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frup
April 1st, 2007, 04:57 AM
What are the little things about (Ubuntu) Linux which make you really enjoy using it?

After exclusively using Ubuntu for over a year I often find it hard to use other OS's with out really missing some kind of small feature. This is things like

At work in Windows XP we were saving some images from the web using IE (forced on us) to a certain folder several directories deep in to the file system, each time we clicked save as it would go to the "My Computer" part. On gnome I can set set a shortcut to a folder on the left hand side of the equivalent dialogue box, on XP we couldn't. I come across small things like this all the time at work and thats what I am really beginning to enjoy finding... The major stuff is obvious, but the little things are special.

Anyone else got any of these to share?

old_geekster
April 1st, 2007, 05:07 AM
One of the "little" (maybe big to some) things that I like best about Ubuntu/Linux is the fact that you don't have to reboot when installing software. I have installed numerous programs and have only had to reboot when it was a major upgrade of the system.

Whenever I see people explaining the benefits of Linux, they seem to forget this fact.

FuturePilot
April 1st, 2007, 05:08 AM
Multiple work spaces. That's a biggie for me. It gets so cluttered in Windows with a lot of stuff open.

frup
April 1st, 2007, 05:13 AM
One of the "little" (maybe big to some) things that I like best about Ubuntu/Linux is the fact that you don't have to reboot when installing software. I have installed numerous programs and have only had to reboot when it was a major upgrade of the system.

Whenever I see people explaining the benefits of Linux, they seem to forget this fact.

I guess an extension of this is also being able to restart a process with out rebooting, while windows offers the kill function in one way or another, I don't think it has the power of

/etc/init.d/process restart

to many people in a situation only needing this will reboot

karellen
April 1st, 2007, 05:14 AM
little things...let's see....things like being able to scan through a whole list of available applications for my system in one centralised place (synaptic) not hunt them through the web, the fact that when viewing a documen evince "remembers" where I left and opens and that last viewed page....it's long list, really :)

Compucore
April 1st, 2007, 05:33 AM
I like the workspace feature within ubuntu linux. Since I can have Openoffice apps running in one workspace. INternet realtes stuff running in another. And the some programming or web based pages that I am creating in another. And when I need to go from one to another. I know where they are when I am in Ubuntu. Where as with Windows in 2000 pro or XP pro. It is all over the place.

karellen
April 1st, 2007, 05:53 AM
yes, completely forgot about workspaces/desktops. it has become like a second nature, maybe that's why it didn't come into my mind in the first place

macogw
April 1st, 2007, 06:05 AM
Highlight, two-button (or center) click to copy/paste

Using the repos, I know I'm getting trusted software that won't harm my box in any way. With Windows, downloading random things off the internet, who knows?

karellen
April 1st, 2007, 06:16 AM
the command line :D (I actually like it, gives me a feeling of power and control over what I'm doing)

frup
April 1st, 2007, 06:18 AM
Highlight, two-button (or center) click to copy/paste



WOW thats awesome, I didn't even know that existed. I really like that feature.

teet
April 1st, 2007, 06:26 AM
WOW thats awesome, I didn't even know that existed. I really like that feature.

Holy crap! I've been using linux off and on for around 4 years now and I didn't know this.

I feel like I did when I discovered the "control + c" and "control + v" shortcuts!

-teet

Dr. C
April 1st, 2007, 06:41 AM
Here are some little and not so little things I like about Ubuntu

Multiple workspaces
Date and time on the panel
Runs for months without rebooting
The huge selection of software that can easily be installed and un-installed with just a few mouse clicks using synaptic etc.
Runs well on some pretty old hardware including an 8 year old Celeron 400 laptop with 192 MB of RAM
All sorts of industrial strength server software just under the hood
No DRM (the is a big one for me)
etc etc

eentonig
April 1st, 2007, 06:51 AM
- Desktops.
- CLI and espacially the tab functionality.
- CLI that does serve a purpose. They're extending DOS, but it's still not very usefull.
- man pages for every decent program.
- I run Feisty Beta, so I know I'll (and did) run into problems. On Windows, I would never do this, because every crash would force me to reboot and loose everything not saved. In linux, most of the time I can just restart the failed app or service and get on with it.
- Easy support due to CLI. If I don't know something, it's easy to find solutions and the helpguides don't confuse you or aren't too long. Just the required commands to paste in the CLI.
- There's a huge community support (especially if you compare this with Windows supportgroups put against the actual userbases for both)

rolando2424
April 1st, 2007, 04:06 PM
Multiple Workspaces are my favourite thing. I look at Windows (when I'm using it at school) in another way... I'm like "Uhh... Why can't I clean the taskbar?" (I ussualy have one workspace for Folding, another for my use, another for downloading porn (having the firefox download window there rocks ^_^, and another for creating python scripts... or just to use Gimp :D).

Another thing that I love is the little buton that exists in the left corner of the bottom bar (that's the default), and just one click and VOILÁ! All windows minimize and you can see the full Desktop. You can't do that on Windows (You have to minimize every single window on your own... And pray that Windows hasn't "glued" the windows together (You know, when you don't have enough space on the taskbar, Windows places all windows of the same process in one place on the taskbar, and to acess an individual window, you have to choose it from a list...) Another click on the bottom, and all windows retrn to their proper places).

Hum... What else...

The terminal... I just love it. It's not just some crappy DOS emulator, it actually IS useful :D And you can make script on that!

More...

Well, Beryl is nice, if you like eyecandy (but I got to tell you, I like the way you can arrange the windows in Beryl, just place your mouse at a corner, and you can see all the windows you have open (on that workspace, or on all workspace).

Well the "Click mouse whell to paste" is also nice.

The apt-get system rocks (I loved that on my day in Debian :D).

And a lot of more things that I can't remember.

AndyCooll
April 1st, 2007, 05:00 PM
Another thing that I love is the little buton that exists in the left corner of the bottom bar (that's the default), and just one click and VOILÁ! All windows minimize and you can see the full Desktop. You can't do that on Windows

Actually ******* does have this, when I'm at work I often use it. It's one of the few useful functions that Linux has that's replicated in ******* by default.

It's possible to have multiple desktops on ******* too, however you have to download an add-on app IIRC.

A bit more advanced. For me, XDMCP is wonderful. I can have the desktop of my fast machine appear here on my old laptop. In essence I can be running both the desktops of this laptop and my fast machine here in front of me at the same time.

:cool:

rolando2424
April 1st, 2007, 05:14 PM
Actually ******* does have this, when I'm at work I often use it. It's one of the few useful functions that Linux has that's replicated in ******* by default.



How? I've never found that in Windows...


It's possible to have multiple desktops on ******* too, however you have to download an add-on app IIRC.

Yes I know that, but in school we can only use what come by default, and I was talking mainly of things that exist in the default Linux desktop :D

macogw
April 1st, 2007, 05:15 PM
Another thing that I love is the little buton that exists in the left corner of the bottom bar (that's the default), and just one click and VOILÁ! All windows minimize and you can see the full Desktop. You can't do that on Windows (You have to minimize every single window on your own... And pray that Windows hasn't "glued" the windows together (You know, when you don't have enough space on the taskbar, Windows places all windows of the same process in one place on the taskbar, and to acess an individual window, you have to choose it from a list...) Another click on the bottom, and all windows retrn to their proper places).

Windows key + M
There's also a little button on the left if you have that section that shows IE, FF, WMP, and "Display Desktop" enabled

In Linux it's ctrl alt D if you're not using the little button (I delete that taskbar)

Nonno Bassotto
April 1st, 2007, 06:54 PM
You already mentioned lots of things, so I'll just mention

Audio preview
One single document viewer for dvi, pdf, djvu and ps

FyreBrand
April 1st, 2007, 07:32 PM
Network Transparency - I like how I can edit files on a remote server with Kate. I like how I can manipulate my remote directories just like they are part of my own hard drive. Windows Explorer just doesn't cut it as a file manager.

Sym Links - They actually work. In Windows you just get a shortcut to the target, but it doesn't actually work like a directory path.

Linux servers and applications are fairly straight forward. There aren't several versions based on your licensing. This gets confusing in Windows. I just installed Visual Studio 2005 Professional (there are several flavors of that) for a .NET class and project. The version of SQL server 2005 that comes with it is the developer's version. There are about 6 different versions of SQL Server 2005 and multiple variations in that. It's incredibly confusing and really hard to configure. I love how much easier it is to set up compilers, an Apache-MySQL-PHP stack, and a development environment in Kubuntu. Not every Linux distribution is easy this way but Ubuntu/Kubuntu is especially developer friendly.

AndyCooll
April 2nd, 2007, 12:53 PM
Actually ******* does have this, when I'm at work I often use it. It's one of the few useful functions that Linux has that's replicated in ******* by default.


How? I've never found that in Windows...

Here's your answer, (the Quick Launch toolbar):

Windows key + M
There's also a little button on the left if you have that section that shows IE, FF, WMP, and "Display Desktop" enabled

:cool:

Belyel
April 6th, 2007, 08:14 PM
My fav "little thing" is the ease of locating anything from the command line using "locate blahblah" It saves literally hours for me in the long run.