Why is Ubuntu not as popular on here?

[marcosscriven]

1) Easier to use?
2) Has good forum of its own?
3) Not used by as many people?
4) Not as good?

I ask as I've followed the newbie crowd in using Ubuntu. I do like Debian/apt-get based stuff.

Just wondered, as I saw that RH has 22k posts, Fedora 12k, and Ubuntu 6k. Wondered if I was on the wrong boat

Marcos

[knapie]

The following is my own opinion and I have nothing against Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is quite cool, it installs easily, has all the basics etc. My view of it however is that is a good system for the typlical user. I am a developer and always experiment with new hardware ,software, firewalling, networking, security settings, http, ftp, j2ee servers etc.

Ubuntu is restrictive, which is a good thing if you are a novice. However I have never logged into my PC as anything else but root for the last probably 10 years!

I know it is not always a good thing. But let me say this. My current SuSE installation is more than 3 years old. Stable, and I have never lost settings or data. I make backups almost every day and I have had to recover one file in the last year or more.

If you are clever you always have a backout plan for any change.

So, horses for courses. Ubuntu is really nice, simple to use, and have all the basics. However if you are a linux guru/kernel hacker/developer you will most likely find it restrictive.

Please let my know what other forum users think of this.

Knapie.

[bigtomrodney]

Ubuntu is as popular as any of the other distros and indeed it has surpassed some of the other distro. The real conclusion to draw here is that Linuxforums and distros such as Red Hat, SUSE and Mandriva have been around a lot longer than Ubuntu. If you look at the daily number of posts and threads I think you will see a different picture.

[oz]

1) Easier to use?
2) Has good forum of its own?
3) Not used by as many people?
4) Not as good?

I ask as I've followed the newbie crowd in using Ubuntu. I do like Debian/apt-get based stuff.

Just wondered, as I saw that RH has 22k posts, Fedora 12k, and Ubuntu 6k. Wondered if I was on the wrong boat

Marcos

1) It probably is easier to use for many new users to Linux.
2) Distribution specific forums usually do tend to be busier than for any particular distro than the forum dedicated to that distro in general Linux forums.
3) I think it's used by quite a large number of people, even here.
4) I'm not overly fond of it, but that doesn't mean it's not as good. I've personally always preferred plain Debian over any of the *buntus.

The Ubuntu Forum in place here didn't get as early of a start in these forums as did the Red Hat / Fedora Forum and some of the other forums. I don't remember exactly when the Ubuntu Forum was implemented though.

Hope you will continue to enjoy whatever distro you should choose.

Edit: also, check this poll and you'll see that Ubuntu is popular here.

[Jonathan183]

I think Ubuntu is a popular distro ... post count on a particular distro does not tell the whole story as others have already indicated.

Ubuntu is restrictive, which is a good thing if you are a novice. However I have never logged into my PC as anything else but root for the last probably 10 years!

I know it is not always a good thing. But let me say this. My current SuSE installation is more than 3 years old. Stable, and I have never lost settings or data. I make backups almost every day and I have had to recover one file in the last year or more.

If you are clever you always have a backout plan for any change.

knapie ... if you are running regular user stuff as root I think you are taking an unnecessary risk regarding system security. You expose your whole system to the errors/failings/security breaches of every application you run. I don't think Ubuntu prevents root user login, it just has it disabled as a default - which for most users is a good thing.

[carlosponti]

popular and great distro's aren't always the same thing. just look at PCLinuxOS, but in the end its all about personal opinion. I love Ubuntu just because of what i need it to do. Doesn't mean Ubuntu is great either just works for me. Hell I still have a soft spot for Slackware but its not the greatest.

[devils casper]

Just wondered, as I saw that RH has 22k posts, Fedora 12k, and Ubuntu 6k. Wondered if I was on the wrong boat

If you think other way around, RH -- 22k posts means its more buggy having lot of problems than Fedora and Ubuntu... But thats not true though !

[kveldulf980]

Honestly I'm a Fedora user because I have used RH since RH4 so I'm used to it - on my normal use computer anyway, which is a laptop these days. I always have a distro of my choice on my desktop, which changes about once or twice a year - right now it's Slack, which I've been using longer than RH, but I've been thinking about switching to gentoo again now that the beta is out. I have never been a huge Debian fan and I don't have too much need for a super-user-friendly distro so I've only dabbled with Ubuntu.

My 2 cents.

[techieMoe]

Ubuntu is quite cool, it installs easily, has all the basics etc. My view of it however is that is a good system for the typlical user. I am a developer and always experiment with new hardware ,software, firewalling, networking, security settings, http, ftp, j2ee servers etc.

I am a Java developer and I have no trouble with Ubuntu at all. This further illustrates the idea that there is no one be-all distribution for everyone. In my personal opinion, Ubuntu is quite nice.

Ubuntu is restrictive, which is a good thing if you are a novice. However I have never logged into my PC as anything else but root for the last probably 10 years!

Running your computer while logged in as root every day is an exceedingly foolish thing to do, in my personal opinion.

How is Ubuntu "restrictive"? Could you explain that one a bit more?

However if you are a linux guru/kernel hacker/developer you will most likely find it restrictive.

So you're saying "Because I believe this way, it is universally true for everyone on the planet"? I don't buy it. I know plenty of very knowledgeable people on this forum and in the development world who not only enjoy using Ubuntu, but find it quite far from "restrictive."

If you're simply saying Ubuntu doesn't work for you, that's fine. You're welcome to use whatever works for you. However don't come in here and preach from on high that "real gurus/hackers developers" don't use that distribution. It amounts to nothing more than trolling.

Please let my know what other forum users think of this.

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but that's my take on it.

[Cabhan]

Disregarding knapie's post (as techieMoe summed up my opinion pretty well), I remember when this forum created its Ubuntu forum. Ubuntu, despite its popularity, is very much the new kid on the block in the distro world. According to the copyright at the bottom of the forum, LFDO has been around since 2000. Red Hat was around then, and many RH users switched to Fedora when it came out. Ubuntu wasn't even released until 2004, and it probably didn't become popular until a year or two after that.