Another month has passed and here is where i have got to. The bad news for Linux fans first:
I have finally given up on using Linux as my main operating system on my netbook. I had various reasons for doing this but my overall reason has been productivity. When I had a good long look at what I was getting done with the Linux system, the truth was not a lot. For basic tasks such as e-mail, web browsing and personal use of office applications, Linux was fine. I can see a lot of benefits even for using it over Windows. For more specialised tasks (with the exception of chip programming) though I was hitting too many issues
Some of which have been:
- The Linux applications take a lot of re-learning, and once I do I find they almost do what I want in most cases. Though I have been near converted to Thunderbird as a mail client. Especially the new beta version which has some features that outlook has to catch up with. Of course this runs on windows as well.
Examples of software that I just cant do without.
Windows Live writer.
MS Word
Google Sketchup - The inner geek in me keeps wanting to explore rather than use the Linux software. I find it satisfying solving issues that I have encountered though… Whilst fun, I am finding that this is turning into a giant time thief.
- When moving from open office to MS products I was encountering formatting errors in documents that needed to be manually edited out. This meant that for work related files, Open Office whilst having practically all the features that you might need, didn’t play well within a MS dominated environment.
For the home user, this would not be such a big issue, collaborating on files just is not an issue (though sending in a CV may be)
I have not given up though. What I have found that as a server, Linux is working very well for me. I was looking for a centralised server for the house for a while. I am running Ubuntu server now for a bit. A Sony Vaio laptop has been converted to server duties. From it I am able to store files securely onto a set of USB hard drives.
Ironically I am finding that my Windows machines were easier to set up to talk to the server than Linux. I am sure that if I was to convert the whole household to Linux this would not be the case. However the HTPC in my living room is using Windows 7 Media Center. I tried out a couple of Linux programs designed for this, and Windows Media Center does the job better. Upshot is it would never be practical to have just Linux machines. Samba, administered via webmin handles the file sharing admirably.
I also find it very useful to be able to run Apache natively on the Linux server. I need this for website development purposes. This was pretty easy to set up, though needed a little finessing.
The server is rock solid. I cant remember the last time it needed re-booting, certainly it has not fallen over once during routine use.
I had intended trying out Windows Home Server for this duty, Home server looks to be very easy to set up and manipulate. But it would not even install on the aging Vaio laptop. This is where the Linux server package just excels. Not only is it rock solid, but I am able to step outside of the processor arms race and get the functions that I require. It probably takes longer than home server to set up, but since this is a workhorse that I don’t have to manipulate often, I can forgive it a little complexity.
I have been musing over what to say to bring this project to a conclusion, I need to put my thoughts into order. The mood is that Linux has some huge plus points going for it. But just as windows is not perfect, Linux has it’s drawbacks as well.
