[time-nuts] Sulzer Labs D-5 oscillator

[Steve Rooke]

Mike,

>  I'm in  the  process  of switching over  to  Ubuntu,  and  I already
>  checked - Wine handles Pimmy.

Whilst Wine is a very useful utility, I would only use it if there is
an absolute need to run a Windows application whith no equivalent. If
you are switching to Linux, you really would be advised look for
equivalent applications to the Windows ones. There are a real wealth
of them now an you are frequently spoilt by the varieties of the same
time of application. Although Wine will run a lot of Windows
applications, your experience will not be ideal, I can guarantee it.
There are bound to be 'issues' which will annoy you and I expect you
will only end up concluding that Linux is a load of rubbish as it is
not as good at running your Windows application as the real thing.

>  Does linux have an email client that handles multiple accounts?

Well, the obvious one is Thunderbird which will do all the things that
I can see that Pimmy can do, given my albeit brief overview of this
application from the parent website. Obviously, if you are going down
the Ubuntu path, there is Evolution which I think will fit the bill
for you and is the default email client for the Gnome desktop system.
Personally I use a KDE desktop which I consider is considerably more
powerful than Gnome and, coincidently, is a much closer style of a
desktop to the Windows experience. You can, of course, select KDE when
you install Ubuntu or go for a KDE orientated version called Kbuntu. I
know that everyone raves about Ubuntu but I've personally been with
SuSE for many years, and now with OpenSUSE, and I find it a very
polished distribution. It's just a case of what your preferences are.

>  BTW, my  reason for switching will probably affect more people  in a
>  couple of  years.  I am running Win98, and recently  bought  two new
>  Asus motherboards.  They no longer have drivers for Win98,  but they
>  do have drivers for Ubuntu and several other distros.

Well, Linux will run on most hardware these days as there are drivers
for many things, especially older hardware. The type of desktop can be
tailored to the performance capabilities of the hardware that it is
running on and you can almost run it on anything down to a wet lump of
string. I run OpenSUSE on a high end motherboard with quad core CPU,
high end graphics card and all the bells and whistles.

>  WinXP will  expire  soon,  and  VISTA is  a  disaster.  There  is no
>  guarantee the  next  release  will   be  any  better.  And  you will
>  eventually need  a new motherboard or two, so the handwriting  is on
>  the wall.

The good thing about Linux is that you can still run an up to date
version with good performance on quite mediocre hardware and new
versions don't generally drop support for older hardware. You
generally won't have to go out and buy a new printer, scanner,
graphics card, etc. when a new release comes out.

But, unless your a UNIX man, it's going to be a a steep learning curve
and it's all too easy to give up and throw it in the too hard bin.
Just persevere and think the Linux way. Eventually it will be like
those comfortable old slippers and you will enjoy the power and
flexibility you have in your hands.

73
Steve
-- 
Steve Rooke - ZL3TUV & G8KVD
Omnium finis imminet