Ubunu 11.04 is fabulous

[Khalil]

I got it when it first came out, been using it on my main business computer and my ASUS N82JQ-B2 Note Book in dual boot with windows 7.
Everything about the new Ubuntu is so advanced and easy to use, their updates are constant, everything works without a hitch, no lockups no weird windows 7 freeze ups, viruses are none existant!
Just love it.

Even if you are just a little savvy you can use it and enjoy it.
You can download it here and install is a dual boot with your Micro$oft OS as a dual boot.
Homepage | Ubuntu

[Preston]

+1 on that.

I encourage everyone to give a "Live CD/USB" a try if you don't want to do an install!

[jdeb]

It is pretty amazing how far it has come. Linux Mint is real nice as well. I prefer Xubuntu or Xfce desktop. You really do not need to buy an OS any more.

[strollin]

11.04 is OK except for the awful Unity interface. A major step backward, IMO.

[kilgoretrout]

I'm not a big fan of the Unity interface either. For ubuntu, I generally recommend going with 10.04. It will be supported through April 2013 by which time Unity and Gnome 3 should have matured sufficiently. For a great KDE 4 based distro, I recommend PCLinuxOS:

Dude! Sweeet! » PCLinuxOS

Only drawback is it's currently 32 bit only but a 64 bit version is apparently in the works.

[David M]

I'm curious now. What does it do better other than saving you $100 on an OS and that it does not have malware? Is there better software to do something with the Linux OS? I'm not being cynical, just wondering what the other advantages are.

I'm thinking about experimenting with it now that it seems to be becoming more user friendly and that it is very easy to switch boot drives with the UEFI interface. I would imagine Linux will work with UEFI?

[Preston]

For me, it's just enjoyable to work with something 'new' and different. I enjoy learning and playing with a different operating system. The more I use it, the more I find myself saying "Wow, I like how it does this or that..."

Ubuntu is a great 'nix to start with. There are so many distos out there, I guarantee that there is something for you. I have spent lots of time with Ubuntu and Backtrack (scary how fast you can crack a WEP key!).

More recently, I have been working with FreNAS and Ubuntu Server (which is going to be my home server OS of choice).

And on the horizon for me is Mythbuntu, which looks very interesting.

Don't take me the wrong way here, I'm not one of those "Linux-is-the-best-OS-ever" guys, but I am really impressed with the offerings, and Linux is becoming a bigger part of my home network as time goes on.

In summary, its FREE, applications are FREE, there is no bloat (very modest/minimum hardware requirements), so many distros (there is something for everyone), very stable, and just plain fun to use a Windows alternative.

[ConLog]

Originally Posted by David M I'm curious now. What does it do better other than saving you $100 on an OS and that it does not have malware? Is there better software to do something with the Linux OS? I'm not being cynical, just wondering what the other advantages are. I'm thinking about experimenting with it now that it seems to be becoming more user friendly and that it is very easy to switch boot drives with the UEFI interface. I would imagine Linux will work with UEFI?

The only thing blowing Windows to kingdom come is the lack of third party software.

I have Linux Mint 11 and Windows 7 on my netbook.

Guess which OS runs fast, no-crashes, no hard drive thrashing, no slowing down after months of use, no malware, spyware, viruses?

Linux is and let me make this quite clear - absolutely fantastic!

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by David M I'm curious now. What does it do better other than saving you $100 on an OS and that it does not have malware? Is there better software to do something with the Linux OS? I'm not being cynical, just wondering what the other advantages are. I'm thinking about experimenting with it now that it seems to be becoming more user friendly and that it is very easy to switch boot drives with the UEFI interface. I would imagine Linux will work with UEFI?

It does software raid or raid period, better. I think customizing the look and fell of the OS is better, unlimited choices. Updates typically do not require a restart. Full plethora of open source software and many repositories.

Linux supports all 4 combinations of booting - UEFI-GPT, UEFI-MBR, BIOS-GPT, BIOS-MBR. If Linux and Windows are in the same HDD and boot using UEFI, then the linux bootloader must be configured to boot from GPT. This is a limitation of Windows, not Linux.

[johnkon32]

To be honest, I didn't and I still don't like Canonical's decision to switch to Unity from Gnome as the default desktop environment of Ubuntu. Personally, I have been using Fedora for around 2 and a half years so far and I am very satisfied; currently, I am working with F15 KDE on my Desktop and with F15 Gnome3 on my netbook.

By the way, everyone who wants to install Ubuntu along with Windows and is afraid of dual-booting should try Wubi Installer, which is pretty much easy to install. Find out more at Download | Ubuntu

[Khalil]

Never had a problem doing a dual boot install from the Ubuntu disk. I pretty much now offer Ubuntu on all my systems as an additional OS alongside window$ 7 and we do it free to help the masses open their eyes, 9 out of 10 people take it and I am getting more and more positive response about using it for surfing the web.
You don't need an anti-virus.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Khalil Never had a problem doing a dual boot install from the Ubuntu disk. I pretty much now offer Ubuntu on all my systems as an additional OS alongside window$ 7 and we do it free to help the masses open their eyes, 9 out of 10 people take it and I am getting more and more positive response about using it for surfing the web. You don't need an anti-virus.

I offer the same thing but Linux Mint. I actually get quite a few people that just want the Linux when I tell them it will save $139.00. I am still surprised at how many people could care less about Windows and as long as they can still surf the web, create office documents, manage their money, play movies, music, and play web games they are perfectly happy.

I am writing this post on a budget build with Linux openSuse , Asus P5GC-MX (FSB 1066) 945GC chipset (last one), E7500 CPU, 4GB ddr2 667, 64 GB SataII ADATA SSD, 500GB WD Black SataII, Seasonic 300ET PS. Runs perfect, very fast and stable.

[David M]

Originally Posted by Khalil Never had a problem doing a dual boot install from the Ubuntu disk. I pretty much now offer Ubuntu on all my systems as an additional OS alongside window$ 7 and we do it free to help the masses open their eyes, 9 out of 10 people take it and I am getting more and more positive response about using it for surfing the web. You don't need an anti-virus.

I'm thinking that with small hard drives being so cheap now and UEFI making it so easy to choose a boot drive that for some people it might not even be worth it to do a dual boot drive.

Opinions?

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by David M I'm thinking that with small hard drives being so cheap now and UEFI making it so easy to choose a boot drive that for some people it might not even be worth it to do a dual boot drive. Opinions?

True!

[Masaki 7-11]

I used ubuntu 10.04 throughout most of the last year (september 2010 till now) on my school laptop and for various projects running as a virtual machine. IMO the best version of ubuntu so far, 10.10 wasn't quite as fast and reliable as 10.04 and I still can't get used to the new interface of 11.04.

[johnkon32]

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 I used ubuntu 10.04 throughout most of the last year (september 2010 till now) on my school laptop and for various projects running as a virtual machine. IMO the best version of ubuntu so far, 10.10 wasn't quite as fast and reliable as 10.04 and I still can't get used to the new interface of 11.04.

It might sound kinda weird, but apparently the best version of Ubuntu I've ever used should be Ubuntu 9.04 in my opinion. Pretty stable on my Desktop, plus it introduced a really good (and classic) theme which made it looking awesome.

[Khalil]

11.04 is far superior to previous versions if you have good enough hardware. Older machines don't do so well with it.
It is very user friendly, I am selling Linux boxes better than ever because of it's ease of use for customers who have no Linux experience.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by Khalil 11.04 is far superior to previous versions if you have good enough hardware. Older machines don't do so well with it. It is very user friendly, I am selling Linux boxes better than ever because of it's ease of use for customers who have no Linux experience.

I think the Trinity interface is great for people not accustomed to Linux, it's just a bit of a pain in the rear for me because I do a lot of school work on the Linux OS (I have operating system labs, programming and web hosting on it), so the new interface gets in the way and makes it more difficult to find my way around after I got used to the older versions.

It's going to be like my first experience with vista and windows 7 though, hated it at first, then got used to it and liked it to the point where I find it difficult/unpleasant to use the older versions of windows, it will just take a bit of time.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by johnkon32 It might sound kinda weird, but apparently the best version of Ubuntu I've ever used should be Ubuntu 9.04 in my opinion. Pretty stable on my Desktop, plus it introduced a really good (and classic) theme which made it looking awesome.

That is when I stopped using it and went to Slackware, openSuse, or Mint. I never have cared for Ubuntu that much after 9.04. I put it on the Grandsons PC just to see if it was any better and I have no real idea why I do not like it, maybe it seems so much slower to me and clumsy?

[glc]

Might you be saying it's getting too much like Windows? I can see where Linux purists might hate it.

[ConLog]

Originally Posted by glc Might you be saying it's getting too much like Windows? I can see where Linux purists might hate it.

That's no bad thing though in my opinion. Windows is a tried and trusted desktop environment and I'm happy using a system that is 'similar' to it but without all the associated drawbacks.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by glc Might you be saying it's getting too much like Windows? I can see where Linux purists might hate it.

Correct. In my opinion, the various Linux Desktops are more intuitive and organized better. Linux needs to stay as far away from the Windows look and feel in my mind.

[Tin]

I really love Ubuntu, but I dont really like Unity. The good thing about Unity is that its still in its infancy, and will be greatly improved upon in the future. I always use the "Ubuntu Classic" interface under 11.04. Gnome 3 is very nice too, but still buggy. Hopefully theyll have alot of the stuff ironed out within the next year. Ive played with it on Fedora and Open SuSe, very intuitive interface, moreso than Unity...plus its alot easier on the eyes .

[nickgr5]

Sorry to bump this thread, but what are your current thoughts about 11.10? Well, i tried it alongside Windows 7 (using Wubi) but I didn't enjoy it that much. I'm back to openSUSE now.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by nickgr5 Sorry to bump this thread, but what are your current thoughts about 11.10? Well, i tried it alongside Windows 7 (using Wubi) but I didn't enjoy it that much. I'm back to openSUSE now.

I agree. openSuse 12.1 is coming out in a couple of weeks (19 days). Curious to see the improved gnome (3.2). It looks pretty cool in the screen shots.

openSUSE 12.1 Milestone 1 - One Man's Anthology

openSUSE 12.1 Milestone2 - One Man's Anthology

Screenshots 12.1 - openSUSE

[Nuclear Krusader]

The interface looks like a total rip-off of OS X.

KDE still looks very much like Windows (and I bet it runs better).

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Nuclear Krusader The interface looks like a total rip-off of OS X. KDE still looks very much like Windows (and I bet it runs better).

I thought the same thing (Apple rip off) but let's face it, Bill Gates can't be the only one he steals other peoples ideas. I think it is a compliment on some level as Windows 7 has a horrible looking GUI in my opinion. I always liked Windows 2000 GUI, and OS/2.

KDE is pretty heavy or it has that heavy feel of Windows 7 maybe a little more. I prefer the lighter and simpler gnome 2 or xfce or lxde.

[Nuclear Krusader]

I'm with you there. Windows 7 is the worst Windows ever. Gnome has always tried to imitate the Apple interface, and there's a reason: it's the cleanest and easiest GUI. KDE has always tried to ape Windows, and it shews!

[David M]

Gates retired in June of 2008. Windows 7 was released on July 22, 2009. Steve Ballmer is in charge

[Nuclear Krusader]

It shews. Windows 8 looks completely fecaloid.