With Ubuntu it seems that Linux is getting closer to be a viable replacement for Windows. I am several days into my experiment of running Ubuntu as my operating system on my laptop. So far it is going fairly well, but I have hit the following problems:
- I cannot get the Evolution connection to my companies Exchange server to work correctly. For mail this is not a problem, because I can use an IMAP connection, but I really need to be able to connect to the Exchange calendar.
- Ubuntu does not deal with monitors well. It defaulted to a fairly low resolution and I had to do some arcane command-line magic and answer many questions about my LCD screen capabilities that I did not have readily to hand. Not very friendly for a non-technical user. Also it appears that if I want to be able to run with a second monitor attached to my laptop I have to do some pretty complex config file hacking. It sure would be nice if Linux had something as convenient as Windows display properties configuration GUI.
- The usual VPN solution for my company only works on Windows. I will have to jump through some hoops to be able to work from home.
So I am glad I configured my laptop for dual boot. That way I can fire up Windows when I need it.
One nice feature I found is that I can hibernate both WIndows and Linux, so that when I reboot to switch I am switching into a saved state of the other operating system. However I did find some problem getting the wireless connection to work on Linux after waking up.