I went to Distrowatch.com recently and noticed that Ubuntu is #1. Why is this so ? How come Ubuntu is getting more hits than even Debian ?

Thanks.

Vijay

It's very well market, it's very easy to use and they are giving CD's away, with even free shipping. And it's pretty damn good if you ask me. Not the best one I've tried and it's quite overrated, but good, nonetheless. It does not deserve the first place, in my humble opinion. But then again, Windows is #1 and don't deserve be the number 1 either, but still...

Thanks for the response. Is Ubuntu better than Debian ? In your opinion which distros are better than Ubuntu ?

Thanks.

VJ

It depends.
IMHO best distros are Arch and Slackware. For me Ubuntu is #4 or so, after FreeBSD and plain Debian being #3 and #4 respectively.

Just my opinion.

Well can you define "better"?
When you are talking about linux distros what does better mean to you?
For example I have tried many distros and prefer slackware, but for a simple Desktop, if you don't need Web-servers,mail-servers and all those stuff Yoper is the fastest, distro I've ever seen.
It's only one CD, with KDE and it runs really fast.

Great question. I leave this definition of better to each individual person who reads/responds to these posts. This will be a great learning experience for all. Personally, I am satisfied with Debian and DSL.

I will also check on Yoper, thanks for the info.

Vijay

I have a related question, Slackaware is not a Free Distro, it is a paid distro. Still how come several rate it as #1 ? Also it doesn't ahve as many packages as Debian.

Thanks.

Vijay

How come you think Slackware is non free distro?
As far as I can tel it is fully GPL, and Slackware is as free as it can be (both as in beer and as in speech). Please lighten me up, if I said something incorrect here.

Slackware is 100% free, and I must give Pat credit for making it so simple. The details on just how free it is are located at www.slackware.com, but don't take our word for it, check it out for yourself.

Alunduil

It's number 1 because, other than the reasons stated above, any moron on the planet can get it up and running in about 15/20 minutes by doing little of nothing - and it will work.

Mepis 3.3.x would be number 1 but those idiots decided to put passwords on the freaking disk and not tell you what they are. You have to do a little work for this one.

For Linux n00bs Ubuntu is the path of least resistance.

The Mepis passwords have always been "root" and "demo". This is something thats always been in the public limelight, so I don't see what the problem is.

It's not rated #1, that on the first page is the page hits ranking, it's simply has alot of exposure at this time. If you go the the distro rankings page you will see that it is #5. It's gotten the hits it has because of it's newness and popularity. Notice that the number to the right is the average hits per day. Notice also that you can change the time span that the number represents. The arrow also tells if those hits have increased or decreased. If you will change what it shows to a 1 month time frame, you will see that their hits have decreased in the last month. That is purely a display of activity on that web site to show what distro has the publics interest at a given time, and since alot of talk has gone on about Ubuntu, it's in the light right now. Not as many people look at the other distro pages because there hasn't been any new developments with those distros and they have likely already read that info. Keep your eyes on the Debian numbers when Sarge goes stable. I'm certain there will be some action in that arena .

To answer another question, no, I do not think Ubuntu is better than Debian, but then again, what's better for one person might not suit another as well. I prefer the flexibility, control and compatability of Debian proper over the additional configuration that Ubuntu does.

redazz, that may be true but,
It ain't that public. I actually read about 10 pages of posts before I installed it just to see what problems I might encounter and NOWHERE did it say anything about passwords. Sure, if you're into Mepis you probably have known this for years - but a n00b who DLs and install it ain't got a clue. It wasn't until after I figured out what the PWs were that I stumbled upon a post that spelled it out. My point is, take the regular first time linux guy who gets the disk and tries to install a distro. Ubuntu goes right on for him - Mepis stops him cold in his tracks.

Ok now, I am not a Mepis user, never used it, never even downloaded it, but a simple Google search on "mepis root password" and the VERY FIRST link that is brought up is this page which very clearly shows what the default passwords are. The very first thing anyone should know going into a new area of information (linux installation, for example) is to search for anything you may have a question about... though this information is just a little bit unnecessary if you take the time to look over the Mepis user guide, in which the passwords are very plainly shown. It's no wonder people have difficulties when they can't be bothered to even read the basic documentation for a piece of software.

Once again,
The point is anyone can blindly install Ubuntu and it will be successful 99% of the time, that's why it's No. 1.
You can't do that with Mepis because - Who in the H E double L is going to Google passwords if they don't know PWs are needed in the first place?

If Mepis really wanted to be #1 they would fix it so a deaf, dumb and blind illiterate brain dead idiot could install it - like Windows, or Ubuntu!