Have Koala - can travel (Ubuntu)

Member Name: pookie_rabbit

Product:	Ubuntu
Date:	10/11/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its "Free". An operating system you can travel around with

Disadvantages: Not all of the hardware and software you are used to with Windows may work

Let me first introduce Ubuntu and explain what it is. Not so long ago if you had a computer it was more than likely it was running a Microsoft operating system - namely a version of Windows be it 3.x, 9x, 2000, XP, Vista or the latest version 7 incarnation. Some people may have been running a Mac OS or perhaps a variant of Linux of which Ubuntu is a member but not many. Anyway just as you can choose which web browser you want to run on Windows you can also choose what operating system runs on your computer. First off Linux operating systems are nothing new. The name "Linux" comes from the Linux kernel, originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Various incarnations of Linux existed such as Red Hat and Debian. Linux I think it would be fair to say was very much seen as the choice of geeks and people who just didn't want to see Microsoft rule the world. The perception was that it was difficult to install and configure. It would be fair to say that they have only become user friendly for installation and to an extent usage in the last few years. Ubuntu, which now accounts for around a third of all Linux installations, has probably been at the forefront of "user friendly" Linux distributions for some time. Another important point is that like most Linux operating systems Ubuntu is "free".

To review an operating system could fill a journal. I could compare Ubuntu to the new Windows 7 in a toe to toe battle comparing everything from how it processes memory usage to the intricacies of the file system. And if you do this do you judge each operating system on how well it works as a home or how well it works in the office when connected to say a corporate network? I don't want this review to be too technical so I will approach this review from the following angle. I wanted to see if I could do most of the things I currently do on my Windows laptop in Ubuntu and how easy it was to do this while at the same time comparing the performance/speed to Windows. And then rather than emphasize what it maybe doesn't offer compared to Windows I will try and show some of the things its better at. You might also expect some hard figures on how much faster or slower Ubuntu is compared to Windows - again I won't do that. I will just give you my overall perception having used it on a number of different computers.

So I have explained what Ubuntu is and what to expect from the review. Let me now introduce the latest release of Ubuntu - version 9.10 better known as "Karmic Koala" which was released on the 29/10/2009.

As I said previously at one point one of the biggest gripes for installing any Linux based system was how complicated it was to install compared with say Windows. Certainly this is no longer the case with 9.10. I shall quickly describe the Ubuntu install procedure now but at the same time I need to point out something quite important with it - you don't actually need to install Ubuntu. Let me explain. You can also run Ubuntu directly from a CD or USB stick rather than actually installing it on a computer. This has a couple of advantages. Firstly you can try it without installing it but secondly it allows you to carry your operating system around with you to use on different computers. One advantage of using a USB stick is that this media is writeable unlike a CD-R. To give an example my work laptop does not allow me to install any software so for example I can't use Firefox. However if I boot my work laptop off the USB stick I have my own operating system with the stuff I want, bypassing the corporate Windows system. I can also use this USB stick on pretty much anybody computer if I'm travelling and take my "desktop" and files with me. Using the USB stick key keeps any changes you make - for instance colour changes, saved documents, Firefox favourites etc.

To actually receive Ubuntu you have 3 options. Firstly you can download a 690MB ISO image file of the software from the Ubuntu web site to burn to CD for installation. You can also pay to receive the CD in the post quickly or better still if your not in a rush ask for a free copy which will take a couple of months to arrive. Once you have your copy you are ready to run or install Ubuntu. Let me describe briefly the installation routine so you can get a feeling of how easy it is to install -

Boot from the CD you have created (or better still sent)
Ubuntu actually loads from the CD at this point so you can just try it to and use it if you want.
Choose the "Install Ubuntu 9.10" off the desktop
We now have 6 steps -
1 - Choose language
2 - Choose where you are (pick region or click on the map)
3 - Choose keyboard layout (including a box to type in to test)
4 - Prepare disk space. In theory this is the most complicated step depending on how you want to configure your hard disk. For instance on my machine I already had Windows XP installed. So the Ubuntu installation asked if I would actually like to keep this and run both. This is one option or you may want to split the hard disk into different partitions (perhaps to have the operating system on one and data on the other). My advice would be to follow the suggestions you are offered unless you have a good reason not to).
5 - Who are you?. This includes - What is your name, what login name, what is your password, what is the name of your computer and would you like to login automatically or with a password.
6 - Migrate documents and settings from Windows. In other words if Windows is already installed on this computer your documents and favourites from Internet Explorer etc. will be brought across.

That's it and ready to install. On a fairly old Dell Latitude D410 laptop this whole installation procedure took me less than half an hour to complete.

On completion you are ready to use Ubuntu. Ubuntu uses a graphical user interface just like Windows with everything available via a mouse click. Certainly the basic usage of Ubuntu should be no problem for anyone who has used a GUI based operating system before.

As I said previously rather than review every single feature I just wanted to see if I could do pretty much everything I did in Windows on Ubuntu. What I wanted to do was run Ubuntu for a week and see if I needed to revert back to Windows. I will briefly run through this list and then describe how I felt I got on.

Wi-Fi - my first test was to make sure I could use Wi-Fi so I could connect to the Internet. I tried the Ubuntu on 3 different laptops with 3 different types of wireless card. Each one worked fine.

My headphones - used for listening to music and making Skype calls. I plugged them in and after right clicking on the output icon and just choosing my device the GN 2000 worked correctly.

USB drives - Ubuntu detected all of the USB drives I plugged into the machines correctly.

Using the Internet - The Firefox web browser is included as default. That's not to say you have to use it. Plenty of other browsers are available from the Ubuntu software centre such as SeaMonkey. That said Firefox worked just fine for me.

Skype (sometimes with video) - A version of Skype is available for Ubuntu. It works fine for voice but unlike the Windows version there is no support for video (i.e. webcams). I did try another application called Ekiga which offered both voice and video calls but I didnt think much to the sound quality. So not the fault of Ubuntu as such and I dare say Skype will add video in the not too distant future.

Spotify - No version is available to run on Ubuntu. The website recommended trying to run it using an emulator called "Wine" which allows you to run Windows applications on Linux. I tried this and in theory Wine does run Windows applications. However I found I had jumping sound problems. A bit more investigation may have fixed this problem.

Xmarks - My favourite Firefox add-in. Not available under Ubuntu.

YouTube - Didn't work as default with an error that Adobe Flash was missing. Installed Adobe Flash and now works fine.

BBC iPlayer - Installed and worked fine

Play MP3 and music CD's. This automatically associates with "Movie Player" although I did have to download an add-in to be able to play MP3 format. MP3 and audio CD's can also play with the built in Rythmbox which has an iTunes feel to it.

CD burner - I often burn data to CD's especially creating music albums from MP3 files. Two different applications where available - CD/DVD creator for standard files or Brasero Disc Burner for more complicated things such as creating music CD's. Both worked fine.

An office application - I should say that Microsoft Office is not actually part of Windows. Having said that I wanted to check a viable office type application was available to use. You have a couple of choices with this. If you have Internet access you could use online services such as google docs. However Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice that has "Presentation", "Word Processor" and "Spreadsheet". You can also save the documents in MS office format.

Adding more software - Just a quick note on this. Most people from a Windows background will be used to having to go to web sites to search for and download extra software. Within Ubuntu you have the Software Centre. With this you can search for an application by name or by type - for example Accessories, Education, Games, Graphics etc. Once listed and chosen you just click install and the software is downloaded from the Internet and installed for you.

In conclusion then everything I have needed to work so far pretty much has done. As far as how quick everything felt I would say it was generally comparable if not better than Windows on the older machines I tried. I should quantify that by saying it felt quicker than say Windows Vista perhaps not quicker than older Windows operating systems such as 98 or XP. So basically this brand new version of an operating system seems to work quicker than the latest Microsoft Operating Systems on older machines. On a brand new high specification machine with loads of memory the Windows Vista and 7 operating systems where comparable to Ubuntu.

The bottom line then is if you have a new PC or laptop that has come with Windows preinstalled you may as well use it - Windows 7 in particular is a really good operating system. But if you just want an alternative, don't want to have to pay for an upgrade to say Windows 7 or just try an up to date operating system on perhaps an older PC or laptop I would recommend giving Ubuntu a go. As I have said you don't need to actually install it to try it out and even if you do it can co exist with your previous operating system so why not give it a go?

Summary: A viable alternative to Windows - but try it first

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