Gustible - under the rubric of [$_SELF]

I’ve finally had it with Ubuntu’s default email client. Since I installed Karmic 9.10, I’ve been determined not to have to run Microsoft Outlook in a virtual machine simply to get e-mail. The only Ubuntu mail client with built-in support is Evolution. And it is a singularly shit piece of software.
Let me state beforehand that I am sure that the Evolution developers work as hard or harder than any other group of developers, and that their efforts are sincere. But I strongly suggest that they take the time to use Evolution in the same way that a new Ubuntu convert would use it. And that is as a client for Microsoft Exchange. I believe that the single biggest barrier to wider adoption of Ubuntu is the lack of a stable and reliable Exchange client.
So – having ditched Evolution, what next ? I was fortunate enough to come across a piece of software called DavMail. It is effectively a proxy to an Exchange server, which lives on your local machine. You email client can connect to the DavMail service either via IMAP or POP. The effect of this is that your mail client thinks it is connected to a standards-supporting email server, while it is in fact connecting to an Exchange server via DavMail. This makes it possible for virtually any email client to be used with Exchange (one can even use it with Evolution – but using DavMail won’t stop Evolution from crashing, burning, farting and failing).
My client of choice is Thunderbird – neat, clean, super-fast, extensible. And perfectly suited to working with DavMail. DavMail will not only hook you up with your Exchange email, but provides an interface both to you Exchange calendar and your Exchange contacts (the latter via LDAP).
I have not been successful in setting up the Exchange address book integration yet, but the Calendar setup via DavMail works perfectly, although there are a few snags to be aware of. The following describes the steps I had to go through to get my calendar working with DavMail and Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 on Karmic 9.10.

1. You must install Lightning – which is a Thunderbird extension to add calendaring to your email client. Lightning can be found here. The version I installed is 0.9. The next steps may not be applicable to you if you have an earlier/later version.
2. You will find that once you have installed Lightning, you are not able to create a new calendar – the “New-Calendar” menu item will be disabled.
3. The apparent reason for this is a dependency on libstdc++5. Karmic is installed with libstdc++6, but Lightning insists on the previous version.
4. To install libstdc++5, you need to add a new source to your repositories:

   deb http://za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy main universe

   (Replacing za.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu with the mirror you prefer to use – this reference can be found here. Easiest is to add the line using the Synaptic Package Manager – System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager. Then choose Settings/Repositories from the menu, and, click the “Other Software” tab, and use the “Add” button bottom left to add the source).

5. Once you have added the line, reload the repositories, and search for libstdc++5. Install it using apt-get from the command line, or using Synaptic Package Manager.
6. Uninstall Lightning for Thunderbird, and restart Thunderbird. Re-install Lightning and restart Thunderbird again.
7. You will now be able to add Calendars.
8. To add an Exchange calendar, use the instructions given by DavMail.

So far I’ve had positive results from using the DavMail proxy. Thunderbird itself is a great deal more stable than Evolution, and being able to access my Exchange accounts makes it an obvious choice. Kudos and thanks to the DavMail team!