Re: [school-discuss] Ubuntu - Linux for Human Beings

[Robert MacEwan <macewan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 2005-05-02 at 19:20 +0300, Michael Shigorin wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 27, 2005 at 09:53:59AM -0300, Stephen Downes wrote:
> > >yet another CD-bootable disto, Debian based, but with a
> > >built-in installer: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/
> 
> No, as far as I've seen on their sounder@ list, it's not even
> *positioned* as that.  There's a LiveCD, and an install CD.
> 2 pcs.


Correct - think Debian with six month upgrade path.



> You could have mixed it up with Knoppix. :)
> 
> > I've heard good things about Ubuntu and have a distro at home
> > ready to install. But...
> 
> Get another system, hard drive or partition and experiment there,
> it's exactly the way to play with new things.
> > What do people here think of Ubuntu? How well does it compare
> > with, say, Mandrake?

Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE flair) is an option if you prefer KDE as the
desktop environment. http://www.kubuntu.org/


> Last one I've seen was Mdk 10.0 Community Edition and I must say
> ..oh no, better no brute words regarding its performance on.
> quite decent system :-(
> 
> They've "traditionally" had some idiosynchrasies on server and
> i18n fronts as well.
> 
> Re Ubuntu, I've only had time to look at livecd; first impression
> is quite OK.  What's more interesting to me is community and the
> synergy the company behind the project seems to manage well.

I use Ubuntu at work and home. At work it's used for desktop & server.

> Still I have no plans on running production systems on Debian --
> commercial support for that is something that comes along with
> involvement (we're running F/OSS consulting and development firm
> here in Ukraine), and involvement in large established project
> can be hard when it has to touch infrastructure.
> 
> Personal usage is also too problematic to me -- Russian language
> support? -- hey it's something that's been solved elsewhere last
> millenium properly! (hint, hint)
> 
> Anyways, maybe the best approach would be to ask, to get a few,
> to try, to share the results.  Apply as needed, maybe
> recursively, and maybe periodically. :)

They'll send a cd free of charge http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org/

> PS: distrowatch.com is a great overview resource.
>