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A Personal Information Management (PIM) suite is supposedly a single application that gives you your email, contacts, calendar and other important information. Bringing Mail, Contacts, Calendar and more into one application is something that many find useful.

On the Linux and Unix platforms there are two main competitors in this space - Evolution 2.24.2, for the GNOME desktop and KDE's Kontact 4.1.3. I'm going to take a look at both programs, side-by-side and compare them.

Regardless of which desktop environment these applications are designed for (Evolution for GNOME and Kontact for KDE), which application is, for lack of a better word, 'better'?

In this two part series, I'm going to look at each app and focus on the interface, email (particularly searching and organising), calendaring (with a focus on sharing), and integration (both within the suites themselves and with the desktop outside of them).

First, to GNOME's Evolution.

Evolution

Interface

If you've ever used Microsoft Outlook before, the Evolution interface is perhaps more than just reminiscent. Throughout, Evolution heavily emulates the way Outlook operates, meaning that Outlook users should quickly find their feet in the client.

It feels well laid out; a sidebar to the left shows you your mailbox list in Mail, calendar list in Calendar etc. and to the bottom of the sidebar you can switch between the components - to go from Mail to Contacts for example. The right hand area is dedicated to whatever you're actually doing - the message list, for example, in Mail.

Email

Evolution has some powerful email search functionality. You can use the Search Box in the toolbar to search for a message, however this only searches the Subject and Sender of the message. Fine for many tasks, but not always enough.

There is also an Advanced Search feature available on the menu, however, that offers full text searching of messages. I found it to be powerful and fairly fast, even in a mailbox with tens of thousands of individual messages.

Finding that one message you're looking for quickly is an important feature of a mail client. Evolution largely gets this right. It could be easier to do a full text search, but provided you know where to look, you won't lose something for long.

Calendaring and Sharing

The Calendar module works well, again, being extremely similar to that of its Microsoft Office counterpart.

I had problems using the Google Calendar CalDAV support with Evolution. I think the fact that the username contained an '@' character was causing issues, so I was a little disappointed not to have that functionality. Importing an .ics iCalendar file worked fine, however.

Sharing events by attaching them as an .ics file to an email is quickly and easily done through the context menu. This worked well and I was able to share an event with myself on another calendar system. When you share an invite in this way, however, you rather curiously can't edit the message body - meaning you have to send a blank message. Rather irritating.

Integration

The integration within the components of Evolution itself is good. You can, as I mentioned, send a Calendar event directly via email, but also you can do things like highlight a snippet of text in an email and make a Task directly from the context menu. Little touches like that make Evolution a well integrated suite of PIM functionality.

Evolution also has very strong links with the GNOME desktop and other GNOME applications. For example, you can access your calendar events directly from the GNOME date/time widget in the panel and it supports syncing with your Pidgin IM contacts.

You also get a nice mail notification on receiving a new message that fits right in with the rest of the GNOME interface, appearing as a bubble in the notification area of the panel.

To Be Continued...

Join me in Part 2 tomorrow for my thoughts on Kontact in these areas and which application, in my opinion, is the best PIM on this platform.

Part 2 now published

Oh and by the way - a very Happy New Year from all at FOSSwire.com (yes, we're a little late to it)!

After giving this distro a few days of use, one word comes to mind: "polished."

Pardus 2008 is a Linux distribution created by the Turkish National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology. At its core, it is a Turkish language OS, but the English version shows no lack of attention. It is a KDE-based distribution, and while I'm not a KDE fan myself, the ease-of-use of this interface blew me away. It is clear that a lot of attention went into making almost every aspect of the system professional and easy to use.

Installation

I typically don't judge an OS based on how easy it was to install - some users may never have to go through this step. Pardus does not offer a Live CD, to try out the system before you install, so I had no idea what to expect. However, the installation was easy enough to complete.

I was a little thrown off at the beginning - the installer started in Turkish - but English was just a key press away. You are then immediately greeted with a GPL license agreement (above) followed by the standard installation steps: timezone, user information, and partitioning. The partitioner was simple enough to use, offering to automatically partition your drive if wanted.

A page appears allowing you to create as many users on the system as you want, right from the start. It also allows you to set any of them as system administrators, but get this: the next page also asks for you to set a root password. I don't like enabling root access on a machine, but it does have its uses. However, if I've given someone system administrator privileges on the previous page, why should I have to define a root password as well?

After those steps are completed, Pardus begins to install the system to your HDD. One minor problem that irked me was the progress bar: it would take 10 minutes to reach 100%, but then it jumps back to 0% to configure installed packages. It doesn't affect anything, but it can be a little confusing/annoying. Then again, what installer in the world actually has a working progress bar?

Booting

Once installed, the system restarts and loads the Pardus-customized GRUB. You don't get a standard black-and-gray bootup menu, but rather a less scary Pardus-themed menu. It may be a small customization, but it is a big feature in terms of usability.

The system continues to boot with a Pardus splash screen and login screen. The login allows you to visually select what user to sign in with. Even though the root user is able to log in, it is at least hidden from the user here.

Right upon first login the user is greeted with a welcome wizard dubbed Kaptan. Kaptan helps you set up your mouse, display, look and feel preferences, and network and package settings. Each step gives a visual preview of changes, which are then applied as soon as Next is clicked.

The Network step seems shaky. It integrates with Pardus' own custom networking applet, but it is slightly confusing to configure at first, which brings me to another point. Every step of Kaptan that changes a system setting, from networks to packages, will ask you for your user password. You can set it to remember your password, but it doesn't take effect for different controls. By the end of the wizard, you'll have typed in your password three or four times. This is more of a PolicyKit (a sudo-like mechanism) bug than Pardus' fault, but it is still an annoyance nonetheless.

Settings

The desktop at first glance is a generic KDE desktop with the default Kaptan options. On the contrary, tweaking your desktop and system to your liking is not done with KControl, but with Pardus' own TASMA. It is similar to KControl in interface, but provides options in a less complicated manner. (Yes, I am one of those people who thinks KDE provides too many settings.) It's pretty simple to use, and includes everything from networking to desktop settings. There were also some pretty cool gems included, however, such as a GUI GRUB editor, and even a snapshot-style system restore panel. The latter definitely can be of use in those situations where you know you've messed up and just want to hit "Undo."

TASMA, like Kaptan, also heavily integrates with PolicyKit for providing access control in settings for defining who can change what. This is a plus, but is also the same annoyance seen in Kaptan: Every time you change a system setting, you have to type in your password. Again, I'm sure that as PolicyKit develops this won't be an issue, but for now, it's a bugger.

Package Management

You won't find apt, yum, or emerge here. Instead, you'll be greeted with PiSi, another custom Pardus application. PiSi is pretty straightforward to use, and already has a good amount of packages made for it. It works similar to apt or yum: Applications are fetched, along with dependencies, from a central repository. One thing I didn't find was the ability to add a third-party repository. But for being written in Python, PiSi operates quickly with installations.

Overall

Pardus 2008, to a green user, is your average desktop environment. Many of the gems of the system lie under the hood in utilities like TASMA and PiSi. It's an easy system to get started with, but has some odd quirks such as PolicyKit problems and the somewhat hidden root account. In the end, it's clear that a lot of effort went into making Pardus a usable desktop for anyone. If you haven't already, go check it out.

It's no coincidence that Ubuntu is now the most popular distribution of Linux for desktop PCs. It is one of the easiest distributions to set up and use for day-to-day tasks.

Despite this, getting onto the 'Linux ladder', making your first steps into the world of Linux, can be daunting, especially without support. There are lots of books specifically targeted towards beginners and Ubuntu, and Apress's Beginning Ubuntu Linux, by Keir Thomas and Jaime Sicam is one.

I was given a copy of the third edition of the book, which is updated to specifically cover the latest release of Ubuntu, Hardy Heron (8.04). Its 700 odd pages are designed to take you all the way from a beginner moving from a Windows environment to a pretty proficient Linux user.

I should reiterate that point - this is very much a book for switchers (or people who want to use both). Throughout the text, comparisons are made between Ubuntu features and their Windows counterparts to aid the transition. It is also possible to follow coming from a Mac environment, but there is much more focus on Windows.

The book also includes a double-sized DVD with the full Ubuntu 8.04 distribution on one side, plus many alternative versions (including Kubuntu, etc.) in .iso image format on the other.

Structurally, the book is divided into eight parts, starting with an introduction to the world of Linux, progressing through installing Ubuntu and getting started with it, and then moving on to in-depth coverage of the command line, multimedia, many of the included applications and finally maintenance and optimisation of your system and appendices.

Introduction and Background

The first chapter gives a nice gentle introduction; it tells you in basic terms what an operating system is and how Linux differs from Windows. Even if you barely know anything, you should be able to follow.

Right after that, there is a pretty detailed and comprehensive 'history and politics lesson', explaining how Linux came about, GNU (and all the politics there) and the crucial concept of different Linux distributions.

The second chapter is a lot of historical information to digest for a complete beginner and it is tempting to skip it, but if you do, you will miss the explanation of how Ubuntu fits into the wider Linux picture and the concept of different distributions, which is critical knowledge.

This section is in depth, however, and is interesting to read, even if you've been using Linux for some time.

Installation

Installing Ubuntu is probably the biggest hurdle to many people. As easy as you can make an operating system installation procedure, you still have to have pretty solid computer knowledge to perform one.

A whole part of the book is dedicated to installation. Key concepts such as disk partitioning are explained well, but there is at this point a (largely unavoidable) assumption that you are already proficient with the management of a Windows system.

One element of the Installation section that could be improved is making the different installation options clearer in the step-by-step installation process.

For example, if you're not aiming for a dual boot setup (Windows and Ubuntu co-existing), there are a lot of steps that are specific to dual booting, and you sort of have to filter the instructions relevant to you to get through the process.

Overall, though, the Installation part of the book is well detailed, such that with a little additional support, a proficient Windows user can end up with an installed copy of Ubuntu and get on to the rest of the book relatively easily.

Getting Started

The next task for the Linux newbie is getting to grips with the unfamiliar interface. Beginning Ubuntu Linux gives you a good rundown of the differences between Windows (or OS X) and the GNOME interface, including annotated screenshots and tables.

There is a slight concern in my mind that depending on the level of expertise of the reader, rushing in at this point to introducing concepts such as virtual desktops might be a bit too much to take in at once, but on the other hand, it would be difficult to fit that section elsewhere in the book.

Getting Up and Running

This part of the book focuses on getting things working post-install, such as getting connected to the internet, including wireless networking.The problem I have with this section is that it does jump quite noticeably in difficulty level.

Having had a gentle ride so far, it is as if you are suddenly thrown in at the deep end.

For example, using Ndiswrapper to configure Wi-Fi cards not natively supported by Ubuntu seems way beyond the level explored thus far.

While network access is quite fundamental to Ubuntu being useful, I can't help thinking this would have better been saved for later.

The Command Line

It is assumed in some parts of the book that you want to take Ubuntu further than just using it and delve somewhat into the more technical side. Of course, while it is possible to skip whole sections on this, important concepts might be missed out.

The introduction to the shell in this part is well written. Everything you need to understand to do basic tasks at the command line is adequately explained, without throwing too much detail in too early. Again, we're back to a gentle pace.

In itself, this section is actually an excellent beginner's guide to any Linux CLI and gives a good solid framework of knowledge to learn about the more techie side of Ubuntu.

Of course, whether this section is of utility or interest, or at the right difficulty level, depends a lot on the reader.

Applications and Multimedia

For most of the rest of the book, you drop back down a difficulty level to being more of a consumer, focusing on multimedia and many of the productivity applications that Ubuntu provides.

The multimedia section discusses the legal issues of proprietary codecs well and its step-by-step tutorials makes it easy for users to enjoy media content in many different formats.

The applications that are covered are the OpenOffice.org productivity suite and the Evolution email and groupware client.

Each of OOo's applications are covered in a good amount of detail, often comparing to similar features of Microsoft Office where appropriate. Again, these sections alone would make a formidable beginner's reference to OOo, especially for those migrating from or working in conjunction with MS Office.

The same in depth coverage is given to Evolution, with the viewpoint of using it as a replacement for Outlook. Again, there is reference to Outlook, equivalent features and focus on integrating with users of other email systems.

I can't really argue with these chapters. They provide an impressive go-to reference for OOo and Evolution and I can certainly see them being useful in easing the transition from a Windows/Office system.

Management, Optimisation and Appendices

Rather curiously, installing and removing software is left for this section, close to the end (but frequently referenced to elsewhere in the text). Again, the content is well written and all necessary concepts are explained perfectly well, but the placement of that section seems a little, well, bizarre.

Also detailed here are backups, connecting to remote machines as well as user and group management and more.

Finally, the appendices include a glossary of bash commands, how to get help as well as how to run the other versions of Ubuntu that ship on the other side of the DVD.

Overall

Beginning Ubuntu Linux is undoubtedly a good starting point for anyone with intermediate or greater Windows skills that wants to dip their toe in the Linux world.

In general, the book is detailed and comprehensive and makes a great introduction to desktop Linux and subsequently a sound reference tool.

It seems, however, to be a sort of hybrid book - as I just said, it starts with an introduction/getting started guide at the front and then suddenly switches into a reference book for much of the remainder.

A complete novice reading from cover to cover might well end up taking in too much in one go, getting confused and then giving up.

To get the most out of this title, I think you need to initially be very picky about what you read. Don't be tempted to venture into the technical aspects, such as the command line, too quickly. Plenty of digestion time is necessary, unless you already have Linux experience and just want a refresher.

The book is a strong starting point for those who are good at Windows and want to venture into the world of Linux and I would recommend it for those people.

Again, though, it's not necessarily to be read in a linear fashion; picking and choosing the right sections to read at the right times is important.

Full disclosure: Publisher Apress approached me asking me to review this book and sent me a free review copy. Other than that, there is no affiliation or other involvement between myself or FOSSwire and Apress.

[DVD image source]