A little about me
My name is Rick Seiden. I live in Western New York. I'm 39 years old. I work for a huge company as a computer consultant. I'm a geek. Tried and true. I love all the classic geek things--well almost all.
About my computer
You can't talk about installing Linux on a computer without knowing what is inside the computer, so here's what I'm working with:
IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Model 1951-BS7.
It's my company supplied laptop, and my primary workstation. I do everything on here, including writing this blog (oooo...exciting!).
About my distro
Linux, of course, comes in many different flavors, called Distributions. Choosing one can be a very difficult task, and depends on many, many factors. If I had a desktop at home I was doing this for, I would have to go with Ubuntu or Kubuntu (I like KDE better than Gnome for some reason...). I like it because it's simple to install, and offers a fairly simple desktop to work with. This is, however, my work machine I'm going to be doing this to. That means I need 100% compatibility with all my work stuff.
Luckily, the company I work for has a standard install of Linux. I can choose between running Windows XP Pro, or our branded version of Red Hat Linux Enterprise Desktop 4. It's Red Hat with a few changes to brand it, and a bunch of programs pre-installed---our VPN client, our email client, stuff like that.
Since I hope to be using this full time, I don't really have a choice. I need to be able to do my work on it, which means I need to be using my work supplied version of Linux.
That means, for a lot of stuff, my computer will just work. I don't have to worry about getting wireless networking or sound working. They just work. I don't have to worry about getting the right resolution on my video card. It just works. That's a plus.
Some things, however, don't work. For instance, the middle button on the track point doesn't scroll like it does in Windows. I'll have to fix that. None of my function keys (the Fn key on the keyboard) work. I'll have to work on that. And the list goes on.
Make it work or live with it
I know that I won't be able to get everything to work. I'll have to live with some things not working. That's the cost of going to Linux in my opinion. Hopefully it won't be enough to stop me from making the switch, but who knows, maybe it will.
Things I know I'll face, and how severe they'll be:
- The track point must scroll: Pretty severe, as I'm used to it, and use it all the time. I might be able to live without it.
- Email and RSS: I need to port these over from Windows. It won't be too difficult, as I'm already using Thunderbird there, and I'm sure I can just export and import.
- Sharing Data: Until I finish the leap for good, I need to be able to share data between the OSs. This means a FAT32 partition that stores my data. I recently ordered a new hard drive, and that's where I'm going to need to do all the sharing. This should be easy, but is critical.
- Synchronizing my Calendar: This one is a big one. We use Lotus Notes for email. My work life is on Lotus Notes. I also, however, like to have my calendar synced to my phone. I need to find a way to make that happen. If I can't do this, I can't switch to Linux, it's that simple. And, this could be tough, as I have a Windows Mobile phone. This is the one that scares me.
- Upgrading Firefox: Firefox comes in version 2 from my company. I want to upgrade to 3. I've given it some effort, but failed. I just need to work a little harder on this one, and I'm sure I'll get it going just fine.
- Utilities: I use a bunch of utilities on Windows that I will need to find Linux versions for, or alternatives to. I've already installed Pidgin for Linux, so I've made a start. I'm pretty big on using stuff that's Open, so probably most of my stuff will have a native Linux version, anyway.
- I've added a post for Printing, already. This is done, pretty much, but will probably be on going, as my clients may have printers I can't get drivers to.
- I've remembered I need to get my scanner working. It's a ScanJet 9something. This is not a deal breaker, as I only scan sporadically, and can do that from a Windows partition.
My Plans
What I plan for this blog is probably a little untraditional. Most blogs will have one entry per day or session or whatever. I'm going to have one entry per issue, and update that entry as I make progress. So, for instance, I'm going to have a post on upgrading Firefox, and another on installing Thuderbird, and so on. I'm hoping this will work.
The End
I had a friend that like to say that to end a conversation. It's appropriate here, I think. This is the end of this post. I'm going to publish it now. Feel free to comment.
Posts
2 comments:
I am also a computer consultant and I too have a Windows Mobile phone. However, I sync via ActiveSync over the internet with an Exchange Server. I don't know if there's a comparable Notes procedure. I have successfully browsed the file structure on my phone via Linux, but there isn't native sync functionality as far as I know. I do know, however, that you can setup a VirtualBox VM with a bare-bones install of XP and port USB devices to it. If worse comes to worse you could do that and only boot it up when you need to sync.
I realize that defeats the purpose of moving completely to Linux, but if it's a mission-critical need (so to speak), then it might be the only way.
As for me, I haven't booted up my Windows VM in a couple weeks. Every tool I need for my job, whether it's RDP, VNC, ping, traceroute, even IE (via Wine) is either built into the OS or easily added via a repository.
I am regularly impressed by the quality of the FOSS applications available and the support available to the community as a whole.
Good luck in your endeavor.
-Lexrst
Thanks for the luck wish. I use active sync, and I'm pretty sure there are alternatives. I use EasySync Pro to sync to Lotus Notes. I have an "in" with the developers, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get some inside information on a Linux version of it.
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