Favorite Flavor of Ubuntu

[GodofAnotherWorld]

Well it doesn't look like anyone has asked yet so I thought I should. Just post what distro you use and why.

I prefer Xubuntu because I don't have the best computer in the world but Xubuntu somehow runs faster on my computer than Usain Bolt in a 100m foot race lol.

[cascade9]

I dont use ubuntu much myself (I do set it up for other people though).

If I'm going to use a *buntu, I dont use any of those options- minimal Xfce installs only. ;) Xubuntu is to fat, gnome leaves me cold, and I've never been that fond of kubuntu.

[GodofAnotherWorld]

Lol I guess Ubuntu is pretty popular. I'm thinking of trying out Gentoo Linux later :P.

[trig]

ive used ubuntu for a few years. i started with a ibm 300, ad it ran ok there. ad now i have a homemade compy that runs just great. its what i prefer eve though i have a new laptop with windows 7 on it. win 7 is ok i guess for my video gaming needs.

[Rasa1111]

I've tried Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu..
and for me there is no contest whatsoever...

Ubuntu.
I love it. <3

[GodofAnotherWorld]

Well I used to use Ubuntu, and I'm getting a new computer soon and I have to say Ubuntu is probably going to be what's on it :P.

[Nythain]

you left out "Other"

as in, those of use that install a cli system, then install the window manager of our preference and go from there... after all, the only real difference between the flavors is the DE/WM

[GodofAnotherWorld]

Sorry, my bad.

[koolblue3]

I use Ubuntu because I like how polished GNOME is on it.

[emilywind]

I use Ubuntu as well, because GNOME is a wonderfully simple project and has a very no-nonsense and clean feel, especially as of late. I have never been a huge fan of tweaking around with Linux, although I have extensively used Openbox, Fluxbox, KDE, XFCE, GNOME and played with a few other WMs/DEs plus have run Mandrake Linux, Gentoo Linux and Arch Linux (in that order) in my time.

Linux has come a long way since I started using it though. Back in those times almost anything you wanted to do was going to involve the command line at some point. That is still mildly true these days, but is getting less and less true as time moves on. Some of the projects I have seen mature over the past eight or so years have been responsible for how nice things are nowadays and it is rather fantastic.

Since we are not entirely on the topic, but I want to be, I am going to go down a nostalgia trip which people may or may not find interesting. That is, I am going to cover some of the major improvements I have seen to the Linux desktop which has been brought about by Ubuntu along with the projects which it uses.

Easy removable drive handling - For quite a long time, the only way to have CDs, USB drives and other media/media devices automount (as in have their files available without having to open a command line and mount them manually) was a kernel patch which was was mostly a buggy hack. Then time moved along, and the birth of udev, dbus and hal came about. Although most people likely never even think of these programs, they were revolutionary in the Linux scene when they came about. They not only enabled automatic media device handling so people could put CDs or USB drives and access their files without having to use the command line, but they are also responsible for the next bit of awesome improvement.

Graphical server no longer needs configured - Only just a few years ago, in order to run the X server (the program which makes all the graphical stuff possible), you had to have a /etc/X11/xorg.conf (or /etc/X11/xfree86.conf or w/e it was called, which used to be the standard X server used in most Linux distributions) file setup with all the hardware you wanted to use entered into it. Nowadays, everything is just plug and play and the X server uses udev/dbus in order to automatically detect all the hardware in your system such as mice, keyboards, graphics tablets, video cards and your monitor. You can still have a configuration file for the X server, but nowadays it is used to set surplus options rather than needing completely set up with hundreds of lines in order to boot into your graphical interface. In fact, even those surplus lines of code are handled automatically by Ubuntu these days.

Hardware support - The Linux community used to be extremely small long ago and hardware support was scarce, and usually only applied to older devices which were extremely common. Nowadays, Linux is likely to support any mainstream hardware and even some exotic stuff, whether it is new or old. Not to mention, in Linux there is generally no need to download drivers for most things which means all your hardware is supported just by plugging it in. And you really have to give it to Linux though, seeing that Windows gets all the hardware vendors writing software for it and most of the time the Linux developers are on their own for Linux. However, that brings me into the next point.

Open Source World - Back when I started using Linux, the idea of a company open sourcing their software was about as common as the chance of a politician telling the truth. Nonetheless, nowadays many companies are open sourcing applications and it is becoming even more of a trend. Skype even recently announced the open sourcing of their Linux client, which is very likely going to bring about some much needed improvements.

What I love most about open source becoming a standard though is what it means beyond the world of computing and software. The sharing of information in order to better the world mirrors the general changing attitude of society, which is becoming more and more global every day just like the economy. In short, open source to me means community and getting along with others in order to improve the quality of life for all. It does not mean this directly, but the emergence of its popularity in terms of companies going open source along with people starting to use Ubuntu is more of a result of such a mindset coming into the population, helped along by social networking such as through Facebook, Twitter and etc.

However, the biggest reason why I use Ubuntu is because I like it is because it is pretty much no-nonsense and very smoothly set up. I can play around with it easily if I really want, from simple things like themes to more complex things such as hacking configuration files, but it does not really ask me to do a lot in order to use it. Plus, I can get all the programs I need and/or want without having to somehow produce hundreds of dollars, and they will work just as well if not better than the software which costs hundreds of dollars. Cheers. :)