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7 Reasons to Pick Ubuntu and When Not to Choose It

Posted by Chris7mas on · 32 comments
TuxArea; By Craciun Dan 		Mail this story
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Today I was not in the mood for testing applications and making some review, and although the new Flock 2.0 would deserve my attention, I think I'll cover it tomorrow. So instead of a review or a tutorial, I decided to write something more like a lecture, so you won't need any technical knowledge to read it. Surfing on the web got me an idea: how about an article to pick up a Linux distribution? And, to be more precise, what about an article to explain why Ubuntu or Debian? Since these are also the only two distributions I'm familiar with, here I am, writing this.

Today I was not in the mood for testing applications and making some review, and although the new Flock 2.0 would deserve my attention, I think I'll cover it tomorrow. So instead of a review or a tutorial, I decided to write something more like a lecture, so you won't need any technical knowledge to read it. Surfing on the web got me an idea: how about an article to pick up a Linux distribution? And, to be more precise, what about an article to explain why Ubuntu or Debian? Since these are also the only two distributions I'm familiar with, here I am, writing this.

I guess most of the readers are already familiar with Ubuntu, but I'm also writing this for new users, which use Linux for the first time. I use Debian for over a year now, but I used both Ubuntu and Kubuntu in the past (especially Dapper Drake and Edgy Eft) and also 8.04 and 8.10 Beta.

To be a little off-topic: regarding Kubuntu, I remember there was a time when I really appreciated this distribution, back in the 6.06 'Dapper Drake' days. And although I'm a KDE user and fan, I don't recommend Kubuntu for those who want a KDE-based distribution: with no disregard to the developers, my personal opinion is that Kubuntu (at least 8.04 with KDE 3.5.9) is the worst choice. Packages taken from Debian have exactly the same bugs which were already filed against them on bugs.debian.org, additions to applications are awefully done, and despite all the talking (including the conference from about two years ago when Mark Shuttleworth said they will focus more on KDE), Kubuntu receives next to no attention lately. But that's just my opinion, maybe yours differs. However, I recommend using Debian Lenny if you want a stable KDE 3.5.9. I'll look forward to see how Kubuntu 8.10 with KDE 4.2 will behave, although something tells me I shouldn't even bother.

Back to our topic. Why pick Ubuntu and when to pick it?

Well, first of all, the already classic, well-known characteristics which define Ubuntu:

1. It has a release cycle of 6 months, the version numbering having the form YEAR.MONTH_NUMBER (8.10 'Intrepid Ibex' is the next version which will be released in the end of October - 8 stands for the year, 2008, while 10 stands for the month number)
2. It's one of the most user-friendly distributions out there; most of the applications are already configured to work out of the box
3. Each release is bleeding-edge and pretty stable
4. It has a great hardware detection system and usually you won't have to install any other drivers after a complete installation
5. It comes with desktop effects enabled by default on Intel graphics card; if you have a powerful nVIDIA you'll have to install the driver graphically, very easy
6. Ubuntu uses the powerful packaging system used by Debian: APT (Advanced Packaging Tool), which is very powerful and easy to use, either using a GUI frontend like Synaptic or via command-line
7. You can enable only the repositories containing free software, or you can use third-party repositories like Medibuntu.org, which include closed-source, patented software too

If you want a different desktop environment than GNOME, I recommend Debian (or some other distribution, I heard SuSE is very good with KDE, Fedora both KDE and GNOME). I think packages in Ubuntu other than the ones which come installed by default sometimes have nasty unfixed bugs. Not once I saw an application which doesn't even start, and not because of some misconfiguration, but because it wasn't even tested well enough to see how it behaves in different situations.

If you want a stable server, I think it's best to go with the LTS - Long Term Release, Dapper or Hardy are both fit, but you can choose Debian too, which is famous for releasing well-tested software.

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Comments (32)

12 earlier comments in the full thread.

Steven_Rosenber ·
Many projects can learn from the Ubuntu community. A lot less RTFM, a lot more help. A lot of that help isn't of high quality, but at least you don't get your knuckles smacked with a metal ruler for asking how to mount a hard drive.
tracyanne ·
Quoting:Many projects can learn from the Ubuntu community.


Maybe they could, but Ubuntu isn't the only friendly community, that welcomes novice users.
rijelkentaurus ·
The only non-friendly forum I have ever been a part of is PCLinuxOS...and they're not bad for the most part, unless you ask The Forbidden Question. A-holes tend to get run out of most communities, IMO, although there are still a few.
jdixon ·
> The only non-friendly forum I have ever been a part of is PCLinuxOS

Some Slackware fora are noted for not being particularly newbie friendly. :(
rijelkentaurus ·
Quoting: Some Slackware fora are noted for not being particularly newbie friendly. :(


Uncivilized behavior is horrible...but since Slackware is not known as a newbie-friendly distro (whether that is deserved or not...), that's not as bad as PCLOS, which is most definitely known as newbie-friendly.
Sander_Marechal ·
Quoting:unless you ask The Forbidden Question.


Which is?
gus3 ·
The Forbidden Question is, "When is the next version coming out?"
mortenalver ·
Is it forbidden because the current version is so old, or has it always been forbidden?
gus3 ·
It has always been forbidden.

The correct answer is, "The next version will come out when it comes out." Anyone who isn't satisfied with that answer can kindly take their childish, self-centered pestering elsewhere.
Sander_Marechal ·
I've heard many less positive experiences about the PCLinuxOS forums.
rijelkentaurus ·
It doesn't even matter how you ask The Forbidden Question, even if you're a newcomer who is just curious you'll get blessed out.

Quoting: Is it forbidden because the current version is so old, or has it always been forbidden?


It is getting quite moldy, kernel 2.6.18.x. And I always wonder about the security with PCLOS, because you never really receive kernel updates, or at least not very often. And for trying to be a "user-friendly" cutting-edge style distro, that's a very old kernel. The whole reason that PCLOS 2007 (still the current version name) got pushed to get out quickly was because they were still using gcc 3.x and things like the new flash player wouldn't compile correctly. I can't even say that they're keeping the applications very current, I haven't had an update on my girl's PC in a while. She will soon be running Mandriva, anyway.

I was a big supporter once...but since Mandriva has their act together, I really question the need for PCLOS now, it just seems moldy.

Anyone know when the next version is coming out? :)
techiem2 ·
Yeah, PCLOS was nice...when it was up to date...I started my mom's comp on it..then switched her over to SAM early this year...then to Mandriva 2009 recently.
mortenalver ·
Looks like they are currently betatesting the 2009 version....
jdixon ·
> "When is the next version coming out?"

The correct answer is supposed to be "When it's ready". That's always the stock answer for Slackware.

> I've heard many less positive experiences about the PCLinuxOS forums.

I've heard a few. But, as with Ubuntu, I'm not there, so I can't speak personally.
tuxchick ·
There aren't any good reasons to be flamey and rude. If a question gets asked a lot, then have a FAQ, and nicely point noobs to it. If Ubuntu's biggest achievement is making civility cool, then that will be a major accomplishment.
happyfeet ·
I only had one snotty reply on the Sabayon forum; the rest were helpful.
Steven_Rosenber ·
All this "forbidden question" stuff can be avoided with a clearly stated, easily found policy on release frequency and support.

Ubuntu does a release every six months. Each release is supported for 18 months. LTS (long-term support releases) are supported on the desktop for three years.

Debian only releases when ready, but once the Testing distro becomes Stable, the current Unstable at that moment becomes Testing, and the formerly Stable distro becomes Old Stable and receives minimal patching for a year.

At least that's how I understand it. There was a time when I didn't know that Debian even had an Old Stable designation. Somebody from Debian explained it to me (and they were very nice about it). It would be nice if Debian had it laid out better on their Web site, but at least there is a policy. Since the current Stable, which is Etch, has been out for more than a year, the former Stable, which is Sarge, hit its end of life as Old Stable in April of this year.

Slackware doesn't have a set schedule but does release about once a year, give or take. (A peek at Slackware's Distrowatch page -- http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=slackware -- confirms this).

The rolling release method is OK. But from what I see, PCLinuxOS is pretty loose. Sure the main PCLinuxOS 2007 release still has a 2.6.18 kernel (which happens to play very nicely with my Gateway laptop), but RHEL/CentOS 5.2 ALSO has a 2.6.18 kernel. I can't say for sure how often the PCLinuxOS kernel has been patched, but I know that the RHEL kernel has seen plenty of updates. Even Debian Etch has a 2.6.18 kernel, and Debian patches it fairly frequently. Sure there's a newer kernel in Etch and a Half, but I suspect that the 2.6.18 kernel in Etch is as secure as the newer one.

All of the alternate PCLinuxOS releases -- Mini Me, GNOME, etc. -- seem to have newer kernels, and any of those can be built up to work just like the 2007 release, I expect. And with PCLinuxOS 2009 in beta, there will be a newer version of the project's main distro released soon enough. From my perspective, releasing every year is good, every six months OK, and every two years not bad at all as long as security is taken care of in the interim. (That means Debian Lenny should go stable by next April to keep me happy.)

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gus3 ·
@S_R:

All the clearly-stated policies in the world don't mean a thing, when someone's first thought is to ask in a forum or a chatroom rather than do a Google search for "$DISTRO release schedule".

The stock answer "when it's ready" or "it will come out when it comes out," is designed to discourage this line of questioning. Otherwise, the entire Internet would dissolve into an electronic version of "Are we there yet?".
rijelkentaurus ·
Quoting: Sure the main PCLinuxOS 2007 release still has a 2.6.18 kernel (which happens to play very nicely with my Gateway laptop), but RHEL/CentOS 5.2 ALSO has a 2.6.18 kernel. I can't say for sure how often the PCLinuxOS kernel has been patched, but I know that the RHEL kernel has seen plenty of updates. Even Debian Etch has a 2.6.18 kernel, and Debian patches it fairly frequently. Sure there's a newer kernel in Etch and a Half, but I suspect that the 2.6.18 kernel in Etch is as secure as the newer one.


Thank you for illustrating my point. Where in the H are the PCLOS updates to the kernel? It's only sensible for a release to run the same basic kernel for its lifetime, but it has to have security patches compiled into it to keep it secure, and I don't recall PCLOS doing much of that. AFAICT, it's pretty much the same kernel that started things off, perhaps with a patch or two (perhaps...but I don't remember one...if I am wrong or if it does get patched regularly, then my apologies to the Ripper Gang). Red Hat/CentOS patch on a pretty regular basis, as do Debian and Mandriva.

And if you want to avoid the "forbidden question" stuff? Don't flame new users who want to know, for starters, calmly point them to a stated policy. But "release when ready" is really just an excuse in this case. With Debian, it's "when it's ready...which is looking like around February". In the PCLOS forums, even someone who is following the beta releases and is curious as to when they might finalize it is gonna get flamed...that's just not cool.
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