The Good Computer Guy Blog

Tags: Software

Time to try Ubuntu again, at the urging of my friend Shane. Ubuntu is one of the popular flavors of Linux out there right now, and aims to be a direct replacement for Windows with a graphical user interface and lots of software. Oh, and it's all free, open source.

I have an older laptop that definitely won't run Vista and barely runs XP - perfect hardware for Ubuntu (the other option being the trash of course.) Ubuntu isn't quite as polished as Windows, starting with the install, which didn't work for me. I had to download and use the "alternate" installation with no GUI. It did finally install though. Lots and lots of tweaks later I sort of had it doing a lot of what I wanted it to do. It comes with OpenOffice already installed and I even loaded up the latest Lotus Notes 8.5 beta which now is native Linux. Finally, I used VirtualBox to install a virtual instance of Windows XP for any Windows programs I have to run (more on that next.) I even am running VirtualBox in "seemless" mode to sort of overlay Windows next to Ubuntu (the Ubuntu bar is at the top of the screen, XP is at the bottom) but that doesn't work as seemlessly as it should and it uses up too many resources (I have only 1 GB of memory in this laptop.)

So what problems did I run into? First, it's very different from Windows, so there's some frustration there. It's not as easy to troubleshoot and configure and just is a little rough around the edges sometimes (my wireless network card was a huge pain to make work consistently.) I have three major dealbreakers, though. First, Lotus Notes 8.5 for Linux does not include the Designer or Administrator clients - that's a big problem. Second, LogMeIn, which I use for remote access and client troubleshooting, doesn't work well. There is a Linux client, but it's not nearly as full-featured as the Windows version and is missing a couple of key things I need. Third, I've been using Digsby for instant messaging lately and love it so much that I don't want to go back to Pidgin, which is what I would have to do on Ubuntu (it does come built in though.) OK, so that last one isn't a huge deal, but it's enough.

I'll probably stick with Ubuntu for a little while again (this isn't my first try at it) since I don't really use that laptop very much. I'll probably still carry around my trusty old, very light, Sony for client visits though. And I'm definitely not ready to recommend Ubuntu to my clients to replace Windows. Yet.

Comments

1 - That's been one of the biggest barriers keeping linux from going main-stream...it's just a pain to keep it running well, especially for the non-tech people. That's why Apple has such appeal to people...it always plays well with itself because it's so locked down.

Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy At 11:34:28 PM On 10/22/2008 | - Website - |

2 - I am running the Windows version of Lotus Notes 8 on Ubuntu 8.1 (Toshiba Satellite Laptop) with Wine (Wine is available in the Add/Remove section under Applications). I had to install a separate windows version of Firefox under Wine for Domino Designer to use as the default browser. The only glitch is when cutting and pasting into a rich text field in Notes. You have to click "paste special" "paste as text". Still Notes is working much better this way than it did with Vista.

You will also want to install the Microsoft core fonts with the Synaptic Package manager in Ubuntu.

Posted by BillG At 07:35:12 PM On 03/16/2009 | - Website - |

3 - Thanks, Bill. I was trying to avoid Wine as much as possible - isn't the point of going to Ubuntu to avoid Windows? Beyond that, though, Ubuntu finally lost its battle with my laptop - XP went back on it a couple days ago and honestly, it works so much better now. I'm sure I'll give Ubuntu a try again in the future, but it's just not good enough right now. Emoticon