Amazingly versatile (Ubuntu 8.04 LTS)

Member Name: gump103

Product:	Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
Date:	29/09/08 (356 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast, nice interface, great support, FREE,

Disadvantages: Some driver issues, may seem complicated at times

I'm a IT Server engineer and work generally with windows based pc's and servers. As such contact with the other side had been limited to a few brief installs in virtual machines. Lately however I have had to learn some Linux skills as we've rolled out VMware ESX server (based on debian OS) as well as rolling out Nagios which is a linux application used to monitor Windows or Linux servers. I decided to use Ubuntu server edition to install Nagios and used the latest 8.04 OS.
Needing to learn some linux quickly I also installed the desktop environment locally on both my work pc and my home laptop and I must say that I have hardly looked back since. Admit ably I have installed vmware on the work computer within which I run a Windows XP desktop to help me get along and at home I also have Windows desktop which get the bulk of the use.

INSTALL
The install is very painless for both the server and desktop editions, insert the CD (which can be downloaded for free off the ubuntu website and then burned to disk), follow the on screen instructions to complete the install. About 30 minutes (depending on hardware) or so later ubuntu is installed and running. The first impressive thing is that all the drivers that are needed are installed and sound, video, and just about everything else just works without any effort.

CONFIGURATION
The next impressive thing is that the desktop edition is jam packed with features that are installed from straight away. Open office is there for performing office related tasks and it works pretty well, Firefox 3 which in my opinion is the best internet browser available, Evolution mail (don't know why not Thunderbird), as well as a whole host of accessories and games to keep you occupied. As this is an open source operating system the drivers that are installed by default are open source which is fine for most hardware but if you have an Nvidia or ATI card you will want to install the closed source drivers provided by the respected suppliers. This is an easy task as Ubuntu provides an application which lets you enable them at which point it downloads the required drivers and installs them automatically. This gives you access the advanced graphics features which used to be known as Compiz (if your graphics card supports them) which allows for some very impressive effects that put Microsoft Vista's aero to shame. ATI owners though may have some issues though with compiz and will need to be aware of these when enabling the effects, I will talk about them a bit later in this review.

The server edition is much more limited, I installed the seriously cut down JEOS (Just Enough OS), which is purely command line driven so as to keep the performance overhead to a minimum so as to not waste valuable resources which are better spent on the tasks required. The server OS was ready to have additional software installed at this point and this is covered next.

INSTALLING SOFTWARE

For the most part installing software in Ubunutu is as easy as it gets.
As there are many different flavours of linux you will find that software downloaded direct from the programmer will come in a variety of packages such as .deb (debian based for Ubuntu etc) .rh for redhar and so on. Some will just leave the code in raw form with the scripts included to compile it. Fear not though as Ubuntu makes this install incredibly easy in the form of the package manager. If the software you want is freely available on the web you can usually guarantee it will be available through the package manager, a GUI or command line tool that accesses web based repositries on the internet that contain the applications pre-compiled. Choose the application you want by picking it from the list (GUI) or typing SUDO APT-GET INSTALL followed by the application name (text based) and the application will be installed along with any other applications it may depend on.
Any applications you can't get this way will usually come with instructions for compiling it/installing it or have an associated forum where someone else has installed it.

Audio and Video needs can be taken care of by installing VLC (reviewed here by me http://members.dooyoo.co.uk/utilities/vlc-media-pl ayer/1126672/), and most applications you use in Windows have a Linux alternative usually for free. If you want a more featured media centre you can go for Myth TV or XBMC for Linux which installs on the top of Ubuntu.

If you get really stuck and need a Windows application then there are even applications which allow you to run windows applications such as Microsoft office, photoshop, and variety of games. The applications for this vary but are all built on free software called wine which can be used on its own to run the applications from the command line. There are also applications which can be paid for which make the task easier (in the form of crossover office) or a free (my personal favourite) one which works just as well called play on linux which can be found at http://www.playonlinux.com/en/

SUPPORT
As mentioned above support is usually available when trying to install something. The best thing I have found with Ubuntu is that for the most part if you have a problem you can guarantee that someone else has had the problem before and it has been fixed/worked around in the forums.
Updates are regularly made available via an automatic update type app which make the whole experience feel so much more polished.

PROBLEMS
Not many but there are some, mostly with drivers. The biggest one for me is the poor quality of the ATI drivers, running Compiz and doing anything past simple surfing or word processing becomes tiresome as playing videos, running opengl apps or any app that using the hardware features of the graphis card leave you with a flickering mess. The only way to fix the problem is to disable the compiz effects which you run your application and then turn them back on when you are done (or you could just run without the visual loveliness but that would be a little sad) People with Nvidia hardware need not worry as the drivers are far superior and I didn't notice the same problems. Wireless drivers are another problem and caused me a headache when trying to run ubuntu on my home desktop computer, I got it working via a workaround from the Ubuntu forum but it was troublesome as it wouldn't keep my settings so I had to re-enter my password each time I booted the computer, and with it also having an ATI card I left it with Windows.
The next thing isn't so much a problem as it is a pit fall of having got used to using the latest Windows OS' in that there is no automatic restore points created when making changes, so if you break it you have to fix it which although posible (and helpful in teaching the workings) soon teaches you to make regular manual backups using the included backup tool.

CONCLUSION
This is the first Linux OS I have used so can't compare to any other but I have to say its incredible just how good this is considering you don't have to pay a penny for it (however I would recommend that donations are made to support the DEV's in the fantastic work that they do).

It can be a bit daunting at first to use as things are usually not where you would expect them to be but after a while it becomes very easy to use, especially for specific tasks, and for the casual PC user.

If your still undecided put a search into youtube for Ubuntu and have a look at what others are doing with it, some of the compiz videos are very impressive. The variety and customisations you can do are really special.

Sorry if I've waffled on a bit but there is a lot to mention when reviewing an OS, hopefully this is helpful to people who are interested in trying Ubuntu. I will try and edit this over the next few weeks as I'm sure there is a lot more I can add which I have missed, and any comments would be welcomed.

Summary: Brilliant operating system that is nearly mainstream quality.

Variety of features:
Reliability:
User friendly: