On Tue, 2004-11-30 at 20:04 +1300, Edwin F wrote: 
> I just tried out ubuntu yesterday, and i dont think it's the *best* of
> linux experiences i've had.

IMHO, not wishing to cause offence and all, but I think you've been
trying too hard to treat Ubuntu "like a linux" without actually knowing
what they're doing.

> -Installation was great, everything configured automatically and even
> the TV Tuner card got worked straight away

That's the sort of experience they're aiming at.

> -Tried to change root password with 'sudo root' - it asked me for a password

That's *not* the sort of thing thet they want you to do - it was
difficult because of the (valid, but unusual) way they're configured
things. You'd have the same problem on a Mac, which does the same thing.

> -Tried compiling something - it asked for gcc

Ubuntu is not aimed at developers - although the tools are provided,
they are not installed. Therefore you would find that you would have to
be an expert in order to be able to get the development environment set
up first time.

> -Got the RPM for glibc

You "know" too much - but as people have pointed out by now, Ubuntu is a
Debian-based system, and therefore RPMs are foreign to it. Being a
Linux, it's *possible* to do what you wanted, but there will definately
be a better way of doing it than the first one you tried :-)

> -Decided to just listen to some music on it
> -NO MP3 PLUGIN!!!

Ah, now you are struck by the reality of patents impinging on the
software world. Someone "owns" MP3, and if you have MP3 software, it's
either paid-for in real money by the developer, or it's illegal. Ubuntu
refuses both options.

> In Conclusion:
> Ubuntu runs like Windoze ME on a linux kernel for me.

"for me." - well said, Ed, that's almost the best thing anyone has said
so far! Every person is different, and every distro is different. I like
Ubuntu, but I don't defend it to the stage of "it's the best OS for
everyone!"

(How can I - I've just changed jobs and now Mandrake is the "standard"
Linux ... Can't say I like it yet, but it does work :-)

-jim

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