I was quite surprised when I found out that I couldn't even log in as root in a virtual terminal.
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in fact, that's a feature. in ubuntu the root account is disabled by default. instead of it you use sudo, a tool to give some privilegs to an user without giving him total control over the machine.
if you want a root password just use "sudo passwd root"
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As with most Linux distributions, Ubuntu uses pre-compiled programs, also known as packages
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take a look at apt-build
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A server hosting pre-compiled packages needs someone to compile it and distribute it. That's not needed to the same extent when using plain source code. This all translates to a much higher probability that you'll find the software you want in Portage than it is with a system like the one in Ubuntu.
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you have deb-src repositories
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MP3 support is not included either, for legal reasons.
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actually. it just makes sense.
sudo aptitude install libmikmod2
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Firefox is strangely listed as version "mozilla-firefox (version 0.99+1.0PR.1+revertedto0.9.3-0ubuntu3)". Wow, that's a fancy name for Firefox 0.9.3. I can't wait for their mozilla-firefox 2.0+2.0PR.1+revertedto1.0-ubuntu3 upgrade...
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this is because at first they had firefox 1.0 in warty, but because of a bug żin firefox? they went back to 0.9.3
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This was the biggest surprise for me. When booting, I got a lot of errors from modprobe about permission problems on modules and problems with hotplug. Either the installer is known to have problems with hardware or my computer is extremely unique.
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shpchp and pciehp? it's not an error. just add it to /etc/hotplug/blacklist so ubuntu won't try to load it
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Also, Totem Media Player couldn't play any of my videos.
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gstreamer-ffmpeg?
Well, it's like OSX. The first user you create is an admin. That means he has the right to use sudo. So sudo -s works but not su. Gnome-terminal uses sudo to start a root terminal.
Also, add universe and restricted to you deb line in sources.list, then everything like mplayer is there.
But warty lacks some features, it's not that great. Hoary on the other hand is going to be the best dist ever!
Posted by Ernst Persson at February 1, 2005 11:39 PMUbuntu is an odd mix of new-user-friendly and jump-in-and-use-terminal. The fact that it tries to keep you away from the console is great for new Linux users. However, I had to do some major hacking to turn sound on (David, hint:
sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst and change kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-3-386 root=/dev/hda4 ro quiet splash to kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-3-386 acpi_irq_isa=7 root=/dev/hda4 ro quiet splash) as well as get wireless working, and some other stuff.
It is also an odd mix of polish (best-looking default theme and login screen ever; the unity is awesome) and roughness (the text installer). I'll bet Hoary will be great; this distro is going places. It's just not quite there yet.
Posted by Seth Kinast at February 2, 2005 1:03 AMPossibly the least sensible review of a distribution I have ever read. I used gentoo for a year: after a while, it just gets boring. The number of unmasked packages you end up with to have anything vaguely recent ( eg gnome 2.8 at the point I left) is just unbelievable. To people who say gentoo is never unstable: please. I have had enough of source based distros for quite a while.
And given that you have installed gentoo, calling ubuntu "the hardest to install" is just laughable.
I think debian based distros are shaping up to be the best of both worlds : compile stuff that is actually worth compiling (apt-build), and get on with your life the rest of the time.
How can you say these things?!
Doesn't Ubuntu access more packages than portage? There are 15,000 in Debian alone.
The "optimized for your machine" thing with source distros seems to be unsubstantiated.
The Ubuntu install is hard because you dont the familiarity of graphics and a mouse?! All you need is the return key!
I would also contend with Gentoo's ability to "install anything anytime". That doesn't sound possible without, as you say for ubuntu, accessing other repositories (or web sites)
Posted by Todd at February 2, 2005 2:27 AMhttp://weblogs.mozillazine.org/djst/photos/2005-01-30/full.jpg
theres nothing tackier than using X-cookie cutter super model as your NERDLY desktop to help alleviate small dick syndrome, such as someone buying a dodge viper when they can barely make the payments each month.
Posted by giant_suck at February 2, 2005 2:32 AMAgreed 1000%. I found the install process painful and geeky, and it was an unpleasant surprise to discover that it won't partition automatically the free space on a disk untouching the existing partitions. How can a non-techie install such a beast, that's just ridiculous.
Posted by Daniel Glazman at February 2, 2005 6:16 AMWhat a lame review. Your mixing things up here. Your want a distro your girlfriend can install but with all the power toys a geek like you to play with. For someone who's spending his or her first hours with a pc or linux it does make sense to combine the question of keyboard lay-out and language.
@Daniel Glazman:
If you had selected the free space on your hard drive to install ubuntu it would give you an option to automaticaly create partitions leafing the existing untouched.
zootropo:
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When booting, I got a lot of errors from modprobe about permission problems on modules and problems with hotplug.
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shpchp and pciehp? it's not an error. just add it to /etc/hotplug/blacklist so ubuntu won't try to load it"
It sure looked like an error to me. Modprobe even said "FATAL ERROR".
Bert: What am I mixing up?
"Your want a distro your girlfriend can install but with all the power toys a geek like you to play with."
Exactly! In other words, I want software that's easy to install, easy to use and easy to maintain. What's wrong with that? That's what I love about Firefox for example.
"For someone who's spending his or her first hours with a pc or linux it does make sense to combine the question of keyboard lay-out and language."
For a person who's spending his/her first hours with Linux, it certainly doesn't make sense to wipe his/her hard drive by default.
While I can agree with you that it makes some sense for most people to combine the questions about keyboard layout and language in an installer, there should be the ability to choose a different keyboard layout anyway. The Swedish translation is not even complete and it's just annoying to see English mixed up with Swedish throughout the system. It's not a big deal, but it's something unique for Ubuntu, as no other distro I've tried has combined the language/keyboard questions into one before. Even the Windows XP installer offers the ability to set up a different keyboard layout than the language.
giant_suck: I even said in the review that I normally don't like screenshots but added it to show off the gDesklets I was using, but maybe you didn't read the actual review?
Todd:
"The 'optimized for your machine' thing with source distros seems to be unsubstantiated."
How so? Of course a build optimized for my P4 will be faster than a generic i386 build.
rjw: I've never said Gentoo is never unstable. I don't know what you got that from.
"And given that you have installed gentoo, calling ubuntu "the hardest to install" is just laughable."
Admittedly, I completely forgot Gentoo. :) I ment Ubuntu is the hardest to install _mainstream_ distro I've tried so far, which includes Red Hat 8 and 9, Fedora Core 1, 2 and 3, SuSE 8.0 and 9.0, Mandrake 8.0, 9.0, and VidaLinux 1.1. And with "hardest to install" I'm especially referring to the undocumented keyboard navigation, such as the use of Tab to navigate to the OK button when making selections in a list. The installation simply would have stopped there if I was a PC newbie and didn't know that a strange button with arrows pointing to left and right was used to navigate between UI controls. But I'm also referring to the strange default suggestion to wipe my hard drive. Thankfully, I'm not a computer illiterate and actively chose another option than the default...
To everyone else from the Ubuntu camp:
Stop taking things so personal. One again, this was my personal experiences with Ubuntu, shared in my personal blog.
And remember that I said positive things about Ubuntu too, such as the reorganization of the Gnome menu, and the installer's ability to recover from CD read errors. I also said Synaptic was very easy to use. Hey, I even said I was going to test the Hoary release once it's out, and I'm even looking forward to it!
Posted by David Tenser at February 2, 2005 8:42 PM"This means that you can't easily install programs directly from the source code and optimize it for your hardware."
Er, what? Download tar.gz, unpack, configure, make, make install.
Posted by Mike Bruce at February 5, 2005 8:00 AMUbuntu by default only has the CD enabled by default as a repository to install software, but has a few other repositories available. In Synaptic, click Settings on the Menu and select Repositories. Check the ones you want (if you want to compile I guess you check the deb-src repositories). There are two at archive.ubuntu.com, the second is universe, make sure you include it. I also enabled multiverse (just type it in the sections box). Click OK and Synaptic will refresh.
Posted by Daniel at February 7, 2005 10:04 AMOh, one complaint I did have with Ubuntu when I installed it was that it wasn't a build-ready environment. Me being new to Linux I had no idea what to install. It took me a while, but now I can compile programs.
Posted by Daniel at February 7, 2005 10:06 AM