It’s tough to challenge conventional wisdom, especially when that challenge raises doubts about the wildly popular version of Linux called Ubuntu.
However, doubts are exactly what I had after finishing my Ubuntu “safari”.
I had to work through numerous glitches to get laptop and desktop installs up and running.
I’m now mystified as to why Ubuntu has become so widely accepted as the version of Linux for newbies to try.
Anyone who doesn’t want to become their own one-person support shop would be far better off spending $50 for a commercially supported release like Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, which installed for me without a hitch.
As for enterprises, they certainly can’t afford to go unsupported and they’d better spend that money if they’re going to go open source. Hey, it’s still a lot cheaper than Windows.
Dell’s recent embrace of Ubuntu has given the distro additional momentum. It’s what led me to my test, to see whether it’d really be all that easy to get the OS going on a randomly chosen laptop.
The desktop was an afterthought. I figured from all I’d read that that installation would be trivial but it wasn’t.
Honestly, I was completely prepared to like Ubuntu and to move on quickly to another project but the deeper I got into the review, the more I felt that I had to recount my trials so that inexperienced users could get a look at what they might be in for.
I also believe that Linux fans need to be more upfront in addressing the legitimate need for better support.
More importantly, I’m now of the opinion that both Windows and Linux are too often discussed in the most simplistic terms, where people are either considered “for” or “against” Microsoft.
That isn’t fair, just like it’s not fair to accept without challenge the notion that Ubuntu is the solution for everyone looking for a good, free OS.
You’ll have to decide for yourself whether Ubuntu is right for you.
Please let me know your thoughts on Ubuntu in particular and Linux in general. Constructive comments are always welcome.
- Dell Releases Linux Desktops, Notebooks | May 24, 2007
- What’s Linux Gonna Cost You? | July 23, 2007
- GoogleOS Rumors | January 27, 2007
- Ubuntu Linux Vs. Microsoft Vista: What Do You Think? | April 27, 2007
- Version 2.0 of ‘Audi A4 Driving Challenge’ Released | September 30, 2008
That suprises me, I have always found Ubuntu extremely easy to use and install. So far, I have already installed Ubuntu on two desktops with zero glitches. If anything, the nice GUI provided with Ubuntu is far simpler to use than the ugly Windows install interface. Unfortunately, the open source community doesn’t spend as much time on testing as it should. After all, that’s mostly how Windows works so well - Microsoft has direct contact with almost all hardware companies.
Despite that, I would gladly use Ubuntu as my primary operating system except for one small thing I need: an IE emulator that works. Without access to IE, there is no way for a web developer to reasonably guarantee quality testing.
Hrm. This is the first I’ve heard of issues related to Ubuntu installation/configuration. Could you share what sorts of problems you had and what hardware you were installing on?
I’m with Arthus for the most part: i’ve installed Ununtu (and / or Kubuntu) a couple of times, without ever really having an troubles. Actually, after my second install of it i decided to wipe it and move on, mostly because it was TOO easy!
But that’s just me, and i’ve been mucking around in Linux for a couple of years now, so I guess it’s all relative
Some of the reason i like using Linux part-time is that whenever I want to do something new or different with it, it can still provide a challenge or puzzle every now and then — but i never ran into anything too hard with Ubuntu. But again, i came in with Linux experience & formatted again pretty quickly.
I think the main thing that you didn’t mention is ubuntuforums.org. Basically, any time in the day, although, it slows down from about 1am to 6 am CST, you can get support amazingly fast. Usually faster than you could with tech support over e-mail or phone at all but the best companies. This is truly the most valuable tool you can find.
What was the model of laptop? I’ve never had a problem with Ubuntu on a laptop, but I know Linux can be finicky at times.
I think your randomly chosen laptop was at fault, because I too have had no issues installing Ubuntu, ever. Everything just worked, from my integrated LAN, to my funky SATA-RAID, to my recording studio sound card. It is popular because it supports any hardware you don’t own.
Ubuntu is fine, but it has been transformed to a point at which it can be considered convoluted and overly complex. Debian is, in my opinion, a better operating system.
Sean-
I’ve had the entirely opposite experience too many times to count. I read your blog post, and thought “Geez, he must have been doing something wrong, or he’s entirely too fanboy-ish.” I’ve installed Suse 10 and Ubuntu Edgy (comparing the older Ubuntu because Suse 10 is old) about the same amount of time (100+) and I’ve had problems with the Ubuntu once or twice, but I’ve ALWAYS got something to do with Suse. These are all on newer Dell boxes at work, as well as all my installs at home, so it is an apples-to-apples comparison.
Also, with Suse 10, the moment I stopped using the desktop environment it shipped with (KDE) for my own environment, I lost YaST (except for the broken ncurses version) and all the other things that are so nice about Suse. I can ALWAYS use synaptic or adept no matter what my environment looks like. Free as an Freedom is the idea, and I never get that feeling with Suse.
Paul
Thanks everyone for your comments.
Basically my issues with Ubuntu came down to me not checking for hardware compliance.
I’ve done a ton of Fedora, FreeBSD and Slackware installs without issues, so I just assumed a few things and it caused problems.
To be fair, for me to determine whether or not Dell made a good decision with Ubuntu, I need to get my hands on a Dell system pre-loaded with it.
@Taran Rampersad: Here are the laptop specs:
HP Pavilion ze4200 laptop, powered by a 1.53-GHz Athlon XP-M 1800+ processor.
It’s also got 256MB of DDR SDRAM, a 20GB hard drive, a DVD/CD-RW drive and two USB 1.1 ports.
While this might seem like a light configuration today, it’s more than capable of running Ubuntu.
The 20-GB drive is well above Ubuntu’s 4-GB disk-space requirement.
The 256-MB of memory exceeds the 64-MB minimum posted on the main Ubuntu installation page, though it only just meets the minimum spec on the 7.04 release notes.
HP Pavilion ze4200 seems to have a good track record with Linux…
Dunno what the problems were, but if you were having consistent problems with an install - it might be a problem with the copy of the distro you’re using. Other than that, without log information… clueless. I’d check out the forums someone suggested above, too. If there’s a known issue, someone may leap at it.
I have had problems with Ubuntu in the past here and ther, but nothing major. I mean, it happens. The biggest problem I’ve ran into is broadcom chipset wireless cards, but this isn’t just with ubuntu.
I am currently running Gutsy in a production environment, yeah I love tortue:) Anyway its on a Dell M90, the wireless picked up just fine with Gutsy, this been the ONLY distro that did, I am currently documenting any issues on my blog, but so far the issues are between Flash apps within Firefox and Compiz.. Other than that, all is good.
I have tried all the distros on this laptop, none compare to Gutsy Gibbon running on it, I did have problems with Fiesty. I just put it down to the fact now that Dell are involved with Ubuntu they have to get Gutsy running just grand or they will blow their chance with Dell which would be a shame.