As I've posted previously, I'm trying to figure out how to perform under Ubuntu all of the tasks I used to perform under Windows. Unfortunately, I'm having difficulties. This was expected. And I'm not blaming Ubuntu. If as many people were making software and hardware for Linux as they were for Windows, this wouldn't even be a topic of discussion. As it is, right now, I can't find a working Linux driver for my old Visioneer scanner. That means I still need Windows. I've had my system as a dual-boot. In those cases where I need Windows, I restart the system, bring up Windows, perform the task, then restart back into Ubuntu. It wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that, with a lot of the garbage that Windows requires (here's looking at you, Norton), booting up in Windows takes minutes.
I may have found some better solutions. First, on the scanner. I tried out several of the emulator and virtual machine programs that are freely available. These include Wine (an emulator of Windows that runs on Linux & Unix), Virtualbox (a virtual machine) and VMWare Player (another virtual machine). NOTE: While VMWare Player is free, most or all of the other VMWare programs cost money. Frankly, in my opinion, VMWare Player works best for me. I now have a (n almost) fully functional Windows XP system running on top of my Linux system. If I need to do some scanning, I can bring up the virtual machine (takes about 30 seconds), perform the scans (which are scanned into a shared folder between the Ubuntu host and Windows XP guest system), and close it down. Done. Also, if there is ever a problem with the Windows system, I have a stable copy backed up. That's the wonderful thing about virtual machines. They are simply a collection of files. BIG files (we're talking almost 10 GB for the WinXP stuff), but still just files. If the working copy is corrupted, delete it, and put a fresh version in its place. No muss. No fuss.
Second, on the video-related stuff, I occasionally play around editing video, such as when I made a short video for my father based on some pictures and video clips taken at his 70th birthday party. Nothing fancy. Fortunately, Ubuntu has several video editors available. I've chosen Kino, and so far, its working fine. What this means is that I can now see a not-too-distant point in the future when Windows will not be talking directly with my hardware. It will be safely ensconced in virtual machine where any damage it can do will be minimal at best. It also means its one more step when Windows won't be necessary at all.
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