Comments on: Ubuntu a generic distro

By: Kaleb

Kaleb — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:34:42 +0000

I agree compleatly with Owen on this. It is a very good starter distro. However it is to me, the Windows of Linux, trying to be the OS for everyone.

By: Owen

Owen — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:32:39 +0000

I recommend Ubuntu as a starter distribution. I think that its a great starter distribution. Personally for me its a little bulky and doesn’t perform as well as I would like.

By: Kaleb

Kaleb — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:42:14 +0000

I agree with both of you, don’t get me wrong, I like Ubuntu for the very reason I wrote this article: it brings users to Linux. However my point in this article was not to bash on Ubuntu. It was simply that the users that first use Ubuntu, the non tech savy ones, do not know of the other distros that there are. And therefore they stick with Ubuntu, or even move back to windows because Ubuntu did not show them how powerful Linux CAN be. All I was suggesting is that Ubuntu needs to show these new users the way to the other great and beautiful distros that are around which is the real power of linux.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:43:56 +0000

Well, Ubuntu *is* a great distro for beginners, and serves its purpose well. It introduces people to Linux. I personally use Ubuntu because of the ease of use, as well as the huge, supportive community that has grown.

We need to not confuse new users too much. I don’t think jumping right into some of the more advanced distros is a good idea.

As for it becoming the generic distro, it is based on simple observations I’m sure. Where I am all of the Linux users run Ubuntu, excepting a couple Fedora users (one of whom uses Ubuntu as well).

I am happy to consider other distros now that I have some knowledge of how Linux works. But Ubuntu made it easy enough to start.

By: J S

J S — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 05:05:43 +0000

Ubuntu is having great success in converting people to “Linux” – there is generally a good mix of starter programs (OOo,Firefox,etc) on the live-CDs and a huge active community that is important if you have a problem to solve.

It’s based on Debian that is used for many other Linux varieties (I use DamnSmall for a lot of quick boot situations) so the tools learned under Ubuntu are applicable to a wider range of distributions – as are system compatibilities – I once had a FreeBSD NAS install crash and found that my wide range of Debian-based repair disks didn’t like retrieving files from FreeBSD formated drives – so I had to download a FreeBSD repair CD.

Hardware vendors offering Linux pre-installed are more often offering Ubuntu, which is expanding the user base.

Ubuntu has a refresh and launch cycle that keeps up an amazing pace of continuous improvements not seen in many industries including software “companies”.

Just point a link to http://www.distrowatch.com to show the wildness of the Linux frontier.