Ubuntu

[DaxterFellowes]

What are your opinions on this distribution. Do you prefer Kubuntu because of KDE?

[Jimbob]

I use Ubuntu as my primary OS and it has taken some huge leaps in being a usable desktop OS in the last few years. It's still not quite ready as a mainstream desktop OS, at least in my opinion, but its getting there.

Having said that, I would still suggest it over Vista to almost anyone. It's actually much easier to install and hardware support out of the box has been better that Vista on every machine I've ever installed it on. However there are a few things still holding it back such as the "non-free" plugins which could easily be confused as something you have to pay for. I've come across a number of things that are simple for someone with a bit of experience to work out but have left my mum and dad confused (such as obscure things like Java applets not printing unless you have the paper orientation set to something other than Automatic). This sort of thing is whats holding Ubuntu and Linux in general back for being a mainstream desktop OS.

For the moment I'm a Gnome user simply because I was never a great fan KDE 3.5 and KDE 4 is no where near ready yet. Despite the recent release of KDE 4.1 they still have a lot to get sorted. I'm waiting, hoping, that the KDE team are able to get things sort in 4.2 or even 4.3 because at the moment, although its getting there, it still doesn't feel finished. I feel at home in Gnome while KDE looks like a wonderful place to go on holiday but not somewhere I would be willing to live, yet

[Zordani]

Thanks for your post, Jimbob, it answered some of the questions I had about the Ubuntu distro. Can you make Ubuntu run all of the Windows video games with no compatibility issues?

[princee18]

I have seen that most of the people prefer gnome but on the other hand some say that kde is much faster and stable. So, i am still confused about gnome and kde.

[Zordani]

What's the difference between KDE and Gnome? I mean, other than the graphics, what else is there that sets the two gui's apart? I've always wondered...

[bob83b]

Good work, keep it up. ---- Bobby R. (Jordan Shoes).

[baadman28]

Very good!Support ![b]wow gold[b]wow gold[b]wow gold[b]wow gold[b]wow gold

[tomandrew]

I have tried Knoppix and found it very good. I tried Ubuntu/Kubuntu which I found appalingly, horribly slow, and My vote goes to Kanotix which is like a super-Knoppix, but with bleeding edge software and the ability to update straight from the live-CD. It is pretty darn fast, and comes bundled with very good software.

[tongyun]

I've come across a number of things that are simple for someone with a bit of experience to work out but have left my mum and dad confused (such as obscure things like Java applets not printing unless you have the paper orientation set to something other than Automatic). This sort of thing is whats holding Ubuntu and Linux in general back for being a mainstream desktop OS.

Jimbob, you are exactly right about this being one of the issues that is holding Linux back. As much as I like Ubuntu, I still have a Windows machine because there are just certain things that are easier to configure. For example, on my WinXP machine, I was able to connect my printer very easily but with Ubuntu, I struggled to find drivers. That's not to say I don't like Ubuntu, because I do. But for the average user, Linux just isn't easy enough, yet.

[Athlon]

Gnome is the better choice.It is much more simple,clean look and best thing that ever happened to computing.