Ubuntu has been by far the most stable and user friendly linux os I have used thus far. As soon as it was fully installed it adapted to all of my hardware and provided such an enjoyable experience. It even features three different versions on the website for the desktop, server and netbooks! Let’s take a look at some of the main features:
- X.Org server 1.6
- Boot performance
- Linux kernel 2.6.28
- Ext4 filesystem support
- Cloud computing
- GNOME 2.26
All these components are not foreign to other linux distro but they are featured in this distro and has such nice integration in ubuntu. One thing that pops out is the boot time. When installed on my laptop it has a boot time of 20 – 25 seconds.
Stuff I like
I used the Desktop Edition 64 bit version, and the features that jump out me was how you can control the individual speed of each your processors if you have a multi-processor chip. The programs it comes with it, how it can control the brightness of my laptop (ASUS N50), when I needed certain plugins it downloaded them with ease. The linux kernel is definitely making great strides and is becoming more and more dependable for people out the box. This operating system runs pretty fast and efficient other that I have no complaints or do it?
Stuff I didn’t like
I didn’t like the fact that every time I would use hibernate I would get some error message. I also didn’t like that fact I couldn’t perform a software raid. Your best bet if you want to do this is to solve this hardware wise and buy a raid controller. One other thing I realize is that firefox 3.0 would crash a good amount which turned out be annoying from time to time.
Conclusion
I feel as though this is the best linux distro for a windows user or someone starting in linux and for 2009. Ubuntu support is great and continuing to show great strides. I would suggest for users starting out to use th 32 bit version to have more access to programs they would commonly use. I feel comfortable putting this linux on someone computer for their main os now. I still feel as though Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is still slightly better though, but that only because of the better support of hardware for computers. Anyways, look out fo 9.10 in October 2009.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Yeah even I think Ubuntu still cant be a total replacement for windows.
I have even written about the same here @ http://swordfish1987.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/ubuntu-9-04-a-replacement-for-windows/