I installed the beta release of Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon to test application compatibility with 64 bit Linux. Specifically, I wanted to verify that the Oracle Calendar desktop client, Crossover Office, Internet Explorer 6, and Microsoft Office 2003 work without errors. I haven’t ever opted for the 64 bit version before and was worried about not being able to run applications that I commonly use at work. I feared for nothing! Everything went very smoothly.

In fact, installation and configuration was a breeze. Nvidia driver and proprietary codec installation was incredibly easy even though I decided to use a 32 bit browser so that I can easily use plugins such as Sun Java, Adobe Acrobat, Real Player, and Flash. In a former job I installed hundreds of systems with Windows version ranging from 95 to XP. Installing and configuring Linux AND all the software I use is orders of magnitude faster and easier. I hadn’t ever just copied over configuration directories before, but by copying the directories for Thunderbird, Firefox, ssh, gnupg, and Pidgin, I probably saved myself at least an hour. I had a nearly exact replica of my old system in about 2 hours. In fact, for applications like Oracle Calendar, I didn’t even install them in the new 64 bit system. I just copied the entire directory from the old system to the new and it ran.

I can’t say that I notice any speed improvement from migrating to the 64 bit environment, but I probably wouldn’t notice. I mean, fast is fast enough. I was able to play Call of Duty and Battlefield 2 under Cedega so I can’t complain. Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon will be officially released October 18th.

Tags: free, linux, open-source, ubuntu

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 6:12 am and is filed under Free Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.