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View Full Version : Ubuntu.. why? for what?



patrickfromspain
December 5th, 2005, 01:54 PM
Hi there! I was just wondering why you all here have choosen ubuntu and for what you use it for.

In my case, I started using linux with suse 9.3 and then 10.0. But I didn't fell that comfortable in suse... Yast was quite slow, and half the times it wouldn't do exactly what I told him to do. Specially with my tv card. Also in suse 10 the was a problem with the usb sticks which made transfering something extremely slow and my tv card didn't work out of the box, as it did 9.3.

Ok.. so I was quite disapointed with suse. What should I try next? Why not ubuntu? My cds from shipit had just arrived so.. let's try it. Installation went fine and then time to log in. Root... eh? what password? Ok, after googling I solved it. Next: gnome. I hate gnome after the installation. Searched for themes and it looked definitly better. I won't need KDE anymore. Speed: it feels faster and more stabile than suse, at least that's what I think. Now... let's set up my tv card. ooops. NO yast here jejee. After searching and copying some lines into a new file it works fine. Wireless also fine. Printer ok. Amule ok. Multimedia: oops. Googling I find all what I need and is fine also. Ok, my system is complete.

After a time.. I really like ubuntu. Fast and stable. And I love apt-get and synaptic, much more than yast.

I use it to surf on the internet, downloading with amule, playing some games (quake 4, doom 3 mainly) and some openoffice too.

What about you?

megamania
December 5th, 2005, 02:02 PM
Welcome!

I use Ubuntu for everything, since after a few months of dual-booting I completely erased Windows xp...

darkmatter
December 5th, 2005, 02:28 PM
Why Ubuntu?

Long and short... many years/many distros... fell in love with debian....BUT... vanilla sid sucks...

atoponce
December 5th, 2005, 02:41 PM
I settled on Ubuntu, because no other distro settled quite right on my laptop. There was a least one issue or another. Ubuntu has either fixed or minimized all of those problems for me. Frankly, I enjoy software that makes the overall experience much more pleasant.

derbaschti
December 5th, 2005, 03:17 PM
I also started wit SuSE, but never felt quite comfortable with it...

Ubuntu on the other hand is just cool. I don't know if it's just me, but it actually FEELS GOOD to work with Ubuntu. It's also great fun to watch a distro grow and mature while you're using it.

Ampersand
December 5th, 2005, 03:19 PM
Mainly because of Apt, after having fun with dependancies on Redhat and Suse. I used Debian for a while, and after building my latest computer I tried Ubuntu.

angrylittleman
December 5th, 2005, 03:41 PM
I run ubuntu on all of my computers. I have one copy of XP which I keep on my thinkpad because the software I have to use to take exams only runs in XP. Otherwise, ubuntu does more than winxp. Nmap on xp? right....I have full hardware support on the thinkpad (suspend included) which works better than suspend in windows (which is iffy at best). All around a great product. I can't wait for Dapper!

alm

asimon
December 5th, 2005, 03:50 PM
Apart from the reasons already mentioned above I like the commitment of Canonical and the Ubuntu Foundation and their vision. And especially I like the infrastructure they're building and the collaboration tools (launchpad) they develop.

I use Ubuntu too for all my desktop needs (for servers I prefer distros with all of that proactive security goodness).

BLTicklemonster
December 5th, 2005, 03:53 PM
Because I love to tinker mostly, but I wasn't quite ready for the volume of *insert favorite word for whatever you figure fits* that is associated with linux.

I find that there's nothing hard about it, it's just *insert favorite word for whatever you figure fits* that is so insane.

It's frustrating, too, when you remark about it, because the mensa-wanabees automatically figure you have the same problem they have that they won't mention. "it's not windows, I'm taking my keyboard and going home". Bah.


It's not hard, it's just hard to get enough info to use well.

greenway
December 5th, 2005, 03:57 PM
Started with slackware (during a computer systems course in school) and moved through pretty much every main distro out there. Finally run into Ubuntu and after putting the live CD into my cd-drive, and being able to surf the internet I right away fell in love with it. Main reasons are the great hardware support of the distro and superb community working behind it making sure starters (and everybody else for that mather) can get help within hours (and I am not just talking about simple replies to questions but genuine help from guys with a lot of knowledge putting in a lot of free time to help fellow Ubuntu'ers out there).

Right now I am in the process of switching two of our offices to Ubuntu with the aim of completely closing down the Windows within two months. So far so good! The only problem we are experiencing is a decent alternative for Quicken. Personally I stopted using Windows completely after starting to use Ubuntu and haven't missed it since!

KermitJr
December 5th, 2005, 04:15 PM
Quicken replacement -

GnuCash, which I'm sure you know of. Also does invoicing and billing now.

Also, if you need online banking, www.moneydance.com has what you need. I found out about it in www.tuxmagazine.com which is a mag for new linux users (although everyone I know uses it) that is put out by the LinuxJournal people for free.

briguy
December 5th, 2005, 04:24 PM
I use Ubuntu because it involved much less config on my laptop than Fedora did - most of the utilities I need are already installed. Now I use it on my desktop as well. I'm keeping my media box as XP, only because I prefer MediaPortal to MythTV

xmastree
December 5th, 2005, 05:19 PM
Hi there! I was just wondering why you all here have choosen ubuntu and for what you use it for.I didn't choose ubuntu, it chose me (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=32701).

I use it at home for web browsing, email, office, graphics, music, and at my internet café it runs my webcam (http://www.cginternet.net/webcam/webcam.html) which was previously done with a mandrake 8 box.

Stormy Eyes
December 5th, 2005, 07:34 PM
I use Ubuntu at home, because it doesn't take as long to tinker with Ubuntu as it does to tinker with Gentoo.

poofyhairguy
December 5th, 2005, 09:48 PM
The community.

dodger
December 5th, 2005, 10:13 PM
I use (k)ubuntu for almost everything.

the only reason i boot xp is that I want to play a game that I cannot get to run in linux (I think last time was over a year ago (no, I am not getting more games to run, I just don't play as much)) or when I need to run a program that has no linux alternative.

i choose ubuntu because i really like apt, but not necessarily debian unstable (stable being too dated for my taste). I used suse before but really disliked yast's way of telling me how to do things, and gentoo, which I liked if it wouldn't have taken ages to compile the packages. I also installed archlinux and slackware and even had a running linux-from-scratch installation.

I also really like the ubuntu community which is very active and friendly.

my two cent.

Robocoastie
December 5th, 2005, 10:29 PM
two words: hardware support. Ubuntu's consistent release cycle I think is why it has such incredible hardware support.

jrib
December 5th, 2005, 10:32 PM
I just finished giving a presentation where I was forced to use a windows machine. The machine crashed half way through. My thoughts at that very moment were (ok they had a little more profanity): "I hate windows... this never happens on ubuntu!"

I am now considering setting up vnc and using that to present in the future...

I use ubuntu because:
1)it's more stable than windows
2)don't have to worry about viruses/spyware
3)I can read all the code I want and learn/understand a lot more as a result
4)The community is awesome!

pfunk
December 5th, 2005, 10:53 PM
Let's see....

Slackware 3.X in 1996
Redhat 5.X in 1997
Mandrake 6.X in 1999 (to 7.x, 8.x, 9.x, 10.x)
FC3 in 2004
Mandriva 2005 in 2005 (2006 may get a look)
Ubuntu breezy about 2 weeks ago

Plus I've tried other distros on a strictly 'lemme see' basis. Nothing that was permanent. However, even Ubuntu hasn't caused me to delete my WinXP installation. Let's give it some time.

My initial thoughts are positive, but the lack of video editing software is disappointing. Kino just isn't cutting it. The search is still on so I'll be trying others.

I haven't even tried to get my games working yet. That should be an adventure.

greenway
December 6th, 2005, 01:55 PM
Quicken replacement -

GnuCash, which I'm sure you know of. Also does invoicing and billing now.

Also, if you need online banking, www.moneydance.com has what you need. I found out about it in www.tuxmagazine.com which is a mag for new linux users (although everyone I know uses it) that is put out by the LinuxJournal people for free.

Thanks for your suggestion! I already presented this solution to the executive accountant but I kind of got the feeling she thinks it's to limited in it's function. I did push her to give it a serious evaluation since this pretty the only open source alternative out there (or I must have missed one). Anyway, w'll wait and see...

A-star
December 6th, 2005, 03:16 PM
Why Ubuntu?
Simple, I used windows for a long time and occasionally tried linux (redhat, mandrake, suse, gentoo). Then I found ubuntu (almost 1 year ago) and gave it a try. Now 1 year later I'm windows free.

Ubuntu just works and gave me the feeling that I'm working with my pc instead of always cleaning up my windows-pc.