[TriLUG] Why is Ubuntu so increasingly dominant

[Carl Crider]

 After years of playing with nearly every distro out there , I have found
one that I absolutely enjoy working with. I started this GNU/Linux journey
with "Tiny Linux", moved to Red Hat, then to Mandrake, Debian, and even
Gentoo. All while downloading ISO's and testing anything I could. It's a
pleasure to use a tool that works right away, after having hacked my way
through dial-up,
winmodems, ISDN, DSL, soundconf, and X config he**. Most of you know this
list, I'm sure.

 I work with Linux [from the inside] 99% of the time at work. When I'm at
home I just want a desktop that works and has the tools I need/want. All of
the other distros offer that, yes, because they are Linux. I just found
Ubuntu easier to work with. I don't have to hack away at it, unless of
course I want to.

My short list:
1. Hardware support. Nvidia cards in my laptop & desktop, wifi card & sound
in my laptop,
and my SBLive card works perfectly on the desktop.
2. Automatix ... I love this tool!
3. My laptop [P3 w/512 memory] has never run this fast before.
4. I can uninstall any package I want, without fragging my system. Giving me
more control over my distro.
5. I don't have to compile all the time.
6. The community support continues to grow in a positive manner.
7. My kids are now off of Windoze ... [tear of Fatherly pride spills from
eye].
8. My stock Wine install works. No ... really, it does.
9. It's still free as in freedom.
10. 2 years later and I'm still impressed enough not to sweat upgrades.
After all, everything
gets backed up to a Linux server anyway.

 Basically, I have stayed with it because it works for me. And that's the
best part about
Linux anyway, right? It works for me, because I can choose it to work for
me. Some day,
another distro with a weird name will come along and I may switch to that
one too.  :)
[[I am, however, still downloading ISO's and checking out other distros.
It's fun]]

-Carl


On 6/3/07, Andrew C. Oliver <acoliver at buni.org> wrote:
>
> So I'd prefer we don't turn this into something negative, but I think if
> you look around the next TriLUG meeting at Red Hat you'll see a few Macs
> and a whole lot of Ubuntuists (and probably my MacBookPro with Ubuntu in
> the decisive minority).  The latest TriLUG poll
> (http://trilug.org/node/53) puts Ubuntu in a majority (albeit the poll
> is far from fair or scientific as only people who love or hate ubuntu
> are likely to answer).
>
> I'm curious why those of you who have chosen Ubuntu have chosen it?
>
> Myself:
>
> 1. Community: Ubuntu people had info on how to get it installed on a
> MacBookPro first!
> 2. Installation: It installed with a high resolution (the Dapper live
> CD) and wireless support with few hiccups (Feisty was less lucky)
> 3. Packaging: I find it really easy to get what I want when I want it
> with minimum conflicts (it could be I'm lucky but I haven't had a "must
> disable this repository when installing XYZ but enable it when
> installing ZYX or YZX breaks..." issue as of yet).
> 4. Working Compromise: I love free things.  Liberty is important to
> me...but being free must also include the thing functioning.  Ubuntu
> seems to make sensible compromises here most of the time.  (Minus
> Feisty's weird ATI issues).  Meaning "free doorstop" isn't going to make
> me all warm and fuzzy.
>
> Why do you Ubuntu (please keep your comments positive about ubuntu
> rather than negative about your prior distro)?
>
> -Andy
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