My Imperfect Operating System

I have been on holiday and am back to the computer after two months of sun and frolic. What follows is a continuation of themes previously explored and represents my current state of mind and Linux philosophy.

What works for me may not work for you. That’s the great thing about Linux. We have choice. There are well over 300 distributions and many different possible desktops to multiply the choice several fold.

As with many people, my Linux starting point is Ubuntu. I always install the 64 bit version of the latest release. I prefer to start with a fresh installation every six months. People complain about this, but I actually look forward to a new release each April and October. I not only do not mind re-installing this often and actually will do it in mid-release just for the fun of it. I don’t need to re-install; I do it as an exercise. I have a system that makes it a piece of cake.

I chose Ubuntu for many reasons. I like a distribution that is aggressive, always pushing the envelope, with a fixed release schedule. I have not had a significant problem with any Ubuntu release from Feisty on. I cannot say that about any other distribution.

I also choose Ubuntu because of the number of packages available to it. There isn’t anything that I cannot do in Ubuntu and I hate restrictions. My final and most important reason is people. Love them or hate them, Ubuntu has the most users and the largest and most dynamic community. Unlike many communities they do not have an axe to grind. It is open and friendly and that is what I like. It has the most podcasts, the most RSS feeds and the most forums devoted to it.

Things that I initially hated about Ubuntu, such as sudo and the Ubiquity installer, I now see as strong points. Funny the way things change as you get used to them. I have tried other installers, in fact most of them, but Ubuntu’s is the best to my way of thinking. It allows me to choose everything up front before it installs anything. Once installation begins I can walk away for fifteen or twenty minutes until it is complete with no more questions asked. Then after I re-boot I can tailor it to suit my own purposes.

My problems with Ubuntu are two-fold. I don’t like GNOME as my first choice and I do not use Mono. I get around this by installing Kubuntu afterwards. This might seem odd that I don’t start with Kubuntu, but I like some features of GNOME and will boot into it every once in a while. I install Kubuntu second because it replaces the things that I don’t like about GNOME such as GDM and the logon screens. My improvement on this is to install Xubuntu after KDE because I like its logon screen better and I use XFCE now and again.

I like multiple desktop environments for several reasons. I have had desktop environments lose some functionality from time to time as one package or another ceases to work. Most of the time it is not an important package and the problem is unnoticeable. However, there have been occasions where both KDE and GNOME have acted up. Most recently it was when I first moved to KDE 4.3. For awhile KDE would not load, so I switched to GNOME and did and apt-get upgrade and KDE worked once again. Sometimes I switch environments for a day or two or even a week at a time for variety.

The first thing that I install is the restricted extras. At the same time I remove Mono and install gtk-qt-engine so that GNOME applications don’t look so ugly. My obvious bias is that QT4 looks much better than GTK. GNOME looks every bit as dated as it is. It is sadly in need of a face lift. Add to this the fact that Ubuntu’s take on GNOME is particularly ugly and you can see why pretty it up as much as possible. I am not a fan of the human theme.

In both GNOME and KDE, I use Compiz for desktop effects and add the Avant Window Navigator at the bottom. Which might cause you to wonder where my panel is. In both GNOME and KDE, I use one panel at the top. I also use single click instead of double click in both desktop environments.

To simplify matters, I use one home partition for everything and have my list of programmes saved to a text file so that I can reinstall them easily. It is really quite straight forward and automatic. Generally speaking, after the initial installation and re-booting I can have apt go to work installing my list of programmes from the text file and I am back in business within an hour or two without so much as a hiccough.

I have tried Fedora, Debian, Mandriva, OpenSuSE and all of the rest. What I do cannot be done with other distributions. Most of them do not even have all of the applications that I use. The exception to this would be Debian. It is a worthy distribution in every sense of the word. However, the Debian community is not user friendly and I need something that is edgier in terms of its production schedule. If there was no Ubuntu, I would likely use Sidux. For now, even with its imperfections, I continue to use Ubuntu or at least my own take on it which is XKUbuntu.

Each distribution has its strengths and weaknesses. Ubuntu’s strength is in sheer numbers. It has the deepest and most up to date repositories. It has the largest community. These appeal to me because I use lots of applications and like to assist others. However, another person may dislike Ubuntu for precisely these reasons. They may feel overwhelmed by choice and want a small community or ever prefer to be a lone ranger.

That’s what you have to love about Linux. (Sorry GNU/Linux folks. It just does not sound right.) There is room enough for all and a place for everyone. The problem is in finding what works best for you and sticking with it. It seems that I have found a winning formula that works for me.

For anyone still trying to find their place, Ubuntu is an excellent place to start. If you want an even easier distribution there is Linux Mint or SimplyMEPIS. If you don’t mind RPM (and I do) then you could try PCLinuxOS or Mandriva. They have smaller repositories so your needs must be modest in this respect. My problem with PCLOS and SimplyMEPIS is their position with respect to KDE. KDE 4.3 is so much better than KDE 3.5. Sticking with KDE 3.5 is a loser’s game. You might as well switch to GNOME. At least, it has a future.

Once you know your way around Linux you could move to a more advanced distribution such as Debian, Fedora or OpenSuSE. If you want even more challenges you could try Arch, Slackware, Sabayon or Gentoo. We have still only scratched the surface. You could probably try a new distro each day of the year and not run out!

Ubuntu however can be as easy as you want and you can still build to your heart’s content. It has a range that is broader than most. That is why I stick with it. While a simple distribution has trouble keeping users once they have mastered the basics, Ubuntu grows with you. A complex distro keeps users at arms’ length until their skills develop and drains your time and energy once you take it on. You don’t have any choice once you go down that road but to devote time and energy because it does not offer an easy path.

I recommend Ubuntu most often because it offers users the most choice. Debian has as many packages and supports more architectures, but Ubuntu is a close second. But Ubuntu goes way beyond Debian in other respects. It offers the most desktop environments, with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and more. It offers more installation possibilities with Wubi, the regular installation disk, a custom installation disk and server disks.

As I said previously. It is a good starting point, but the journey does not end there.