TechKnack

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been using the Windows 7 beta. A shocker, I know, but I’ve been able to find replacements for most of the software I use everyday in Linux. The biggest hangups I’ve found so far are 1) lack of package manager (PLEASE, Microsoft, implement something to this effect!), and 2) lack of some SSHfs capabilities. I used SSHfs extensively under linux, and WinSCP just doesn’t cut it.

Moving from a well-established Linux environment to a squeaky-clean Windows environment is bound to be a bumpy experience without first determining suitable replacements for all the programs that one uses on a daily basis. After my initial move-in, I was rather ad-hoc in finding replacements. Now that I’ve found suitable replacements for my most-used programs, perhaps this list can help those of you looking to make n experimental switch.

• BitTorrent: I do a lot of torrenting, so a good replacement for KTorrent is necessary. uTorrent has so far served my purposes for the odd torrent, while I continue to use my automated torrent system on my home server for TV shows and such.
• IM client with AIM and IRC: I sit on IRC channels all day long these days, occasionally throwing in a word or two, but mainly gleaning whatever knowledge I can from the chatter. Also, I have an AIM account that is my main real-time online point-of-access. I’ve gotten used to Kopete, but it’s lacking in just the right areas so as to make me dissatisfied with it. Recently I’ve installed Pidgin (under Kubuntu), and I’ve found that it has its own quirks that I’m dissatisfied with, perhaps more so than with Kopete. The release of kDE4-only Kubuntu 8.10 has further disappointed me: Kopete lost its IRC capabilities, and I was forced to use Konversation for IRC, but it has been an exceptional IRC program. Here on Windows, the options are rather scarce — Pidgin is available, but suffers from the aforementioned shortcomings. I’ve heard great things about Digsby, but it doesn’t seem to support IRC at the moment. However, as I was forced to split my chatting between two programs on linux, doing the same on windows isn’t too bad a compromise. I use Digsby for AIM, and YChat, which seems to be a branch of XChat, for IRC. I am not completely satisfied with YChat as a Konversation replacement, because it has no auto-login, auto-identification, or auto-join features that work on Win7 (seems to be a dll issue here), but it works well enough.
• Desktop Feed Reader: My primary feed reader for feeds of interest to me is Google Reader, and that isn’t going to change. However, I also use a desktop feed reader to toss temporary feeds like ebay and craigslist search results into. On linux I’ve grown accustomed to using Akregator, simply because it’s included with Kubuntu. Here on Windows, however, FeedDemon has taken the role quite nicely.
• Music/Video playback, a la Amarok/Kaffeine: I love my music. And I love my video, whether it be downloaded TV shows or a DVD. And I have to have some way to play them. Regarding music, my needs are not outrageous — I just need some way to organize my music, fetch album info from the net, and perhaps display album art for me. I don’t care for song ratings or anything fancy like that. Windows Media Player works well in regards to both audio and video, and even works with my Inspiron’s front-side music player controls.
• Gimp or PhotoShop: Being in web development, I do occasionally do graphics editing. For this, I need Gimp at the least, though I would like to try PhotoShop. I’m going to attempt to install PS CS4 at some point, but I’m afraid I won’t have the free disk space for it. Bummer.
• Advanced text editor: On Kubuntu, I used Kate for text editing (HTML, CSS, PHP, etc files). My requirements here are syntax highlighting, tabs, and sessions. Code collapsing is a nice feature, but not required. I will likely use Notepad++ on Windows, though I haven’t done much development lately to really test its workflow yet.
• Firefox, Thunderbird, and Sunbird: I’m sorry, there is no replacement for these three .
• Office software: On Linux, I got by fine using OpenOffice. However, since I have free access to Office 2007, I am using that. Sorry, OSS radicals.
• Filezilla: Again, no replacement.
• PDF Viewer/Printer: Another thing that comes stock with Kubuntu. Foxit is good for PDF viewing, and CutePDF works for a printer.
• File manager: Requirements in this area include all the things I’ve come to expect from Konqueror: tabbed interface (with spring-loaded tabs, no less), session management, and easy switching amongst various folder views (icons, details, etc). CubicExplorer fits the bill quite nicely, though I still find myself opening Windows Explorer for short filemanaging stints.
• SSHfs: This was rather high on my priority list, as I have my web development folders, which reside on my server, mounted locally as SSHfs shares. This means that, whenever I have internet access, I can simply open, edit, and save the files at home as if they were on my local machine. Unfortunately, no SSHfs for Windows seems to exist. I had heard things about Novell’s netdrive.exe, but it doesn’t support sftp. Dokan’s SSHfs looked promising, but, alas, would not install on a Windows 7 environment (even in Vista compatibility mode). For now, I have to resort to WinSCP for SSH-based editing, but it doesn’t come near the convenience of SSHfs.