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Apparently you missed the existence of Ubuntu Server Edition. After all, Ubuntu is "just" a heavily modified Debian, and Debian is used for servers, so Ubuntu should work for that purpose too. Debian Stable is probably still much better choise for a long term solution, but Ubuntu Server is not bad either.

It seems to me that it would be worth the trouble to mechanize startup so that each step is isolated from all the others and knows which previous step it's dependent on and waits for only that step, while everything else cruises ahead in parallel.

I think my biggest beef with Ubuntu is the RootSudu. I understand the whole disable root login notion, I just can't get used to it. I work faster when I'm really root. I'll just use a strong password.

https://help.ubuntu.com/7.04/internet/C/connect-to-internet.html#internet-basic-procedure easy as this.......

Exactly. I did a lot of searching, and it seems that OpenMmoko is the only current significant effort at open-phone development. Apple and the rest run on *nix, but close up the phone so you can't do dick with it. Openmoko has some promise, but without wireless or a cell carrier in the US on-board, I'm not read to start hacking it. Ubuntu Mobile has potential, but the screen size currently has to be 4.8", and it looks more like a tablet PC OS at the moment than smartphone software.

There's some ultra-smart dudes at Google, at this point. The next major shift in computing will be smartphones. Only an open system with an excellent SDK for 3rd party applications has much chance of dominating, so the current players seem to be Google and Microsoft. I personally have disliked every version of Windows CE I've ever seen, though I hear good things about the latest version. Based on open-source GNU/Linux, Google's got a real shot at the largest new market on the horizon, IMO.

All, repeat ALL of my hardware works right away after a fresh install of Ubuntu. I can't say the same about Win XP. Admittedly I have yet to try Vista, but unfortunately, my computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements to run it. Nor am I interested in paying for an operating system that will require backflips to get a lot of my hardware to work, assuming the driver CDs I have are even compatible with Vista.

Seriously people, can this "Linux-is-hard-to-use" meme die already? I registered on /. today after months of being a silent reader because I've posted anonymously at least three times today replying to this exact mentality.

If you really believe that Linux is so hard to use, I suggest this. Go to the Ubuntu download page [ubuntu.com] and click the download link to get the ~700MB .iso live disc. Burn it to a CD and watch how easily everything works when you boot into the live OS. That's without even installing anything!

I am planning on starting a company of that sort next year in my country. I will let you know how it goes, if you want.

That highlights the exact problem I have with Linux:

It never installs painlessly on any of my hardware.

I don't know if I'm just the unluckiest person ever, but on the PCs I've tried to use for Linux (a Dell 4200, a Dell 2400, and an HP 9000 laptop) I've had nothing but problems. The LiveCDs always work fine. The problem comes when I go to install.

One or more of the following bits of hardware will fail to work:
1. No video card. X comes up as a black screen because the damn thing still doesn't have a failsafe.
2. No network card. Makes it lots of fun trying to use the installation for Debian (which doesn't even detect the newer Dell or the laptop). It also highlights how useless a PC is without the Internet.
3. No wireless card. And NDISwrapper hasn't worked very well for me. It connects and gets an IP address, but doesn't send or receive any data. Not sure what I was doing wrong there.

I've dried Debian Etch, Ubuntu 6.04, 6.10, and 7.04, OpenSUSE 10, and Fedora. And they *all* do one of these things.

Now, Windows is no better at all. Except that it will failsafe to 640x480 or 800x600 pretty easily by pressing F8 at startup. On Linux, I don't know how to get into single user mode when GRUB doesn't prompt and the logon screen (if there is one) is a black X session. With Windows I can go to random.vendor.com and download the drivers. I still can't do that for Linux. This is not the fault of Linux. This is the fault of the vendors. However, since it's a problem I have when running Linux, it is a problem that Linux has. The problem exists, and that's enough. Blaming vendors doesn't fix the problem for me as a user. It just makes me feel better as a Linux advocate.

• I googled "diskless htpc". This looks promising. It doesn't have details, though.
• Boot from a linux install on a USB thumb drive.
• Boot from a "Persistent Live USB" (or google for things like "casper" and "casper-rw")
• Netboot (PXE boot), and set up an NFS root or SMB root (not sure if SMB root has been done before)
• Netboot or boot from USB, and run from a ramdrive root. Then even if network goes down, system still has basic functionality (net being down is more of an issue on a home network and an always-on HTPC)

I totally agree. The "Genius" at the Apple store told me that they had intentionally disabled my iPhone, rather than accidentally. My response? I smashed the phone to pieces in front of him, and I'm promoting Ubuntu Mobile as an alternative for future smart phones, rather than Darwin. I figure I can do more good for the world as a coder for Ubuntu Mobile than I could as a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit.

1. I can get a Windows XP VLK disc from a friend. I have to download Ubuntu's installer over 28.8k (on a good day)

I think Ubuntu is an excellent alternative for those who can pull it off, but you have to get a Windows computer with a CD burner, get it online, set up a download manager, download Ubuntu over the course of a few days

Or you could request a CD be sent to you free of charge?

You should look a bit harder :)

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/dvd/current/

Unless Dell (or Ubuntu) has done something different, to my knowledge, you still have to do this:

Huh? Well ok, two clicks: Open menu System -> Administration -> Restricted Driver Manager. Check the box.
This has worked since 7.04 (Feisty), and AFAIK that's the release that Dell uses. 7.10 (Gutsy) will enable it by default. Of course, even not using the proprietary driver would not mean to use the VGA drivers. The minimum would be the free nv driver, which has totally ok 2 D performance and provides XV.

Maybe it's just me, but I had to explicitly add a "resume=/dev/sda5" (or whatever) argument to my kernel commandline. And while my wireless worked out of the box, I have a friend who has the one broadcom card that isn't even supported with the native (bring-your-own-firmware) drivers, so I'm going to have to walk him through ndiswrapper.

That's all on a Dell laptop you bought with Ubuntu installed? And your friend's problem is, too? I can hardly believe that. Same with sound.

Regarding codecs: actually, most codecs work (with automatic download), mostly better than with Windows (ever tried to play a DivX file in default Windows?) but they all pop up a warning re patents, etc., when you first use them. Same for mp3.

Apparently, the Dell Ubuntu is a stock Ubuntu

Hmmm, apparently not; or at least, Dell-specifics go into Ubuntu proper, which is good since it means you can reinstall from any Ubuntu CD. See: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2007-October/024498.html

If I could get ONE wish fulfilled

1. Download Ubuntu
2. Visit the KernelCustomBuild page on the Ubuntu wiki.
3. Write your dream scheduler.

I believe there are two more steps that involve uncertainty and money, but I can't remember what they are now.

Your wish has been granted.

If I could get ONE wish fulfilled

1. Download Ubuntu
2. Visit the KernelCustomBuild page on the Ubuntu wiki.
3. Write your dream scheduler.

I believe there are two more steps that involve uncertainty and money, but I can't remember what they are now.

Your wish has been granted.

Despite should be no big problem port it to run on ARM, the Nokia devices have proprietary parts that we can't have access so the port will be, at the best, incomplete. My take on that is, at least for now, if you have a Nokia N770 or N800, stick with Nokia's software

Currently, the project is focused on x86 processors, using architectures created by Intel's [WWW] LPIA platform. The only tested device so far is the Samsung Q1 Ultra.

Ubuntu are coming close with their Mobile and Embedded Version, however it appears to be not specifically aimed at phones but "the emerging class of ultra mobile, small handheld devices which are Internet-enabled. (and the author gives the Nokia N800 as an example.)

I think this is great. There is good support behind Ubuntu, and hopefully it will start to erode the monopoly of CE et, al. in the small device market.

I know most people are unwilling to read things like the Ubuntu Philosophy, but you really should, because then you'd know the proprietary stuff like Flash and various codecs are not included with Ubuntu because the goal of Ubuntu is to make a user-friendly GNU/Linux distribution from free software. So the lack of proprietary software is not some oversight, it's a goal of the project.

Of course the beauty of GNU/Linux distros is that you can always just use another one, and Linux Mint sounds very much like what you really want.

sounds like your friend will be a skeleton sitting there next to those laptops collecting dust himself before they offer driver support for Windows XP. Is it possible to run the applications that he needs with Wine? If so then Ubuntu awaits, either that or he can eBay the vista laptops and bid on a used XP laptop (or at least one that has hardware with XP drivers available). Heck, the Vista debacle may even increase the value of good used XP laptops...hehe he better bid soon if that is what he decides to do.

...most computers spend most of their time idle anyways, and most application are idle waiting for inputs...

So in the once in a while heavy processing moment say in this case an HTML Render adding 1 second to the load in real life most people wont notice unless they are going back and forward button crazy

Actually, it's fairly well accepted that making a computer "feel" responsive is far more important to desktop users than increasing its throughput. For example, Ubuntu's desktop and server distributions have different kernel parameters targetted respectively to improve UI latency and throughput. For specifics on the web, check out Jacob Nielsen's site (he lists further references for HCI studies). The quickest way to make an application feel unusably slow is to block the UI while processing, so it is crucial that UI interaction either be very fast, or delegate its work to another thread/process.

It's perfectly fine to trade efficiency for simplicity, but UI latency is not the place to do that trade.

Hi, just a little update :) It seems the reason that gsynaptics is not default in Gutsy is that they implemented the functionality where it belongs. This landed a few days ago: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2007-September/008382.html

Really? I don't remember having to do anything special to enable sshd. Is this new since edgy?

Alert, your memory is failing. sshd is not even installed by default, and never was, much less running: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSHHowto

By default, the root account password is locked in Ubuntu.

For fine tuned install you use the alternate install CD which is a standard Debian install.

That's what I used because I wanted to install on a pre-partitioned disk (since the linux partitioner confuses Ghost).

I believe ubuntu server edition doesn't come with a graphical interface.
here's what the official website says:
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/WhatIsUbuntu/serveredition

Have you ever pronounced "Ubuntu" to someone who isn't that computer literate?

Ubuntu's naming troubles began way before "Gutsy Gibbon"... I doubt they want to be taken seriously by anyone.

http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/faq?action=show&redirect=FAQ/

The 8.04 release will be Hardy Heron.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardyHeron

random adjective and animal generator

This has been brought up and explained many times on Slashdot.

Simply put, the name "Gutsy Gibbon" (and "Feisty Fawn," etc.) are developer code-names, just like "Longhorn" was for Windows Vista. The final released version of Gutsy Gibbon will be called "Ubuntu 7.10". So, if you are talking to your CEO, you will presumably mention "Ubuntu 7.10 Server" and not "teh Gibbon!!" Note that you won't see the term "Gutsy Gibbon" mentioned in an installed OS (except in the sources file for aptitude, but a normal user is unlikely to ever see that).

You can hardly fault the developers for wanting to have codenames for the releases. It's a useful means of differentiating between pre-release and final versions. Now, I fully admit that many users of Ubuntu stick to the codenames afer the release. If you read ubuntuforums, lots of people will ask things like "are you running Feisty or Dapper?" and so on. I guess that just means that Linux enthusiasts enjoy the whimsical names.

So, the developers are not interested in dropping the codenames, since the community seems to enjoy them. But please bear in mind that they are not "names of releases"--they are codenames that do not appear on the official releases. (For instance, check the download page: it mentions "Ubuntu 7.04" and "Ubuntu 6.06".)

The name of the distribution is "Nexenta OS". The OS family is "GNU/Solaris". The name of the OS I'm running is "Ubuntu". The family is "GNU/Linux".

Splitting hairs. Especially considering only the GNU people are convinced that GNU deserves special mention as part of the operating system.

Given that what their distributing is a GNU-class Unix-like operating system, that seems rather impolite.

See, that's where we disagree.

You look at Ubuntu, and you see it as a GNU operating system. I see it as something which I call "Linux", but which, if I deconstruct it, GNU is really only a very small part of it.

Your best response so far seems to be drawing lines where none exist. Saying "This bit over here is an essential part of the operating system, and this isn't." Or saying "It's really the GNU operating system, but it uses X.org."

You still haven't given me a good reason, other than convention (as adopted by other systems), to explain why X.org should not be included in the name. And where that convention is followed, GNU usually isn't mentioned either.

Also, look at this page -- the longer description of Ubuntu doesn't include a mention of Linux, GNU, or any other project.

One final point: When you say "GNU operating system" and don't mention Linux, people don't know what you mean. At best, they might know about HURD, and assume you're running that. But when you say "Linux" or a "Linux distro", no one is confused. The worst that happens is you offend RMS.

No other distros support full-disk encryption that I am aware.

Debian is the only one to offer FDE at install time.

That said, the process for Ubuntu isn't hard. K/Ubuntu's graphical splash screen does interfere with the passphrase prompt, so you will have to keep removing "splash" from the /boot/grub/menu.lst 'kernel' line each time that /boot gets re-written (i.e. the kernel is updated).

http://mjg59.livejournal.com/77440.html

You should be recommending Easybuntu or preferably Medibuntu. With Medibuntu, you just switch on universe and mulitverse and restricted, copy/paste the Medibuntu source lines into the package manager, then install w32codecs and libdvdcss. Upgrades then won't cause your system to self destruct.

The system will work with multimedia at this point.

That leaves one remaining hurdle, the video driver for 3D games. I agree that Dell could have taken care of this detail, but what are they going to do when the kernel gets upgraded and the video goes *poof* ? Sounds like a tech support nightmare. Forgetting about games support seems acceptable for the time being.

Shenanigans!

The suspend issue (volume applet crashing) is a bug which Dell shouldn't have let slip, whilst the Synaptics issue is easily solvable with third party tools and has a specification here https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GnomeTouchpadManager .

Yes those are problems, but seriously, the number of people who think that such things are what's holding back the fabled Linux Desktop are delusional. Firstly they should look into chaos theory, there's no way everything can be controlled and still end up with a useful system. Secondly, Windows has masses of problems, like, for instance, no DVD support. The side by side comparisons of Windows vs. Ubuntu vs. OSX are only useful as eyeball attractors for adverts, the real problem in the way of the Year of the Linux Desktop is that of positive feedback loops. People use Windows because people develop for Windows because people use Windows, people use Windows so they can use Microsoft Office because the people they know use Microsoft Office, etc. Free Software systems make a point of NOT locking their users in, thus users' choice is usually between either a Free Software system like Ubuntu which sacrifices some locked-down functionality of other systems, or using a non-free system (basically, Windows) which has some functionality Microsoft restricts from their competitors along with all of the Free Software functionality happily made available by the Free Software community (OpenDocument-compatible office suites, Ogg codecs, etc.).

This makes standards adoption the most important issue to tackle, in my opinion. If files are made available in open formats via standard protocols then the locked-down functionality of systems is minimised, and thus the choice becomes more level. Hopefully a feedback loop can be established for standards, but the whole idea of standardisation means that such a loop can be sabotaged, basically since Microsoft can easily support Ogg formats in Windows Media Player and OpenDocument in Microsoft Office, but by keeping Windows Media and proprietary Office formats (including OOXML) around they once again have the upper hand, everything that Free Software supports can be matched, but Windows Media and Office formats by their very nature can't be competed with.

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus" # "stylus", "eraser", "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus" # "stylus", "eraser", "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

I agree, Debian is the better distro, but your comparision between Debian and Ubuntu isn't quite right.
(I'm assuming you were trying to compare Debian to Ubuntu... Ignore rest of post if not)

As Ubuntu is a Debian derivitive, at heart it has the same qualities Debian has.

Let's go point by point.

1) The Ubuntu folks don't advertise this, but because their "alternate" installer is derived from the debian installer, they have netboot as well.
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/dapper/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/

As for being able to start clean, the Ubuntu server install is about as minimal as the default debian install.

2) You can install Ubuntu once as well. Nobody is forced to upgrade every six months. I have two customers happilly running 6.06 LTS. (long term support) I'm ignoring and shooting down the proposals from one of my co-workers to upgrade sooner. These customers are not getting an upgrade until 8.04 LTS, which Ubuntu promises will be smooth. (We'll have to see if they deliver on that, if not the power of Debian's aptitude will help me untangle the dependancy web to make it happen...) The LTS releases are promised to recieve 3 years support for desktop software and 5 years for server software. (again, we'll have to see if they deliver on this) New debian releases come about every 2 years, with the previous stable release supported for a year after the new stable is released. So, in theory, upgrade cycles for Ubuntu LTS and Debian stable are similar.

As for release names, Debian releases are named after toy story characters; some might call that..um..."goofy", and ask why "sarge"nt "lenny" the "potato" has an "etch"-a-scetch and a "woody". Whoa, hold on you "hoary hedgehog".

3) Ubuntu is indifferent about WM/DE too, because it is also apt based. U/Ku/Xu/Flux/Edu buntu is just a scheme to provide different default installs. The *buntus are sharing the same apt repositories. You can install multiple WMs (I'm typing on a multie user workstation where this is true), you can install IceWm (I've used it on Ubuntu), you can remove the X server and start a DE/WM over an ssh -X connection or you can have no X server or x clients at all.

4) Same package management tech in Ubuntu. But it's the metadata that really makes package management suceed, so you score a half point here.

Ubuntu's "master of the universe" policy scares me.

5) As articulated elsewhere, Ubuntu is no one-trick pony and a blank canvas is easilly availible. The choice between LTS releases and the breakneck 6 month releases gives that choice between bleed and super-stable.

-----------

One may ask, if I say Debian is the better distro, why am I using Ubuntu on workplace and customer computers? Well, I had to compromise with my bleeding edgy co-workers. This is not a comprimise I would of made if it weren't for the LTS releases and Ubuntu having the Debian-ish qualties you claimed it lacked.

does Ubuntu even have an advertising budget?

You can, sort of. Some games can run under wine, or Cedega (a commercial version of wine). I use Cedega to run some older games that I've always liked (Civ IV, Star Trek Armada 2, Earth 2150). There are some native commercial games for Linux (like Quake and the Unreal Tournament series) and there are some very good free games for Linux. The situation is not quite as dire as the critics would have you believe, but not as great as some Linux proponents would like you to think.

These pages show some of what's available:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Games

http://www.happypenguin.org/

I'll tell you what's making it more appealing too. It's these guys. 2 years ago, Linux on the desktop was no more compelling than it was when I first started using Slackware back in the early 90s. Getting simple things like audio and graphics working was still more of a chore than 99% of end users are willing to put up with.

It's still a long way from perfect, but the Ubuntu team are challenging all these things which should be completely hidden from the user so they don't have to know how to modify their X config, write a Modeline, or learn m4 so they can create a sendmail config. They're doing the things which have always been considered "good enough" to the hardcore, but which have prevented mainstream acceptance, and I think that's bloody great.

I recently reinstalled XP on my home machine due to a failed drive. I'd actually forgotten how horrible it was. Things like.. trying to get SP2. You go to Microsoft, and they have a whole 'SP2 is great!' page which extols the virtues of installing it, suggesting that the best way to get it is via Windows update.. So, you go to Windows update, and it says.. "Hey, you need SP2! You should check out this page which explains why it's great, and how to get it!", and links back to the first page. Took me a few hours to figure out how to bypass that one.

Anyway, my point is.. I installed Ubuntu about 3 weeks ago, at my new job. Took about an hour from when I first put the CD in the drive to the point where I had fired up Eclipse and was writing code. It used to be that Linux on the desktop was as much of a pain in the ass as Windows was, but for different reasons. That's not true any more, and it can only get better from here, and I see things accelerating with the Ubuntu team putting so much effort into it.

2007, the year of Linux? Yeah. And 2008, and 2009, and 2010, and...

Way to go M$! xD

The solution is simple http://www.ubuntu.com/

https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

Yes, this "can't install software" problem is common among total newbies because they assume the Windows way, and in this case Linux does things totally different. Software you download from a webpage is usually source code (because it would be too much hassle for the maintainer to build a package for every distro). If you want precompiled software, you have to install from the repository.

If you use a *buntu, here is some good general documentation:

https://help.ubuntu.com/

... I don't understand why anyone would connect any machine directly to the Internet without some type of hardware firewall.

That is what the Internet is for. You're projecting Windows' problems onto real computers. There is no reason why a router or hardware firewall should be necessary to add security -- they're both computers with instructions and flaws. Increasing the number of hardware pieces increases the number of failure points at the cost of also increasing latency and reducing actual bandwidth.

There are only three reason why a computer needs to be isolated from the Internet:

• There are not enough addresses in the IPV4 space to expand forever. IPV6 fixes that.
• The network administrator's convenience.
• Experience has shown the software provider doesn't know how to write or fix network code. These links can help with that.

Actually, that's coming too.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DisplayConfigGTK

A Windows user boots Ubuntu on a new laptop, say, and gets a low-res 'safe mode' telling them that there's no specific support for their video hardware ("Ubuntu failed to start the windowing system because it was unable to properly configure your hardware").

Yeah, now what?

They can't download a driver package and update. They're stuck with whatever came with the version of X in that Ubuntu release. They can't use a driver off a CD that came with the machine, because there aren't any. If X was capable of a better mode it would have used it, like the plain vesa driver with a resolution matching the LCD.

So what are they supposed to do?

It's better than getting dumped to a VT, sure, but it doesn't solve the real issue. On Windows 95 I could put in the CD, install driver.exe, reboot and presto. With Ubuntu the only option for the average user is to wait 6 months.

This feature might be useful if you like to intentionally break xorg.conf, but unless there is actually a way to get real hardware support installed, rather than seeing if you can force X into a different mode (which it should do automatically), it seems pretty useless.