Having used Linux for a number of years now (at least five now) I can say that I have done my fair share of distribution hopping. First using RedHat, back then it was 7.0, then moving on to a wide variety of distros, Slackware, Mandrake, SUSE, Arch, Yoper, Linspire (then Lindows) and even Caldera, just to name a few. I found that for the most part they were all essentially the same with the exception of package management. Which, as everyone knows, is what sets them all apart.

Package management was the reason I fell in love with Debian and settled down with her. Debian and I had a great two year relationship. We came to know a lot about each other. Instinctively she responded to the slightest touch of my hand on her keyboard. She is a great server, but lacks in the desktop department. She has served me well in the desktop, don’t get me wrong, but something was always missing. Refinement. Hello Ubuntu! Debian’s sexy little sister.

I first heard of Ubuntu a few months ago when someone mentioned to me in a forum that I should try it. At that time I had no underlying reason to try yet another distribution, It just seemed to be pointless. After all, with maybe the exception being Yoper, there have been no ground breaking, earth shattering, advances in distributions for a while. Besides that the name Ubunu sounded weird and faddish.
Fast forward a few months to June 14th 05. I was reading headlines on LinuxToday when I came across Tom Adelstein’s article in Consulting Times “Ubuntu Linux Reviewed” When I came to his conclusion and read this line “This distribution goes beyond a free, open source operating system with a business service model.” I knew I had to try it. I have been looking for that Holy Grail “Desktop Linux” since the buzz-word was first mentioned. Ubuntu makes DTL a reality. We now have a real replacement for the OS from Redmond. You should go on over to their wiki and read this article “What Windows Users Want”. After reading it you’ll realize that the Technical Board understands more than just Computers and OS’s, they know Marketing and that is something that the FOSS community as a whole does not know enough about.

The Review

I’ll spare you the details on installation, desktop screen shots, and all the usual stuff you read about. After all, it’s GNOME 2.10 on the desktop. What more do you need to know?

Features

Ubuntu Device Database

The first feature that set Ubuntu apart from other distributions was the Ubuntu Device Database. From the Ubuntu website “Ubuntu 5.04 includes support for cataloging hardware information in relation to setup/install options and tracking the extent of Ubuntu support for hardware. The key feature of the hardware database is the ability for the community to contribute information which will assist the development team in improving Ubuntu’s support for their hardware.”
I use a Dell Inspiron 9100. It’s a nice laptop that is truly a desktop replacement. Every distribution I have installed on this laptop, I either have to configure X by hand or sound by hand. It has been one or the other never both. Ubuntu cleared that up. Everything worked out of the box. I will gladly give the credit to the UDD. Work smart not hard. Good job guys.

Ubuntu Update Manager

One of the things Debian has lacked is a utility to notify (Desktop) users of security updates and patches. Ubuntu has a nice applet that shows up in the GNOME Panel when new updates are ready to be installed. Notably it is no where near as annoying as the Windows Update utility that is in Windows XP SP2. Ubuntu Update Manager just sits there in the corner lit up, waiting patiently for you to do the install.
root

The first thing that really confused and impressed me is the absence of root. Ubuntu uses the fundamental design concept that Apple’s OS X uses, “sudo”. It is a tool that has been in Linux for a long time. sudo is a tool that frankly has always been under utilized. But Ubuntu has used it in the manner that I perceive it was meant to be, a replacement for root. During installation you are asked to create a user. From that point on that user is a member of wheel which is essentially root without root. Though the root account does exist it is disabled form directly logging on to the computer. Some may complain about this, especially you traditionalist, but I see this as an enhancement towards the goal of DTL. For the desktop user (this is especially true in the case of Windows users) running as the default user who typically is a “Power User” or a full fledged “Administrator”, is not a good thing. And even though in Windows, the Administrator account has been around since the NT days, average users still have no concepts of account privileges. For most things, when elevated privileges are needed, Ubuntu prompts you for the sudo password. And for everything else you can do it via the console.

One thing lacking in the Hoary Hedgehog release is a sudo Nautilus File Manager. Most newbies when faced with the challenge of editing a configuration file in /etc are more comfortable (understandably so) using a GUI and gedit to make changes. So I would make the suggestion to the Devs to add this simple feature in the next release. Something that MS has ignored or has never really added to their OS offerings. [ NOTE: “Run as” in Windows XP does not count, because it is limited in it’s scope, unlike a sudo file manager.]

Network Settings tool

If you go to System>Administration>Networking in the GNOME Panel, you will be presented with a GUI tool that Apple OS X has had since it’s inception. It is utility that allows a mobile user to set up a number of different network profiles, which is real handy. At present it still requires you to enter the sudo password, which makes it not as useful for security conscious admins like myself. But the good news is it is still under development. So I am certain the Devs working on this project are working hard to circumvent that problem. Rome was not built in a day and neither was Linux.

The Ubuntu Community

Until I found Ubuntu, the best community based support IMHO was Linspire. Yet again, Ubuntu is top dog in this category too. UbuntuForums is on my “A” list of support sites. They have an excellent set of How-to threads that users have created. The format of those How-to’s is very easy to read and comprehend for newbies. In most cases there is a great deal of hand holding involved so as not to let the user get out of their comfort zone. Again the Technical Board shows their strength in understanding the “Desktop User” by encouraging the hand holding. When posting a question that to a seasoned vet may seem stupid, the response is not your typical RTFM or “Google it”. Rather Moderators and forum users point you to the best source for the information and follow up if the documentation is not as clear the person posing the question. As far as I can see the general understanding is, not everyone is a geek. Some are just trying to get away form Redmond and the likes. Which is a great thing.

This is it!

They have done it. Ubuntu has created DTL. I have been using it for two plus weeks, and I have to say no single distribution has ever impressed me as much. Ubuntu goes beyond the concepts of supplying the basic needs of desktop users, email, web browsing, Instant Messaging, and Office Productivity. They have geared their entire though process towards DTL. I am no longer on the fence about recommending a distribution for desktop use. This is it!