Sushi
August 3rd, 2005, 06:51 AM
I have been using Gentoo for a while now. And I have been KDE-exclusive since 1.1 or something. But I recently had the itch to try out a distro that "just works", and according to the talk on the net, Ubuntu is it. I also wanted to try out something different than KDE, so I tried Gnome.
I have tested Gnome in the past. My last experiment was with 2.6 (IIRC) on gentoo, and I wasn't that impressed. But I decided to give it a shot and have an open mind with it. So, here are my experiences:
Ubuntu
Compared to Gentoo, installation was a breeze ;). Although Ubuntu doesn't have a graphical installation, it's still easy. The good thing with Gentoo is that if you can install Gentoo, then installation of any other Linux-distro can't be that difficult for you ;).
Ubuntu boots up faster than my Gentoo did. Of course, since you basically build your own Gentoo for you, it simply means that Ubuntu's boot-up procedure is faster than my Gentoo's boot-up procedure. I could make the Gentoo boot faster, but I never really got around to do it. But it's a nice thing that Ubuntu boots fast "out of the box".
I really loved the way Gentoo handled the services that are started during boot-up. removing and installing those services was a breeze. It seems to me that Ubuntu is not as slick in that department as Gentoo is. But that might be due to the fact that I'm used to the Gentoo-way of doing things, and I haven't yet gotten my head around the Ubuntu-way of doing it.
Installing software is very easy and very fast when compared to Gentoo (no compiling), Synaptic is a wonderful tool to use. There are front-ends to Portage as well, but I never used them, so I can't really do an Apples to Apples comaprison here.
Gnome
Like I said, I have used KDE for a long time, and my experiences with Gnome have been limited. Although I have kept my eye on their activities for a long time.
The two desktops load about as fast (on Ubuntu). Gnome might be faster by a second or two, but the difference is not big enough to really matter.
I REALLY like the look 'n feel of Gnome! I can't really point my finger at any specific thing that makes it look so good, but it does. I think it's the lack of excessive UI-elements that make it pleasure to look at. KDE has been getting better on this area all the time as well.
However, as nice as Gnome is to look at, I did run in to some problems. My Gentoo-installation was an AMD64-system, so I had some problems with some w32-codecs and the like. The machine is still the same, but my Ubuntu-installation is a regural x86-installation, so there shouldn't be any such problems. So I thought that multimedia shouldn't be a problem. I then proceeded to enable multimedia-playback in Firefox. I mean, it can't be difficult, right?
Well, it is. I searched the forums. There are lots and lots of instructions on how to make it work in Ubuntu/Gnome/Firefox. Each instructions more complex that the previous. And I couldn't make it work It tried to load the multimedia-content (in my case, trailers from apple.com) in Totem. But it never played back. It started to buffer, and then it stopped. And then Totem froze. After I had struggled with it for a while, I decided to try DVD-playback instead. And the app that handled that was Totem. Which promptly froze when it tried to play back the DVD.
Frustrated, I decided to try it with Kaffeine. I installed it, and it "just worked". No hassle, no nothing, my DVD's worked like they should. I then installed an app that makes Firefox play back multimedia-content in Kaffeine. After I had installed it, it just worked. Zero hassle.
I have used Gnome/Ubuntu for few days now, so my experiences are limited. I will post more impressions to this thread as time passes :). I can see why many people swear by Ubuntu/Gnome. And while I will propably keep Ubuntu, I'm not 100% sure about Gnome yet. It is a VERY good desktop, no doubt about it. But I might stick with KDE, we'll see.
EDIT: Mixed up Gentoo/Ubuntu when discussing bootup-speed.
I have tested Gnome in the past. My last experiment was with 2.6 (IIRC) on gentoo, and I wasn't that impressed. But I decided to give it a shot and have an open mind with it. So, here are my experiences:
Ubuntu
Compared to Gentoo, installation was a breeze ;). Although Ubuntu doesn't have a graphical installation, it's still easy. The good thing with Gentoo is that if you can install Gentoo, then installation of any other Linux-distro can't be that difficult for you ;).
Ubuntu boots up faster than my Gentoo did. Of course, since you basically build your own Gentoo for you, it simply means that Ubuntu's boot-up procedure is faster than my Gentoo's boot-up procedure. I could make the Gentoo boot faster, but I never really got around to do it. But it's a nice thing that Ubuntu boots fast "out of the box".
I really loved the way Gentoo handled the services that are started during boot-up. removing and installing those services was a breeze. It seems to me that Ubuntu is not as slick in that department as Gentoo is. But that might be due to the fact that I'm used to the Gentoo-way of doing things, and I haven't yet gotten my head around the Ubuntu-way of doing it.
Installing software is very easy and very fast when compared to Gentoo (no compiling), Synaptic is a wonderful tool to use. There are front-ends to Portage as well, but I never used them, so I can't really do an Apples to Apples comaprison here.
Gnome
Like I said, I have used KDE for a long time, and my experiences with Gnome have been limited. Although I have kept my eye on their activities for a long time.
The two desktops load about as fast (on Ubuntu). Gnome might be faster by a second or two, but the difference is not big enough to really matter.
I REALLY like the look 'n feel of Gnome! I can't really point my finger at any specific thing that makes it look so good, but it does. I think it's the lack of excessive UI-elements that make it pleasure to look at. KDE has been getting better on this area all the time as well.
However, as nice as Gnome is to look at, I did run in to some problems. My Gentoo-installation was an AMD64-system, so I had some problems with some w32-codecs and the like. The machine is still the same, but my Ubuntu-installation is a regural x86-installation, so there shouldn't be any such problems. So I thought that multimedia shouldn't be a problem. I then proceeded to enable multimedia-playback in Firefox. I mean, it can't be difficult, right?
Well, it is. I searched the forums. There are lots and lots of instructions on how to make it work in Ubuntu/Gnome/Firefox. Each instructions more complex that the previous. And I couldn't make it work It tried to load the multimedia-content (in my case, trailers from apple.com) in Totem. But it never played back. It started to buffer, and then it stopped. And then Totem froze. After I had struggled with it for a while, I decided to try DVD-playback instead. And the app that handled that was Totem. Which promptly froze when it tried to play back the DVD.
Frustrated, I decided to try it with Kaffeine. I installed it, and it "just worked". No hassle, no nothing, my DVD's worked like they should. I then installed an app that makes Firefox play back multimedia-content in Kaffeine. After I had installed it, it just worked. Zero hassle.
I have used Gnome/Ubuntu for few days now, so my experiences are limited. I will post more impressions to this thread as time passes :). I can see why many people swear by Ubuntu/Gnome. And while I will propably keep Ubuntu, I'm not 100% sure about Gnome yet. It is a VERY good desktop, no doubt about it. But I might stick with KDE, we'll see.
EDIT: Mixed up Gentoo/Ubuntu when discussing bootup-speed.