[UFO Chicago] WCLUG Meeting Thursday, December 2, 2004

[m.mccune at comcast.net]

Even though our Web site hasn't been updated in a while, we are still meeting on 
the first Thursday at Letizia's Bakery www. superyummy.com

This month we are giving away full packaged version of Ubuntu Linux 
www.ubuntulinux.org. For those who haven't heard of it, Ubuntu is a free 
distribution which aims to make a polished, desktop distribution out of 100% 
free software. I think they have succeeded. To find out more, see my mini review 
below.


Debian is my favorite server distribution. Once installed, Debian is stable and 
easy to maintain. It also has the best package management system of any 
distribution. All the programs required for a package are updated, downloaded 
and installed automatically. No more dependency hell!

Debian is not so great for desktops, however. Its installer is hard to use, the 
applications are not the latest versions and the default desktop is too busy and 
unpolished for the casual user.

Ubuntu addresses all these issues.  While its installer is still text based, it 
has good hardware detection and sensible defaults to allow even a novice user to 
get a working desktop simply by choosing the defaults.

The folks at Ubuntu have also included the latest desktop applications. They've 
compiled and tested the latest applications and placed them in their own 
repository. The latest versions of Gnome, Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice 
are just a download away.

The default desktop is Gnome but it is not the standard desktop. Ubuntu has 
greatly simplified and polished the desktop. Instead of a dozen text editors and 
five browsers they simply chose one of each. Linux may be about choices but the 
average user just wants an application that works.

Ubuntu comes with two CDs. The first CD is the installation CD. All the programs 
required to install the distribution are on this CD.

The second CD is a live CD similar to Knoppix. This is a great way to try Ubuntu 
without installing it. The second Cd also has a bonus on it. Place it in a 
Windows PC and you will get a menu to installed open sourced applications for 
Windows.

Ubuntu takes a solid, stable Debian base and adds polish and refinement for the 
desktop user. 

--
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