After I broke my windows OS (again) a few weeks ago I decided to try linux as my primary OS rather than using the standard university load. After some searching, I decided to:
- Use Ubuntu 8.10
- Run windows in VM using Sun’s VMWare
- Use Open office / zotero for word processing
Overall the install / setup worked great – Ubuntu on a Lenovo T61 worked well and my apps & network resources worked well. VPN setup was a breeze & the terminal server client did remote connectivity much better than remote desktop in Windows. I found that trying to do dissertation work in VM (I can’t just ditch Endnote/Word since I have some much done in that platform) was not quite as peppy as I needed though and the email app on Ubuntu worked pretty well with exchange but was tended to drag on big updates. So after a week or so I decided to dual-boot – run Ubuntu for regular work, reboot in Win for dissertation work & email archiving although I am considering finding a cloud solution for email access (perhaps Gmail) that would allow both network and disconnected client access.