I'm beginning my phd thesis and really need good writing, layout and reference management programms. I would love to do it with Ubuntu but I'm not sure if it'll work.
I tried Lyx & Bibtex/Jabref but it seems to be better for sciences not for humanites (citations are a mess! I tried jurabib but it didn't work). I really, really don't want to use some version of Office.
Do you have suggestions?
I'm an avid fan of using TexMaker but if you didn't find Lyx and Bibtex to your liking it might not be to your taste. If you're willing to give Latex editors another try This answer on Latex editors will most likely be complete enough to help you out.
Otherwise if you're looking for less scientific orientated I'd suggest one of the following:
Libre Office Writer
Which is readily available in the Ubuntu Software Centre, you just search for LibreOffice and install it, I can't give you an opinion on the referencing as I've never had to use it, but I'd assume it works well enough.
Kingsoft Writer
Which has an interface that looks similar to Microsoft Office as you can see in the following screenshot:
I've personally found Kingsoft seems to be preferred by people used to working on Windows as their main operating system. Although I prefer using Latex personally, the referencing in Kingsoft is quite intuitive and easy to follow as you can see here in the reference tab:
You can download the .deb file to install it via software centre by clicking on the button below:
Please note: Installing Kingsoft will install a PPA so if you have any doubts on security please read: Are PPA's safe to add to my system and what are some "red flags" to watch out for? if you're unsure of what this implies.
