Moving from XP to Linux

I'm getting to the point where I'm hoping to soon move from Windows XP to Xandros on my serious computer, the one that I use for running my business and keeping track of all my finances. I've been messing about with Xandros on my gaming computer for a while now (dual boot) and I really like it. I have a few concerns though and maybe you Linux gurus could point me in the right direction for finding the information I need.

Is there a resource on the Internet that can help to 'translate' an action in Windows to one in Linux? By that I mean, for example, when I want to check IP addresses on my home network I know how to open a 'DOS' window and use 'ipconfig'. How do I do that in Linux? Is there somewhere that gives a list of Linux 'equivalents'?

I may have a big problem with password protection of Microsoft Office files. I have a lot of sensitive documents on my 'serious' computer which are password protected. I take many of these documents to clients (who all use Windows and Office) and bring many back. I've found that OpenOffice, which I like very much, cannot open password protected Office documents. Does anyone know of an office suite that can do this, or will I have to find a way of running Microsoft Office under Linux? I really want to get away totally from Microsoft if I can.

For backups I currently use Norton Ghost to make a clone of the primary hard drive to a second hard drive, every day. This is simple, fairly quick and has got me out of trouble many times. Is there a similar program that will run under Linux?

How difficult will it be to move my Mozilla Thunderbird archived emails and address book over to Linux?

Yes, I'm being lazy by not googling for this info, I admit it. And if you were to say I really need to learn a lot more about Linux before using it for real I would then say 'where should I start?'

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Originally Posted by Ceefer

when I want to check IP addresses on my home network I know how to open a 'DOS' window and use 'ipconfig'. How do I do that in Linux?

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ifconfig

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I may have a big problem with password protection of Microsoft Office files. I have a lot of sensitive documents on my 'serious' computer which are password protected. I take many of these documents to clients (who all use Windows and Office) and bring many back. I've found that OpenOffice, which I like very much, cannot open password protected Office documents. Does anyone know of an office suite that can do this, or will I have to find a way of running Microsoft Office under Linux? I really want to get away totally from Microsoft if I can.

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try the OOo 2 beta, though basically the answer is going to be "no, .doc is a proprietary format, you're lucky nything works at all". older versions of msoffice (2000 i should think) ought to work in wine and/or crossover office.

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For backups I currently use Norton Ghost to make a clone of the primary hard drive to a second hard drive, every day. This is simple, fairly quick and has got me out of trouble many times. Is there a similar program that will run under Linux?

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dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb

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How difficult will it be to move my Mozilla Thunderbird archived emails and address book over to Linux?

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copy data from c:\documents and settings\$USERNAME\application data\mozilla\thunderbird\profiles\$RANDOMLETTERS or something like that to ~/.mozilla-thunderbird/profiles/$RANDOMLETTERS

guessing a little, but close enough

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Originally Posted by directhex

ifconfig

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Thanks for that, but that was just an example. What I'm really looking for is a way of 'translating' Windows actions into Linux.

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Originally Posted by directhex

try the OOo 2 beta, though basically the answer is going to be "no, .doc is a proprietary format, you're lucky nything works at all". older versions of msoffice (2000 i should think) ought to work in wine and/or crossover office.

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.doc is indeed a propriety format, as is .xls, but several 'office suite' programs can read, modify and save these formats. My problem is the password protection. I think you're right - I'll get 'crossover office' with the retail version of Xandros 3 and use my old version of msoffice if 2003 won't work.

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Originally Posted by directhex

dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb.

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Again, thanks for that, but what does it mean? What control of the process is there?

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Originally Posted by directhex

dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hdb

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Rsync would be better as it will only update the changes, don't ask me how because I'm not so familiar with it myself here's the first tutorial link I found on google:-

http://www.fredshack.com/docs/rsync.html

ok ceefer, in your position I guess there are a few things you'll have to ask yourself.

1.) Do I kow about linux to support my current machine to an "ok" standard. (Because this is your business machine)
2.) If I don't should I take out a cheep telephone - or even vpn support contract with a support company as this is my business machine.
3.) Does linux have all the apps needed to run my business, and am I happy with them. (you seem to be happy with open office for example)
4.) Will my business partners be happy with the formats I give them (eg if you started doign word docs in rich text format in an editor for example - would your contacts by happy with that format and would you be happy with them recieving that format)


there are tons of resources on the web that show cross over commands from dos systems to linux systems, and even mentioned apps that are the equiv on a linux desktop (notepad ---> kate for example) just have a look around.

However if your not that happy with just general running of your machine, should you be switching over and learning on your business machine ? why not keep it on your games machine until you are a little more happy with whats going on on that machine, and how to support it properly. Maybe even fake some data loss to see how you do in recovering it.

For backups, buy a tape or dvd drive and use amanda, for ghosting style operatons look at openghost (I've never used it) or as directhex and yngvai suggested, get a second disk, clone your first one, and either update it at set intervals, or use a tool like rync to keep them in sync at regular intervals.

Sounds like your not quite ready to make the jump but certain on the way

Thanks, Ikonia, good advice. My business requirements are very simple - I currently use:
a) Mozilla Thunderbird for email communications with clients.
b) Netobjects Fusion 7 for website maintenance.
c) Microsoft Office for the text documents and spreadsheets that I use to transfer data to and from clients, always password protected. This is my main problem I think.

You're right, I'm not ready to make the 'jump' yet. Got lots more to learn!

i use two websites a lot to answer my questions on linux:

www.linuxquestions.org

and

www.google.com witht he word linux in it :D

Nox

a nice trick ins http://www.google.com/linux or http://www.google.com/bsd for OS related queries

never tried that :D Cheers!

Nox