Unbuntu 

 

With the advent of Ubuntu 6.10 I figured it was about time to give this, the current Linux community “darling”, another try. As some of you know I am OS/Platform agnostic, and while I do not work day-in-day-out on a Linux system, I like to keep current on the various distros and know what is happening amongst these sometimes militant Linux camps. To that end, it was time to give Ubuntu another look. 

 

Previously when I worked with Ubuntu 6.06, I was a bit underwhelmed. Against this backdrop, 6.10 Desktop proved a pleasant surprise.

 

The install went fairly smooth. A pleasant surprise was the automatic and correct detection of all my system’s hardware, save for minor problems with my NVIDIA 6600 GT (could not get the resolution support right.)  Finally, all the major distros appear to have gotten it, people don’t want to struggle through a difficult geeky install of a Linux OS. Remember, I’m talking about the “Desktop” version of Ubuntu right now, I’ll come back and address the “Server” version in a future post.

 

Installation of Ubuntu is a bit quicker than most other distros I’ve worked with recently, especially compared to Fedora 6. This is most likely due to the single CD (Yes, I said CD not DVD.) Another nice touch for novice users is the pre-packaged selection of apps that are installed. All the core stuff like Open Office, Gimp and another must have Firefox (it’s even version 2.0) I like this simplified bundling. While power users might miss the granular app control, ala Mandrake/Fedora, 99% of all desktop users wants/needs are packaged with Ubuntu.

 

Once the OS is installed and running, you are greeted with an earthy tribal start sound and a soothing warm default color pallet on the desktop. Considerably different that the traditional “cool” color schemes employed by Apple or Microsoft, I’m not sure if I like this one or not? None the less this Gnome interface is easily modifiable.

 

Soon after the desktop is loaded I was prompted to grab the latest updates. Here again Ubuntu has put a very slick skin on the YUM service. It’s easy, quick and distinctively ungeeky. I applied the 100+ it wanted, impressive considering this Distro is not even six months old.

 

All and all I am quite impressed by the easy of use and simplicity of Ubuntu 6.10. This Desktop offering is beginning to close the gap that has long kept Linux out of homes and small business.

 

If you have yet to Ubuntu check them out over at: http://www.ubuntu.com/. I’ll be evaluating Ubuntu Server and some other Linux distros in the coming weeks, I hope to share my discoveries here.