I want to run Mint full time, need recommendations on apps

[Maxxarcade]

I am looking to fully switch over to Mint on my daily-use system, but I need some advice on a couple things that are holding me back.

1. Quicken 2002 Basic. I just need a simple offline check register. GNUCash was decent, but still not the best "feel". Anything else that might be a better fit, that could import my Quicken data? This is probably my most important issue. Wine would sort of work, but not stable enough for something this important.

2. The ability to display picture thumbnails on their folder icons (Windows Explorer does this, and it's convenient when trying to see the contents of subfolders at a glance). Not a huge issue, just more of a thing I'm accustomed to. Currently in Nemo I have to open each folder and look through them manually, which is very time consuming.

3. HikVision IVMS for my security cameras. I really don't care for this program, but haven't found any other way to view my DVR. I may just end up replacing my whole DVR if I have to. Though it's a lot harder than you would think to find a DVR/NVR that's viewable in Linux, even though many of the DVR's themselves have a Linux based OS on them.

4. iTunes. I kind of want to switch to a different platform, even though I've spent quite a bit on it over the years. Any recommendations for a (legit) source of music that has a good bitrate (256k or better) and a comparable selection? I also buy music on Vinyl, but space is a limiting factor there.

5. HDR, 3D Blu-Ray, and other high-def video sources. From what I've heard, things such as NetFlix don't work at full res on Linux. I don't use them at the moment, but might in the future. Disney+ is another one. Will I be out of luck with those?


This is pretty much all that's stopping me from switching over full-time. I use Mint on some of my other systems and love it. There are things on there that I miss when I use Windows, and I'd like to make it my daily driver.

[DJ55]

For #1, a number of years ago I went from Quicken to Moneydance while still on Windows. They're cross-platform and have a Linux download that works perfectly on LM 20.2 and looks the same as what I used on Windows. Check it out on moneydance.com, they support importing Quicken data. I can't help with your other questions.

[AndyMH]

3. HikVision IVMS for my security cameras.

Xeoma is the only half-decent linux application I found, their tech support is good. Google and you will find zoneminder, I thought it was rubbish (and a pig to install). In the end I gave up and went and bought a synology NAS. Their surveillance station software is free and licenced for two cameras (have to pay for more). Use it with a couple of cheap Chinese POE cameras and of course the NAS has other uses.

[mikeflan]

Just realized this was an older thread.

No, this topic is brand new. What you were looking at is Maxxarcade's join date.

[DJ55]

Just realized this was an older thread.

No, this topic is brand new. What you were looking at is Maxxarcade's join date.

Yep, was reading too quickly! Edited my post.

[ShadowSkill]

2. The ability to display picture thumbnails on their folder icons (Windows Explorer does this, and it's convenient when trying to see the contents of subfolders at a glance). Not a huge issue, just more of a thing I'm accustomed to. Currently in Nemo I have to open each folder and look through them manually, which is very time consuming.

I don't use it, but try: https://github.com/flozz/cover-thumbnailer

[dave0808]

1. Quicken 2002 Basic. I just need a simple offline check register. GNUCash was decent, but still not the best "feel". Anything else that might be a better fit, that could import my Quicken data? This is probably my most important issue. Wine would sort of work, but not stable enough for something this important.

I've used HomeBank in the past. Whether it has all the functionality that you need or are used to, I wouldn't know as I never used Quicken. However, it's in the standard repositories and stores all the data locally, so there's no leakage of your financial info to "the cloud".

[Foxy Stoat]

1. Quicken 2002 Basic. I just need a simple offline check register. GNUCash was decent, but still not the best "feel". Anything else that might be a better fit, that could import my Quicken data? This is probably my most important issue. Wine would sort of work, but not stable enough for something this important.

5. HDR, 3D Blu-Ray, and other high-def video sources. From what I've heard, things such as NetFlix don't work at full res on Linux. I don't use them at the moment, but might in the future. Disney+ is another one. Will I be out of luck with those?

1. HomeBank let's you import Quicken data. You can use the version from the Mint/Ubuntu repositories, however if you want the most recent version there's also conveniently an official Ubuntu PPA available (details on the Downloads page):

http://homebank.free.fr/en/

5. VLC should be fine for most things, however 3D Bluray I'm not sure but you could probably install Kodi and that should take care of it, though it also depends what the video card drivers can do; you might want to consider a purpose-built small Kodi box which has 3D Blu-Ray rip and disc playback built-in. I use the Vero 4K+ made by the OSMC team:

https://osmc.tv/

For the streaming platforms, watch them in a web browser equipped with the Widevine DRM module; the Vivaldi browser comes with one, or you could choose to download the optional module within Firefox. Apparently there's work being done by OSMC to make the Vero 4K+ become Google-certified, so in the future that Kodi box will also be able to work at full res for the streaming platforms, too (though right now you can watch Widevine-encoded content at limited res).

[JohnBdigital]

I can give my 2 cents on a two of your questions.

I used Quicken for years and for much time had dual boot for it.. However I found KMyMoney (which can be gotten with the Software Manager) and it imported all my Quicken files and I am very happy with it.

For seeing photos on the folder a program XnView does this very well and is compatible even with my cameras raw files.

[Maxxarcade]

Great info so far, thanks guys!

I'm hoping to do some more testing next week and will report my results. Feel free to keep the suggestions coming.

[Rooo]

"3. HikVision IVMS for my security cameras" - you mean a viewer that remotes into your DVR external box over Ethernet ??

if so,im interested also /follows thread




@foxy stoat - how come not foxy stoaty stoat