Moving out Mac

[Clint Harshaw]

Lotsa Cabo wrote:
> About a year ago I purchased a PowerBook in hopes of "easing" my way 
> away from Windows and onto a UNIX platform.  Well, I recently threw FC2 
> on my Toshiba laptop and now I want to get rid of the PowerBook.  There 
> are, however, a few items that I have gotten used to and do not want to 
> live without.  I am hoping someone can give me some pointers as to where 
> to start... maybe recommend some apps.
> 
> The top things I would like to be able to do with FC2 that I can do with 
> my PowerBook...
> 
> 3. QUICKEN
> I have looked at the "Cash" program (not sure of the complete name) that 
> ships with FC2 several times and it basically sucks.  Is there a quality 
> personal finance program out there for Linux?  I do not mind paying for it.

Are you talking about Gnucash? Does your not liking Gnucash relate to 
the double-entry method of accounting? There is a new tutorial about 
Gnucash's double-entry method at this new O'Reilly page:

http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/10/07/gnucash_double_entry.html

if that URL is too long, then use this tinyurl version:

http://tinyurl.com/72y3f

> 
> 4. KONFABULATOR
> This is a very cool third-party app that allows users to have "widgets" 
> hovering on their desktop to provide various functions.  A few that I 
> use constantly is a graphical weather forcasting widget, a connection 
> widget to show all of the my active connectiond and protocols, an IP 
> meter to show my external IP, and a few others.  Is there anything like 
> Konfabulator for Linux?
> 

Have you looked at gdkesklets?

http://gdesklets.gnomedesktop.org/

If you want something lightweight and compact, I can recommend gkrellm. 
There are many plugins for gkkrellm. Do a yum install gkrellm* at a root 
prompt and install them all.


> 5. PROTOOLS
> Okay, I know this is REALLY pushing it, but how about ProTools and 
> Logic.  I use them both on my Mac.  I realize I cannot take them with 
> me, but are there any professional quality applications out there for 
> MIDI and hi-end recording?

There is a Linux Music and Sound text that has a supporting web site:

http://linux-sound.org/

However, I wouldn't throw out the PowerBook (unless you're throwing it 
my way <grin>). If you want/need open source tools for your PB, I can 
highly, highly recommend Fink and Fink Commander for your PB. Once you 
get them installed on your PB, and you have X11 installed, you can run 
all kinds of goodies via the Mac. I have my iBook set up that way. If 
you want a package, you browse Fink Commander and install it with a 
click (or run apt-get install blah from the command line).

Have you read Learning Unix for OS X Panter? Here is a very brief review 
(well, just a sentence) I wrote about it:

http://www.penguinsolutions.org/books/bookdetail.php?book_id=102

Fink resources:
http://finkcommander.sourceforge.net/
http://fink.sourceforge.net/

Another approach (that I admittedly have no experience with) is to 
install Yellow Dog Linux or another PPC flavor of Linux on your PB. 
There are some instructions on the web about doing so with FC, but on an 
iBook.

Hope this helps,
Clint