digg

Join DiggAbout

Donkeys and Elephants and Delegates,oh my!
Check out the most popular Elections 2008 content on Digg.

Is Ubuntu Linux for You, Too?

wired.com — Like cold fusion or a painless weight-loss plan, a user-friendly version of Linux remains elusive. But developers are getting closer with Ubuntu -- a free, Linux-based operating system that appeared in October 2004 and is winning over waves of converts, including high-profile geeks like Cory Doctorow.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • RBotros, on 10/12/2007, -25/+15Not with my weird ATI Graphics card. They sent me the free cds all the way to egypt but all i see after the Live loading are 3 tiny identical rectangles. That's why i don't have the guts to go on and try to install it :(
    • neko, on 10/12/2007, -5/+17mm. I've been trying it on my laptop, it was going quite well, but there's a nasty little bug to do with my ati mobility radeon.

      I think I've got it fixed for now (famous last words..) by telling the driver to disable any attempts at acceleration; fair enough, but I don't think Ubuntu should have had it enabled as a default, knowing the state of the ati driver.

      So, it's a minus. But it's had plenty of other plusses so far, wifi, firewire, even memory stick and odd keyboard layout working out-of-the-box. Haven't made up my mind yet.
    • Veamon, on 10/12/2007, -102/+16For the love of God, how about Digg puts a filter on for just a week that disables anything Ubuntu related.

      Jesus.
    • jessejoedotcom, on 10/12/2007, -10/+57Vista too? And Wii, and Macs? How about you shut up and block the Linux category.
    • Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18Try this (worked with me from the console)

      1. sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

      2. Scroll down to the device section.

      3. Change driver to 'vesa'.

      4. Ctrl + X.

      5. Y.

      6. Enter.

      You lose 3-D acceleration, but it's an improvement on three rectangles.

      (Vesa is the most basic driver that pretty much works with anything).
    • Veamon, on 10/12/2007, -100/+9"Vista too? And Wii, and Macs? How about you shut up and block the Linux category"

      How bout you suck on my balls?
    • jessejoedotcom, on 10/12/2007, -14/+66"How bout you suck on my balls?"

      Since you obviously use Windows, I'm gonna assume some malware wrote that ignorant comment.
    • JeffH, on 10/12/2007, -33/+12Thing is, the stuff about OSX, Vista, etc. is NEWS. I've seen this same article with different wording 1000x on Digg. It's straight advertisement, and that's not what Digg is for. Digg is for news, not spam. "Switch to Ubuntu LOL" shows up on the front page every week at least once it seems, and it's getting annoying. We all know about Ubuntu. If someone is interested in Linux, they'll go research it, but spamming an OS isn't gonna do much other than piss Digg users off. I doubt this article will make many people just suddenly install Ubuntu.
    • antitab, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17"You lose 3-D acceleration"
      No, you lose ALL acceleration. Most significantly, 2D. If you have a very fast computer, you might not notice. But otherwise, it slows graphics down to a crawl. Vesa is good for troubleshooting or a last resort, but it really isn't good to use regularly.
    • jessejoedotcom, on 10/12/2007, -5/+23Digg is about user generated content. If people think something is interesting, it will make the front page. Just because you don't think it is, doesn't make it spam.
    • JeffH, on 10/12/2007, -33/+9Please explain how this is not spam. There is no news in this article, it's just an glorified advertisement.
    • Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -7/+19@jeffh

      You see, you've been here almost a year and you've submitted 2 stories. If you aren't happy with the quality or the types of submissions, get off your ass and start submitting some of your own non-Ubuntu stories....
    • JeffH, on 10/12/2007, -30/+8I had no idea it was my obligation to submit stories. I come to Digg to read news, not to read spam. It doesn't take a prolific story submitter to realize that this is spam.
    • raj3, on 10/12/2007, -11/+13"The best strategy for most people is to run Ubuntu on the side as a hobby, gradually learning its intricacies. "Try things out before you really need to do them, so you avoid panic," said Grant."

      How reassuring. Not exactly the most convincing "Convert to Linux" article I've seen...
    • rickbauls, on 10/12/2007, -16/+8"How bout you suck on my balls?"

      Wow, you're too adult for me. How old are you? 14? 13?
    • Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -9/+14"I had no idea it was my obligation to submit stories. I come to Digg to read news, not to read spam. It doesn't take a prolific story submitter to realize that this is spam."

      It's your obligation to submit stories if you're going to whine about stories that are submitted. Did someone force you to read this submission? Are you the kind of guy that bitches about the government but doesn't vote?
    • killin1a4, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6use vmware if you want to experment, the tools to allow the seamless mouse support and higher screen res. are easy enough to install.
    • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -10/+6dont like nix talk
      filter it out
      dont want to read ubuntu
      dont read it
      i skip plenty of stuff i dont care for namely the entertainment catagorie
      filter or skip/ignore it
    • jgeorgeson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I have a Mobility FireGL v5000 in my laptop, and the ati driver (selected by default during install or on the live CD) was totally fubared at one point, I still see a bunch of people commenting on the bug in Launchpad (had to do with with incorrect LVDS detection, there's a MonitorLayout option you can set in /etc/X11/xorg.conf to fix it). Booting into a console login and setting up the binary fglrx driver corrected the problem and it runs great, full hardware acceleration, xgl. The quake 4 demo runs better on my Ubuntu laptop than my Mac mini.
    • JeffH, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Thing is i'm interested in stuff like updates to Ubuntu, new Linux distro's, etc. But I really don't want to read spam while going through Digg. I know i'm not forced to read it, but it shouldn't be on Digg in the first place, it's nothing more than an advertisement. I can't filter out Linux, because i'm interested in the non-spam stories. I can't filter out Ubuntu, because i'm interested in the non-spam stories, etc.
    • CharlesDarwin, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4Whoever does those pictures with the unofficial mottos for each distro should add "Ubuntu--because it's ok to be a noob."
    • capitapf, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Im gonna have to agree with veamon on this one. before anyone tells me to "suck balls" or accuse me of using "winblows" you should know that ive been using ubuntu since hoary. i am so sick of seeing some ***** article, thats not even news or newsworthy, on the front page every god damn day. if you want to read or talk about ubuntu there are plenty of places to do that, but this imho is not one of them.

      p.s. here are a few links if you want to read about/discuss ubuntu. www.ubuntuforums.org, http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/
    • whiteguysamurai, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Don't know why you guys dugg this guy down, ubuntu is buggy.
  • doolittle, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16+digg for mentioning "network-manager-gnome" as a solution for WPA connectivity.

    Will have to try that if I ever upgrade my laptop card (still tunneling vpn over unrouted WEP, it works =)
    • arpspoof, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10I converted to Ubuntu after being surprised how everything just worked and the support was great. I use network manager and all of a sudden wireless is easy and painless, even with wpa2. I'm just tired of tinkering with other distro's to get them to eventually work how you want them. Installed automatix, and a few customizations later, Bam! Working Linux...
    • motang, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3network-manager is such a great utility. I makes switching between wireless network a breeze.
    • ephemerae, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2yeah, it would be nice if it worked consistently with an iw2200, but it's still a complete pain in the ass if you want to connect to WPA reliably. it shouldn't be this bloody complicated.
    • jgeorgeson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@ephemerae

      I have an HP nw8240 with an IPW 2000 chipset and network-manager (both gnome and kde) works just fine with WPA and WPA2 Personal for me. I'm connecting to a Linksys WRT54g. I was able to get WPA2 running, reliably, whether the router runs the Linksys firmware or the openwrt firmware (both RC4 and RC5 of the WhiteRussian release of openwrt). The first releases of WPA/WPA2 enabled network-manager on Ubuntu weren't very good, so if you were put off by it 6 months ago (maybe from the 5.04 Ubuntu release, or a beta release of 6.06), you might try it out again now.
  • Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14I have an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M in my Toshiba Satellite laptop and was able to get Ubuntu up and running on it with no issues (until I downloaded the latest updates last week and it botched the gui). I also attempted to get SUSE installed a couple of weeks ago and was unable to see the desktop. I'm assuming it's because of my graphics card.
    • Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -35/+9Do people mod ***** down just because they can?
    • noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4I have had graphic problems when installing linux distros, and mouse problems but both of those were older and my hardware is a bit old too.
    • mc4_a, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3I think you have to disable the onboard graphic accelerator.
    • mc4_a, on 10/12/2007, -13/+7"Gregd"
      You're not allowed to say bad things about Linux, duh.
    • noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4Seriously now are the Windows Kiddies loose in this article there are a lot of random related points getting modded down here. Fack off if you don't like the article.
    • Dynapen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I have been running Ubuntu for about 2 months on my Winbook A215 laptop, running the same ATI Radeaon X200M card. Everything works fine but I never got the 3d acceleration to work. Have you been able to get that working Gregd?

    • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Gregd

      Are you talking about the xserver-core update?

      If so, simply go to the grub menu and select the newest kernal on recovery mode, login and then type:

      Sudo apt-get update
      Sudo apt-get upgrade

      There was a bad version of xserver-core (1.24ubuntu 10.4 i believe), but it has been fixed by a newer version.

      Hope that helps you.
    • Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4@Dynapen

      I haven't attempted to get it working.

      @chicken101

      It was the xserver-core update. I had to reinstall windows for a quick project on my laptop, but I'm going to go with Ubuntu again. Thanks for the 411....
    • tdeboever, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1If you have an ATI, this tutorial will get you going with the proprietary ATI drivers (with 3d Accel):
      http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Dapper_Installation_Guide#Method_2:_Generating.2FInstalling_Ubuntu_packages_for_the_8.28.8_drivers_in_Ubuntu_Dapper_Manually

      also, if you specifically have the 200m that you are talking about and it still doesn't work, I suggest commenting out the

      BusID "PCI:1:5:0"

      line in your xorg file.
    • damentz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1ctrl+alt+f1
      init 3
      apt-get update
      apt-get dist-upgrade
      init 5

      (assuming your running commands as root)
      The ubuntu devs should have fixed the bug by now, but idk, i prefer debian unstable
  • scantellay, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12So far I have had this running on my laptop for about 3 weeks, and have had no real issues as of yet. Make sure that you check out the forums http://www.ubuntuforums.org/ the community is full of users that will help you out. Next after installing if you want to play mp3 or DVDs you should go here http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/ and follow the instructions. Have fun. and enjoy Ubuntu.
  • TeyNur, on 10/12/2007, -12/+10My only beef with Ubuntu so far is that it doesn't allow me to use an MP3 file for any of the system event sounds, startup, login, etc. WHY? Forcing the use of WAV files? I thought the idea was to get away from the use of MS technology.

    Aside from that, let me just say that I have a dual boot machine and am now running Ubuntu at 90% vs Windows. The rare exceptions being those few times where I want to access something using Flash 9 or some other windows only source.
    • Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -15/+6WAV is NOT MS technology. WAV is what's used on audio CDs... do you think that's MS?
    • rgov, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Actually, WAV *is* Microsoft technology (jointly with IBM).

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV
    • antitab, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7"Actually, WAV *is* Microsoft technology (jointly with IBM)."

      Also from that article:

      "Audio CDs do not use WAV as their sound format, instead using Red Book audio. The commonality is that both audio CDs and WAV files have the audio data encoded in PCM. WAV is a data file format for computer use. If one were to transfer an audio CD bit stream to WAV files and record them onto a CD-R as a data disc (in ISO format), the CD could not be played in a player that was only designed to play audio CDs."
    • Frankie4Fingers, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5WAV is not what's used on audio CDs... that is just the format people usually use when ripping audio CDs and trying to get lossless quality out of them.
  • Shadowman, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22If Ubuntu is not for you, try Fedora, openSUSE, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, or one of the many other Linux distributions ( http://distrowatch.com ). That's the beauty of Linux - it's not "one size fits all".
    • Computer_Kid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20And if you are hard core, you can get the source, get the modules you need, and compile it your self! :-)
    • Frankie4Fingers, on 10/12/2007, -28/+3Or we could just use an OS that actually works and has a real user interface. One that allows easy configuration instead of a bunch of text files we have to maintain.
    • tech42er, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Are you attacking Linux, Ubuntu, or self-compiled distros? I can't tell!
  • Waterrat, on 10/12/2007, -7/+8"Are any key programs missing?
    Not really, but you have to do extra work to get MP3- and DVD-playing software. Both formats are proprietary, so they aren't distributed with the all-freeware Ubuntu. Enabling digital music, for example, requires installing about a dozen file packages (with bizarre names like "gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse"

    Which is why I chose Linspire...It works out of the box and installing apps is a one click process.
    And Shadowman is right,one size does not fit all.
    I know a lot of people live to bash Linspire.But I like it and I'm sticking with it.
    • Xyphr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9The entire point of Ubuntu is to be completely free/opensource with easy access to proprietary things... you make it seem like installing 'about a dozen' things is hard when in reality you just cut and paste from a howto. If you're going to review, do it right. Ubuntu is good out of hte box for productivity and media formats can be obtained easily and played in the Default gnome player or one can fetch VLC, or a huge array of other players out there. But yes It is all about preference some people think Click+Drag, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+Shift+V, Enter, Y. is too hard... some don't.
    • Justathought, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2@Waterrat,

      I recetly tried Linspire and found it quite good. Especially after installing Synaptic. However, personally, I don't like the security scheme Freespire uses, where there is no active root account, and users have to use sudo or kdesu to be able to run certain functions (is Ubuntu still using this too?). I don't like it because it is not the way most other distributions do it, and there are a lot of little gotchas still being discovered with that scheme. For example, after installing Synaptic, the shortcut created for it wouldn't work. I had to edit the link and add kdesu at the beginning of the command line for it to work properly. After that, it worked very well though. Still, I have found a better distro.

      In my humble opinion, PCLinuxOS 0.93a is the current top of the heap. Very fast, very polished, very easy to use, I just can't find any thing wrong with it yet.

      Just as an example, to install the nVidia Drivers all I had to do was install them from Synaptic, log out and log back in. That is it. Compare that to what you have to do with Ubuntu:
      http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Latest_Nvidia_Breezy

      PCLinuxOS is finally being discovered. If you check the last 30 days in distrowatch, you will see that it is now ranked number 3. So, if you haven't tried PCLinuxOS, you should. Download the image, burn a CD and play with it as a live CD first. Believe me, it won't be long before that install icon on the desktop cries out at you with an irresistible :).

      Here is a good review:
      http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/9123
    • myFriendDerrik, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5This is why I use Automatix in Ubuntu, gets me all the codecs and programs I need to play sound/video plus a ton of extra programs and plugins for firefox. I'm really disappointed the article didn't mention this. With scripts like Automatix or EasyUbuntu there is no reason to ever have to go to the command line.

      http://www.getautomatix.com/
      http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/
    • roosterjm2k2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@justathought

      easy fix for that. It is a good system to keep the "uninitiated" from fubaring their computer...but if you want to just use su to log in as root, do this.

      from the terminal..

      sudo passwd root (then enter the password)

      now you can su, enter the passwd, and you are root

      As far as always being root, bad idea...why switch to a secure system if your just gonna ignore the main security feature.
    • Justathought, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@roosterjm2k2
      Whether this scheme protects a user or not is debatable. In PCLinuxOS, when you run a tool that requires root access, you are prompted for the password, and end of story. Of course, running as root all the time is not smart (which unfortunately I think some Freespire users do).

      Finally, one thing I should have said on my comment above is that for those that like Gnome, I do think that Ubuntu is probably the best choice. Although you can run Gnome in PCLinuxOS by simply installing one package (gnome2), I just don't know how well implemented it is. Nevertheless, judging by the rest of the distro, I wouldn't be surprised if the implementation was very good.

      On the other hand, if KDE is your preferred desktop, or if you can go either way, PCLinuxOS is the way to go for home use right now.
    • tech42er, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Linspire is my 2nd choice. :)
    • ocram, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Justathought

      Did you intentionally go out of your way to find the longest set of instructions?

      sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx nvidia-kernel-common
      sudo nvidia-glx-config enable

      Works perfectly fine on Dapper.
    • Justathought, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ocram

      No, I wasn't try to troll Ubuntu. I just did a quick search on Google to find it. But, let me ask you, do you need to add extra repositories besides the ones that ship with Ubuntu in order for those commands to work. If so, will a newbie have to first learn what repositories are, why they are needed, how to configure them, how to pick the right one, etc, in order to get his nvidia drivers installed? If so, what is your point? With PCLinuxOS they don't have to learn any of that. The same goes for audio formats, video and browser pluggins, and probably a lot of other things I haven't discovered yet. (I have only been using PCLinuxOS a couple of weeks.)
  • rotarychainsaw, on 10/12/2007, -8/+21Can't go back to XP. It looks so bad in comparison.
    • Computer_Kid, on 10/12/2007, -8/+20Welcome to the Light Side
    • doodlebumm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I haven't used Windows (any flavor) on my desktop for a couple of years. My laptop can dual boot, and I occasionally rdestop to a system, but I couldn't see ever going back to Windows either. I do plenty of stuff, too, Camcorder to DVD, webcams, documentation, wireless connectivity, multimedia, whatever. I have not reason to ever go back to Windows (especially Vista when it comes out). I'm going to sponsor a Ubuntu Install-a-thon soon to see how many people I can get converted to using a good OS. :)
    • damentz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Power management is better in linux if you know what your doing, theres a daemon caled powersaved, gnome and kde have frontends to it and its really clear on what its doing unlike xp's (OH GEE TRY THE BATTERY SCHEME) and all u see if the monitor and harddisk settings change.
  • BionicBeefpile, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14I sort of disagree with the conclusion by the author to "run Ubuntu on the side as a hobby".
    I think you learn much more if you immerse yourself in the system. If not, then the inclination will be "I'll just restart to Windows to do that" rather than teach yourself something.
    I understand that many people have only one system, and that you can't just up and delete everything on it to give Ubuntu a shot, but *please* resist strongly the initial urge to go back to Windows every time you run into a small issue. In a few days, probably, you won't even *think* about booting something else
    • Xyphr, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6Agreed theres a out of the box ubuntu solution for every Basic Windows task you need to buy software for. As far as an office environment goes that is. But this continues on to many other aspects.
    • sembetu, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6exactly.

      I converted my entire house to Macs and one Linux (Debian) box. I love the command line now, and I am becoming a more serious user as a result.
    • Frankie4Fingers, on 10/12/2007, -14/+3Didn't the command line go away in the 80s? I thought that died with DOS. Come on people, do you hear yourselves? You are trying to convince people to keep at it and to learn how to use the command line when there are programs and OSs out there that you can do everything without even owning a keyboard.
    • int19h, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4You can use the GUI, commandline or both. One does not exclude the other.
    • kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"Didn't the command line go away in the 80s? I thought that died with DOS."

      believe it or not, sometimes the command line is faster than using a mouse.

      what processor am i using?
      more /proc/cpuinfo

      i want to install azureus:
      apt-get install azureus

      i want a directory listing and to stick it in a file:
      ls -la > dirlist.txt

      i want to see the ip addresses of visitors to my website today, and i want it sorted by amount of visits per ip address:
      grep "29/Aug" access.log | awk {'print $1'} | sort | uniq -c | sort

      when you start chaining commands together like that you can start doing some seriously cool stuff.


    • TRENT310, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"Didn't the command line go away in the 80s? I thought that died with DOS."
      The difference is, in Linux/UNIX, you can do EVERYTHING in the command line without touching a GUI. Which is nice, for example, if you want to remote administer a system without using something as bandwidth intensive as VNC. In Windows, though you can't do everything on the command prompt emulator that it provides. I still find a shell more useful than going through menus in a GUI, for most tasks. Some things you have to do in a GUI, of course, such as image / video editing tasks.
    • kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"Some things you have to do in a GUI, of course, such as image / video editing tasks."

      you can do image editing/conversion stuff on the command line with ImageMagick.
  • billyboobs34, on 10/12/2007, -12/+17I can't get the newest Ubuntu to install on an older compaq proliant server. The installation creates partitions and then doesn't see them to install on. I had a different problem with the kernel of the last ubuntu major release. I'm tired of having to recompile everything for faulty distros, goodbye Ubuntu, you've failed me.
    • billyboobs34, on 10/12/2007, -23/+7Oh yes, let's mod down everything anti Ubuntu... grow up.
    • Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -13/+12I don't understand why you're being modded down, simply for having an opinion. I guess welcome to digg..
    • WorldGroove, on 10/12/2007, -7/+8@Gregd

      The reason you, and this billy person, get modded down is this:

      Billy is talking about an old compaq not running Ubuntu. First thing is that could be his lack of Linux knowledge to get it working. Or perhaps the computer is way too old. Most people on digg don't wanna read about some guy giving up on Linux 'cuz he couldn't install it. Linux(esp. Ubuntu) can run on almost anything.

      Gregd - you keep getting modded down 'cuz, in general, "empty" opinions don't go far in digg, unless it was posted as a joke or had some kind of facts backing it up. The fact that I(and I'm sure others) remember your UserID on digg as being someone who keeps complaining.... probably gets you automatic-mod-downs almost before reading your comments.
    • billyboobs34, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2I don't lack the "Linux knowledge" you speak of nor is the server that old. It is obvious from the installation that it does not belong in a corporate environment like other distros. Simply look at the default partitioning. Only a moron would let it partition like that.
    • xcrixtx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0of course ubuntu doesn't belong on a server...it's focus is as an easy desktop Linux disto...if your running a server you should use something targeted more for that type of computer....maybe debian...even a moron would know that.
    • billyboobs34, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ubuntu is trying to be a server distro too as far as the changes in the distro and in coporate statements made by them. Every so often I see how they are doing... not there yet as I can see.
    • kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1you should try a more server friendly distro. my ISP offers Fedora or Redhat Enterprise, but not Ubuntu.


  • Desolite, on 10/12/2007, -15/+6is it just me, or is anyone else embarassed to say the word "Ubuntu" to people?
    • Xyphr, on 10/12/2007, -7/+8Nope, infact it's a great name because it sticks in your mind! Much like most other Linux Distros. You don't forget names like Ubuntu, Suse, Gentoo. It's all social marketing in itself.
    • willcode4beer, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10I don't know about Ubuntu but, "Mandriva" just sounds gay. I still say I use Mandrake.
    • noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4 willcode4beer

      Admit it, you're a man driver and you love it.
    • DarthTurducken, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6@willcode4beer

      Admit it you've got a "man crush" on Mandriva. Neener neener!
    • LucianSolaris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2you have a point, the name is completely stupid in my opinion. Last time I installed it, i removed all immediately available easily removable on-screen references to the name.
    • kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"I don't know about Ubuntu but, "Mandriva" just sounds gay. I still say I use Mandrake."
      same here. Mandriva is just a retarded name.

      and the founder of Mandrake, Gael Duval, was actually fired by "Mandriva" a few months ago - he's working on Ulteo at the moment.

      http://www.ulteo.com/main/

  • sembetu, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13/rant

    This is getting silly. I am starting to see more and more articles on digg that have already been on Wired, Techdirt, and Slashdot.

    I am not questioning the quality of the articles, but about a year ago, when started reading digg, I was drawn by the fact that I could find information here that hadn't hit any other news source.

    Seriously, by the time a major rmagazine like Wired gets it, it is not the bleeding edge news I originally came here for.

    /end rant

    I apologize for going off topic, but it had to be said.

    btw, I already saw this SPECIFIC article earlier on Wired. Hence, the rant.
    • Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9Dude, that's where the link came from. Digg is essentially an aggregate of cool links. Just because you've seen it on Wired, doesn't mean everyone else visits Wired. If you aren't happy with the quality of the submissions, start submitting stuff yourself...
    • sembetu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6That is valid feedback, and from time to time, I do attempt to submit things I have not seen. And, while it is true that even though I have seen it on Wired, everybody may not have see it, you have to concede that a national magazine with the kind of readership is quite a bit more mainstream than what was originally so exciting about digg.

      You know, I really didn't mean to hurt feelings, and I guess I could have made it more of an "observation", but seriously, ever since digg has become a "social phenomenon" I have seen more dupes, old news, etc than before.

      Used to be, when someone called dupe, it was for good reason, but lately, you might as well scream "breathe!", since repeats, dupes, and old stories are that ubiquitous.

      Besides, I never claimed to come here to submit, I did say I come here to read, so as far as me submitting better stories, that's probably not going to happen... but I will keep my eyes open for good stories.
    • Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2@sembetu

      I agree that the number of dupes, etc., has become prolific. I would love to see people such as yourself, start submitting stories that you've never seen before. That being said, submitting stuff from Wired, Cnet, etc., has it's value only because I use Digg as one stop shopping. Just because I view it that way doesn't mean everyone else should.

      Digg is whatever you make it brother. You didn't hurt my feelings. I have an ex, so she already took all of that out of me...haha
    • kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3good point.

      notice how the SpiralFrog/Universal music download deal hasnt made the front page of Digg?
      it should - its seriously a big story, whether you think its a load of crap or not.
    • DreadPirateWes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The argument to post stories on Digg if you don't like the current content only goes as far as your friends list. It's a flaw that has resulted in creating more trash on the front page. Right now mine is filtered to only allow Tech and Gaming and I still get a lot of crap that makes it through.
  • wyzish, on 10/12/2007, -16/+4No ubuntu isn't for me, slackware and zenwalk are for me.
    I'll say that again Slackware / zenwalk. Just as good as if not better, IMO better than ubuntu. Less bulk and fast.
    Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk Slackware / zenwalk. Ok I'm done here.
    • doolittle, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I think you forgot to type "server" at the boot prompt
      =P
  • noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4I'm ready to try going but i have an old PC and I want a good USB drive to back my files onto. I'm borded with XP though. I'd like to take its presence down to at least 10%
  • bluephoenix, on 10/12/2007, -15/+11I really don't see what the big deal is. It will never be mainstream enough to be more then a nerd hobbyist operating system. I tried it, it supported *****, and the most useful applications have to be run through WINE. No thanks, I'll stick to XP or OS X. The only useful Linux distros these days are the one's that power servers in my opinion. It was fun to try out, but I'd lose my mind having to use it everyday. Proceed to bury me now.
    • noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Why will it never be mainstream, linux desktops get pumped out faster than minstream OS's and the more users that come on the more expertise you are getting. Linux is good enough now to be attracting hardcore coders from both of the mainstream platforms. What do you think these coders are doing once they are on the linux side?

      The more interest that is generated the more useful a Linux distro will evolve to be.
    • 0siris, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7I agree...
      It has some uses, like my dad picked up a g3 imac for 10$ at a yard sale. I loaded ubuntu up on it, and now he has a computer in his shop to check email and such.
      (previously it had, but could barely run OSX)
    • myFriendDerrik, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
      - Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
    • doodlebumm, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5And "no one will EVER need more than 640K." - Bill (I'm richer than God) Gates
    • bluephoenix, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Well if I'm wrong then feel free to quote me in the future.
    • kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i've been using Linux on my laptop for the past 5 years - for work purposes.

      but then, my job is web designer/php coder/mysql admin.

      depends i suppose, on what you want to use a computer primarily for. i still have XP on one of my other boxes, purely for music making. but in my day job, i use Ubuntu.

    • supernovus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'm a bit taken back at your stance that you need wine to run "useful" applications. I have found when I occationally find myself at a Windows computer I need to run cygwin to get "useful" applications. Then again, I'm a system administrator for a web hosting company, and focus on writing scripts to manage network environments. So for MY job having my workstation run Ubuntu is providing me with the applications *I* require to do my job. For someone else, say a graphics designer or copy editor I'd say OSX would be best, for others yet like an accountant, I'd say Windows would be best. It all depends on what your field is. For home use it is again similar, it's what you are comfortable with. I use dual boot Gentoo and Windows on my home computer. Again, each to their own.
  • hockeysk8, on 10/12/2007, -8/+7I have been a loyal Red Hat user since 1997 (including getting my RHCE on 6.2). I recently tried upgrading a server to Fedora Core 5 that was running FC4 flawlessly and after two days of struggle to get the wireless card working I gave Ubuntu a whirl. I don't think I will go back to Fedora/Red Hat for a desktop system. Red Hat may lure me back with virtualization for a server but I am not looking forward to trying to install Fedora again after having installed Ubuntu so quickly with one simple CD.
    • TheTankengine, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6You use a wireless card in a SERVER?
      Does this make sense to anyone else?
    • doodlebumm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Every time I've tried Fedora on a desktop I find numerous "critical defects" that make me immediately go another direction. I used Suse for a while (and liked it very much), but I settled on Ubuntu with Breezy last year, and Dapper is even better. Things work even better and more of my hardware is supported better (like my OLD webcam and an old windows-only memory card reader that now work with Dapper).
  • TenebrousX, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3pff, Cory Doctorow doesn't even pronounce it correctly
  • jagg, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3I tried to use Kubuntu for a computer I put together for my son. Flash was SO Slow on it though, so I went back to Windows. If and when Flash 9 comes out, I'll try again.
  • wyzish, on 10/12/2007, -16/+3OMG I got moded down for mentioning another distro, way to go hard core ubuntu fanboys.
    ubuntu is African for " can't configure anyother distro" :-p
    • TheTankengine, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3You are SO original.

      And the actual saying is "Ubuntu is African for 'Can't configure Debian'."
    • DreadPirateWes, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4No you got modded down because your comment was annoying.
    • Linegod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ubuntu is a cult. Believe or be modded down....
  • codyman, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6I wouldn't say I would use linux full time yet because of mini little glitches along the way of using it, however, as ubuntu continues to develop, the better they keep getting, and I believe one day I will be able to fully switch over.
  • xanik266, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8I was going to try Ubuntu, thanks to the flood of links, and then review it, but I ran into a snag...

    I use WPA for my wireless network, and Ubuntu can't seem to handle it out of the box. So, I'm giving up until it does support it out of the box. Ubuntu does look promising, but it's not just for me yet.

    (Side note: No, I'm not totally stupid and didn't take the time to look. I spent a good 2-3 hours looking for a simple way to fix the issue, to no avail. I still say that Linux just isn't ready for the tech-unsavy regular joe)
    • TheTankengine, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2wpa_supplicant

      Its not "out of the box" but it will only take 1 minute to install.
      The #1 best site to check with any of your problems is www.ubuntuforums.org . The people there are great and the search will provide great insight.
      Good luck!
    • arsgeek, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Try this:

      sudo apt-get install network-manager-gnome

      Now log out. Log back in, left click on the Network Manager applett (upper right, by your clock) and choose "Connect to other wireless network". Enter your network's name (the SSID) and choose WPA. Put your password in and surf.

      It's not exactly outta-the-box, but it isn' all that bad.

      geek out
    • jopsen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3if you want WPA support then install gnome-network-manager, that's rather simple... If you can't get temporary Internet access without WPA, then download the .deb's to usb-disk, at install it from ubuntu...
      You can join any local/ordinary LUG or linux community to find help, most people will gladly help you... And if you end up with an arrogant answer saying: "Just, Google it...", don't take it personally, that's just how geeks are... (sorry)
  • underthewether, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6i recently tried the automatix script on my new ubuntu installation and it worked like a charm (installed the nvidia drivers and mp3 and dvd codecs). i think ubuntu should put something similar to this in their next release. that way the included packages would all be open source but if you want you can more easily install commonly used non open packages. i realize you could individually install everything automatix does using the built in package manager, but placing common program installation in one unit saves a lot of time and hassle.
    • int19h, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It's by being firstly open and secondarily useful Linux/Gnu/Ubuntu has grown out of all proportions.
    • int19h, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Clumsy formulation, but you know what I mean. :-)
  • Ramble, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1No, Ubuntu is bad.

    Every distro is bad, only Gentoo is better than bad (still pretty bad though).
  • Jack9, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1I'll stick with CentOS, a real OS
  • Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Seriously, X configuration is probably the single most critical component in Linux that prevents it from being user-friendly. Somebody needs to seriously work on a front-end to X that replaces the awful config file. For one thing, X seems to handle its own drivers differently from regular kernel drivers, and so autoconfiguration is bungled differently. The configuration is not dynamic at all. I should not have to futz with modelines (GTF is obsolete in an LCD world, anyway). The server should, at a minimum, start in a baseline mode (say, 1024x768@60 VESA w/mouse support), and once in your desktop, you should be able to run a graphical utility to configure (and dynamically restart) your X session.
    • Wedge1212, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2I love my Ubuntu with Xgl / Compiz and dual monitors
    • Ramble, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"I love my Ubuntu with Xgl / Compiz and dual monitors"

      Xgl is based upon Xorg, and so uses the same crippling config file and setup.
    • durzagott, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Amen to that. I've recently had the headache of trying to configure a winescreen monitor with an Intel graphics chip. Hell does not begin to describe my experience with xorg.conf. In the end I finally stumbled upon 915resolution and now all is fine. But X is a major pain in the neck for a Linux newbie to be forced to rip into.

      Until such basic concepts, such as being able to easily change display settings, are wrestled out of the hands of the uber-geeks and delivered to the masses with proper interfaces, Linux will not be ready for the big time.
  • Intangir, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4ive been using ubuntu for over a year now. i love it, and recommend it to anyone who will listen ;)

    i tried many other distros and ubuntu is definately the most user friendly and just a pleasure.

    i have heard of people having issues with ATI cards . there are supposed to be tutorials and guides on the wiki at wiki.ubuntu.com but i think certain cards are just still going to have issues

    i have some weird ATI card in a computer here at work, that i got from HP FOR LINUX, HP repeatedly assured me that this card works fine for linux and it doesnt. i never managed to get it to work, i tried 3 different drivers for ATI and 2 of them couldnt start X, and the 3rd crashed me..

    i am having to use the vesa driver, which runs 2d graphics just fine, but no 3d ;(

    in fairness though its ATI's fault their drivers are TERRIBLE not linux or ubuntu's

    i have an nvidia at home and it works great, no hassles whatsoever, i even have multiple monitors working

    the only thing holding linux back is poor 3rd party vendor support
    if hardware and software vendors would make *nix version of their software and drivers no one would be using windows except for billgates ;) and he would dual boot
  • Guido87, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2*downloads* I'm interested to see how this compares to other Linux distros that I have used and to see if really is "linux for humans." Now if only I can find a way to get WoW to run on it...
    • TheTankengine, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2My friend used to be absolutely addicted to WoW. Then, he had to install linux for one of his C++ classes I think. He said it only took him about 15 minutes to port it for Fedora. I'm sure with a little Googling you can do it no problem.
    • ldog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@guido,

      Wow runs fine here on wine 0.9.19 and an nvidia card. I don't even have to pay for cedega.
  • Visceral, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3Linux. The 3rd world's OS of choice.

    But seriously, I use both Ubuntu and Windows. Linux may gain a lot of market share in countries that are too poor or cheap to afford Windows or Mac OSX but that's about it.
  • sdub, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4OMFG!!! Ubuntu!! Digg!
  • AskMike, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2I had Ubuntu installed on the side of WXP on my home PC. No major problem, but it is just sitting there do nothing. I just booted it up once a while to play with it. All of my major stuff are still on Windows Platform, games, videos and music etc.

  • Lindquist, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I would recommend Ubuntu to everyone EXCEPT everyone I know owns a laptop and the bugginess associated with opening the lid and not waking up out of sleep would drive too many people away. That's a major issue IMHO.
    • kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i have dapper drake running on my WORK laptop. no problems. even 3d acceleration worked out of the box.
      wireless - no problems.

      Compaq HP nx9030
  • xjbri, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Ubuntu is cool. Kubuntu is cooler, imho.

    However, I think both are works in progress. Things like setting up a print server and installing software and stuff like that are still easier in Windows. That's just a fact. But...

    Give Ubuntu a few more releases and I think that it will be a worthy competitor to any mainstream OS.
    • Hootyea, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Yeah, I'm with you. Gnome is crap. KDE is far better.
    • Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Fluxbox
    • Boondoggle, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3And you'll get dugg down for the reality of your comments by the Unazis

      Anyone who thinks Ubuntu, great as it is, makes a general replacement for XP or OS X is in serious denial and is out of sync with how the rest of the world uses computers.
    • doodlebumm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5KDE or Gnome? user preference - I personally can't stand KDE for more than an hour or so.

      Printing? simple enough, and I've never had to download a driver. I haven't set one up for a print server, though. I use networking devices to hook up my printers anyway.

      Installing software? I think most things are easier in Ubuntu than WinXP, but that is also probably a user preference (or just better experiences).

      Work in progress? yes, and a damn good one. I can't wait for it to kill off Windows (I hope anyway).
  • adolfojp, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4How many more "Ubuntu is great" articles do we have to get before we realize that is is Spam.

    I'll dig Ubuntu's new features, new versions, new accomplishments in the computer business.

    I will not dig any more "me too" uninformative Ubuntu spam.
  • 7thCommander, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Every few months I give Linux another go, and it's looking like Ubuntu and OpenSUSE are the two front runners. Personally I think it's good that two are coming to the fore as too much choice can make it very hard to win over the masses.

    Ubuntu has improved since the previous version - Wireless worked straight away unlike before, however it's unusable on my laptop as I couldn't figure out how to tweak the touchpad tapping settings, unlike in Freespire.

    I've tried Freespire and its codec support is very good, for most this is what they want, SUSE and Ubuntu really need to sort that aspect and make it as easy as possible. A single download that covers everything from Flash to video codecs would be welcome. With Ubuntu Automatix seems the best option but it shouldn't be needed. I know there's the whole legal side but people will only be won over by usability.

    SUSE 10.0 really impressed me, and visually it's better than Ubuntu unless you're a minimalist. The whole brown colour scheme of Ubuntu is ok at the start but after 2 days I'm totally sick of it. Downloading SUSE 10.1 now, and I'm hoping it's one I can stick with.
  • iatealitlebabie, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Ubuntu is the new Paris Hilton...
  • sacksbags, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i tried ubuntu and wasted my 2 precious X-mas holidays last year. And the install process always hanged in between. After wasting many hours on ubuntu, i decided to use debian net-install. The installation process was pretty fast and the system is still running on my 4 year old daughter's computer. From my personal experience ubuntu is more hype then reality.
  • Boondoggle, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I think this article is spot-on. Ubuntu is clearly the easiest distro I've tried (several). But it still isn't ready for prime-time and grandma.

    I'f you're a tech-oreinted fiddler, it is great. I've got it running on 2 machines, PPC and Intel.

    I know the community can be very helpful, but what I (and grandma) want is help documentation, not posts in a forum that might get answered in two days. I get my fill of forums in places like Digg.
    I don't need more forums for stuff that should just be written down somewhere. To me that is the biggest barrier to Linux, non-existent or horrible documentation that assumes you know everything else about UNIX/Linux except the specific topic at hand. I want soup 2 nuts how-2s, in the distro.

    Not at howtoforge.com.

    Each release is better so it will get there at some point. But the fact remains that Linux is still only free if you don't value your time, because time is what it takes, much more time, than the paid4 OSes to configure, find and install all your apps.
  • innovafandg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Its good to Ubuntu, so far I am liking the ubuntu distro. No real big complaints, though I am still boggled about the linux distros now being mainly gui based.

    • nahun, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Its so more users will come to linux. I don't want it to be GUI based either, but if more people come to linux, all the better.
  • illegalamigo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'm having such problems installing Ubuntu ATI drivers. I get a black screen on boot. Can anyone help me with this?

    Edit: I've done some searching and I'm still having problems. I have an ATI 9800 pro.
  • jmcantrell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I run a multi-ethnic household. My wife uses a Mac, b/c it's simplistic and straightforward. I use Slackware and Ubuntu (server version) for my home servers, and Windows personally for my desktop environment. Being that I'm a strong supporter of the open source movement (and a developer of open source AND proprietary software), I've battled with the fact that I use windows as my desktop machine. I justify this decision with the fact that windows offers a quicker solution to get what I need to do done, while also giving me the most flexibility with my current computer peripherals. While I do enjoy the satisfaction that comes from a nicely configured Linux desktop, I just don't have the time any more to properly tweak all the little nuances to my satisfaction.
    I hope that the desktop version of Ubuntu can eventually meet all my needs for a desktop environment, and I hope it happens before support for XP ends.
  • starquake, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"Like cold fusion or a painless weight-loss plan, a user-friendly version of Linux remains elusive."

    What? That's not true. It might not be the same. But that's something different then user-friendly.

    For general users, it might be mandatory for Linux to be much easier then Windows to start attracting most windows users, but that sentence is just not true.
  • Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6This summarizes it all:

    1.) Ubuntu Distro - Pretty good.
    2.) Ubuntu Articles - Lame.
    3.) Ubuntu Fanboys - Lamer.

    'Nuff said....
    • lamestory, on 10/12/2007, -10/+0the assholes who write the articles and the losers on digg who vote them make me want to boycott ubuntu.

      "OMG UBUNTU IS REPLACING XP IN LIKE THE NEXT MONTH!!!!!!!"

      I mark them all as "ok this is lame", but there are just too many losers on here!
  • PJBonoVox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I've run it on a few machines, and it doesn't compare to Windows/OSX in terms of responsiveness. I can't use an OS that ages my hardware by a year.
  • digitallysick, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2ubuntu is good if you have time, and like to read on how to configure alot of you hardware, and piece things tg and hope it works. I enjoy ubuntu, but i spend time on it, alot of time! , trying to get it just right. The day that it becomes more simple and has an easier setup/config system, then it will be better than MS,

    for instance, my logitech mx1000 mouse, in xp, all buttons work without software being installed, in ubuntu, you have to edit xorg to try to get some of the buttons to work, also the forward and back buttons for firefox/gnome manager. its a pain
  • pixelfox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Ubuntu is less Linux, in that Linux is for geeks by geeks. They at least try and be consumer friendly. But as a student who basically was a beta tester for Ubuntu all last year (and this year too, as my computer science teacher gets the versions before they are publicly released) it needs a lot of work to go anywhere. Still if I was to root for a Linux flavor, I would pick Ubuntu.
    • kdehead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i'd agree with that. there's always a tradeoff between something closed source and built for the consumer market, and something that is incredibly flexible and open.

      flexibility and openness means that things will barf from time to time - but the tradeoff is that you dont have annoying paperclips and spyware.. you get control of your computer. Linux gives you that.

      i moved to Ubuntu when the dapper drake release came out - but i still use XP on my other box for stuff that just isnt there yet in Linux (E.G. Fruityloops for music making). but it doesnt bother me , because 90 per cent of my computing time is spent in Ubuntu. i now use XP for fun stuff - like games or music making , but thats about it.


  • nnny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I don't like how wired conveys ubuntu as an operating system that doesn't run professional programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Indesign, when it certainly can. It can use several options, Wine: http://www.winehq.com/ , or Installing Commercial Applications with several other programs:http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_dapper#Commercial_Applications
    I'm surprised by Wired to have an article that displays Ubuntu as a cool but limited OS , when it is clearly more.
    • repruhsent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Print magazines aren't going to advocate running things in Wine, for a few reasons:

      1. They might not work, and
      2. Takes too much effort to set it up.

      Usually when someone says an app runs on a platform they mean "out of the box." There is no native version of Photoshop for Linux (and probably never will be). Besides, there's no way in hell a graphics professional is going to spend $1200 or whatever on Adobe apps like Creative Suite and run it under Wine on Linux; they'll run it on their Windows box (that they've already paid for and set up) or on their Mac (which they've already paid for and set up).
  • BeauKemp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I have an MX1000 and not all the buttons work w/o software in XP. Sure the forward, backward etc works but not the specialty buttons
  • Waterrat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1
    "So, if you haven't tried PCLinuxOS, you should. Download the image, burn a CD and play with it as a live CD first. Believe me, it won't be long before that install icon on the desktop cries out at you with an irresistible :).

    :>)@.Justathought:
    I have a copy of PCLinux right here.And yes,it yells for me to install it a lot.
    .Right now I'm still running it Live...But who knows what the future holds?
    Duel boot with Linspire perhaps? That sounds good!
    Of course, I also want to try out Dreamlinux with XGL as well.
    My video card cringes at the thought....
  • repruhsent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I installed a box with Ubuntu during the last week. Canonical/Mark Shuttleworth/everyone else is going to have one hell of a time convincing me to ditch XP for it. It's still too ugly, too much of a hassle, and too rough around the edges.

    So, I guess Ubuntu isn't for me.
  • supaflystud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Linux Distro's are intended more for the power users who aren't afraid to tweak with all text configuration files and changing settings through a simple command prompt.

    There is a little learning curve for some things, but once you got it down, it's easy to remember.

    Also, anyone can make any Linux Distro to look 10x more beautiful than XP or OSX, speaking just on cosmetic appeal. If you google-image around, you can find breath-taking desktop setups that are very appealing
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 61 of 61 discussions
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.