On Declouding [Part 2]
So we're going to start here, with what was supposed to be focused on Apps for Linux with a little story about Asus. I got the Asus STRIX G16 (2023) about a year and a month ago. You can probably see where this is going. The battery seemingly died a week before the warranty ended. I contacted Asus, and they tell me that they can't just ship a battery. Me, being a very smart person, ask if I can just buy a battery directly. They give me a link, I order it. Figured, this would be way easier than going without a laptop for a week or two while they sort this out.
Well, the battery arrives. I do the install. And, oops. It still doesn't work. I double check, and then triple check my work. I switch out the battery cable too, just to be safe, and still not working. By this point, the official warranty is up, and I'm getting concerned. I update the firmware (fun fact, if you need to update the bios without a battery, hold down F11 while you are clicking on the firmware file in the bios menu, it skips the block). Reset the bios. Reinstalled the drivers. and etc. No avail.
So I remembered I got the square trade warranty, assuming that I could use that for a worst case scenario. Shipped it off today. And I guess now I wait for the indeterminate amount of time for it to get back. RIP.
Anyways, back to the main topic of declouding and apps on linux.
Most of my applications for my various workflows seem to be available or at least have close options.
RawTherapee (https://rawtherapee.com) has done well for my basic photo edits.
Vivaldi, works just as well on Linux as it does on Windows (albeit with some weird high dpi issues. Might just be linux)
Scanning was tricky. I have a Canon R40 for mass document scanning. No native linux drivers. It sort of worked with the built in linux library, but it's performance was less than ideal. Images would be mirrored regardless of what options I set, and the speed was very slow. However, I have been looking for an excuse to get Vuescan (https://www.hamrick.com) to try to get better photo scans, so I picked up a copy, and then my scans started working just fine.
Office, I went with Libreoffice because Wine blew up with nVidia issues the first time I tried. And, as much as it pains me to say it, it just works. Calc supports the lazy formula's I use on a regular basis. Write works well enough to put together a project for college (that's another topic for later!).
Email, I'm running evolution. It's ok. It's definitely a bit dated compared to Outlook. But, once I got it configured, it's worked just fine.
What I'm finding is that most of what I'm doing on Windows works just fine on Linux. Maybe with a different application than I'd normally use, but that's not a big deal.
Next time, we'll talk about what irks me deeply!