Posted on 07/14/2007 7:06:13 PM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing
It's tough to challenge conventional wisdom, especially when that challenge raises doubts about the wildly popular version of Linux called Ubuntu. But doubts are exactly what I had after finishing my Ubuntu "safari", in which I worked through numerous glitches to get laptop and desktop installs up and running.
I'm now mystified as to why Ubuntu has become so widely accepted as the version of Linux for newbies to try. Anyone who doesn't want to become their own one-person support shop would be far better off spending $50 for a commercially supported release like Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, which installed for me without a hitch.
(Excerpt) Read more at informationweek.com ...
That is, easy without rediculous handholding a-la linspire or something like that.
Easy and powerful.
I can’t even pronounce (or spell) Umberto, I sure as heck wouldn’t install it on something I love.
JAUD (Just Another Unusable Distribution) is the distro I’m looking for. A little honesty in naming would be greatly appreciated.
I’ve personally enjoyed the challenge of learning a new OS when I installed Ubuntu 4 months ago. Yeah, it’s a real pain if you’re using an older wireless laptop with an older wireless card. Yeah, you have to jump through hoops to get it to recognize something like a Canon Bubblejet printer and I could go on. But I’ve got a great working version right now and I’m very happy with my laptop because 1) I did it and 2) it ain’t Windows.
So I installed it on my 2gz 1 gig ram desktop with a 64mb Nvidia video card then installed Compiz for the desktop effects. I never knew a desktop could be so cool. No wonder Vista ripped it off.
I put Kubuntu on my daughter’s desktop in her room and she loves it. With Kpete she can IM her friends on any messaging s/w like Yahoo or AIM at the same time. The media software for her music works great. Plus, she says Kubuntu is fun. She likes having a different desktop background on all four desktops.
I put it on her computer so I support it. I just wanted to get away from Windows and I think I’ve found what I was looking for. Plus, no virus software needed.
Having spent most of my adult life (life begins at 40) trying to get various versions of Unix and Linux to work on various platforms … I agree, go Suse or Fedoria.
Ever try to make Red Hat work?
I agree with the author.
Most folks don’t want a challenge; they just want to put a cd in and presto, majico … new OS. A working OS. Glad you had the patients to make it work.
But that's me. I started with the Edgy release and had to reinstall the OS when Feisty came out because my laptop didn't handle the upgrade well. But, Feisty was a whole lot easier to get the wireless up and running and I didn't have to do any other configuration. It pretty much was good right "out of the box".
What I'm saying is Ubuntu is getting there. The first Windows release I was able to say worked perfect (as far as fewest crashes) was XP and it was a long way from the old Win 3.1.
As a side note, if this thing continues with Ubuntu and Linux in general, and considering the bust that Vista turned out to be, and given that Linux releases like Ubuntu are free, I wouldn't be at all surprise to start seeing MS start to lose significant market share in the next 5 to 10 years. I'm thinking they'll be down to like 90% share in 5 years and then like 65% - 75% in 10 years.
Who knows?
I've had a blast trying out the different distros. If I get bored I just grab a LiveCD of another one and clean install, restore my pics/documents (saved onto a CD-R) and my music (saved to a DVD-R) and away I go.
Great insight, thanks.
If you really get bored try Vista … greatest POS yet from the Mickey Dees of OS’s.
But I still have a dual boot with XP on my laptop because there are some things for which there is no suitable (for me) substitute in the Ubuntu repositories. I have to have MS Streets & Trips and my Quickbooks. I still keep my “official” email and calendar in my Outlook but use Evolution and keep the messages on the server until the next time I start Outlook, which can be days at a time. But I was able to also write a complete business case for a client complete with financials in the Open Office 2.2 Calc (Excel equivalent), a 30 page document in Open Office Writer and associated presentation in Impress (Powerpoint equivalent). Of course I exported it all to MS Office for the client, but I just wanted to see how well Open Office on Linux worked in a business environment and it worked very well.
Ubuntu, Linux and the free software movement is coming along very nicely.
Not only NO but HELL NO *LOL* My husband’s a gamer (Battlefield Vietnam, Battlefield 2142, Star Wars Galaxies) and his Sony VAIO has WinXP. We’re not going anywhere near Vista any time soon. We were in Best Buy a while ago checking out Vista as we were building a system for our best friend, the guy told us 1) Vista had been beta tested for 5 years, 2) XP has more bugs than Vista, and 3) MS was doing away with tech support for XP at the end of the year. It took EVERYTHING we had not to laugh in the guy’s face.
After all, he was a salesman. His job is to BS. LOL!
XP has more bugs than Vista, spare me. XP is the best version of Microsoft ever produced and it is a POS. Having had the dubious privilege of installing and working with Vista … strong barf alert.
I can understand that every piece of software needs some “bake in” time. But a company as rich in programmers as Microsoft should be able to put out a product that is both workable and hugely bug free from the get go.
Here’s my Ubuntu experience:
I came to Linux from XP (on my desktop PC—not a laptop) completely ignorant of Linux. (I still am, but I can do everything on my computer that I need it to do.)
18 mos. ago, having used one of Ubunutu’s lived discs for a peek, I used my work iBook to burn the ISO [because it’s a pain to do in Windows], and installed it on my 2nd hard drive— no problem— and then added the KDE desktop. The new OS found my mouse and my printer, so I was up and running.
I now use Kubuntu only. I can open a console for a command or two, use adept to add/remove programs and to update my OS [I use Eft now], and use forums to solve every other problem I’ve had. Kubuntu was easy enough for this newbie to get up and running. Bye-bye Windows.
By the way, my older brother, who stopped at Win 98, gave it a try, and he’s Kubuntu only now.
One error in my post—I now use the Feisty release, not Eft. Smooth as silk.
I have Ubuntu, so I use Gaim, but it’s basically the same as Kopete. I can chat with my buddies in #rspwtalk on IRC and with my girlfriend on AOL at the same time...although usually when my girl logs on, I usually close the IRC chat.
I don’t do chat very often anymore (since my girlfriend and I got married 10 years ago) but there are many more advantages to Ubuntu besides the fact that it’s just plain cool.
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