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Ubuntu: Best Linux Desktop for Business?
sebFlyte writes "ZDNet has been testing Linux for business, trying to work out what the best distro is for small businesses. After testing Mandriva Linux 2006, Novell Linux Desktop 9, Red Hat Desktop 4, SUSE Linux 10 and Ubuntu Linux 5.1. After installing them all from scratch to simulate a new business set up, and extensive testing involving Gaim, Evolution, OpenOffice.org -- as well as actually writing each review on each distro -- Ubuntu came out as the winner. They summed it up saying 'Ubuntu is a well integrated, practical and absolutely free' and dismissed worries about support. SuSE came a close second."
Ubuntu 5.1 != Ubuntu 5.10. The first one doesn't even exist...
Actually its Ubuntu 5.10, not 5.1
Ubuntu X.Y corresponds to the release year (200X) and the release month(Y).
In this case it was October 2005 -> (10/05)
The next release will be Ubuntu 6.4 (April 2006))
I am using SuSE 10 with KDE. Hardware support is great compared to v9, configuration works great, and downloaded it all for free from the SuSE ftp website. So where does the non-free part come in? Support? Also for SuSE there are user forums, not much different than Ubuntu, or about any other linux distro for that matter.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
I'm surprised they didn't test Xandros - I interviewed with them a couple of months ago, and they specialize in business-oriented Linux...
Join the Empire! http://www.empirereborn.net/
As a long time Debian user and contributor, it's good to see a system that has all the advantages of Debian, plus the financial backing and willpower to take off some of the rough edges that a volunteer-only structure isn't really suited to deal with. I installed Ubuntu on my new computer at work the other day. My boss was so impressed that he installed it himself on another computer, and he's not really a technical guy.
http://www.welton.it/davidw/
They really explained all good and bad points of the distros they tested.
After reading the article I think my intelligence actually dropped.
Some, notably SUSE and Ubuntu, also worked well on our test notebook -- which might surprise those who think of Linux as purely a desktop or server OS.
I have used several laptops with several linux distros (Slackware,Debian,SuSE), and they all worked OK. Definition of OK is: You are able to tweak your kernel and your X server, and you are totally OK. New versions of the distros pretty much install without a glitch on any of the systems I have standing around here (dual PII, PIII, PIV, laptop). So that remark about the laptop is pretty redundant in my opinion.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
While we're on the subject: today (the 24th) is ubuntu bug day! Join #ubuntu-bugs on freenode and report all your bugs!
Not that I would ever allow ZDNet to choose my OS for me but I think they may be a bit confused. The first three distros were basically tossed aside because of "lacks Exchange support", however, the final page has this to say.
"All five distributions come with a good -- and very similar -- selection of core applications, including OpenOffice for office productivity, Gaim for instant messaging and Evolution for email, contact management and calendar functionality."
Ubuntu: If at first you don't succeed, blindly slap a sudo in front of it
And studies have found "best distro" studies to be the leading cause of flame wars on slashdot. Let the flames fly!
Want to find other gamers to play board and role playing game
So, for all intents and purposes, does Ubuntu = Debian or Ubuntu == Debian or Ubuntu != Debian?
Here at Roaring Penguin, we've pretty much standardized on Debian for the technical staff and Ubuntu for the non-technical staff. It works very well for us.
We do have one holdout on Slackware, but that's fine with me as long as he administers his own box...
I read the review of Mandriva 2006.0, and I have to conclude the review is of a really very low quality. Firstly, they are complaining about the lack of a tool to configure network printers. Was it that difficult to find the add printer item in the Mandriva Control Center, and check the two checkboxes for auto-detection of networked and Windows printers?
They say that partitioning was difficult. Actually, first you have the choice to do everything automatically, choosing "use entire hard disk" or "use free space on Windows partition". Instead, they chose Custom partitioning, where again there is a button "Auto Allocate", which do everythinhg automatically once you resized the windows partitions. Now if they call this difficult, they should not have chosen the customized partitioning scheme in the first place. Actually I have heard of users having a lot more difficulties with the SuSE or Ubuntu partitioners.
They say the Exchange connector for Evolution was not there. Did they actually bothered looking for it during half a minute? Then at least they would have found the package evolution-exchange!
The real weak points of Mandriva 2006.0 are not talked about on the other hand. Not a word about the instabilities caused by the buggy beta X.org 6.9 included, by kat which makes kded eat all CPU time sometimes, and nothing about the old version of OpenOffice.org 1.1.5 which is included, and which is buggy (it crashes on SXI files it has created itself).
Really, nothing to see here, move on people!
It's funny how different perspectives can make communication difficult. For example, take this casual comment from the article:
During the whole exercise, we only experienced one system crash...
To a Linux user, the idea of "only one crash" is bemusing. A modern Linux system, going down so easily? That's very serious. Surely the author isn't familiar with the territory.
Later, it becomes clearer, when the Mandriva review states:
Obviously, this is not what a Linux user would call a "system crash". I suppose it's just as well that Windows users would be asked to review Linux distros for the desktop, though. A Linux user might regard this as a minor problem, forgetting that to most people, this is indeed a show-stopper.
I always mod up spelling trolls.
A long time fan of Mandriva I decided to give the latest Ubuntu a try. I soon found out there is a problem with the 9.0 Citrix Linux client. True, you may be able to use an RDP connection to the server, but shadowing doesn't always work in this mode. I really should have given it more effort, but instead I moved on to try Mandriva 2006. The same thing existed there! In Mandriva I was eventually able to get it to work by installing the latest openmotif and using the 7.0 Citrix client. I'm sure the same solution probably works in Ubuntu...
Sure, Citrix may hardly be a requirment in most businesses. However, for those of us that do use it we're usually pretty dependent on it. Although this was a pretty serious problem I had with Ubuntu, it's still a great distro IMHO.
They didn't take into account having to administer a couple hundred or thousand of those desktops, which is a whole different ball game. Ubuntu is great for one personal desktop, but from a corporate point of view its not on par with Red Hat or Novell.
Regards,
Steve
As far as I know, installation time is also important when choosing the best software, so why Gentoo isn't first?
Here at Three Rings, we're migrating all developer desktops to Ubuntu. It works, it's free, and users can maintain it themselves.
Ubuntu has mixed Debian's solid packaging tools with a healthy dose of pragmatism and arrived at a distribution that Just Works. As a desktop operating system, I couldn't be happier with how Ubuntu is working out.
http://plausible.coop
Until you need to play some WMV3 video.... then its a boot into windows. sigh
Have you installed the Win32Codecs?
I'm not familiar with WMV3, and I'm not certain that it's supported by the Win32Codecs package, but lots of non-free and Windows codecs are. Also, VLC comes with its own pack of codecs and can sometimes play stuff that other media players can't, so you might try that if you havn't already.
In addition, I'd recommend dumping Totem as your default media player, if you havn't already. It blows big time, and Ubuntu associating it with all audio and video is my only complaint about their default setup. Well, aside from the ugly-ass brown color scheme, but that doesn't affect usability.
Use VLC or Xine or Gxine or Mplayer for video, and XMMS or something similar for audio.
<smart4$$>
/boot/grub/menu.lst"
Hit Alt+F2
then type
"gksudo gedit
type in your sudoer password and configure away!
</smart4$$>
Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Lord I apologize for telling the CLI impaired person to type something in a faux command line, and be with the starving Pygmies down in New Guinea.
This is not an illusion, a rip-off, or a ninja technique!
Ubuntu is very nice - no doubt about it. I've got it on my main desktop at home, and have been very happy with it since the first release.
I've also had a lot of joy with Mepis; a particularly nice feature is that you can boot off the CD, then install off the same CD. Ubuntu has separate discs for "live CD" and "install". I know it's a minor point to experienced Linux people, but having a single CD to boot and/or install from is pretty mindblowing for someone who's had to install Windows...
That said, being able to install a complete desktop with a full set of desktop apps from a single CD is pretty wonderful, compared to Windows. I know my parents were pretty impressed with that when I moved them off Windows; from past experience reinstalling Windows, I think they thought it'd take several hours rather than about 30 minutes.
I'm not sure if there's a GUI grub configuration tool or not, but you can install Webmin and edit stuff like that through your web browser.
/boot/grub/grub.lst
First, change your root password to something other than the auto-scrambled one that Ubuntu uses by default by typing:
sudo passwd root
It'll ask you for your password (the password for your user, that is), then ask you to type a new root password, then type it again to confirm. This is important because Webmin enables only the root account by default, and if you don't know the password then you can't log in, and it's a pain in the ass to change it after it's already been installed, as webmin keeps its own, separate password file.
Then open up your package manager under "Applications->Add Programs" (I think that's what it's called, doing this from memory). Wait for it to load, then go to "File->Advanced". Do a search for "webmin" and tell it to install the base package and any of the addon modules that you want for it.
Now you can browse to "https://localhost:10000" and log in as root. There's a graphical utility in there to change the Grub configuration file, I think.
Alternatively, you can skip all that crap and just do:
sudo nano -w
It should be well-commented and pretty easy to understand. There will be a line that sets the default OS to boot. Just change that, save it, and you're done.
But yeah, there probably ought to be a GUI editor for it. Come to think of it, you might be able to pick the default OS during the install process; I can't recall for sure.
Really, who cares which distro is the best out of the box?
I've always felt that one of Linux's strengths the fact that it's super easy to customize and deploy in that very sort of homogenous environment.
I think they meant that it's integrated with itself, meaning the apps work together seamlessly to present the user with a nice desktop work environment.
I also haven't experienced your problems with network printers or Samba, but I use Kubuntu so maybe that makes a difference.
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
Ubuntu is a cool distro, as long as you don't try to build/compile something in it, which makes it of hardly any use, at least for me. I like the nude wallpapers concept too, although I don't like the ratio 2 men - 1 woman too much.
You just got troll'd!
Ubuntu has started by locking the root account and making proper use of sudo (and it's various graphical equivalents).
This is increadibly handy. Not that you couldn't do this on other distributions, but it's nice to see this feature in Ubuntu by default. I'm partial to OpenSUSE myself, but their (and many others') handling of sudo is misinformed.
-Peter
. Penguins Surely Ca
What flavor you choose is less important. At this point in time most unix flavor can be made into what your company needs.
If they cant do that, then your IT department has no business making a change yet.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I have Unbuntu 5.10 running beautifully inside VMware. Maybe you should use a better virtual machine....
"My distribution of choice is superior in every way to your pathetic distribution of choice. You are the lowest form of loser to think that your worthless distribution could hold a candle to the God-like superiority of my distribution.
"My distribution's superiority is clearly demonstrated by it's magnificent out-of-the box handling of my obscure feature of choice. Your pathetic distribution doesn't even support my obscure feature of choice without a course of action so complex that it's madness to even contemplate it.
"Clearly, my distribution of choice will utterly destroy your distribution of choice. This is so certain it is pointless for you to resist it."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_digit
Oops, my anal retentiveness is showing.
They didn't test Fedora and decided best distro for small bussinesses? Are they on crack?
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/forum/showthread.p hp?p=310
Probably OT but wtf, rock climbing, a pleasure of mine(yea, big blue room and everything) 50# ago, rated roped climbs with intermediate protection at 5.0 to... Was susposed to stop at 5.9 but we kept climbing harder stuff. Couldn't transition to 6.0 because that was used for aided (as opposes to free) climbs. So everyoone just kept going. Last I checked 5.15 was as hard as had been free climbed. Next would be 5.16 of course.
Anyway; I liked Ubuntu, but the latest FreeBSD mounts and reads the NTFS partition. The utility is obvious.
The reason we subjugate ourselves to law is to better procure justice. If law does not accomplish this purpose then it m
I recently switched my desktop to Ubuntu... It's nice... But I have to say, as a developer, it was not set up with me in mind... It is a fine Desktop distro, but I had apt-get about a million things before I had a decent dev box...
hard core geek-ware
I've also just upgraded my in-law's aging P2 300 win98 machine with ubuntu. They're very happy with it. Their needs are limited admittedly - web,mail,digital camera,chess,patience. Ubuntu passes with flying colours. I showed them round gnome in a matter of minutes and they were up to speed in no time. Now they keep saying things like - it's _so_ much faster. it looks _so_ much better. No surprise really since win98 is now 7 years old and ubuntu 5.10 is 1 month old. The point is that they would not have had the same experience had I tried a WinXP upgrade on that old hardware.
For a home desktop, I can recommend Automatix - that installs all that "other" stuff for a desktop system.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=66563
Using dates as a version number is pretty common.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien