macmigration
this is my first question (in askubuntu).
I'm about to try Ubuntu for the first time (First time to take it seriously actually).
I love my Mac but don't want to be closed minded, nor closed source 😉
So, if I go ahead with this change, where would you say I would feel the difference?
Pitfalls of Ubuntu compared to Mac? (honestly)
What will I miss the most?
Thanks in advance!!
Related: Difference between mac os and linux
Ubuntu <= 11.04
This is a perfect how to, very easy ... you can follow, it has
how-to-migrate-from-evolution-to-thunderbird-in-ubuntu
--------------------------- UPDATED --------------------------------------------------
Ubuntu >= 11.10
EVOLUTION
Exporting calendar data
To export a complete calendar, right-click on the calendar in the list of calendars and click Save as. Available formats are iCalendar format (ICS, recommended), comma separated values (CSV), and RDF format.
If you want to export only one appointment, right-click on the appointment and click Save as iCalendar....
THUNDERBIRD
extension
Lightning 1.0b7 by Mozilla
or you can install this package from Ubuntu repository:
sudo apt-get install xul-ext-lightning version the same (1.0~b7)
Manage your daily schedule directly within Thunderbird. Allows managing calendars locally or subscribing to network calendars. Lightning 1.0b7 supports Thunderbird 7.
EVOLUTION
exporting contacts data
Contacts files are stored in a database, but can be saved as a vCard file. To export a complete address book, click File ▸ Save Address Book As vCard. If you want to export only one contact, click File ▸ Save as vCard or right-click on the contact and click Save as vCard.
THUNDERBIRD
extension
contact data (vCard or .vcf)
Some address book programs use a vCard format, which cannot be imported directly by Thunderbird. You can import both vCard and vcf using the third-party Thunderbird extension MoreFunctionsForAddressBook.
EVOLUTION
Exporting mail data
To save an email to a file in mbox format, select an email and click File ▸ Save as mbox... or right-click on the message and click Save as mbox....
The same steps apply to save a complete mail folder, but you have to mark all messages in it first.
You can select all messages in a folder by clicking Edit ▸ Select All or pressing Ctrl+A.
THUNDERBIRD
extension
Adds some tools to import and export folders and messages
mail data .mbox
EVOLUTION
exporting tasks
in Evolution, click on the Task tab. Right click on the Personal (or whatever name you give to your task list) and select Save to disk. Navigate to the location and save the task list in .ics format.
THUNDERBIRD
Importing Task
P.D : All these are tested by my and work 100%
Seeing the hardware you have (CPU: 1.6 GHz, RAM: 1 GB) I recommend to download Xubuntu or Lubuntu before testing Ubuntu. This is not related to which one is better but I am trying to make sure that the Ubuntu version works OK on your hardware. I also would recommend, like Devesh said, to wait until 14.04 is out (Which will happen next week on April 17, so the wait won't be long).
Here's what each of them would look like once you have them installed:
Very lightweight Desktop environment (Lightweight meaning that it uses small amounts of RAM, CPU and HDD space). The menu, where all the apps can be found, is located in the same place as you have them in Windows XP.
Another lightweight Desktop environment. The menu can be found in the top left corner so instead of going down to the bottom right corner, you would go up.
This is the main Ubuntu distribution. It uses a bit more resources than the other two, but I have tried Ubuntu on computers with 512 MB of RAM and it has ran correctly. You would also need a good video card. Still, you would need to personally test this. From Booting time, to how fast apps opened, to how fast you can work and be productive with each Desktop environment.
You need to know that, independent of what Ubuntu flavor you decide to select, you can install from any of them, the other desktops to try out. What I mean with this is that, if you download Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Gnome Ubuntu or any Ubuntu official version, you can install from the Software Center (The application that manages installation of other apps and updates) any other Desktop environment. So you could have installed Xubuntu but you also wanted to try out Lubuntu, so you would go to the Software Center and download the lubuntu-desktop package. This would make your system have both, Xubuntu and Lubuntu. you can choose which one you want to use from the Login Screen.
I would also invite you to read about Start Ubuntu which guides new Ubuntu users into this open source world.
So with everything here said and taking your hardware into consideration my recommendations would be:
lubuntu-desktop for Lubuntu, xubuntu-desktop for Xubuntu...) So with all of this said, I applaud you and say: Welcome to Ubuntu my friend.
Best Answer
I've been an *nix user for years and have used Ubuntu for simplicities sake on all my notebooks from the last 3 years or so (everything.. just works!). My current job provided me with a shiny new MacbookPro when I started just over a year ago, great hardware (almost no complaints), but OSX lasted about a month on it.
To get to the point (sorry about the lenghty diatribe), I've found very FEW issues with the switch, however:
On the good side:
The pitfalls would be the lack of some software like Photoshop (and the Adobe Suite), Microsoft Office (though 2008 was terrible in my experience compared to the Windows version) and many games, but coming from Mac, you probably wouldn't many anyway.
Finally, I'd say, give it a go, at least in a dual boot situation, what have you got to lose?