Ubuntu Linux Review

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Posted by timothy on Monday September 27, 2004 @10:53AM from the with-a-name-like-shuttleworth dept.

JimLynch writes "Pardon me while I pimp one of my own stories. We've got a review of Ubuntu Linux up on ExtremeTech. Check it out. Overall we had quite a positive experience with it, we think it's going to be a good distro as it matures. If you're looking for an easy-to-install debian distro, give it a download." Update: 09/27 23:25 GMT by T : Eugenia writes with another review from USALug, and a 6-page comprehensive Ubuntu preview at OSNews, writing "Gnome's & Ubuntu's release manager Jeff Waugh also had an interesting interview detailing lots of interesting tidbits. The final version of Ubuntu is expected mid-October."

21 of 217 comments (clear)

Longer/better review by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-27 10:58 · Score: 5, Informative

I think the OSNews review posted today is better: http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=8407
Or by OverlordQ · 2004-09-27 10:58 · Score: 3, Informative

See the Debian Planet story back on the 16th. Which linked you to the announcement and also an interview.

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Re:I've just got to ask.. by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-27 10:58 · Score: 3, Insightful

Choices.
Not Debian by Doc+Ruby · 2004-09-27 10:59 · Score: 5, Informative

Their packages are not binary compatible with Debian packages, so you can't mix them in a single install. Therefore, they're not really a Debian child, although they're related by starting with the Debian package selection, and bugfixing/certifying from there. More like a Debian half-clone, sent to finishing school. Which will have some effect on drawing away some community contribution to Debian, as a partial fork. Kinda like that clone beating his dad's time at the pub with his fancy accent, but then unable to get past Dad's doorman to use the penthouse jacuzzi.

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make install -not war
1. Re:Not Debian by natrius · 2004-09-27 11:16 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Most Debian packages work in Ubuntu. For instance, many people have successfully used the Debian mplayer packages from an unofficial mirror on Ubuntu. The reason why they suggest not mixing Debian packages into an Ubuntu install is because the versioning may be different and apt can get confused. Most Debian packages are present in the universe section of the Ubuntu repository, so it's not that big of a deal.
2. Re:Not Debian by dschl · 2004-09-27 11:22 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Funny, I installed the 040925 nightly build on the weekend, and then added a nearby Debian mirror (unstable, of course) to the package list in Synaptic. The (20? 30?) packages I installed from sid all appear to work just fine in Ubuntu. You appear to be incorrect, please look around for some of the interviews with the Ubuntu developers (relevant section quoted in this comment). I understand that most of the Ubuntu developers are existing Debian developers, who can now work on Debian full time - this will help Debian rather than draw resources away. Based on what little I know about the people involved with Debian, I doubt that they would be likely to do anything that would mess up the distro which they love.
  Oh, and your analogy sucks, too.
  
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3. Re:Not Debian by dschl · 2004-09-27 14:06 · Score: 4, Interesting
  They contribute changes to the upstream Debian package. Some of their developers overlap. They have a page clarifying their relationship to Debian, and they recognize that they are a subset. It would take a profound level of arrogance to imagine replacing a distro as broad as Debian, and arrogance appears to be absent from Ubuntu, from the name on down.
  You seem pretty hung up on the potential for a fork - odds are, we define the word "fork" differently. I view Ubuntu as a short-term, temporary fork, similar to the branches in the Mozilla project, where every new release is effectively a short-term departure from a frozen snapshot of the trunk, which returns to the trunk to refresh and renew on a regular basis. I also do not view it as the end of the world. Unlike rpm based distros, most Debian-based ones (or at least those that lasted, anyway, progeny, etc) do not appear to fork to the same degree as RedHat / Mandrake / ten thousand others.
  You might find the following blog entries from Jeff Licquia (a Progeny developer) interesting. He's got a lot better perspective on the issue than most:
  
  Being Debian
  
  Ubuntu and Progeny
  
  Ubuntu universe is a snapshot taken twice a year, without any security fixes or updates. I have run sid for several years now, and quite like living on the bleeding edge - I do not plan on updating only every six months, and I also don't worry too much if anything breaks beyond my repair skills - that is why /home and /var live on their own partitions. But Ubuntu fills a gap for someone who is not ready to deal with sid on a regular basis - who wants a different compromise of stability and freshness than the regular Debian release cycle.
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4. Re:Not Debian by grokster · 2004-09-27 22:09 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I have run sid for several years now, and quite like living on the bleeding edge - I do not plan on updating only every six months
  Ubuntu will also have a dev branch, once the first version is released. The dev branch will be similar to sid... daily changes etc.
Re:I've just got to ask.. by pcmanjon · 2004-09-27 10:59 · Score: 5, Informative

QUOTE " What benefit, exactly, do Linux users get from the proliferation of distros?"

One large benefit is the fact that every distro is different, has different goals and aspirations.

Some people want a server, some people want a desktop, some want to run an FTP server.

If your looking to say, run an ftp server, wouldn't it be nice to get a distro that has an ftp server built in to the kernel?

You're more likley to find the distro that does exactly what you want with so many distro's around.

That's the purpose, and advantage to the proliferation of distros.
Re:I've just got to ask.. by john_anderson_ii · 2004-09-27 11:00 · Score: 4, Funny

You must be new here....
Don't take this wrong, but do you know a "linux user"? Most of us are little obsesive compulsive, erratic, and curious. We have nothing to do but become pastier and pastier while trying out distros.
In short....we get one more to play with, flame, fight and argue over, and most importantly compare/contrast/disect to our hearts content.

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Wireless Card by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-27 11:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

Finally, we were disappointed (but not surprised) that Ubuntu did not detect or configure the wireless card in our laptop. We've come to expect this, unfortunately. But it would sure be nice at some point if we could connect wirelessly right after installing a Linux distro, with no extra effort required.

I don't know what brand of wireless card it was, but if it was one with a Broadcom chip inside, well your SOL on that one. If they would give out the specs, we'd have drivers for them.
Poor review by iMaple · 2004-09-27 11:03 · Score: 5, Informative

The review concludes that one of the few disadvantages of the disro is 'no VPN wizard'. Now isnt that a bit too picky !!! I would understnad if they mentioned the Text based Installer, no pakg selection , bad install documentation etc. but no VPN wizard is absurd.
software and hardware by dankelley · 2004-09-27 11:05 · Score: 4, Insightful

In case you're wondering, it holds recent versions of software (Evolution 2.0, Gnome 2.8, ...).
The main thing, it seems, is that this disto provides a spoonful of sugar to make the Debian medicine go down. But this sugar may not be enough for laptop users. Quoting from the article, we were disappointed (but not surprised) that Ubuntu did not detect or configure the wireless card in our laptop. So that spoonful of sugar may be deceptive ... some real skill may be required after the pointy-clicky stage. Is it a good thing to mix the difficult and the simple?
Works with my Apple G5 by huiqbal · 2004-09-27 11:11 · Score: 5, Informative

Well at least we have to give Ubuntu folks some credit. This is the only linux distro that installed on my Apple G5. Installation was real easy on G5. They have PPC32 support only. PPC64 support coming soon. For those of us looking for an alternate OS for their G5 without paying yellowdog or without having technical expertise for debian and gentoo, Ubuntu is the distribution. The only problem sound card is not recognized. Even the thermal driver is working.
Re:I've just got to ask.. by Scarblac · 2004-09-27 11:11 · Score: 4, Insightful

What benefit, exactly, do Linux users get from the proliferation of distros?

No-one gets any benefit directly from the fact that there are a large number of distros.

However, for each specific distro, there is apparently at least one person who likes that distro better than the alternatives. Which is enough.

If someone decides he wants to make AbominationDistro, which is existing distro X but with the meaning of /etc and /usr switched around, and he creates it - more power to him, that doesn't influence me at all - and he has the distro he wants.

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Re:Ubuntu? by DraKKon · 2004-09-27 11:11 · Score: 5, Informative

Google: Ubuntu: An African Assessment of the Religious Other

http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Afri/AfriLouw.htm

and a lot of other things.. but I'm too lazy to look for them.

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Re:I've just got to ask.. by Chernobog · 2004-09-27 11:17 · Score: 4, Funny

Eventually someone will get one right.
Re:I've just got to ask.. by jcr · 2004-09-27 11:20 · Score: 3, Interesting

One large benefit is the fact that every distro is different, has different goals and aspirations.

That's a feature, not a benefit. These are not the same thing. A benefit would be something like "not all distros are susceptible to the same failure modes", or the like.

So, what is the benefit of many distros, as opposed to (say) switches I can flip in a standard distro?

-jcr

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The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Re:I've just got to ask.. by Jahf · 2004-09-27 11:22 · Score: 3, Interesting

I don't see anywhere in the quote you quoted that says anything about building anything into the OS in the manner that IE is built into Windows.

"Some people want a server", doesn't imply that

"some people want a desktop", doesn't imply that

"some want to run an FTP server", while redundant, doesn't imply that.

Unless you are saying that the distributions shouldn't even bother to include Mozilla, Konqueror or whatnot in their binary builds??

There is a key difference between building a browser -with- an OS and building a browser into an OS in such a way that it (supposedly) can not be easily removed.

You've been marked as +1 Insightful, but I have a feeling I just fed a troll.

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Oh great... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-27 11:35 · Score: 5, Funny

Me: Hey boss, why don't we standardize on Ubuntu Warty Warthog Linux on the desktop.

Boss: Say, that sounds like it will decrease our ROI, while providing value to our shareholders. However, why don't you install Ubuntu Warty Warthog Linux on one test machine, and Indigo Salamander Pumpkin Dog Linux on another machine, that way we can objectively compare their packaging systems.
Re:I've just got to ask.. by QuantumG · 2004-09-27 11:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

To translate Jeff's market speak: you get commercial support with Ubuntu.

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