I have read articles recently about ubuntu being the number one distro of Linux and that there are more users than any other distro. I have had some people tell me also that ubuntu is great and super easy to use. I don’t understand some things about this though. I will come right out and say it before I go any further; I am pro suse in this battle. I have used it for about 2 years now. I switched from being a die hard red hat user to suse for the plain and simple reason that suse loaded on my laptop without any tweaking and red hat needed countless tweaks and none without doing a rescue with the install cd’s. But that is aside from my point. I had never really tried ubuntu. So the other day I gave it a try.
From the install and ease of installing I would hardly even compare ubuntu to suse. First of all ubuntu didn’t even have a very graphical installer at all. It really seems that ubuntu is trying to send the message that their distro is for all, the “never used Linux and want to give it a try” user to the hard core Linux developers and die hard *nix cronies out there. I think if I were a new Linux user, I never would have been able to install it. Suse’s install on 9 and 10 specifically are very easy and all graphical. You hardly have to do anything but click next.
I really haven’t played with ubuntu that much so I can’t trash it too much. I just don’t understand what all the hype of ubuntu is? Does ubuntu just have a great marketing scheme or am I just hearing about it from tons of people who have never even tried redhat, fedora, debian, gentoo, bsd, or suse? Or am I missing something? I have tried all of these distros and after trying ubuntu I’m just going to throw it in the stock pile of “yet another distro”. Nothing really got my attention.
If you are going to try to defend ubuntu or argue with me I would like to state that my thoughts in writing this blog went from “I will prove that ubuntu is not as good as suse” to “what is the hype of ubuntu and nothing caught my attention at all (comparing to other distros)”. Let me state also why I use suse and will keep using it. Suse caught my attention because:
· Easy install, no debug configuration
· Easily update, ( I am aware that ubuntu has good update features - apt)
· Easily find and install programs through yast
· Gives you the option of kde or gnome-after years of gnome, I gave it up
· Out of the box is pretty secure – easily configure security
· If you can’t configure it , yast can
· Most hardware is supported – I don’t know much about this in ubuntu
I just don’t understand all the ubuntu hype.
You seriously didn’t give enought time to Ubuntu. Ubuntu has all of those things that you listed and more.
So it doesn’t have THE easiest installation process, big deal. Its meant for windows users that know enough to keep windows running, if you know how to format a drive and press a couple of options, you can install Ubuntu.
Update is automatically carried out, usally once a week I get a button on my gnome taskbar that says “5 updates, please click to see what is being upgraded” or something upon the lines of that. If linus decides to release a new kernal…Ubuntu automatically does what it has to do and gets you running on the newest version. Simple.
Synaptic is quite possibly the easiest way to install software, they have pretty much anything, and with a simple addition of “repositories” the amount of software that can be installed and AUTOMATICALLY configured is simple a staggering number.
Installing kde or gnome to begin with is a sinch, if you want gnome you go with the regular ubuntu cd, if you want to start with KDE you use Kubuntu, and of course you can switch after 5 years to the other by using synaptic.
Ive been using ubuntu since it was a beta, and Ive never installed ANY anti-virus or whatever on it, and Ive YET to have a virus, the worse I got was a trojan that just failed to work (but I actually downloaded it)
If you can’t configure it, use google or ubuntuforums.com, your problem is either common or has a simple fix.
All software that Ive EVER used ubuntu on has instantly worked. I installed it recently on a new hp laptop with wireless Bg card that didnt work with slax, suse, or redhat. I wanted to try something different, but I just stuck with Ubuntu.
The reason I write this is that Im just offering the flip side of the argument. I may be an ubuntu whore, but hey…Im happy with it.
i think i’ll give it a closer look, you’ve talked me into it sesstreets
well, i checked it out, still not converted, I really like suse, i think novell is doing a tremendous job with it right now, tons of drivers, I think they are really leading the way a lot more than ubuntu as fas as pushing what linux can do