I didnt see a reveiw or even a forum for Ubantu on this site, so could somebody please explain the pros and cons of ubantu to me. I am in between a newb and regular user.

Thanks,
-Sean

Ubuntu

Pros: it's Debian based so you get a Debian install without the pain of installing Debian
Desktops and packages are installed precompiled
It's software is very new

Cons: it's all prepackaged so you don't get the l33t feel of doing it yourself
and other Debian cons

Why not, and this is not just aimed at you, try it for yourself. If you can bear to wait for 4-6 weeks they will post out, free of charge, at least one cd. In the pack is the live cd and an install cd. The best distro for you is the one you like after trying out a number of them.

It's Ubuntu, yes it's very good, yes you WILL like it.

I think I will wait for the february release because I've heard of some big flaws in it and I'm pretty busy with Christmas and everything.

I've not experienced any "big flaws," as you mentioned.

Pros:
**Stable
**Debian-based
**The power of apt-get
**Great desktop

Cons:
**Very few multimedia apps installed by default
**Little control over the installer.

Question for anyone out there.
About how long from GRUB to desktop? Pls list what hardware you are using.

I haven't experienced any big flaws...and have not heard of other people experienceing big flaws.

In fact, most people commend the Ubuntu team for being able to build the distro with only one month of active community involvement (as few people knew about Ubuntu before September) and still have it run so great.

edit: You mean April release? They release every October and April.

there are no serious flaws that I know of, if there were you would definitely hear about it in the excellent ubuntu forums. The default media player is Totem (based on xine) and you need to install some extra plugins & codecs to get full multi-media support. alternatively there's a detailed "how to" for installing mplayer which will play anything, again this is posted on their forums. The live CD is a good idea if you want a taster ... the only way to find out if it's for you is to try it.

Thanks, I know I just asked this, but how long does Ubuntu load for you?


EDIT:After GRUB

Just over one minute (on a 500 MHz 256 MB RAM) but I have some of the modules set up wrong so it comes up with errors...ive just been to lazy to fix it, so that makes it longer

So technically speaking then, if all goes well, Hoary will be released in April 2005, correct?

I think ubuntu is quiet immature as a distro. Copying a good distro(debian) and hacking installation code doesn't make a distribution .. and

I tried installing Warty it on a PII machine with S3 8Meg video card .. it went thru the initial install upto disk partionishing, reasonably cleanly and as it tried to start X, and I think it failed to "init" the graphics .. came back with a message that the system will now boot to finish remaining install, and of course it won't boot again.

Ubuntu, in it's extreme wisdom or lack thereof is pushing haphazard (mostly hazard) code.
Here is what they do:
Discover hard disks and partion them . write MBR :-)))
Try to discover video and fails .. doesn't say it failed .. but surely didn't complete remaining steps needed for booting
No recovery from graphics failure and keeps going on merrily saying let's reboot everything is done.
There is just MBR and nothing on the partions .. so nothing boots ..

I don't think this distro is stable or mature. I tried it twice and both times the behavior was identical, so it's clearly a bug in their install .. well I won't call it a bug ... this is just a brain dead way of doing things, if this is an example of their "skill" I would stay away from this "globally insane" distro. I am also concerned about Debian, I use it and like it. Ubuntu team claims they contribute to the main branch eeeh !!!

I have installed FC/1/2/3-Mandrake/Suse(s)/Debian(s)/Libra/Knoppix/Gentoo/Mepis .. and slew of others, only FC3 failed with a bug in anaconda but didn't trash the existing disks, Mandrake had it's issue but this one takes the cake.

Entering bugs in bugzilla sucks .. cuz then you start getting 6 mails a day on the same bug, so if ubuntu, bunters are reading it, take it as a bug report. These distro's need to come up with a better way of getting input from the "beta" testers.

No, but bringing in Gnome 2.8 before Debian does make a distro, as well as some other tweaks. And the whole copy arguement....while I frankly think you don't understand F/OSS all that well.

init the graphics? You mean load the graphics card kernel module? Did you pick the right kernel module when it asked you for it. S3 cards are pathetic with linux, and in fact my S3 has had the most problems with your "perfect" Debian. Ubuntu registered it without a hitch. Try S3Virge, as well as the other S3 drivers. Also, the installer doesn't try to load X....ever. It's after it has copied everything to the harddrive and rebooted that it loads X.

Most of their code has come from your "perfect" Debian's unstable branch, so that is just a stupid comment. It also shares code with just about every other distro on the face of this planet.


Did you md5sum the original download? Try redownloading before installing the second time?



Again, a dumb comment. Many of the Ubuntu devs have been working on Debian for years. It says that right on their site. It isn't like they just came along and started writing bad code to destroy Debian.


Again, did you md5sum the download. And if so, did you reburn the CD at a slow speed (eg 4X) after the initial failure. How about redownloading?


Also, when you download and use something for free I think you have a lot of nerve criticizing the ability of the developers....I'd like to see you do any better. I have criticized SUSE and RedHat before, but I bought their products. Also, like I said before, my S3 card works perfectly.

If you want more help regarding it please post what you see the installer do, not your interpretation of what the installing merilly does while saying let's reboot (I personally never saw my installer print the words lets reboot in a merry manner on my screen.)

Yes, Hoary should be released in April, although anything could mess that up (such as Gnome not building properly, as they generally use a very new Gnome release)

Ok...

I don't mind waiting - I love Gnome, and would much rather use it than KDE any day!!!