Ok so if you are a follower of linux technology or just listen to recent tech podcasts you have probably heard of Ubuntu in the past couple of weeks. Currently Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distro according to Distrowatch, a current surge in articles on Digg, and Google trends. This is because they just released Ubuntu 6.06 also know as Dapper Drake. My thoughts on this new distro is that it is great. First thing you will notice if you download the live cd is that there is an install link on the desktop. If you click that it will let you install Ubuntu onto your hard drive while you still have a fully functional livecd. I have always thought that one of the most annoying things about installing any OS is the time you have to waste staring at black and white screens and watching progress bars. Well on this distro (I believe MEPIS has this option to) you can still use the livecd so you can browse the web and do all that stuff while it installs. The installation is relatively simple and not as time consuming as say installing Windows XP. A general installation of Windows XP takes approx 120 mins where a to get Ubuntu up and running takes approx 62 mins (full comparison available here).

Ubuntu is another Debian distribution like Knoppix and others. This is important because the main point of Debian was to make a distribution that had no proprietary software (also means it uses deb packages). Proprietary software is software that is not free and not open to the public so things like the flash plugin or java would not come pre-installed on your system. Ubuntu has the same general idea (although there is talk about another distro which will include this software branching from Ubuntu). Now you can install these packages very easily and there is an all in one EasyUbuntu package that will do it for you. Ubuntu has a great package management system this is because it has one of the biggest user support groups. So not only can you get the packages that come with Ubuntu (main packages) and the proprietary ones (restricted), but there are also the Universe and Multiverse packages which are community driven. These packages can be added through the Synaptic manager by adding a repository. So you have a vast resource of applications at your desposal where on other distros it might take a lot longer to find these applications.

The thing I find myself using on Ubuntu is the sessions manager on the main login window. Now other distros have this too but I have never used a distro that made it as easy to add other sessions and desktop enviroments. Currently in my sessions manager my GNOME desktop, Kde desktop, Xfce desktop, and GNOME with XGL desktop. So I can easily change my desktop enviroment at the login window. Ubuntu has spawned other community projects like Kubuntu (KDE ubuntu), XUbuntu (Xfce enviroment Ubuntu), and edUbuntu (a GNOME education enviroment) these can all be installed onto your sessions managers with the code "Sudo apt-get install Kubuntu-Desktop", "sudo apt-get install Xubuntu-Desktop", etc... Now Xgl does take some extra setting up, but i found it relatively easy and it works great and documentation was easy to find on the Ubuntu forums.

So overall I am having a great experience with my Ubuntu installation and I really recommend it if you are either looking for a new distro to try out or are just curious about Linux. It is a good platform for new linux users to learn on. I hope you will try it out the link to the site is
http://www.ubuntu.com/