Why do you use Ubuntu

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31 Jul 2007
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Hi all, I don't want a flame war here but as I've noticed so many of you are Ubuntu fans I'd like to know why.

I must admit I don't like it at the moment as:
  • It doesn't seem very customisable.
  • It doesn't come with build tools.
  • It leaves nothing Vanilla

There must be some good points to it (being easy to use isn't one of them, it was far harder for me than my Slackware 12 running fluxbox!)

Like I said, I don't want a flame war but just some sensible debating.
 
Ubuntu is as customizable as any distro of Linux. Just check out the Linux Desktop thread for the things you can do to the GUI. You can even change the GUI if you don't like GNOME.

If you want/need build tools, install them.

Not sure what you mean with your third point I'm afraid.
 
SiriusB said:
Not sure what you mean with your third point I'm afraid.
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Sorry about that one, by that I mean it uses all custom icons and patches that may not be strictly needed.
SiriusB said:
You can even change the GUI if you don't like GNOME.
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I must admit, I don't like gnome in the slightest but I already knew of xUbuntu, I suppose what I'm getting at is the fact that it installs a standard system and only then can I change things rather than going bare-bones and asking me to add things or having a more 'in-depth' setup.
SiriusB said:
If you want/need build tools, install them.
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Fair cop, after my last rant you're right on that one.
 
refresh said:
...I suppose what I'm getting at is the fact that it installs a standard system and only then can I change things rather than going bare-bones and asking me to add things or having a more 'in-depth' setup.
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It's a distro that's designed to get users into a working system as soon as possible. Once inside, they assume, users can change it to suit their preferences. Imagine if you were a brand new Linux user and it had an installer asking you all sorts of questions like which window managers to install, what to place in init.d, how to configure X, and that sort of thing. You might not get on very well with it because you wouldn't know what those things are, nor would you probably have a preference either way.

If you're looking for a distro that lets you customize it before anything, try out Gentoo.
 
Those are all fair points (I must admit I'm not man enough to get gentoo working, it keeps arguing with me.) Thing is, Ubuntu was my first distro, for all of about an hour. I hated the installer for being too basic but that's just me. (I tend to direct newcomers to fedora as the installer there is a nice balance)
 
As BTI has already said Ubuntu gets you up and running right away. The Ubuntu motto is "it just works" or something to that effect. And for the most part it is true.

Once you are familiar with Linux then you can set about customizing your install, or choosing a distro that lets you decided everything from the very start.
 
Like what others have said :)
I find it usually just works, or if not there's 99% chance theres a subject relating in there forums. Its quite compact as well, the 700mb install/live cd is great.
I use to be pretty hard core redhat (pre enterprise)/fedora user but found with every update it would break something, not to mention conflicting repo's. Its to bleeding edge for its own good.
In fact i prefer fedora but i've had to many niggles that i dont seem to have the patience anymore to sort out and stick with it.
 
7.04 is the current version and is very good. 7.10, Gutsy Gibbon, is due in October and promises even more features.
 
the only thing that utterly ticks me off is that it just DOESNT detect my bluetooth keyb/mouse and i have to install with another keyb/mouse until i get into the distro.
 
Blame the manufacturers, not the developers. Manufacturers spend lots of money making sure their stuff works in Windows. Most don't give a stuff about Linux and most drivers are usually home-made.
 
tntcoder said:
Ubuntu is very bloated tbh, but it is very easy for new users to pick up.
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Which is precisely what it is for.

If you want lean you could try Xubuntu or one of the server editions.
 
One of the many beautiful things about Linux is that there isn't just one version available. If Ubuntu doesn't suit your tastes you can always try others such as Fedora, SuSE, Slackware, or Gentoo. All have their place.
 
Yeah, like LizardKing says, it's less of a struggle to use Ubuntu. I loved using Sabayon cause it was like using Gentoo without the headaches, but every update would bork something, and in the end I just used to get frustrated.

Personally I prefer Kubuntu as I don't like Gnome. The only thing that annoys me is that I'm so used to having a root account and using su, so I keep on forgetting to prepend sudo onto commands and wonder why it falls over with access denied messages.

Overall it is very noob friendly, but I don't see that as a bad thing any more.
 
GarethDW said:
The only thing that annoys me is that I'm so used to having a root account and using su, so I keep on forgetting to prepend sudo onto commands and wonder why it falls over with access denied messages.
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I find it helps to create aliases for common commands in your ~/.bashrc
Code: 
alias apachectl="sudo apachectl"
alias chmod="sudo chmod"
alias chown="sudo chown"
etc.
 
I used it because I need to have a configurable local server as a development environment at work, and my only other choice is windows. it's a no-brainer really!
 
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