For [insert top secret project here], I grabbed the latest Ubuntu release and installed it side by side using Wubi. Wubi is useful in that it installs Ubuntu into a file acting as a hard disk rather than into a new partition. That means I can remove Ubuntu from my system through Programs and Features (Add or Remove Programs for you XP users) rather than messing around with partitions and the like (and end up messing up my boot manager =.=).
I have to admit I’m actually pretty hooked onto Ubuntu right now. Aside from games, the only thing that’s stopping me from fully switching over is that there is no good office package. I mean, yeah, OpenOffice does the job, but it’s no match for Microsoft Office 2010. If you’re still on 03 or 07, grab the beta for Office 2010 and give it a try! You’ll want to remove the Send-A-Smile program that comes with it though, you don’t need it. And don’t forget to buy your legit copy of Office 2010 before the end of October when the beta will stop working.
MonoDevelop is to Visual Studio as Mono is to the .NET Framework. It’s not bad, and the tools and features of the IDE are actually pretty good. The only unfortunate thing is that Mono on Ubuntu is stuck in version 2.4 due to the risk of breaking “core” programs that come with it. So I get my fair share of bugs and limitations. One of the more interesting ones I’ve come across is that for some reason enums are being treated as ints in some cases. The result is that you get an error message that makes absolutely no sense:
Method call is ambiguous: String.Split(char[], int) and String.Split(char[], int)
One of those methods is actually String.Split(char[], StringSplitOptions) which of course is an enum. I probably just overlooked something, but typically a cast fixed it. Except for this case, where I actually was trying to call it with an int. In this case I had to modify the code around it (obviously, casting it as int will do absolutely nothing).
In other news, I’ve learnt to use hilightwin.pl – no more scrolling through endless chat logs trying to find out why I was pinged at 3am in the morning.