If Ubuntu can do it why can't they ?

[beast2k]

I got to thinking, after trying literally dozens of distros why is it that a "somewhat smallish" distro like Ubuntu can work as well as it does when distros like fedora and mandriva and suse just cant seem to get it together. For example i went to setup MP3 playing in ubuntu, I thought oh yea it allready works. I went to setup bittorrent in Ubuntu, oh yea it allready works and after automatix which is just 2 commands to setup and use EVERYTHING allready worked. I'll pick on Fedora here, Have you ever tried to setup bittorrent or play MP3s with Fedora? LOL more time is spent on setup than is spent on using the distro. After all the time other distros spend on devellopment and with all their corp. backing and most of all how long they have been at it why doesn't linux dominate? I mean if Ubuntu can do it in only a few versions it begs the question whats the holdup.

[aysiu]

MP3 playback doesn't "already work" in Ubuntu. Ubuntu includes no proprietary codecs. You have to install those separately.

You will get it "already working" in PCLinuxOS, Mepis, Blag, and Linspire, though.

[prizrak]

Well Ubuntu is not hard to set up with mp3's and stuff but if you gonna compare Ubuntu + Automatix to other distros, most of them will lose horribly.

[earobinson]

"somewhat smallish" distro like Ubuntu Ubuntu is a very large distro build off another very large distro (debian)

good to know you loving ubuntu, but fedora is also very easy to use and the forums are great. and the installer is way nice.

still loving ubunut just pointing out the other side

[Bandit]

Ubuntu is a great distro. Nice to here you enjoy it.
Ubuntu does not include MP3 playback by default tho..
The MP3 plugins are in the extra repositories, but they are not on the disc.
Many corperate supported distros such as Fedora and OpenSUSE have goten paranoid. For example SuSE 9.2 was the last SuSE distro to have MP3 playback out of the box.
As much as I try to promote open formats such as Ogg Vorbis (and I use Ogg for my music) I still have to download the gstreamer MAD plugin as well for treaming radio over the net.
Cheers,
Joey

[Almighty]

I hate to play the devils advocate here but, will Ubuntu ever reach a point where things are "too easy" read that as Linspire. I like the point that Linux is "more difficult" than other operation systems. It weeds out the weak PC users in my eyes.

[aysiu]

I hate to play the devils advocate here but, will Ubuntu ever reach a point where things are "too easy" read that as Linspire. I like the point that Linux is "more difficult" than other operation systems. It weeds out the weak PC users in my eyes. It already is "too easy." But installing and configuring an operating system will always be difficult if not all the hardware is detected right away (yes, even with Linspire; though, Linspire's hardware detection's pretty damn good).

Why do you want to weed out the weak PC users? You don't like me around?

[Bandit]

I hate to play the devils advocate here but, will Ubuntu ever reach a point where things are "too easy" read that as Linspire. I like the point that Linux is "more difficult" than other operation systems. It weeds out the weak PC users in my eyes.
hehe.. I feel the same way.. Do you ever get tired of those so called "windows guru's"...

[mstlyevil]

I hate to play the devils advocate here but, will Ubuntu ever reach a point where things are "too easy" read that as Linspire. I like the point that Linux is "more difficult" than other operation systems. It weeds out the weak PC users in my eyes.

Ubuntu's philosophy is to be easy to use and set up for even novices. So I do not believe it can be too easy. There are plenty of more advanced distro's out there that keep things difficult for those that like their Linux that way.

What do you mean by a weak pc user? So you are saying that Linux can not accomodate the end user that wants to just use their OS and not hastle with a bunch of setting up and configuring. I believe this is a wrong attitude towards average computer users. Linux is big enough to support everyone and their needs.

Ubuntu will never be quite as easy as say Linspire because it is a free libre distro. Too many things can not be included when the operating system is given away for free and there is no enterprise edition to fund the free side. But that does not mean you do not develop third party tools to make it easier for novices to set up and configure.

[Almighty]

Ubuntu's philosophy is to be easy to use and set up for even novices. So I do not believe it can be too easy. There are plenty of more advanced distro's out there that keep things difficult for those that like their Linux that way.

What do you mean by a weak pc user? So you are saying that Linux can not accomodate the end user that wants to just use their OS and not hastle with a bunch of setting up and configuring. I believe this is a wrong attitude towards average computer users. Linux is big enough to support everyone and their needs.

Ubuntu will never be quite as easy as say Linspire because it is a free libre distro. Too many things can not be included when the operating system is given away for free and there is no enterprise edition to fund the free side. But that does not mean you do not develop third party tools to make it easier for novices to set up and configure.


I know Ubuntu's reason for being is Linux for the people. I am quite greatful for that also. When I first started in the wonderful world of Linux it was back with Mandrake and Redhat. Needless to say I never stuck with it because it was more than just a point and click OS like I was used to with Windows. Now that I have matured and understand personal computing much more, I thought it was time to try Linux again.

I feel as though that those "weak" users are the ones who dont quite understand that an operating isnt something that you check your email on and browse Ebay. I think that Ubuntu is one of the BEST distros out there hands down. Ease of use without sacrificing what makes linux as good as it is.

[beast2k]

Ubuntu is a very large distro build off another very large distro (debian)

good to know you loving ubuntu, but fedora is also very easy to use and the forums are great. and the installer is way nice.

still loving ubunut just pointing out the other side

Fedora is okay and their forum is nice as is the installer and general use is easy thanks to gnome but the setup time is nasty it just takes to long to get it all ready to use. Their "openness" is killing them slowly, people I have spoken to do not want a distro that takes that long to setup. Especially New users. Aysiu is right MP3's dont work allready, automatix fixed that up. Using automatix makes seting up ubuntu so easy it's hard to tell what worked out of the box and what didn't, and thats how it should be not like Fedora and now open suse is that way as well. I honestly don't see a compelling reason to use any other distro. Each to his own I guess.

[beast2k]

hehe.. I feel the same way.. Do you ever get tired of those so called "windows guru's"...

Strange it seems everybody is a computer guru genius untill you take windows away from them or sit them in front of a console.

[kanem]

I got to thinking, after trying literally dozens of distros why is it that a "somewhat smallish" distro like Ubuntu can work as well as it does when distros like fedora and mandriva and suse just cant seem to get it together.
Just to be a jerk I'd like to point out that I usually hear people say the same thing but with the roles reversed: "why is it that a small, underfunded distro like Mepis or Kanotix has everything working when a distro funded by a millionare seems to have stuff missing?"

I know why Ubuntu doesn't have some codecs included, just wanted to point out that not everyone sees Ubuntu as the easiest.

[Kvark]

I hate to play the devils advocate here but, will Ubuntu ever reach a point where things are "too easy" read that as Linspire. I like the point that Linux is "more difficult" than other operation systems. It weeds out the weak PC users in my eyes.
That is like saying you want cars to ship with broken engines in order to weed out the weak drivers who just want to use the car to get from point A to point B without knowing whats under the hood. Or that you want houses to be built without plumbing and electricity to weed out the weak habitants who just want somewhere to live without knowing how a house is built up.

[tseliot]

I got to thinking, after trying literally dozens of distros why is it that a "somewhat smallish" distro like Ubuntu can work as well as it does when distros like fedora and mandriva and suse just cant seem to get it together. For example i went to setup MP3 playing in ubuntu, I thought oh yea it allready works. I went to setup bittorrent in Ubuntu, oh yea it allready works and after automatix which is just 2 commands to setup and use EVERYTHING allready worked. I'll pick on Fedora here, Have you ever tried to setup bittorrent or play MP3s with Fedora? LOL more time is spent on setup than is spent on using the distro. After all the time other distros spend on devellopment and with all their corp. backing and most of all how long they have been at it why doesn't linux dominate? I mean if Ubuntu can do it in only a few versions it begs the question whats the holdup.
I have used Fedora until few days ago (I'm using Arch instead of it) and I'm surprised by what you wrote. I never did anything to have all the proprietary software because Fedora has its Automatix (ok, it's not called "Automatix").
It's here:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=86765&page=1&pp=15

[Almighty]

That is like saying you want cars to ship with broken engines in order to weed out the weak drivers who just want to use the car to get from point A to point B without knowing whats under the hood. Or that you want houses to be built without plumbing and electricity to weed out the weak habitants who just want somewhere to live without knowing how a house is built up.


I get the feeling I am misunderstood. I also should have used better wording in my statement. I guess I should say that PC users are not on equal ground as far as knowledge of computers. Lets say for example that Windows would be an entry level OS while Linux would be mid level, while Unix would be a higher level OS. No one expects to jump from the recreational play to professional leagues.

Everyone knows how easy it is to mess up a linux based operating system. There will be one day when these OSs will be more main stream and people without the proper knowledge will take Linux desktop and make it more resemble the complications seen with the Microsoft environment.

I for one LOVE how far Linux systems have come since I first started using them. I hope the progress continues, so I hope you all dont think I am against progress.




And yes, some people should not be allowed to drive. \\:D/

[beast2k]

Just to be a jerk I'd like to point out that I usually hear people say the same thing but with the roles reversed: "why is it that a small, underfunded distro like Mepis or Kanotix has everything working when a distro funded by a millionare seems to have stuff missing?"

I know why Ubuntu doesn't have some codecs included, just wanted to point out that not everyone sees Ubuntu as the easiest.

Your probably right but I'm willing to bet that the amount of people who find Ubuntu difficult is very small and if they used the forums they woulden't find it difficult. As far as mepis goes last I checked mepis is a one man show and as such this limits its future:rolleyes: . What's missing from ubuntu? once you use automatix nothing is missing.\\:D/