Ubuntu Linux

Well, what did I do this weekend? Amongst other things, I spent some time toying with a new distro* of Linux – Ubuntu. I had an old box lying around (and when I say old, I mean old [PIII 600, 32mb RAM]) which aside from a shafted graphics card was just about in working order. I managed to swipe the gfx card out of my schoolwork computer and start playing.

The .iso download is about 600mb, and I managed 112k down by getting the torrent (the direct .iso download will take a lot longer). Burn the .iso (using the excellent ISO recorder) and stick it in the machine. Job done. Install took about an hour, mainly due to the age of the equipment and the fact that I took the “I’m a n00b so install the whole bleeding lot” option.

There appears to be a vibrant support community, which is good, because a couple of the issues I had, I was able to find solutions to – for e.g, tips on redetecting the graphics card/monitor so I could change the screen resolution. However, I managed to get Ubuntu to connect to the Internet via my Win XP laptop with no help, so it goes to show it’s very easy and intuitive to use. Heck, I’m typing this on the Ubuntu machine (via a VNC window on my laptop, though it is pretty annoyingly slow ). Firefox 1.0.7 ships as standard (what else would you expect?) as the browser.

For ease of install and speed of “just working”, they’ve really pulled out all the stops. I’ll spend some time looking closer at it, I’m still tempted by Slackware for its rugged “fix it your bloody self” outlook, but given that I’ve not really decided what I want to use this box for yet, I’ll keep playing for a while. Heck, if I get really cocky, I’ll just put Slackware alongside Ubuntu and hope the boot loader figures it out!

If you’re a wannabe Linux user, then I wholeheartedly recommend Ubuntu. The only beef I have with it so far is that every time I type Ubuntu, it always comes out Ubunutu

(* Ubuntu is a Debian variant, so whether it’s a new distro is a debatable matter…)