Why Ubuntu?

[GBC79]

Hi, I'm pretty new to the whole Linux OS thing, so please bear with me. I've used Microsoft operating systems since the days of DOS 3.1, so I've got Microsoft in my blood. The progression from those days to Vista has been unreal.

But lately, I've been listening to a lot of the talk on Linux and its advantages of MS, and have decided to give Linux a go and see what it's all about. Time for a change you could say.

So I've done some reading, and plenty surfing, and have been astounded by the sheer number of distros!! ...compared to maybe 5 Microsoft operating systems. So needless to say, I've been impressed with the variety!!

From my searches, among the main distros appear to be Ubuntu, Mandriva, PCLOS, Mint and Suse.

But what I havent managed to find out so far what the REAL differences between them are. They all seem to use the same desktop environments (KDE or GNOME), same programs/packages etc.

So, I know this may may be inflammatory which is not my intent (so please dont flame)...but what does Ubuntu have to offer that other Linix OS's (like the ones listed above) dont??

Thanks in advance!
GBC

[olskar]

I think that the community around ubuntu is great, that might be one of the reasons it is so big

I have tried 20+ different linuxdists and feel ubuntu is best for me, you should test some of the biggest too :)

[namegame]

Chances are that with Ubuntu you will get much better technical support. That's not to say that some other linux communities aren't great, but the people here at Ubuntu are very patient with new users, both to Ubuntu and Linux in general.

[tyroeternal]

For me the choice of ubuntu falls down to a few simple things:

1. ubuntu is easy
2. the package management is very solid
3. the community is really helpful

yes, other distros are easy, yes other distros have great package management, and yes other distros have nice community support. for the majority of us the balance comes from trying them all out.

if you are able to... try out ubuntu, debian, fedora, suse, heck... i started out with slackware because i wanted to learn how things worked from the ground up.

if you want an easy to use system with great community support use ubuntu for a few weeks, but dont stop there. turn around and try out a few other distros, because the freedom of choice is one of the great things about using linux.

[sub2007]

I've tried plenty of distros now but Ubuntu is the only one I've ever particularly become fond of, it is perfect for me and whilst I'm glad I have the choice I really now don't want to use any distro other than Ubuntu. I think what it comes down to is the community, ease of use and the excellent repositories. It also has decent hardware recognition, I haven't in my experience found a distro that works as well with my hardware as Ubuntu does.

Ubuntu is my favourite but you'll find fans of each of the distros you listed giving you reasons why their favourite is the best. It's personal taste mainly and the only way you'll find out which one you like the best is to try them.

[GBC79]

Hmm, thanks for the replies guys, keep them coming!

So far, I'm giving PCLOS 2008 GNOME a workout, tried MEPIS and SABAYON temporarily, but wasnt blown away by them. I really do like PCLOS though, very nice interface.

I'm saving Ubuntu/Kubuntu for last to be my milestone to compare everything against! :)

So far, I can see what you mean about community...this is an awesome resource these forums. Kudos to the Ubuntu community!

[Blue Heron]

but what does Ubuntu have to offer that other Linix OS's (like the ones listed above) dont??

1. giant community
2. funny name

[smartboyathome]

I would say try Ubuntu. It has great hardware support, and is the easiest I have come across. :D

[Flying caveman]

Its because everyone secretly loves Brown.

[heartburnkid]

* The community is great
* The package management is top-notch
* Installation is very simple

[tbrminsanity]

Hi, I'm pretty new to the whole Linux OS thing, so please bear with me. I've used Microsoft operating systems since the days of DOS 3.1, so I've got Microsoft in my blood. The progression from those days to Vista has been unreal.

But lately, I've been listening to a lot of the talk on Linux and its advantages of MS, and have decided to give Linux a go and see what it's all about. Time for a change you could say.

So I've done some reading, and plenty surfing, and have been astounded by the sheer number of distros!! ...compared to maybe 5 Microsoft operating systems. So needless to say, I've been impressed with the variety!!

From my searches, among the main distros appear to be Ubuntu, Mandriva, PCLOS, Mint and Suse.

But what I havent managed to find out so far what the REAL differences between them are. They all seem to use the same desktop environments (KDE or GNOME), same programs/packages etc.

So, I know this may may be inflammatory which is not my intent (so please dont flame)...but what does Ubuntu have to offer that other Linix OS's (like the ones listed above) dont??

Thanks in advance!
GBC

If I was you I would download and burn off a wide range of different LiveCDs (Ubuntu, fedora, Suse, Solaris, Sylable, etc.). Try them all out and you will see why people love each of the different OSs. Switching OSs can be an alien experience (I know because I've done it twice [Amiga to Windows, then Windows to Linux]) and it is best to choose the new OS based on things you want from an OS.

[capink]

These are some differences between distros (with focus on how ubuntu is different):

1. Default desktop environment (gnome, kde, xfce, fluxbox ...... etc). Ubuntu provides multiple flavours to suit different tastes. The main Ubuntu uses gnome. Kubuntu flavour uses kde. The Xubutu flavour uses xfce. There are also some unofficial Ubuntu flavors that support minimal disktop evironments like fluxbuntu, lxbuntu, icebuntu.

2. Package manager: This is the way you install precompiled software into your system. The two main package managers in linux are debian and rpm. Debian based distros like ubuntu and mint use the debian package manager which is considered by a lot of people to be superior because of better handling of dependecies. It also has a GUI which very easy to use called synaptic (or adept in kde). Other distros like mandriva, fedora, pcoslinux use rpm. Rpm is solid package manager and has some GUI forntends as well.

3. How much software is available in the official repositories for each distro. Debian and Ubuntu both contain a huge amount of programs (close to 20000).

4. Programs installed by defualt. For example compiz fusion (eye candy) is installed by default ubuntu while it is not on some other distros. Also some distos ship with multiple install CDs that contain more than one program for the same task. Ubuntu comes with a single install cd that contains only one program of each task, but you can still install other programs if you like them more from the huge repositories.

5. Each distro compile the linux kernel with different options. Also some like Ubuntu add custom patches to the kernel to support more hardware.

6. Some distros are optimized for certain class of processors. For example arch is optimized for i686 which make it faster than some other distros. Debain and ubuntu support more archituctures. On x86 they are optimized for i586 to support more older processors as well. But they also support other architectures as amd, ppc ... etc.

7. Distros are different in their release cycle. There are two main classes of distros. First class includes distros like ubuntu which release a new version periodically (6 months in case of ubuntu). The software in this class of distros receive only security updates. If a new version of a certain program is released it will not be added to the current version of the distro, you will have to wait for the next release of the distro to get the latest software, so the software gets outdated at the later stages of the distro lifecycle and you are to upgrade your distro with every new release to get the latest software. The second class of distros is called rolling release. That is software is updated continually as new versions come out. This class includes debian unstable, debian testing and arch.

8. Some distro are more strict than others when it comes to the license of the software. Debian is known to contain only free open source software. Ubuntu is more flexible. But if you want proprietary codecs out of box, go with mint which is an ubuntu derivatrive with non free software installed by default.

[raffeyg]

I am also a Microsoft dummy from DOS 5.0 days, I originally used Geoworks as my main OS. Anyway, I tried other installations of Linux in the past and always had issues. So, I happened to see something about Ubuntu on my google desktop did a little investigating (at this point I am so ready to give up Windows) and gave the CD a whirl. Liked it instantly! Installed it and I was surfing, listening to music and viewing pictures within 30 minutes or so. Got on my network and set up the printer, can open MS Office docs and print with no problems, what else do I need?

[Iehova]

I started out on SuSE, but ubuntu worked a lot better for me on the first computer I tried it on, and all of the others since that. I've now tried a whole bunch of different distros, but keep coming back to ubuntu.

[Daveski]

So, I know this may may be inflammatory which is not my intent (so please dont flame)...but what does Ubuntu have to offer that other Linix OS's (like the ones listed above) dont??


As Linux is sooo configurable and customisable, it is worth thinking of Distros as 'preconfigured' versions of Linux, where a body of people have chosen the tools, packages, versions and configuration of a 'complete' system. Choose the one which suits you best, or dig in deep and completely configure your own system the way you want it (although you will end up a bit more distant from the community of the original Distro if you change it too much).

I like Ubuntu because it is quite simple and has a great community - although I have not experienced more than a tiny slice of the other Distros and communities out there. It does seem that many users here were trying different Distros and just fell into sticking with Ubuntu. My theory is that they get hooked by the community.

[Blue Heron]

Ubuntu is just a hip product.

It's the only professional Linux Distro aimed completely to the home desktop/laptop market

[GBC79]

As Linux is sooo configurable and customisable, it is worth thinking of Distros as 'preconfigured' versions of Linux, where a body of people have chosen the tools, packages, versions and configuration of a 'complete' system. Choose the one which suits you best, or dig in deep and completely configure your own system the way you want it (although you will end up a bit more distant from the community of the original Distro if you change it too much).

I like Ubuntu because it is quite simple and has a great community - although I have not experienced more than a tiny slice of the other Distros and communities out there. It does seem that many users here were trying different Distros and just fell into sticking with Ubuntu. My theory is that they get hooked by the community.

Hey Daveski, thats an interesting analogy. However, since all Linux users basically have the same access to the same packages, it really just comes down to what individual distro installs with upfront?

[Bloch]

In any linux distro it is possible to change and replace things bit by bit so that it becomes a different system. I can install the rpm management system system in ubuntu and change the kernel etc,.
I've never really understood what the distro developerts do. All the components exist, and they put them together - but that's a pretty simplistic view.

[madjr]

Hey Daveski, thats an interesting analogy. However, since all Linux users basically have the same access to the same packages, it really just comes down to what individual distro installs with upfront?

Am also quite new using ubuntu, but i already created (remastered) my own version (Distro) for personal use and that of my family members and friends.

That way we save time re-installing things and make it look just the way we want "out of the box" (thats the key phrase here :)).

A Distro is not only a complete backup of your system, it's also a Live-CD.

It's like when you create your own presentation CD of your company, You customize it for the best experience possible.

It's up to people to choose, thats freedom.

There may be many distros, but The bigger Linux companies are few: Canonical, Red-Hat, Novell, Xandros and Mandriva.

So if you need a big community and company behind your distro then these are the ones to choose, else you can be free and do things your way.

For some people Ubuntu may not be the best for them (again: "out of the box") and then you think they given up on Linux. But then you ask them what they want specifically and BAM! you created a distro specially tailored for them and they are happy now!

Thats why so many distros exists.... simply because "someone" needed it from the start.

and if it's available in the interent is because many others have also found it useful.

Hope that clarifies a bit and welcome aboard ;D

[Sporkman]

The main things that differentiate distros:

1. The window manager (gnome, KDE, xfce, etc),
2. The package manager,
3. The built-in hardware support

Everything else of substance is the same.

[smartboyathome]

By the way, GNOME, KDE, and XFCE are desktop environments. Fluxbox, OpenBox, E17, IceWM, etc are window managers.

[Daveski]

Hey Daveski, thats an interesting analogy. However, since all Linux users basically have the same access to the same packages, it really just comes down to what individual distro installs with upfront?

True, but the repositories 'supported' by a Distro might have versions of apps compiled in a specific way. Also different version of an application will be in different Distros. Actually as the applications are called Packages, it is feasible that a Distro distributes an application with certain add-ons or preconfigured components (codecs are a great example). Or even many applications bundled together as one Package.

I do not think it is just the pre-installed Packages which distinguish a Distro.

[Paris Heng]

Agreed.

[jespdj]

I've used Linux on and off for a long time - started with Slackware on my 486 in 1994, later used Red Hat (before it split into RH Enterprise Linux and Fedora), had Mandrake for a while (before it was renamed to Mandriva).

I started using Ubuntu in 2006 because I read that it was the most popular Linux distribution. I immediately liked it because it was user friendly, looks good and just works. I like to tinker with computers, but I also want a system that works when I need it, I don't want to waste too much time fixing things.

What I also like about Ubuntu compared to other distros is that there is such a big software repository, it looks like there's more in Ubuntu's repository than in the repository of other distros. I also like the community - for almost every problem there's a solution to be found in the forums here or elsewhere on Internet, or at least more information about the problem if there isn't a solution yet.

For reviews and comparisons of different Linux distros, see http://distrowatch.com/

[tbrminsanity]

I started off with Corel Linux which at the time was decent but ultimately flawed. I then switched to Caldera Linux (before the SCO buyout). It was nice but hard to add new software. After SCO bought Caldera I kinda abandoned Linux for a while (I just used Knoppix to do troubleshooting on win computers). A friend of mine suggested I try Debian out but after a disastrous attempt at installing it over a weekend I decided to try other Debian based Linux distros. I fell in love with Ubuntu and never looked back. The biggest thing that sold me though was Synaptic. That program is Ubuntu's greatest asset.

[bimmerd00d]

so I've got Microsoft in my blood.

Maybe it's time for a transfusion :lolflag:

[Trail]

Why Ubuntu? Apt. :)

[karellen]

Ubuntu because of:
1. the community
2. the repos
3. Mark Shuttleworth

[vishzilla]

Ubuntu because of:
1. the community
2. the repos
3. Mark Shuttleworth

3. Mark Shuttleworth (Mr. Ubuntu) +1 ;)

[wersdaluv]

The world is slowly being designed for Ubuntu :D hehe

Ubuntu's nice. It's so easy to ask for help with it compared to other distro's. Google searches are in favor of Ubuntu more than any other distro. More people use Ubuntu so more people support Ubuntu. :KS

[ZarathustraDK]

All of the above of course and :

- Linux make you feel good about yourself for a valid reason. It adds an element of moral to an arena where none existed before. Benefitting from Linux means eating apples from a bucket of eternal amounts of apples, and in the process make the apples taste better for everyone.

*continues to pull random analogies out his behind* :guitar: