Why don't you use Ubuntu?

[DerChef]

Don't take this the wrong way but I'm having a hard time believing anyone who seriously uses computers as part of their work having *any* trouble to get a conventional Linux system up nowadays?-?much?less?Ubuntu?which?is?as?run?of?the?mill?as?it?gets.

Dont take THIS :)e wrong way :) but if you read up and down all these threads you will find a people will a sea of troubles with installations run of the mill and otherwise the actual installer of Ubuntu is probably no more sophisticated than normal debian or open SUSE the only other distros I have used.

Edited October 21, 2007 by DerChef

[Mouldy Punk]

I always preferred debian before ubuntu came out ages ago, simply because I was used to it and had a totally working set up. Going by the philosophy, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", I didn't see the point in switching to another distro. It was nothing against ubuntu on its own. Anyways, after a while I broke my install after a lot of tinkering with the wrong things and needed a complete re-install. So I thought I'd give ubuntu a go to see what the fuss is about and to be honest, I like it. Whilst my debian system was perfectly stable and worked exactly how I want it to, it took a lot of setting up, tweaking and customising for me to get it to that stage. Ubuntu, for my needs atleast, was a few steps closer to where I want my desktop OS to be so I figured, why go back to debian if ubuntu is already pretty close to how I want it out of the box.

I've used loads of distros and I have to say, ubuntu is probably fav. distro for out-of-the-box goodness.

[4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran]

What I am actually interested in hearing is what people like about other distros that Ubuntu doesn't have. I am new to things and have only really used Ubuntu.

I'd like to know what cool things your non-Ubuntu distros do for you :D

[tiagosilva29]

I use OpenSUSE on my laptop (and Ubuntu on the desktop), because it's the only distribution that works there.

[CrashG]

I just prefer the "look-n-feel" of PCLinuxOS. The default settings have that "Vista like" appearance right out of the box. I did like Mandrake also.

[FredEx]

I built a new desktop and have tried several Linux distro's on it and Ubuntu was the first. I had to do the most work to get it to work. My standard Audigy card would not work. I had to dig down to make a few changes and got that working. Then came getting it to connect to the net, it all had to be redone manually. I have a standard Realtek Gig ethernet. Then my Nvidia 8600 GTS was not supported. Even though it was not recommended to do by Ubuntu, I loaded the latest Linux driver. Just as Ubuntu said it may do, it made Ubuntu unstable. I then trashed Ubuntu.

Next after reading where somebody raved about it, I tried PCLinuxOS. Suposedly the easy to use Linux, according to them. Same issues again, except it would not allow the latest Nvidia driver to load at all.

Suse was next. Again, the same issues. The sound card issue was harder to fix. Max scan rate for my Sony 21" monitor I could get was 60 flickering hz.

Last I got Mandriva. Everything worked with a minimal fix for the sound, I just had to change a setting in the mixer. It already has the latest Nvidia Linux drivers installed, my card was then supported. The ethernet card was automatically set-up properly and I had net access through the router.

The other night UPS delivered my new Samsung 226 BW LCD, since I have a cold all I did was hook it up, I have yet tried it with Linux. I'm in bed now on my laptop which runs Windows. I've had a hard week going to my sis-in-laws funeral, I have a knee in a brace after twisting it, I caught a bad cold and my wife is sick too, so anybody that doesn't like that I posted in a Linux thread via Windows can........

[David Scaife]

Is it possible to copy my Firefox profile, Pidgin/thunderbird config from one distro to another? as that might make playing with each distro easier.

Yes. If you copy your whole /home/XXXX directory over, all your application settings will be kept. In fact, if you have /home on its own partition, theres no need to do anything except mount it as /home in the new distro :)

What I am actually interested in hearing is what people like about other distros that Ubuntu doesn't have. I am new to things and have only really used Ubuntu.

I'd like to know what cool things your non-Ubuntu distros do for you :D

If you read the rest of the thread, there are a *lot* of these kinds of reasons given :) Usually, it's not about what Ubuntu doesn't have, but what Ubuntu does too much of. Putting everything in the GUI (and doing the rest automatically) doesn't suit a lot of people (including myself); we really prefer to have the challenge of "getting our hands dirty", so to speak, by setting up and configuring our systems by ourselves.

Most of the rest of the time I think it's just that people are already familiar with other distro's and Ubuntu doesn't have anything in it that makes them feel the need to switch.

[exUBERance]

Can't run photoshop without wine.

Cant play Counter-strike source.

Cant use webcam and mic in a messenger client

One, i saw somewhere that someone hacked PS and proted it, of course its warez but still ;)

Two, WINE Doors my friend

Three, AIM for Linux supports it and so does GTalk for linux. Pidgen (GAIM, w/e) should support it next release ;)

i know this is why you DONT use Ubutnu (Long live the king of all OS's) i use it because my sister and my mom cant understand crap worth about computers so they end up using the nice Add/Remove app ubutnu has. Right now we bought a new computer with Vista (horrible horrible horrible) so im working on booting in to my own customized Ubutnu some time this week

[PGHammer]

Ubuntu is for entry-level users in my eyes, almost everything got GUI-fied, users will rely heavily on GUI tools and will not be able (or very difficult) to live in command-line interface.

I agree someone above, Ubuntu isn't for all Linux users, so I just choose my favourite Linux distro.: Debian.

Puh-lease!

Ubuntu is, in fact, Debian-based.

Ubuntu has a very usable command-line interface (in fact, certain tasks, such as changing display drivers, can only be done via the command-line; while you can download the ATI display drivers via Synaptic, they can only be installed manually, which requires basically rebuilding the drivers yourself, or grabbing them from the Ubuntu driver respoitory (specifically, the restricted drivers section) via apt-get (not Synaptic) and installing them that way. By the way, apt-get runs from the command-line).

You sound like a *distribution snob*.

[PGHammer]

Bottom line:

Windows to Linux convertism isn't going to work - the more I see it, the more I believe in that.

Most Windows folks are simply too set in their ways and cannot learn anything new - they've been conditioned to do things only in one way and they try to enforce this view on every other OS. Inability to learn is a horrible thing - if you find that this hurts your fragile little ego - too bad, truth sometimes hurts.

See how most of the Office software tries to mimic Microsofts Office? Start button? Menu structure? The disease spreads.

As opposed to converting, think in terms of Linux as a second OS: one that can be dual-booted with Windows. (That has been, more often than not, how Linux has been installed on x86 hardware for most of the past decade.)

*That* is the stealth nature of the Wubi Project.

However, the Wubi Project scares the Linux elitists because it commits Three Cardinal Sins.

1. It installs from Windows itself, like a garden-variety Windows application. (It uninstalls the same way.)

2. It dares to be based on GNOME. (Ever since Sun adopted GNOME as the new default environment for Solaris, GNOME has been getting a *bad rap*. In fact GNOME has been compared, and not in a good way either, to *Windows*. Could it be because GNOME is the default environment for over half the English-default Linux distributions out there? Never mind that there are variants based on KDE (Kubuntu) and even a plain X.org variation (Xubuntu), also installable via Wubi.)

3. It actually supports quite a lot of hardware out-of-the-box. Unlike most other Linux distributions, Ubuntu and its variants support my Audigy 2 ZS out of the box. That is, in fact, more than Fedora Core (RedHat-based) can claim.

Unless you're *happy* with the fractured nature of the world of Linux distributions, a Linux distribution that supports the most common hardware, installs easily, and yet lets you get busy *using* it (and not having to fiddle around) is exactly what's needed to interest Windows users. Hence Ubuntu, and now Wubi.

[DigitalE]

I don't use Ubuntu because my graphics card (ATI Mobility Radeon X1400) is not supported well at all.

[exUBERance]

i did it about 2 years ago when i was 11 and your telling me that you cant back up your crap download an ISO burn it, boot it and install? PUH-LEASE!!!!!!!!! i introduced an friend of mine through Wubi at school actually (i preach about linux there and some people get interested) and he currently is trying to decide between a few days of set up but a really fast and cool looking productive linux workspace verses a really slow windows lappy (its a gateway soo...)

[h3xis]

Puh-lease!

Ubuntu is, in fact, Debian-based.

Ubuntu has a very usable command-line interface (in fact, certain tasks, such as changing display drivers, can only be done via the command-line; while you can download the ATI display drivers via Synaptic, they can only be installed manually, which requires basically rebuilding the drivers yourself, or grabbing them from the Ubuntu driver respoitory (specifically, the restricted drivers section) via apt-get (not Synaptic) and installing them that way. By the way, apt-get runs from the command-line).

You sound like a *distribution snob*.

And Vector Linux is Slackware based - two totally different distributions, what's your point? Debian is completely different from Ubuntu. Nothing is sugar coated and the philosophy is what I like the most about it. As grouchy as the community is, I love it and I fit in perfectly well. I'll even admit that I'm a distribution snob. So what?

[Brian Veteran]

My Linux "career" has been as long as the next guy's. I started with a copy of Mandrake 7 I believe that I BOUGHT at the store. (Staples) It completely buggered up my computer as the GUI wouldn't load and had rewritten the boot sector with LiLO and I could not get back into Windows. This being the family computer, resulted in a lot of crap for me. After that I was forbidden to use Linux on the family computer.

This did not dissuade me from trying. I had tried Red Hat and Slackware after that and had a very nice Slack box on the go, until I screwed something else again and had to reformat the entire disk. I just passed it off as a virus until the next time where I got caught again and was forced to get my own computer if I wanted to continue to fool around. I didn't touch it again as I had no money until Knoppix hit the scene with it's LiveCD goodness. I showed that to my father and he was impressed and I had his blessing.

I fooled around with Debian and SuSe on and off and Ubuntu when it was in the old days of Warty but I never really stuck to it. I had learned a lot by this point but there was always one nagging thing that returned me to Windows, whether it be a network issue I couldn't figure out or a basic resolution issue that had no solution.

Feisty was released and I jumped on it and when my wireless worked out of the box, I was hooked. I do realize that this notebook being a different one than my last, the WiFi card is better supported but I have really liked the development of Ubuntu. I've gone out of my way to install non-FLOSS packages and finally I have a system that does not call me back to Windows. Sure, many points are valid in this thread and it definitely does make it easy for someone new, it still offers the choice for those that want to use CLI instead. I run most of my processes from a command line, never use Synaptic and can compile my own kernel, but Ubuntu is my distro nonetheless.

Although I do use Ubuntu, there are many things that do bother me. I do not like the UID set up of drives, I would prefer a proper FSTAB. I also do not like how the Gnome backend has been modified, it makes it hell for some serious customizing. Firefox stability is average at best. (Specifically when using Youtube) and my sound card doesn't sound like it has the same quality of sound as in Windows.

These are things I can deal with as I now just use my computer to browse, chat, play and learn. I don't go out of my way to learn the backend of things but I will if need be screw around to get a program installed if it doesn't want to compile from source in one go. I have patience but really, I don't want to spend hours and hours compiling things anymore, I just want a system that works for me and for the most part Ubuntu does.

i did it about 2 years ago when i was 11 and your telling me that you cant back up your crap download an ISO burn it, boot it and install? PUH-LEASE!!!!!!!!! i introduced an friend of mine through Wubi at school actually (i preach about linux there and some people get interested) and he currently is trying to decide between a few days of set up but a really fast and cool looking productive linux workspace verses a really slow windows lappy (its a gateway soo...)

That's another thing that maybe turns people away. A lot of people don't like being preached to, they would rather experience things on their own. Also, fairly certain that computer isn't slow just because it's a Gateway. =/

[rson451]

That's another thing that maybe turns people away. A lot of people don't like being preached to, they would rather experience things on their own.

i admit i didnt read your entire thing. would have take me ages and some downers for me to be able to concentrate that long ;) buuut i did wanna pipe in on this one point. from what i have experienced, most people absolutely do NOT want to experience things for themselves. they want to ask what other people have done and choose the easiest route for themselves. maybe once they get into the scene they change (i know this is how i progressed) but at first they are usually waiting for someone to push them toward something enough for them to be comfortable with the idea.

[ambiance]

I don't use Ubuntu because its lack of UAC to constantly remind me I'm about to do something stupid.

[Hak Foo]

I tried 7.10, and while *finally* they made a distro which could cope with wireless out of the box, too many things still don't work. My scanner (an old Canon D1230U) and TV tuner (Leadtek HDTV Cinema, but it barely works in Windows :D) are bricks.

And what's the deal with Grub? In the old days, we had lilo. It installed on the partition, and you set that partition as active. You could very easily blow away the Linux install from Windows.

Now, you have Grub, which installs in the Master Boot Record, and requires a huge dance to remove.

[ScottKin]

I don't use any version or look-alike of UNIX because I'm still in protest over AT&T's System V Licensing Terms from 1979; however, I am a closet-user of Solaris because at the same time I'm in protest-mode I'm also "sticking it to the man" by using a heretical *NIX knock-off.

Yes, I DO roll like that.

--ScottKin

[h3xis]

I don't use any version or look-alike of UNIX because I'm still in protest over AT&T's System V Licensing Terms from 1979; however, I am a closet-user of Solaris because at the same time I'm in protest-mode I'm also "sticking it to the man" by using a heretical *NIX knock-off.

Yes, I DO roll like that.

--ScottKin

:o Does that include BSD?

[JorgeIvan]

I don't use Ubuntu because it just load the screen that you select boot from hard disk etc. then after that i see some loading screen and then an black screen and thats it. it just don't load i don't know why.

[Stokkolm]

I tried 7.10, and while *finally* they made a distro which could cope with wireless out of the box, too many things still don't work. My scanner (an old Canon D1230U) and TV tuner (Leadtek HDTV Cinema, but it barely works in Windows :D) are bricks.

And what's the deal with Grub? In the old days, we had lilo. It installed on the partition, and you set that partition as active. You could very easily blow away the Linux install from Windows.

Now, you have Grub, which installs in the Master Boot Record, and requires a huge dance to remove.

Check out this thread for an easy way to remove GRUB if you have a Vista CD. It's too easy with an XP cd also.

[Mouldy Punk]

I don't use Ubuntu because its lack of UAC to constantly remind me I'm about to do something stupid.

Erm...it might not have "UAC"...but like any linux distro (unless you're always logged in as root) Ubuntu will ask for your root password before allowing you to change anything outside of your own home directory.

[markwolfe Veteran]

I tried 7.10, and while *finally* they made a distro which could cope with wireless out of the box, too many things still don't work. My scanner (an old Canon D1230U) and TV tuner (Leadtek HDTV Cinema, but it barely works in Windows :D) are bricks.

And what's the deal with Grub? In the old days, we had lilo. It installed on the partition, and you set that partition as active. You could very easily blow away the Linux install from Windows.

Now, you have Grub, which installs in the Master Boot Record, and requires a huge dance to remove.

Ummm... LILO gets written to the MBR, as well. Or both LILO and GRUB can be told to be written to the Linux partition instead of the MBR.

I'm not really sure what you are complaining about, other than you don't really know what LILO and GRUB do, but complain about some innacurate belief you hold about them.

[kazuyette]

Why don't I use Ubuntu ? because I use another distro that is called WinXP . :whistle:

[rson451]

Why don't I use Ubuntu ? because I use another distro that is called WinXP . :whistle:

then read the OP and gtfo. jesus.