Can I Survive Medical School Using Linux?

[B3.572A]

I have mainly used Linux (debian) for my undergraduate study in computer science. Now I am wondering, if I am luckily accepted somewhere, whether I need to install Windows for the sake of accessing certain resources in medical school that may only be available on a Windows/Mac platform. For example, certain internal resource host websites may not have been designed/tested for Linux. Also, the compatibility between Microsoft Office and LibreOffice as used in Linux is not that good. Another worry is the lack of sophisticated software to handle PDF files in Linux. On the bright side, things / collaborations are more and more moving towards cloud-based, so a google Chrome browser works the same on all platforms.

 

I do have copies of Windows that I can install. But I have not been happy with my experience with Windows in general; everything is just (much) slower in Windows. Furthermore, switching back and forth between Windows and Linux in a dual boot system, if I do install Windows, can be a pain.

 

Thanks!

[NiNoKuni]

2nd year here. I use a Mac, running OS X. 

 

I love the new Elementary OS off the ubuntu build. I have thought of seeing how much I can run off a ubuntu/linux machine, but I have not had the time.   

 

With med school, I feel like you really need to have Office at hand and a good PDF annotator (I just use preview, but notability is available from the app store, etc) and LibreOffice can't do what I need sometimes in Excel or Word for reports and such, especially the graphical formatting.  People are pretty much going to send you a word document to edit and I've found with Libreoffice sometimes the formatting can be really off when you send it back.    Google docs sometimes crashes with image inputs (especially if the file withe images are getting a bit too big).  

 

Basic requirements - you need VLC (for lectures), word compatible (docx), powerpoint compatibility (pptx).  A good program that can annotate PDFs, not only text but sometimes drawing on it helps too.  

 

If you feel like your linux build can handle that, by all means give it a shot.  However, I would be hampered without the use of MS Office, and even WINE can't run newer versions of office smoothly yet unfortunately on linux.  

 

Rmorelan may have more to offer? 

[jmatt1122]

^yup, I'd say that's about right. Google docs should be powerful enough for most things though. At Schulich everything runs on Google Docs (small group collaborations, event organization, etc). 

 

Also, if you're on OSX NiNoKuni... check out Skim. It's like Preview, except useable. 

[bearded frog]

Depends on the school. We have some online modules that categorily requires internet explorer (on Mac or pc)

[rmorelan]

Depends on the school. We have some online modules that categorily requires internet explorer (on Mac or pc)

 

ha, primitive technology. How drool.

 

For the most part linux would be fine I would say - I certainly used it extensively in medical school.

 

Very rarely there would be some powerpoint or word doc that annoying I had to use or edit. There of course options for that but in those cases I either duel booted - as annoying as that is - or used the computer lab which was readily available. Probably happened twice a year so it didn't exactly slow me down.

[NLengr]

Main problem will be concerns by others about how hip you are. Most med students/residents/docs are obsessed with Apple products.

 

Not that they do much beyond browsing, writing documents and making presentations, but the Apple products are pretty, therefore spending 2x the price on a laptop using your LOC must be a good idea.

 

/Ultra sarcasm activated

[rmorelan]

Main problem will be concerns by others about how hip you are. Most med students/residents/docs are obsessed with Apple products.

 

Not that they do much beyond browsing, writing documents and making presentations, but the Apple products are pretty, therefore spending 2x the price on a laptop using your LOC must be a good idea.

 

/Ultra sarcasm activated

Some truth to that

 

Of course to many docs thought the price is kind of unimportant - it is a business expense and you are making "good money"

 

Remove cost from the equation and say you don't play video games. Now which computer would you buy?

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[amichel]

Main problem will be concerns by others about how hip you are. Most med students/residents/docs are obsessed with Apple products.

 

Not that they do much beyond browsing, writing documents and making presentations, but the Apple products are pretty, therefore spending 2x the price on a laptop using your LOC must be a good idea.

 

/Ultra sarcasm activated

Hey, unnecessary. I wanted a light, thin laptop. When I was looking, the alternative was similarly prices Samsung and at the same price id much rather have a Mac (but I don't play games, so...) There are lots of reasons why some people prefer macs and most of them are not 'because it's pretty'.

I'm never sure why people insist on basically calling large groups of people stupid and shallow because of their choice of computer/phone (not necessarily you). People make different choices and that's okay.

[NiNoKuni]

Thanks - I've tried skim, but I had to uninstall when transitioning to OS X...had some bug issues (never be an early adopter, I'm still not on yosemite yet...terrified about my battery). 

 

It's really cool how there are open source equivalents to a lot of proprietary software - however I remember back to the days of ubuntu 12.04 and how the issue with linux and OSS is....the lack of updates or new update can really screw your software up when you need it the most haha

[ploughboy]

I've made it this far using a couple of flavours of BSD and Linux.  Probably depends on the specific requirements of the med school that you match to, but you'll probably be ok.   The one non-native app that I live and die by is Evernote, but Wine handles it pretty well on the desktop and the Android version is decent for mobile apps.  Every once in a while I'll have to tweak a presentation on a Windows/Mac box before I present it just to make sure everything shows up the way I want it to, but other than that it's been fairly painless.

 

For reasons I don't completely understand, probably 75% of my med school class and 95% of my residency and fellowship cohorts ran Macs.  Blah blah blah creative, blah blah sheep, blah blah blah hip.  You'll be the outsider in that regard, but I suspect you can probably live with that.  My 10-year-old laptop takes notes just as well as the latest shiny thing from the Mac store.

[amichel]

I've made it this far using a couple of flavours of BSD and Linux. Probably depends on the specific requirements of the med school that you match to, but you'll probably be ok. The one non-native app that I live and die by is Evernote, but Wine handles it pretty well on the desktop and the Android version is decent for mobile apps. Every once in a while I'll have to tweak a presentation on a Windows/Mac box before I present it just to make sure everything shows up the way I want it to, but other than that it's been fairly painless.

 

For reasons I don't completely understand, probably 75% of my med school class and 95% of my residency and fellowship cohorts ran Macs. Blah blah blah creative, blah blah sheep, blah blah blah hip. You'll be the outsider in that regard, but I suspect you can probably live with that. My 10-year-old laptop takes notes just as well as the latest shiny thing from the Mac store.

And probably weighs five times as much. Different people have different priorities. No need for the judgement.

[rmorelan]

I've made it this far using a couple of flavours of BSD and Linux.  Probably depends on the specific requirements of the med school that you match to, but you'll probably be ok.   The one non-native app that I live and die by is Evernote, but Wine handles it pretty well on the desktop and the Android version is decent for mobile apps.  Every once in a while I'll have to tweak a presentation on a Windows/Mac box before I present it just to make sure everything shows up the way I want it to, but other than that it's been fairly painless.

 

For reasons I don't completely understand, probably 75% of my med school class and 95% of my residency and fellowship cohorts ran Macs.  Blah blah blah creative, blah blah sheep, blah blah blah hip.  You'll be the outsider in that regard, but I suspect you can probably live with that.  My 10-year-old laptop takes notes just as well as the latest shiny thing from the Mac store.

 

ha, to be fair I actually use a Mac - specifically because it is running a variation of unix behind the scenes and I needed it for a project I was assigned to. Over priced without question. Still I will say they are at least well made - the laptop is running now with very heavy use for 4 years now. 

 

I still probably will revert to a pc laptop when this one is done - mostly because they dropped the 17 inch line and I need the screen real estate to program with optimally.

[ploughboy]

And probably weighs five times as much. Different people have different priorities. No need for the judgement.

 

It's pretty light, actually.  No need for the judgement. 

[makingfetchhappen]

Cool thread.

 

Have you guys found a notebook with macbook comparable polish and power? Every alternative seems to come with a couple extra pounds and gaming hardware.

I just got a Dell XPS 13 and I am pretty thrilled with it. The 13.5 inch screen only takes up the room of a typical 11 inch because there is almost no border.

 

I went with the i5 non-touch because I don't need an i7's processing power and I have a tablet for anytime I need a touch screen.

 

It weighs about 3 pounds and is very slim. It's made of similar materials to a mac.

 

Got it on sale at the Microsoft store for $999.

[amichel]

It's pretty light, actually. No need for the judgement.

My point was not to judge but to point out that people have different priorities. Note that I didn't say that your priorities made you stupid, a sheeple, or vain. Judging the weight of a computer is completely different from making character judgements about people based on their choice of laptop, obviously.

 

In general (not you specifically) I'll never understand the idea that macs/apple products are for stupid people because they are less complicated to maintain/deal with. Just because I like my technology to work simply and without fuss doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with more 'complicated' technology, only that I don't want to. To use a medical example, if two surgical techniques had similar outcomes (for that patient, who wasn't concerned with running marathons (video games)) but one took much longer and was harder to perform, would we make fun of surgeons for performing the simpler procedure? Of course not.

 

Which is why it's all just preference. If you need to do heavy duty stuff then get the platform that will allow you do to so. If you like fiddling with tech, get a Windows computer. If none of the above apply, pick whatever the heck you want.

 

I still won't entertain the cost argument, because I actually do value ergonomics and build quality, and similarily constructed windows laptops aren't very different in price than a MacBook Air. (Edit: as demonstrated above)

 

Also, as I've said, it's nice to have tech that plays nicely with your phone, etc. and I'm now back to iPhone as I tried an S5 for 6 months and despised it. So that kind of seals the deal for me.

 

Anyways, sorry to derail the thread!

[makingfetchhappen]

My point was not to judge but to point out that people have different priorities. Note that I didn't say that your priorities made you stupid, a sheeple, or vain. Judging the weight of a computer is completely different from making character judgements about people based on their choice of laptop, obviously.

 

In general (not you specifically) I'll never understand the idea that macs/apple products are for stupid people because they are less complicated to maintain/deal with. Just because I like my technology to work simply and without fuss doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with more 'complicated' technology, only that I don't want to. To use a medical example, if two surgical techniques had similar outcomes (for that patient, who wasn't concerned with running marathons (video games)) but one took much longer and was harder to perform, would we make fun of surgeons for performing the simpler procedure? Of course not.

 

Which is why it's all just preference. If you need to do heavy duty stuff then get the platform that will allow you do to so. If you like fiddling with tech, get a Windows computer. If none of the above apply, pick whatever the heck you want.

 

I still won't entertain the cost argument, because I actually do value ergonomics and build quality, and similarily constructed windows laptops aren't very different in price than a MacBook Air. (Edit: as demonstrated above)

 

Also, as I've said, it's nice to have tech that plays nicely with your phone, etc. and I'm now back to iPhone as I tried an S5 for 6 months and despised it. So that kind of seals the deal for me.

 

Anyways, sorry to derail the thread!

Regarding cost, I think that med school is a good time to figure out what works for you and get the systems in place that work best for you.

 

I have to spend more on technology than I would like to, but it gets to a point where you are stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.

 

So I agree, buy what works for you.

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[jmatt1122]

In late response to the Mac haters: 

 

Yeah, they cost more than equally spec'd PCs, and I get that. But what you're also buying into is a cleaner OS with fewer safety concerns (Hackintosh looks like a pain...), the aesthetics/build quality (very few PCs I've seen have come close), and customer support.

 

The last one is big for me. If my Macbook crashes tomorrow I know that I can book an appointment at the Apple Store and they'll take care of me. I've heard way too many horror stories of people trying to get their PC fixed under warranty by mailing it to the manufacturer. I've dealt with Apple on many occasions over the years for my Macs and iOS devices and I've never been disappointed.

 

I'll also say that over the summer I gave the Surface Pro 3 an honest try because of the promising reviews and the thought that a digitizer would be awesome for taking notes. I used it for close to a month before deciding that Windows got in my way more than it helped me, and I couldn't arrive at as good a workflow for downloading/annotating/saving/backing up my notes as I have now on my Mac.

[Jaybird]

In argument for a Windows system:

 

There's actually more holes in Apple OSs, people just historically have never bothered to develop exploits for them that were popularized because people didn't use them as much. The bazillion holes in old IE versions and the debacle that was Windows ME didn't help. These days, Windows Defender is more than adequate as long as you aren't clicking on 10,000'th visitor links and opening hot_girl.exe. 

 

If you're techy or willing to learn, you can get a whole lot more out of a Windows machine. Problems that get solved on a Macbook by taking it to the Apple Store can often be solved on a PC by a Safe Mode reboot or System Restore at home. Desktop-wise, a self-built PC far, far outstrips anything Apple can put out. 

 

If aesthetics are a concern, the Dell XPS 13 is quite nice. I've got one and other than the odd webcam placement, I have no complaints about it.

[ploughboy]

Ya, maybe "sheeple" was a little bit harsh.  I get grumpy when I've been on-service for too long.  I still reserve the right to roll my eyes when I walk by a Mac store, though.    It kind of bugs me that the company that did the 1984 ad has become what it's become.  And I'll leave it at that.

 

 

 

My point was not to judge but to point out that people have different priorities. Note that I didn't say that your priorities made you stupid, a sheeple, or vain. Judging the weight of a computer is completely different from making character judgements about people based on their choice of laptop, obviously.

In general (not you specifically) I'll never understand the idea that macs/apple products are for stupid people because they are less complicated to maintain/deal with. Just because I like my technology to work simply and without fuss doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with more 'complicated' technology, only that I don't want to. To use a medical example, if two surgical techniques had similar outcomes (for that patient, who wasn't concerned with running marathons (video games)) but one took much longer and was harder to perform, would we make fun of surgeons for performing the simpler procedure? Of course not.

Which is why it's all just preference. If you need to do heavy duty stuff then get the platform that will allow you do to so. If you like fiddling with tech, get a Windows computer. If none of the above apply, pick whatever the heck you want.

I still won't entertain the cost argument, because I actually do value ergonomics and build quality, and similarily constructed windows laptops aren't very different in price than a MacBook Air. (Edit: as demonstrated above)

Also, as I've said, it's nice to have tech that plays nicely with your phone, etc. and I'm now back to iPhone as I tried an S5 for 6 months and despised it. So that kind of seals the deal for me.

Anyways, sorry to derail the thread!

[tigars53]

I used a Linux based system on my first year, until my computer broke down (battery and charging problem) and I bought a mac.

Really feasible!

For word use, OpenOffice works great and is compatible with docx format, thought you might get some formatting problems when working in team or prepping powerpoints if you do some research or stuff like that.

I'm pretty sure there is an app that lets you annotate pdfs.

Also if you are in a PBL base learning program (having to draw flowcharts to synthesize problems), well cmap is Linux compatible.

Of course, firefox is on linux, so you can watch recorded classes.

All in all, no problem using linux for med school.