I’ve been busy installing and using the latest version of Ubuntu lately.
Desktop
With my recent move to use mint.com instead of Microsoft Money, and my almost complete satisfaction using Google Apps (email, calendar, contact list, most documents and spreadsheets) instead of Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel, I didn’t see a reason I needed to use Microsoft Windows anymore. Last time I tried to replace Windows with Ubuntu, I never did get my dual video working properly. Although I did have to fiddle for a while, I’m happy to report that I am happily typing away with my dual 1600×1200 display fully functional. When I plugged in to Amber’s Canon camera to get some pictures, it automagicly figured out what I needed. I also installed Google Picasa to make everything even easier. I am very impressed with the quality and refinement of this Linux distribution. Except for the video driver and the Picasa application, everything is 100% open source software. Down with the Evil Empire! :)
Server
I’ve had problems with a few of the hard drives in my file server, and for about hmmm, a year, I’ve had the computer opened up under my desk. I decided to go ahead and use my newest computer (only 4+ years old) as my new file server. I already had two 300GB drives I bought for the purpose. I successfully installed ubuntu server on the computer, using the two drives as a redundant disk array. I installed WordPress and all the supporting applications (MySQL, Apache, PHP) and started to move my blog over, but I haven’t had 100% success. I need to get my personal files moved over, plus all my pictures so everything is relatively safe on the mirrored drive. I’ve also ordered two more 750GB drives to replace my aging RAID 5 array that I’m worried about. For the uber geeky, I’d like to brag that I upgraded WordPress to the latest version using subversion (SVN) instead of the boring manual file replacement method. Future upgrades should be just a few commands away.
I use Open Office for my Microsoft Office replacement. It doesn’t have EVERY bell and whistle, but it is pretty good. For my email replacement I am using Thunderbird with the Lightening plug in for calendar ability. Again, not every bell and whistle, but I have really gotten used to it and like it a lot.