Ubuntu 4.10 The Warty Warthog RC. Ok, the name is not all that appealing but I like the distro so far.

Quote from the Ubuntu website.
""Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others". Ubuntu also means "I am what I am because of who we all are"

It is a one disk distro based on Debian. A distro I am not sure how to pronounce. ?ooboontoo?

I installed it on my computer without any problems except for one, well almost. It told me that it couldn't mount my two ext2 back up partitions and the Windows partition becuase something was wrong with them. Well it did mount them and I can access them fine.

Ubuntu was easy to install. its GUI was simple and very little work was needed to install it. It picked up my Sound Blaster Live, SpeedStream 5200 ADSL modem, etc..., So far it has picked up everything including my LTmodem I am not using right now and my Fuji FinePix A205 digital Camera. As soon as I plugged it into my usb port a window popped up asking if I wanted to save the pictures to my photo album.

I am use to RPM's, URPMI, YaST. The problem I am having is this is my first Debian based distro, except for the Bussiness card distro DSL that I have used off and on. I am finding the Synaptic Package Manger is a bit frustrating to get use to but not difficult or bad in any way,(URPMI is my favorite though.)

It comes with Mozilla Firefox, GAIM, Open Office, some games, etc. One thing I am not happy with is it only comes with Gnome. I like Gnome but I prefer KDE or XFCE. And while you can install binary programs it doesn't come with a c compiler by default, (though it is on the SPM list and easy enough to install.) Also you need Alien to work with RPM's that is nowhere,(that I found,) on the disk or the SPM list.

All and all it works fine. It is not bloated and its stable, (Thus far.) But for someone who started out with both Mandrake and Suse it takes a bit to get use to some of the very small and minor differences. Should have it down by tonight. Besides I am not sure I want to use RPM's with this distro. Source and Binary are just fine.

One more thing. It doesn't create a root user. What it does is lets you access the root with the command sudo, it asks for your password and then you good to go.

I look forward to playing around with this distro and seeing what the future holds for it.

EDIT: Yes I know. I spelled it Unbuntu in the title, it is Ubuntu.

Second Edit: I was wrong, Alien does come with it, I missed it when I looked at the packages


Webwolf

yupp

ooh-bun-too

one small problem with it not creating a root account (it defaults to the user being able to run any command with sudo), is that there are problems after running some apps, - especially k3b

sudo passwd root

restores the system back to a more normal Linux default so you can use su to become root
this means no chown'd files and no "unable to login" problems

other than that

top banana

I removed mandrake from my machine (after a disappointing trial with mdk10.1CE) and am now just using Ubuntu.

Thanks for clarifying the pronunciation. I can't tell you how long it took me to pronounce Suse correctly, and I am still not sure if I am saying it right. Depends on who you ask, lol. And speaking of Suse. I tried there very light 9.1 Personal download. Ubuntu is also one cd and has much more to offer and seems easier in many ways.

I wanted to add to something I mentioned above. DSL(Damn Small Linux) is actually based on Knoppix which is based on Debian.

Webwolf

yupp

Suse is OK, a bit ponderous and slow. I had 9.1 PRO running for a while but it kept hanging during the boot process when nfs was being started. In the end I gave up on it as I spent more time running the Repair Installation feature than I did running Suse itself.
I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu to a dial up user as 1 cd and 13,000 online packages is a bit much for a 56k connection. But if you got broadband it's just superb.
apt-get install xxx is an awesome way to build up a system

Most encouraging with Ubuntu is the way they've made the naked people theme NOT the default. This means Ubuntu can now be used in more staid settings. (I've already installed it on a computer in a local primary school)

I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever find that one distro that just "fit like a glove"...

I was thinking about setting Ubuntu up for somones old computer. It is an Pentium 165Mhz with 32 MB ram, and a 2.5GB hard drive,(I will probably be adding a 500MB HD for the swap.) They will have dial up but they also have no knowledge of Linux at all. I have broadband so I will be installing all that is needed, and that can actually fit, on it before I return the computer to them. I will be trying it out tomorrow and seeing if it works ok. They also have a newer computer to use. This one will be the secondary computer and I doubt it will be used for anything except games, maybe some word processing and internet browsing every now and then. It should be interesting to hear the opinions on Linux. They have winXP on a Gateway computer and I have a feeling that Linux will be a lot more stable, even on an older computer, then XP is for them now. Of course there is still a major difference in hardware.


Webwolf

Ubuntu needs at least 4 gig to play with during install as it copies all the files to the hard drive then opens them and installs them. I tried with a 2.6gig partition on a laptop and it wasn't having any of it. There is a way of telling it to do the install differently but I don't know what the boot option is. Try the Ubuntu lists if you're stumped.

Ok, Thanks. I think I might look for a 5GB hd. I should be able to pick up one around here for cheap. I am probably going to have this problem with any distro that I want to use. First I will research this at the Ubuntu website and see what I can come up with.

Edit: I was just thinking. I need to find out how much the complete install is. Maybe I can throw my hd on it temporarily and see if I can install it it with only using 2 GB and then take the hd off when it is installed. I am not sure if that will work at all but I might give that a try just so I can install it. I will post my results of whatever I choose, lol.


Webwolf

Try adding the Universe component to your .deb archives. It will help you find everything you need. Just go to the Settings menu, click on the Repositories option, and then go in and set all of the .deb (not the .deb-src) repositories. The deb-src repositories are there only if you want to work with the source code.

You'll find alien in there, but I don't really recommend running RPMs on a Debian system.

Thanks. I found that before but I completely missed Alien. Are there any special RPMS made for Debian Based systems or is it better to just stick with Debian Packages, source, etc.



Webwolf

Well I didn't look very closely at the Synaptic Package Manager. I just installed KDE 3.2.3 So now it is more like it.


Webwolf

I used Alien to convert the Fedora Core 2 j2re and mozilla-j2re-plugins into .deb packages.

It worked as well.

Gcc and friends can be found on the intall CD (simply install build-essential). They are not installed by default though.

Ubuntu is great. It is the first linux distro I fell comfortable recommending to non-techies. The shipments of free CD:s helps too (see http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org/). This includes an install CD and a live CD.

Inserting the LiveCD in your CD-rom makes it possible to install free software in windows (see http://www.theopencd.net/ubuntu/)

I have a very good feeling about this distro. Even if people don't want to try it right now I think we should all keep our eyes on it. I see a really good future for Ubuntu. And the fact that they will send you the cd's for free tells me they really have things together.

Webwolf

Agreed. This distro rocks and I think it will only get better.

Ive been using debian/unstable for the past 2 years..but you folks seem to really like this distro.Im gonna check it out, sounds fantastic..I like the fact that some of the packages are even more "bleeding edge" than my plain old unstable.But i have heard that it doesnt create a root user by deafult,,no biggie ill just sudo passwd root...but anyhow sounds golden.