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10 Tips for Optimizing Your Ubuntu Experience
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Comments (12)
> ... or Linux Mint Debian Edition.
Or maybe just Debian. Or if you're in the mood for something different, Slackware or Arch.
Or maybe just Debian. Or if you're in the mood for something different, Slackware or Arch.
If you like the idea of Debian or LMDE, but want faster updates and a focus on either KDE or XFCE, I suggest SolydXK.
http://solydxk.com/
http://solydxk.com/
This:
Followed by this:
Mint ships with all of these "legally questionable" codecs OOTB.
Maybe it is just my opinion on the matter - but if you aren't willing to change some software on Ubuntu then installing Debian/Arch isn't the right choice for you either.
~Jeff
Quoting:install restricted drivers and legally questionable codecs in order to play videos or music
Followed by this:
Quoting:Try another Linux distribution! My suggestion? ... Linux Mint Debian Edition.
Mint ships with all of these "legally questionable" codecs OOTB.
Maybe it is just my opinion on the matter - but if you aren't willing to change some software on Ubuntu then installing Debian/Arch isn't the right choice for you either.
~Jeff
Quoting:Maybe it is just my opinion on the matter - but if you aren't willing to change some software on Ubuntu then installing Debian/Arch isn't the right choice for you either.
<chuckle>
@ Jeff91
"Mint ships with all of these "legally questionable" codecs OOTB.
Maybe it is just my opinion on the matter - but if you aren't willing to change some software on Ubuntu then installing Debian/Arch isn't the right choice for you either."
First, my point regarding the questionably legal codects, etc., is NOT that they're questionably legal but that they're not installed out of the box as they are on many other distros.
Similarly, my point regarding having to install alternatives to default software was not the hassle of doing so, but to illustrate the poor choices that Ubuntu uses by default.
"Mint ships with all of these "legally questionable" codecs OOTB.
Maybe it is just my opinion on the matter - but if you aren't willing to change some software on Ubuntu then installing Debian/Arch isn't the right choice for you either."
First, my point regarding the questionably legal codects, etc., is NOT that they're questionably legal but that they're not installed out of the box as they are on many other distros.
Similarly, my point regarding having to install alternatives to default software was not the hassle of doing so, but to illustrate the poor choices that Ubuntu uses by default.
> ...but if you aren't willing to change some software on Ubuntu then installing Debian/Arch isn't the right choice for you either.
The difficulty of the jump from Ubuntu to Debian is greatly overrated.
The difficulty of the jump from Ubuntu to Debian is greatly overrated.
cmost - As someone who manages a Linux distribution let me tell you this...
You are never going to please everyone. No matter what software you ship with by default, someone is going to complain and someone is going to love it. Heck - I even catch flack at Bodhi for not shipping with not enough software, while others complain we ship with too much.
Jdixon - never said it was hard to change from one to the other.
What I said was changing a couple applications on Ubuntu is going to be easier than setting up Debian (the point being, both are fairly trivial).
I think too many people hate on Ubuntu just to hate on Ubuntu. At the end of the day they do a lot of Linux as a whole (including a lot of packaging that goes back to Debian) - so even if you don't use it personally - please don't disrespect what they do.
~Jeff
You are never going to please everyone. No matter what software you ship with by default, someone is going to complain and someone is going to love it. Heck - I even catch flack at Bodhi for not shipping with not enough software, while others complain we ship with too much.
Jdixon - never said it was hard to change from one to the other.
What I said was changing a couple applications on Ubuntu is going to be easier than setting up Debian (the point being, both are fairly trivial).
I think too many people hate on Ubuntu just to hate on Ubuntu. At the end of the day they do a lot of Linux as a whole (including a lot of packaging that goes back to Debian) - so even if you don't use it personally - please don't disrespect what they do.
~Jeff
@ Jeff91
Once again you misunderstand my point. My comments were not about Ubuntu per se; rather, I thought it humorous that someone writes an article about 10 tips to make Ubuntu better when all of them could be resolved in one fell swoop if the author switched to another distribution. While I can understand a distro requiring users to add their own questionable codecs, when a long-time Ubuntu user suggests that users use KDE's dolphin in Unity because Nautilus is so apparently dysfunctional that it can't perform basic network operations it borderlines on ridiculous. As for disrespecting what Canonical/Ubuntu do? I don't use Ubuntu or any of its derivatives so I couldn't care less. I'm more of a hands on, tinkerer sort of user and I found nirvana in Sabayon.
Once again you misunderstand my point. My comments were not about Ubuntu per se; rather, I thought it humorous that someone writes an article about 10 tips to make Ubuntu better when all of them could be resolved in one fell swoop if the author switched to another distribution. While I can understand a distro requiring users to add their own questionable codecs, when a long-time Ubuntu user suggests that users use KDE's dolphin in Unity because Nautilus is so apparently dysfunctional that it can't perform basic network operations it borderlines on ridiculous. As for disrespecting what Canonical/Ubuntu do? I don't use Ubuntu or any of its derivatives so I couldn't care less. I'm more of a hands on, tinkerer sort of user and I found nirvana in Sabayon.
> Tip Number 11: Try another Linux distribution! My suggestion? Sabayon, Mageia or Linux Mint Debian Edition.
Maybe the guy doesn't care about Gentoo offsprings, Mageia didn't release anything in one year, as for Mint he is afraid it will go Fuduntu on him.
He likes apt-get and the general support he has from Ubuntu, he doesn't like the package selection so he replaces some of the programs, not a big deal. A distro is more than a package selection. In fact the package selection is the least important thing in a distro.
"tweak the living crap out of it" is also fine, that is the only way to learn something new. Try it out yourself, maybe your tips will improve.
Maybe the guy doesn't care about Gentoo offsprings, Mageia didn't release anything in one year, as for Mint he is afraid it will go Fuduntu on him.
He likes apt-get and the general support he has from Ubuntu, he doesn't like the package selection so he replaces some of the programs, not a big deal. A distro is more than a package selection. In fact the package selection is the least important thing in a distro.
"tweak the living crap out of it" is also fine, that is the only way to learn something new. Try it out yourself, maybe your tips will improve.
> Jdixon - never said it was hard to change from one to the other.
Absolutely true Jeff, I apologize if I gave the impression that you thought it was.
Absolutely true Jeff, I apologize if I gave the impression that you thought it was.
Well, that's actually a fair point, but the article is focusing on optimizing the *Ubuntu* experience for those who prefer Ubuntu for whatever reason. So yes, the 11th suggestion could be switching to a distro that has much of this stuff settled out of the box, but then again that other distro could come with its own quirks.and by that its own set of things to do to tweak it to optimal experience. Using Dolphin for tasks that Nautilus can unfortunately no longer do is still a far cry from switching to KDE entirely, or another distro.
As for the 32 bit suggestion, I experienced this myself, some third party packages not wanting to install because they don't ship the 64bit version, and Ubuntu.com itself still "recommends" the 32bit download by default. That's probably not a coincidence. It might be a bit of an outlier thing, but if you just want a peace of mind that every Ubuntu package will work that's the way to go.
About "tweak the living crap out of it", I don't really see these tweaks as that deep.. they're mostly superficial compared to the stuff I did to Linux distros in the past since these Unity tweak tools don't really offer all that much in terms of deeper customization. It's about a few details, maybe changing a theme, and that's about it.
Whether Ubuntu is the best Linux distro is completely besides the point, and that's pretty subjective anyway.
As for the 32 bit suggestion, I experienced this myself, some third party packages not wanting to install because they don't ship the 64bit version, and Ubuntu.com itself still "recommends" the 32bit download by default. That's probably not a coincidence. It might be a bit of an outlier thing, but if you just want a peace of mind that every Ubuntu package will work that's the way to go.
About "tweak the living crap out of it", I don't really see these tweaks as that deep.. they're mostly superficial compared to the stuff I did to Linux distros in the past since these Unity tweak tools don't really offer all that much in terms of deeper customization. It's about a few details, maybe changing a theme, and that's about it.
Whether Ubuntu is the best Linux distro is completely besides the point, and that's pretty subjective anyway.
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Tip Number 11: Try another Linux distribution! My suggestion? Sabayon, Mageia or Linux Mint Debian Edition.