[Sussex] Life with Ubuntu

[Gavin Stevens]

Hi all,

I've been trying Ubuntu for a few weeks now, so I felt that a brief
report of my experience might be of interest.

Good points: 
1: It was a breeze to install - no more than 20 minutes on my P4 2.8GHz
box.

2: It is very easy to use. I am even growing to like Gnome 2.8 - I have
deliberately stayed with the default desktop.

3: It is based heavily on Debian & has kept Debian's strong committment
to open source.

4: The Synaptic package manager makes the Debian packaging system
(already the best & easiest IMHO) even easier & better.

5: The software installed by default is generally well chosen. It is
easy to add new applications (see point 4, above).

Bad points:

1: errmm....

2: No, still thinking.

3: The root setup is a bit strange at first. Sudo is used instead for
routine things, but there is a root terminal & I have had no problem
with doing root type of stuff.

4: There are a few little rough edges, but overall, Ubuntu has been a
very well behaved & user friendly OS.

More good points:

6: I had to help Tracy clear some urgent work last weekend & I was using
OpenOffice. Tracy saw OpenOffice & saw that it was good. She is now
beginning to think that Corel WordPerfect isn't so perfect after it
protested at some layout changes she made. The same changes worked fine
in OpenOffice.

7: Tracy is quite keen on the idea of having Ubuntu on her machine.

My experience of Ubuntu is very positive. It is a very user-friendly
distro with Debian at its heart. I would say that it would be a good
first distro for newbies, or for anyone who just needs to get on with
their computing.

Gavin.