Alex's Journal

I give up. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I decided to give Linux an honest try and I did. For most everyday needs, it’s fine. All of the software that one would need to perform most tasks on the computer is available for Linux and even better, most of it is free and open source. The problem is the niche software that I use. I have written about this problem before. It’s particularly Reason — the program I use to make most of my music. I have gotten a lot of great music creation software suggestions for Linux, but none of what I have been shown or have found on my own accord does what Reason does. For a while, I was using both Linux and Windows — Linux for most tasks and Windows for running Reason, but that got quite old quite fast and I found myself more and more just using Windows and not even bothering to boot into Linux again.

The other issue I’ve had with Ubuntu was a resolution issue that I can’t seem to find a solution for. I’ve consulted books and forums and neither have had a solution. Basically the problem I’m having is that it will only go to 1280×800 at 60 hertz. I need to run 1024×768 at 75 hertz which is the highest my (old) monitor will support. This means that every time I boot into Linux, everything is very distorted and I’ve noticed my monitor is not doing so well either. I’m able to change the resolution to 1024×768 at 60 hertz, but my monitor won’t display anything in that case.

I have also found myself being drawn more and more back to my PowerBook G4 running Mac OS X 10.4.11. I guess it wasn’t until I decided to venture out again into the world of Windows and even Linux that I realized how immune I had become to the problems both Windows and Linux are prone to having. While Linux is a much more viable option for stability and security, I have had issues with software and with the resolution. When it comes to Windows, I don’t think much explanation is necessary. It seems that almost everything I do is plagued with stability problems. I have even checked for hardware conflicts by stripping the hardware done to the absolute bare minimum needed to boot the computer, but to no avail. Because of that, it looks like I will be buying a new Mac laptop afterall.

I’ve finally given Linux a try. After all that posting and complaining about how much I wanted to try it, I finally have. Now that I’m back from Germany and have access to my Compaq desktop, I went ahead and downloaded and installed Ubuntu 8.04. So far, I have to admit that I really haven’t done much with it, but what I have done (basically just explored the OS and the applications that were bundled with it) it has done incredibly smoothly. After having used Mac OS X for so long, I had taken somethings for granted such as stability and a lack of weird, unknown problems that have no explanation — both of which are common occurrences in Windows and both of which I have already run into despite only having used it for a couple of days since I’ve been back. I even recall having formatted and installed a fresh copy of Windows XP Pro on my PC desktop before leaving for Germany.

I thought at first that it may have been a hardware problem, but that isn’t so. After using Ubuntu now for the past few hours, I haven’t run into any of the problems that I was running into consistently in Windows on the same computer. In Windows, Firefox 3 took literally minutes to open and that was fairly quick compared to some of the other applications I tried to run. In Ubuntu, I’ve had absolutely none of those problems. Everything is very snappy. And with a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 processor and a gig of RAM, it should be snappy (yes, it is a bit out of date, but it is up-to-date enough to run Firefox 3 without any problems… or so I would think).

I’ll keep using it for a while and see what I think. I can’t write about a whole lot at this point as I haven’t installed any other applications or really done anything productive in Ubuntu yet (other than write this post). I can say though that the user-friendliness of Ubuntu knocks the socks off of the last version of Linux I tried, Red Hat Linux 7. That was several years ago though and Linux was much more reliant on the user being able to use the Terminal than it is now. Now there are GUI buttons for pretty much everything that the average user needs as far as I can see.

PCWorld Australia has pitted Fedora 9 against Ubuntu 8.04 in an interesting article showing each one’s strengths and weaknesses. PCWorld’s article concludes:

For users who are already familiar with Linux, Fedora 9 is an excellent choice. Robust security features and installation options make it somewhat more versatile than Ubuntu, which offers a more streamlined (and therefore more restricted) installation. For most users, though, including millions interested in trying Linux for the first time, Fedora lacks the polish and ready-to-run simplicity of its more popular rival.

Ubuntu 8.0.4 offers a level of functionality comparable to that of Mac OS and Windows, from delivery to installation to daily use. Unfortunately, the ties that bind all Linux distributions – primarily a lack of support for major Windows- and Mac-based business, design, and gaming applications – still hold Ubuntu back from mass popularity. For users with such moderate computing needs as Web browsing, e-mail, and basic document creation, however, Hardy is a compelling option.

You can read the full article here.

InformationWeek has done a really interesting comparison on the Linux desktop distros. The distros compared were openSUSE, Ubuntu 8.4, PCLinuxOS, Mandriva Linux One, Fedora, SimplyMEPIS, and CentOS 5.1. Overall Ubuntu won for its ease of use, the robust features it offers and for its ability to work on almost any hardware.

You can find the entire article here.