I spent years and I mean years using only Paint shop pro On windows, I had tried photoshop but never really got the hang of it or liked it. Also I think by the time I used it it was CS2 or CS3 and a major memory hog. Just painfully slow to load and run. So when I was switching to Ubuntu I was disappointed to find I couldn’t get PSP to run in wine, and so began my journey of Learning Gimp. Now I’m glad I learned to use it It’s a much more powerful editor in my opinion, and the more I use it the more I realize in some ways easier than psp.

I’ve also been using dreamweaver for years, but now I’m starting to experiment with Quanta Plus It just makes more sense to me to use native linux apps. Though I think the dreamweaver to Quanta transition is going to be a much tougher one than the PSP to Gimp one. One thing I really miss in Quanta is the wysiwyg ability. It really helps me being able to see the outcome as I go. So for now I’m still switching back and forth between Quanta Plus and Dreamweaver 8 in wine.

Other than that the transition to Ubuntu from windows has been quite painless for me. I’m generally a quick learner so switching to something new is normally not a problem for me. Though I can see where for others it might be difficult, as not everyone adopts quickly

I’ve been looking into Linux Games lately I did demo Knights and Merchants from http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com But it just didn’t have zing you hope to see in a video game. The graphics weren’t that great and the game seemed a bit difficult to learn. It would be great to find some good Linux games, but as of yet I’m at a loss. though I’m still enjoying my Guild Wars 😀

So I woke this morning to find that my pain in my legs is finally gone. I’m thinking that stuff has finally worked it way out of my system, of course that doesn’t fix my back yet but hey that’s what the doctors appointment is for.

I’ve been playing Guild Wars this weekend as they are dropping special treats for Easter. We’re getting chocolate bunnies, and golden eggs…lol.

We don’t celebrate Easter here as My family is pagan. We will be celebrating Beltane though on the 1st of May. We’ll be decorating the house with flowers, and having a nice Meal. Then We pick something new to plant, either a flower, plant or tree. Anyway I hope everyone else has a good Easter Sunday.

So I stopped the prednisone as per doctors orders, and let me tell you the withdrawals are horrible. I woke up about 5:00 A.M. with horrible pain from my knee’s to my ankles. I’ve been dealing with it all day. I called the doc and he told me to take a percocete and possibly some aleave for the pain, I don’t have any aleave but I used advil liqu-gels and they seemed to do the trick, now I’ve got the numb feeling….. Hopefully soon I can begin to get this crap all worked out I’m so sick of pills….a

I don’t know if it’s the Prednisone the doctor had me on or If I just picked up some cold, but I have a horrible headache and my throat is killing me. Just to be on the safe side I stopped the prednisone, he said if I was having any side effects to just not take it. But my gods if I didn’t know any better I would swear it’s the flu…..

Oh my god that MRI was the worst experience ever. I spent the whole time crying and in so much pain I wanted to scream. I swear when your in that much pain they should just stick in a catheter and give you an epidural. I have had 3 kids, and let me tell you what I would rather go through labor all over again then have to suffer through another 45 minutes laying on that table in that much pain!!!!

I’ll start off by saying I’ve been battling my back for about a year now, it currently has me to the point of Not being able to hardly walk. I was seeing a Doctor but things seemed to not be progressing. She had me go to a physical therapist, and he said “Well I don’t know about making you pain free but I can help you stand up straight” I’m thinking Dude I’m not standing up straight because of the pain. It’s not that I’m Bending over and that’s causing the pain! So I decided to find a new doctor. Yesterday I went to my first appointment with him and I already feel like things are moving along a lot faster, as today I have an appointment for an MRI. The doctor also prescribed me some Steroids to help with any swelling which might be causing the pain, and some other pain medicine just to help me get a full nights sleep. Let’s just hope the MRI shows us some reason for the back pain, so we know what to do next.

I spent the whole of tonight setting up my husbands computer for him, and no it wasn’t a windows install.

He surprised me yesterday by asking me to get rid of his windows partition, and when I asked why (mostly I was just curious)He said, well I don’t ever use it and I would like the space. Fair enough, so I told him to back up his stuff to the external then I would get it done for him.

First Some stats:

• Gateway GT5238E
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86Ghz
• 4 GB DDR2 Memory
• Nvidia GeForce 9400 GT 1GB DDR2
• 250 Gb SATA II HD
• Intel Integrated High Definition (HD) Audio

So I Slipped in the Ubuntu 8.10 Disk, and rebooted the computer, I proceeded to install Ubuntu by wiping the entire drive, a process of which took all of about 15 minutes from start to finsh. So there I was Facing a fresh install of Intrepid Ibex. The First thing I did was run the updates all 263(I think) of them. Once this was complete I rebooted. Facing a fresh install and with nothing to lose I decided to try downloading the newest Nvidia drivers directly from their website, instead of using the ones the system recommended or using EnvyNg. this process was quite smooth to be honest with you I simply followed the instructions found HERE and it all went off without a hitch. I reboot and the computer was running at the proper resolution. After that I proceeded with my normal checklist of Must installs

• Setting up permanent Network Mounts
• configuring the networked printer
• Installing restricted extras and Medibuntu goodies
• configuring timidity

All easy as pie to setup

Next on my agenda was to copy all of his files back off the external and onto his computer, then it was on to restoring Firefox settings. This process is made soooo easy by using 3 MUST HAVE extensions for Firefox. FEBE, Foxmarks, and Sxipper. Within less then 10 minutes I had his Firefox back to exactly the way he liked it, bookmarks, passwords, toolbars, and all.

For my next task I took to installing Guild Wars, (The Hubby and I love Guild Wars..lol) Now on my own system PlayOnlinux works great for Guild wars, but for some reason I tend to get lag on his computer with it. So I opted for using Crossover games on his system(I already had a licensed copy), and it works beautifully. He can easily switch between full screen and windowed mode using the ALT<enter> Shortcut on the keyboard. The Version of crossover games I’m using for his install is 7.2.0 and it works quite well. (At this point I’m having a blast I just love this stuff, yes I know I’m such a nerd….lol)

After that I proceeded to install all the odds & ends software:

• Banshee
• Latest Pidgin Version
• Pytube
• WinFF
• Frostwire
• Deluge
• gscrot(shutter)
• Ubuntu-Tweak
• etc..etc..etc..

After that I installed and configured Ubuntu-system-panel we have both fallen in love with the menu applet it’s just wonderful.

I finished up by making sure to reinstall all the backed up themes, icons, and cursors then setting up a theme and look I’m sure he’ll be pleased with. His computer is running amazingly well, and looks beautiful with the latest Nvidia drivers. All in all it’s been a pretty fun and productive night for me and I’ve really enjoyed the undertaking 😀 Now when is the last time you heard anyone say that after installing windows….lol.

So Tonight I managed to follow this thread on the Ubuntu forums to get my xbox reading media on my ubuntu install. 😀 I’m very pleased about this as I love listening to tunes while I play my games!

So Ubuntu has me doing things completely legal now..lol. I now buy all my MP3’s from amazon, and I love it. I love that now when I do things there is now fear of repercussions from anybody, but my computer is still my computer! GOOOO FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!