Why Ubuntu

[ajaygautam]

Hello

I have been around *nixes for a while now, and have tried various different distros. Lately, I have been hearing everyone raving about ubuntu, but no one has been able to tell me why ubuntu is such a great OS.

So here are a few of my questions:

People say, it "Just Works". What exactly does that mean?
What problems does ubuntu solve that other distros don't?
What makes ubuntu great?
How is ubuntu different from other distros?
How does it compare with FC4?

Thanks

Ajay

[gosh]

I just recently started with Linux.
First tried Agnula, but that didn't appeal to me.
Then someone gave me a book with Suse, but I didn't liked that either. Later I learned that it was that I prefer Gnome over KDE.
Recently I found free Ubuntu CD's at my local library and give that a try.

With a few tweaks for my Wifi I had it up and running in no time, even on my 7 year old notebook that I otherwise might have dumped.

I find this forum and the wiki's very helpfull. This will probably also hold for the other distro's, but here we are:D

[rickyjones]

I've got a full background of Windows and Gentoo (for a few months), and recently I ran into Ubuntu. New notebook, decided to give it a try. I like it. It "Just Works" by chance on my notebook - I haven't had a single major issue that wasn't overcome by the immense help on these forums. :)

-Richard

[carlosqueso]

Just Works = Most hardware works as soon as it's installed. Of course, you'll have to configure obscure stuff in any distro.

"What makes Ubuntu great?" In my opinion, a few things. Ubuntu is dedicated to being free, and so you aren't going to have to deal with subscriptions or anything else. Second, I think (and this is a personal choice) that the Debian package management system is the greatest software installing system ever. Finally, this forum community and the generally helpful attitiude of everyone on the forums will get you further than in any other distribution that I've tried.

"How is Ubuntu different from other distros?" Well, Ubuntu is basically Debian, with more updated packages and a very friendly community. It also uses one program for each task, although you're welcome to install more if you'd like. Oh yeah...we have a brown default color scheme too....yay brown!

I'm not really sure about your other two questions. All distros are basicly created to solve the same problems, running your computer. As for FC4, the closest thing I used was BLAG, a bizzare fork of FC3, so I really can't comment on that.

All of that said...throw in a live CD and check Ubuntu out. Also, hang out here to experience the community :-)

[waldorf]

What makes Ubuntu great?

1. The people: very active, supportive, and helpful community/staff/developers.
2. Debian based.
3. I think it has some additional resources that will help the linux desktop make some great strides forward. Specifically, it has a big chunk of money and guidance from Mark Shuttleworth.

That being said I don't think its perfect (just spend 10 minutes browsing this forum to see the problems) and I don't think any one distro/OS works for everybody.

[waldorf]

What makes Ubuntu great?

1. The people: very active, supportive, and helpful community/staff/developers.
2. Debian based.
3. I think it has some additional resources that will help the linux desktop make some great strides forward. Specifically, it has a big chunk of money and guidance from Mark Shuttleworth.

That being said I don't think its perfect (just spend 10 minutes browsing this forum to see the problems) and I don't think any one distro/OS works for everybody.

[hillbilly]

People say, it "Just Works". What exactly does that mean?"
everything worked out of the box :D

What problems does ubuntu solve that other distros don't?
Hmm..i guess one big thing that i found was lack of clutter and not enabling root account was a good innovation. Installation is a breeze.

The devlopment cycle of ubuntu looks very proffessional. The user forums over here is very active and hell.... right now Iam on a run to earn them "beans" ;).
In other words, the whole atmosphere feels very creative and vibrant and very purpose driven.

[optotron]

I wonder how compatible ubuntu is with with Debian, lfor example, does usually .deb files intendet do be ran under Debian work under Ubuntu

thats what i wonder!

[ChristianR]

My recommendation:
Get a hold of a ubuntu Live CD, boot it and find out yourself!!

(Being a Linux user for more than 5 years now, ubuntu make me feel like coming home!) ;)

[BSDFreak]

Hello

I have been around *nixes for a while now, and have tried various different distros. Lately, I have been hearing everyone raving about ubuntu, but no one has been able to tell me why ubuntu is such a great OS.

So here are a few of my questions:

People say, it "Just Works". What exactly does that mean?
What problems does ubuntu solve that other distros don't?
What makes ubuntu great?
How is ubuntu different from other distros?
How does it compare with FC4?

Thanks

Ajay

It's not really my favourite *nix system nor is it my favourite Linux distro. What it does well is installing and working out of the box, if i'm lazy i'll just do that and set up firestarter and i'm done.

[aysiu]

Ubuntu doesn't "just work." I don't know what that means. In fact, Ubuntu has no proprietary codecs, and that's a cause for major complaint among new users. People who want a "just works" distro should try Mepis, PCLinuxOS, or Linspire.

Ubuntu's special because it's totally free (not even a subscription version), including the cost of shipping for CDs, and the support community is excellent.

Ubuntu may not do something "automatically," but if I ask how to do it, I'm pretty confident someone on these forums will have a solution for me. I can't say the same for Mepis or other distributions.

[BSDFreak]

Ubuntu doesn't "just work." I don't know what that means. In fact, Ubuntu has no proprietary codecs, and that's a cause for major complaint among new users. People who want a "just works" distro should try Mepis, PCLinuxOS, or Linspire.

You are assuming that everyone need proprietary codecs or 3d graphics, plenty of people don't, for them it "just works".

[imagine]

What makes ubuntu great?
How is ubuntu different from other distros?
Before I used various other distributions like SUSE, (back then) Mandrake and Red Hat. But there was always something which bothered me, though I didn't really know what. Until I downloaded the beta version of Ubuntu 4.10 because of some silly review, and then I found it: apt-get. No more freaking make && make install, no dependency hell, no searching for packages around the web, _it just works_. Granted there are also other good package managers like portage or pacman, but Gentoo or Arch aren't exactly known for "working out of the box". And I also don't like KDE, so all those KDE-based distributions are out of the game too.

[aysiu]

You are assuming that everyone need proprietary codecs or 3d graphics, plenty of people don't, for them it "just works". I didn't say everyone needed them. I said it was a major complaint, and a poll a while ago showed that few Ubuntu users on these forums operate an entirely free OS (no proprietary software).

[ajaygautam]

Ok.. here is what I have gathered from the responses:

Ubuntu has:
1. Excellent package managment (apt based).
2. Excellent auto hardware detection.
3. Freedom
4. Excellent community support
5. Great live CD.

Did I miss anything?

I installed FC4 on a crappy old compaq laptop today. It seems that FC4 has 2 things lacking from the above list: package management, which is cured by setting up yum. Live CD.

Talking of live CD, how does Ubuntu live CD compare against Knoppix / Gnoppix. Knoppix has the best hardware detection I have seen till date. Sometimes, I even boot with knoppix to find which module I should use :) But knoppix does lack the driver to enable USB CD Writing capability...

... Granted there are also other good package managers like portage or pacman, but Gentoo or Arch aren't exactly known for "working out of the box"....
Well, Gentoo isn't exactly supposed to work out of the box, and with good reason. Portage is *the best* package manager I have ever encountered. Once you go through the pain of installing Gentoo, you are done for life :) I would add that Gentoo is gread towards the more technically inclined crowd.


I didn't say everyone needed them. I said it was a major complaint, and a poll a while ago showed that few Ubuntu users on these forums operate an entirely free OS (no proprietary software).
Does this mean that I would have to install audio and video software additionally? MP3?

Thanks

Ajay

[poofyhairguy]

Does this mean that I would have to install audio and video software additionally? MP3?

Thanks

Ajay


Yeah, but with Automatix it is easy.

[BSDFreak]

I didn't say everyone needed them. I said it was a major complaint, and a poll a while ago showed that few Ubuntu users on these forums operate an entirely free OS (no proprietary software).

You said "Ubuntu doesn't "just work." I don't know what that means. In fact, Ubuntu has no proprietary codecs, and that's a cause for major complaint among new users. People who want a "just works" distro should try Mepis, PCLinuxOS, or Linspire." and i don't think that is true, Ubuntu does "just work" for a lot of people.

You stated it as if was a fact, which it is not. It's nitpicking i know but otoh so is claiming that it doesn't "just work".

If by "just work" you mean an os that comes with everything every user will need then no OS will "just work", but to go from install to an up and running system without any hangups is generally what's considered "just works".

[aysiu]

You said "Ubuntu doesn't "just work." I don't know what that means. In fact, Ubuntu has no proprietary codecs, and that's a cause for major complaint among new users. People who want a "just works" distro should try Mepis, PCLinuxOS, or Linspire." and i don't think that is true, Ubuntu does "just work" for a lot of people. "A lot of people" meaning one in 97 users (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=95718)? Most users of even Ubuntu need proprietary codecs. No distro will do everything you want out of the box, but some come closer than others. You said "everyone" and "everything." I didn't say those things.

[prizrak]

I agree with someone before me who said that Ubuntu made them feel at home it's great.
ajaygautam,
You might want to install xubuntu-desktop and use XFCE as opposed to GNOME/KDE on older hardware. It's just as full featured but alot more lightweight.

[mstlyevil]

"A lot of people" meaning one in 97 users (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=95718)? Most users of even Ubuntu need proprietary codecs. No distro will do everything you want out of the box, but some come closer than others. You said "everyone" and "everything." I didn't say those things.

I think programs like Automatix are making codecs less of a issue. All you do is copy and paste 2 commands on the CLI and boom you can install almost everything an average user could want from the GUI. I tried three distos. Ubuntu, Suse 10 and Linspire (I got a free copy during a promotion they had during the summer.) Only Linspire came with the codecs but to install anything by their package manager (CNR), I had to pay extra. (There was no way I was going to pay extra just to install opensource software.) Also Linspire has no root account. The user/owner account is at root access by default so security sucks. Suse 10 is easier to set up and install codecs if you remove Automatix from the equation. Automatix makes getting these things painless for newbies.

[BSDFreak]

"A lot of people" meaning one in 97 users (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=95718)? Most users of even Ubuntu need proprietary codecs. No distro will do everything you want out of the box, but some come closer than others. You said "everyone" and "everything." I didn't say those things.

You made a factual statement that "Ubuntu doesn't just work".

You can't really say that it doesn't "just work" because the proprietary codecs aren't included from the get go, every user will have his preferences and need to download something.

I clearly defined what i consider "just work" to mean but you left out that part when you quoted me. If we are going to nitpick about every codec/program that people want then no system ever "just works" for anyone.

It "just works" as in i'll install it and it will boot and work fine, then i can start customizing it to my liking (i'd do that with ANY OS i'll ever install).

[ajaygautam]

Yeah, but with Automatix it is easy.
What is Automatix?

What are the other Ubuntu specific applications?

Thanks

Ajay
PS: replies are great. Please lets just drop the proprietry codes issue.

[aysiu]

You made a factual statement that "Ubuntu doesn't just work".

You can't really say that it doesn't "just work" because the proprietary codecs aren't included from the get go, every user will have his preferences and need to download something.

I clearly defined what i consider "just work" to mean but you left out that part when you quoted me. It's simply a matter of semantics. To you, there is no such thing as "just works" because you define the phrase as "comes out-of-the-box the perfect experience for every user without further configuration."

I consider it to mean "comes with a lot of popular proprietary codecs and automounting of other partitions." And I define it that way because I see a lot of people on these boards daily who complain that they can't get out-of-the-box what they consider basic functionality in Ubuntu: proprietary codecs and automounting of partitions.

People don't understand necessarily free and nonfree at first (I didn't nine months ago); they just don't understand why they can't pop Ubuntu in and see a website that uses Flash or play their MP3s. They don't understand why their Windows partition would be in /media/hda1, but when they click on it, it says they don't have permission to access it.

When I say "just works," I take it to mean I can hand the person the CD, have them pop it in, and use it and have fun using it and be impressed with its functionality--and I believe Linspire, Mepis, and PCLinuxOS do this. I believe Ubuntu doesn't.

I still love Ubuntu, though, for the reasons I stated earlier in the thread. Ubuntu's clean and free, and it offers good support. I don't think it makes sense to say it "just works."

[Stormy Eyes]

Why Ubuntu? 'Cos I don't have time to screw around with Gentoo. :)

[ajaygautam]

Why Ubuntu? 'Cos I don't have time to screw around with Gentoo. :)
But, if you had the time, would you ?

Ajay

[mips]

I find the knoppix live cd better than the ubuntu one. But then knoppix specialises in live cds whereas i think with ubuntu it is only supposed to give you a taste of what you can expect but in the same breath it is not bad at all.

Automatix is a automated GUI install script that installs various packages & codecs to make your initial install 'complete' if I can use that word. Look at the link below for more details:
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=77

The greatest thing about ubuntu is probably the level of community support available. It has a snowball effect, the more people that use it the more people get involved and provide solutions to common problems. People see this and then start using it and make the snowball bigger. The other thing is the community is pretty laid back in the way they treat newcomers, unlike some distros out there where you **** yourself just to ask a question that might be simple to others but not to you.

Technically speaking I dont think ubuntu is the best distro out there either, there are a few that are better but as with everything else thats just my opinion.

For the future I predict Kubuntu will lead Ubuntu...

[ajaygautam]

... Technically speaking I dont think ubuntu is the best distro out there either, there are a few that are better but as with everything else thats just my opinion.....

Which ones and why do you think so ?

PS: The reason why I ask so many questions is because I need a 'sensible' distro to recommend to every Tom, **** and Harry that asks me for one. Currently, I recommend either Fedora, or Knoppix.

Apart from that, in the near future, I would be doing volunteer work, which would require me to look at many donated (i.e. old) computers, inspect them and try to get as many working as possible. These computers will then be shipped to different countries (donated). I am planning to install Linux on these, and looking for an easy to use distro.

Thanks for all replies. Keep 'em coming.

Ajay

[aysiu]

Which ones and why do you think so ?

PS: The reason why I ask so many questions is because I need a 'sensible' distro to recommend to every Tom, **** and Harry that asks me for one. Currently, I recommend either Fedora, or Knoppix. See post #23.

[mstlyevil]

Which ones and why do you think so ?

PS: The reason why I ask so many questions is because I need a 'sensible' distro to recommend to every Tom, **** and Harry that asks me for one. Currently, I recommend either Fedora, or Knoppix.

Apart from that, in the near future, I would be doing volunteer work, which would require me to look at many donated (i.e. old) computers, inspect them and try to get as many working as possible. These computers will then be shipped to different countries (donated). I am planning to install Linux on these, and looking for an easy to use distro.

Thanks for all replies. Keep 'em coming.

Ajay


You could use and recommend Simply Mephis. It comes with all the multimedia codecs out of the box so it would be the most complete upon install.

[Mr_Grieves]

I did not have one problem during the installation of Ubuntu. Everything just worked. Sure I've run into some minor problems when hacking around, but generally there is no problems :) I like that.

[BSDFreak]

It's simply a matter of semantics. To you, there is no such thing as "just works" because you define the phrase as "comes out-of-the-box the perfect experience for every user without further configuration."

No, not at all, YOUR definition is that it has to come close to that, my definition, which you can read in two separate posts (three now) is that you can go from install to first boot without any major hangups, that is "just works" to me. After that you'll have to customize the system more or less anyway but i don't consider that part of the "just works" process.

I consider it to mean "comes with a lot of popular proprietary codecs and automounting of other partitions." And I define it that way because I see a lot of people on these boards daily who complain that they can't get out-of-the-box what they consider basic functionality in Ubuntu: proprietary codecs and automounting of partitions.

I don't. If you start bringing those things into the equation then there will always be something that is missing. Which is why i don't consider them part of the "just works" equation.

People don't understand necessarily free and nonfree at first (I didn't nine months ago); they just don't understand why they can't pop Ubuntu in and see a website that uses Flash or play their MP3s. They don't understand why their Windows partition would be in /media/hda1, but when they click on it, it says they don't have permission to access it.

Which is great because you'll have to learn permissions anyway and this will force you to do so. It "just works" the *nix way.

When I say "just works," I take it to mean I can hand the person the CD, have them pop it in, and use it and have fun using it and be impressed with its functionality--and I believe Linspire, Mepis, and PCLinuxOS do this. I believe Ubuntu doesn't.

Again, your definition includes more than just the working operating system and people will always have different needs.

I still love Ubuntu, though, for the reasons I stated earlier in the thread. Ubuntu's clean and free, and it offers good support. I don't think it makes sense to say it "just works."

I "kinda like" Ubuntu because it's set up from the get go (it "just works"), if i don't feel like tinkering that is what i'll install. I don't really "love" any OS, i'll use any OS without problems and they all are either better or worse depending on what i want the box to do.

Anyway, this is just about having differenting opinions regarding what "just works" means, it's unimportant, i'm sure we both have better things to do that to discuss this.

Take care.

[DigitalDuality]

I've been a window's guy all my life. I've played around with Linux before, Red Hat v 6, Fedora Core 2 and 4, Suse and even Kubuntu (i don't like KDE).

I also recently have been glued to a Mac Mini since it came out (i got mine the first week they were available.).

Frankly, i've decided that my convienence in Windows..and even OS X, isn't worth.. what i feel are moral choices. That leaves me with Linux in general, or BSDs.

Ubuntu has sold me as a distro, on some really important notes.. and some really petty ones.

People have mentioned the community. And it is one of the most helpful linux communities i have ever seen. I don't think this sentiment can be repeated enough.

It is the only distribution that i've had that..for the most part, works with all my hardware straight out of the box. (I had an Nvida card issue on a PII machine, but that's ok).

The package management system is a plus to me. It's not perfect..and it's not Windows or Mac OS, but it blows other 'nix distro's out of the water.

As for the petty stuff, they've somehow managed to make an african word, the color brown, and african sound themes...very neat eye and ear candy :) I like it alot.

[mips]

Which ones and why do you think so ?

PS: The reason why I ask so many questions is because I need a 'sensible' distro to recommend to every Tom, **** and Harry that asks me for one. Currently, I recommend either Fedora, or Knoppix.

Apart from that, in the near future, I would be doing volunteer work, which would require me to look at many donated (i.e. old) computers, inspect them and try to get as many working as possible. These computers will then be shipped to different countries (donated). I am planning to install Linux on these, and looking for an easy to use distro.

Thanks for all replies. Keep 'em coming.

Ajay

aysiu's reply answers that, they are just more 'complete'. For LiveCD I would also recommend Knoppix to people.

Ubuntu still has the best support though. Automatix basically fills the gaps in new installations.

[cblanquer]

Good distro & the opportunity to pay back by participating - which by one side is also a plus.
Other distros might be valuable as well, I think it is a matter of choice.
The community could be the point to differenciate over others, wouldn't it ?