Linux on the desktop and Ubuntu 5.10
Linux has been my operating system of choice now for about five years. The first distribution I used was Linux Mandrake 7.1 (now Mandriva Linux). It’s based on Red Hat but with KDE as the default desktop environment (as opposed to GNOME which is default on Red Hat distributions) and a focus on desktop usage. It contains a great selection of software but has always had, in my opinion, a slightly unpolished feel to it. It tended (during the time I was using it) to favour the more is better approach with a choice of five web browsers and ten email clients.
I moved on from Mandrake to Fedora Core. Fedora has a much more professional feel. The general appearance of the default desktop environment and the robustness of the applications impressed me when compared to Mandrake. My main problems with Fedora are the size of the install (4 CDs or 1 DVD) and the, in my opinion, lack of focus in developing a system to be used on the desktop. This is probably due to the projects sponsor, Red Hat, using Fedora Core as a test bed for their enterprise system.
Ubuntu is my current distribution of choice. Version 5.10 was released two weeks ago and I installed it last weekend. You can find plenty of Ubuntu 5.10 reviews at DistroWatch. If you want to give Ubuntu a go the they will send you two CDs free of charge. A live CD, which will boot you into a full Ubuntu desktop without the need to do an installation and an install CD.
Ubuntu is a great system from a user point of view. The desktop is clean and uncluttered and there is a sensible choice of applications installed by default. Its possible to install additional applications through the well designed tools that accompany Ubuntu. These tools are based on the excellent APT so installation and removal of software is a breeze.
The applications which are officially supported by Ubuntu work well and a lot of time and effort has been put into integrating them into the distribution. Most of the problems I have encountered have been associated with applications in the unsupported Universe and Multiverse repositories. For example, the best media player available for Linux by a long way is Amarok. Unfortunately Amarok was written for the KDE desktop environment so does not integrate with GNOME as well as it does KDE. I have encountered problems with launching a file manager and the GNOME window manager does not seem to remember when I maximise Amarok.
Ubuntu Linux is sponsored by Canonical Ltd (owned by Mark Shuttleworth). There was an interesting interview with Mark Shuttleworth in a recent issue of Linux Format. He talked about the progress of desktop Linux and he made a point which I have been thinking about for quite a while.
Rhian and my Mother have both used various Linux distributions without any problems. They can surf the web, write a Word document send an email, chat using MSN though Gaim, create a presentation and view a PDF file. They don’t get any viruses, no spyware, the system is stable and doesn’t get slower every time they use it.
For me a Linux desktop is ideal. I have hundreds of software packages available at my finger tips. If I decide I want to try out a new and fashionable programming language I can install it with one command using APT. Industry strength software like Apache, PHP, MySQL and PostgreSQL is easily installable and integrates seamlessly with the system.
Where I agree with Mark Shuttleworth is over the middle ground users. Those who are not technical newbies and are more interested in being able to use their latest gadget with their PC rather than try out Ruby or mess around with web applications like MediaWiki on their own web server.
The problems in this area are (mostly) out of the distributions suppliers hands. A lack of hardware drivers and the use of proprietary protocols make interaction with devices difficult and in some cases impossible. The situation is improving however, my Canon Powershot S50 works perfectly with Ubuntu. When I plug it in I am confronted with a dialog asking me if I’d like to download the images. Rhian’s Rio Carbon MP3 player also works perfectly. When it’s plugged in it appears on the GNOME desktop as a removable drive. Files can be dragged back and forth without any problems.
If you haven’t tried Linux on the desktop for a while then why not give Ubuntu a go?
Update: There are some interesting points and opinions in reply to this recent Slashdot story Why Do People Switch To Linux?