spread Sheet Program, an excellent Presentation Program like Power Point, Html editing, a great Vector Drawing program and a Data Base Program.
There are Finance programs, Games and a choice of Browsers such as Firefox to cruise the Internet.

I have had no trouble with devices. When I plugged in my Sony Digital Camera to the USB port Ubantu found it straight away and I started downloading Images. The same goes for Mobile Phones, Printers, Wireless Modem, Scanners etc. All my stuff worked.

So why go with Linux?
Well to start off with Linux has far more security than Windows purely because there are far less people attempting to write Virus and Trojan nasties. It is a safer operating system and apparently harder to 'hack'.
Linux also apparently runs faster on any given machine and uses memory more efficiently...but I am not a programmer I can only go from what I read.

Linux is been developed by an enormous pool of developers world wide and is frequently updated. All updates and release versions of Operating Packages such as Ubantu are entirely Free so you always have the latest version for your machine.

There is a huge range of applications as mentioned above that are entirely Free so the cost of setting up and running Ubantu is absolutely nothing $0.00

I have a Website dedicated to Open Source Software with reviews on each of the products. (Most reviews are on my Hub Pages).

I am currently using my Linux Machine for a great deal of my work along side my Windows machine. There are still many Windows programs that will not run on Linux but as time goes on more and more Linux alternatives pop up that are cross compatible.