*This post was written by Arjun Sharma, not Michael Prassel. This is a small bug in our blogging platform.
I'm writing this blog from the latest distribution of Ubuntu Linux. I've been flirting with this operating system for about three years and I've finally found one that is compelling me away from my beautifully pirated/hacked version of Windows XP. I haven't wasted any time in Terminal yet. Ubuntu is the version of Linux that is, arguably, the most mainstream and user-friendly. At the same time, it is the one that is most actively working towards becoming user-friendly.
Many of the awestruck moments I have had with this operating system in the past couple days came as a result of deficiencies they previously had that I saw them overcome. These aren't the sorts of things the average computer user are going to be compelled to come over for, but for those who have tried Linux before, I offer this news (if you haven't used Linux before but are still reading, scroll to the bottom by the stars):
- NTFS partitions are seamlessly mounted. Gone are the days of opening the Terminal and painfully copying over commands and then trying to figure out why stuff isn't loading. It automatically detected my hard drive and all its partitions; double clicking the windows partition mounted it instantly.
- Wireless works out of the box. I loaded the Ubuntu Live! Disc, and it found the network.
- Everything works out of the box. I just reformatted my Windows at the same time I installed Ubuntu. Ubuntu had my wireless card, my audio card, my video card, and my USB working perfectly on loading. Windows needed downloaded video and audio drivers before things worked right.
You all should give Ubuntu a try if you’re sick of dealing with the problems of Windows.
I have yet to experiment with ubuntu but Praz had it on his computer for a while and seemed to like it. The only issues I could potentially see, is if you have multiple computers and one is running xp, one is running windows 7, and one is running ubuntu then desktop connect or VNC is not going to work. I have the latter two and would most likely not load ubuntu on my 3rd comp because then they can't communicate and printer sharing becomes difficult. It pays to have ease of use.
ReplyDeleteI did try Ubuntu for about a week and I generally liked it. I'm not sure I would give it to my mom, but it's definitely making strides to be more consumer friendly. I was impressed with how it recognized all my drivers. On the other hand, Microsoft finally woke up and Windows 7 has finally done a good job with recognizing my drivers.
ReplyDeleteUbuntu has a built in client for connecting to Windows machines using remote desktop and it also is compatible with any VNC client, so that really isn't an issue. You are right about printer (and file) sharing,it is not as easy as it should be. A quick Google search can fix that though. There are a lot of great forums for Linux (especially Ubuntu) which can be a great benefit. I'll give it a few more years before I fully switch I think.