Why is Ubuntu better than your previous distro?

[denisesballs]

I looked, but couldn't find a thread like this. If there already is, sorry!

I know a lot of people have swicthed to Ubuntu from other Linux distros. What are your reasons? I'll start with mine:

I came from Fedora. I've used Redhat/Fedora since Redhat 8. I always felt it didn't quite fit. First of all, I hated how BLOATED it always was. It comes with so much crap you don't need, and then you still wind up in dependency hell! I like how Ubuntu is a small distro on one disk, and the software repositories are HUGE. Once apt/yum started working for Fedora, it was a good solution. However adding 5-10 third-party repositories that were either slow, or down half the time would drive me nuts. I also could never seem to build something from source. Once I got the ./configure all nice and good, the make would die. How does that make sense? Even building from source, not that I have to very much anymore, is so much smoother on Ubuntu.

I also like how packages are built for common things like Nvidia drivers, so you don't have to watch Nvidia's site, or edit the xorg.conf file.

Nomatter what I hear, Ubuntu is at least 1/3 as fast as Fedora. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because of the bloat, but it's true.

I think it's interesting how people from all over the distro map - from noobies to advanced people - are switching to Ubuntu. Is it just because things "just work"? Why is Ubuntu better than your previous distro?

[Kyral]

I used to use Gentoo. Two words "Compile Time". 'Nuff said

But before that I used Slackware. Why did I switch from Slack to Gentoo anyway....

[aysiu]

I started on Mepis, and you'll often see me plugging Mepis to first-time Linux users here who complain about how un-user-friendly they think Ubuntu is. The truth is that a lot of newly ex-Windows users (including myself) have certain expectations about how something should work and how things should be configured (everything should be GUI). A lot of new Linux users don't want to bother installing non-free codecs or editing config files. Mepis also is both a live and installer CD (something Ubuntu's working on, I hear) and has a graphical installer (something people constantly complain about regarding Ubuntu). It's also cost-free.

Why did I switch? Well, Mepis is a good first distro, but Ubuntu's a much better second distro. After a while, I realized a few things about Mepis:

1. It's bloated and slow. KDE in general is slow, but I've seen KDE fast on some distros (Kubuntu and PCLinuxOS, for example).
2. The community isn't very knowledgeable or responsive (in general).
3. They have an ugly bootsplash that is not easy to change.

Ubuntu appealed to me for several reasons at that point:

1. Once I got used to Linux, I didn't mind editing configuration files. In fact, now I prefer it that way.
2. It's totally free, and I believe in that. If I want non-free codecs, there are plenty of good how-tos on how to install those.
3. It's very easy to customize, and I don't have an ugly bootsplash.
4. The release cycle is every six months.
5. The community is responsive and knowledgeable.

[canadianwriterman]

I started with Linspire 5.0: Had to pay for it, had to pay for repository access, too limited in its tinkerability

Next went to Xandros 3.0: A good distro, but again paid access to the repository (for most items)

Then I tried OpenSUSE 10.0: It was on FIVE disks, on install it couldn't detect my network connection, I couldn't figure out how to configure it and the forum couldn't help

Finally, I found Ubuntu: I immediately "connected" with its philosphy and its look and feel. I installed and opened it one morning before work. On the way to work, it suddenly struck me that I felt calm and relaxed after using Ubuntu, even though I didn't have everything the way I wanted it. The key has been you folks on the forum who have walked me through almost everything I wanted to do and needed to fix.

I doubt that I'll use any other distro. I'm home.

[Orunitia]

It just works. Simple as that.

Slackware/Debian makes you configure too much yourself (not knocking those distros, they are both wonderful.) Distros like Suse/Redhat/Fedora/Mandrake... I just cannot stand RPM's. I've used different versions of all the distros listed above.

[nenotnom]

I went from Windows XP to Slackware. I tried a number of distros, but only slackware would run on my computer without problems, I became tired of having to configure absolutely everything by hand however. Slackware wasn't meant for me.
So one time I stumbled upon Ubuntu and installed it, and it was the only distro except Slack that actually worked well on my computer, and then I got even more pulled in by the community thing. You know, the whole thing about humanity, and the fact that the creator of Ubuntu actually seems to get it.

[Lovechild]

It's not - that's why I switched back.

The only real advantage I see with Ubuntu is that unlike Fedora they make it easy to use questionable software like Mono and various codecs. Oh and dpkg can handled installing from a path with a space in it, rpm seems to fall over by default if you do that.

[tseliot]

Linspire 5.0: the first time I used it (I was a windows user) I followed a guide to install Synaptic (instead of CNR, in which you have to pay). I installed some apps which broke the OS. Then I read about a certain Ubuntu...

OpenSuse 10: perhaps my mind is influenced too much by Ubuntu but I find the GUI so user friendly that it's highly unfriendly for me (where's my command line??? ). No, really it also gave problems when I installed on my desktop computer. It's not for me.

PCLinuxOS Preview 9.1: it has almost every package you might desire to have, it's all point and click (nvidia drivers, etc.) but it's buggy. Sometimes it forgets who's in charge here and pretends not to accept my commands (open the file manager, damn! )

Fedora Core 4: It looks good, and I love the command line (as usual) then I try to update it: "yum update" or just "yum install some_app". The problem is that it takes too much time. Perhaps it's just that I'm used to APT and Synaptic in Ubuntu.

Ubuntu: everything I ever wanted. Fast, stable (I refer to GNOME). And I enjoy writing guides for it when I have some free time. I love it and I haven't found anything better.

P.S. I mean no offense to anyone who love some of the distros I've dealt with. This is my experience and it doesn't mean anything. If one of this distros works fine for you then I'm happy for you.

[GeneralZod]

I came directly from Gentoo, where it took me approximately two weeks to get my install to the same degree of useability as an out-of-the-box install of Kubuntu - and no, the time wasn't all spent compiling

I learnt how to follow instructions from the handbook; no more. It is a unique and oddly beautiful distro, though - portage in particular is an absolute joy, especially if you like installing bleeding-edge apps, like me

Generally, I like things being done for me - for instance, mounting DVDs as soon as I put them in the drive, which I know some of the members of this board actively hate! - so in the end, Gentoo was not for me. I also like the forums and community here more, although the Gentoo community is still great and very knowledgeable.

[bored2k]

The distro I was using right before Ubuntu 4.10 was Xandros 3. Ridiculously bad repositories (adding Debian sid repositories was pretty much playing russian roulette), installing other DMs would just produce mayhem and delete all the xandros-* system files, and overall It made me more bubbly minute after minute.