ubuntu: "not real linux"?

[sarahnade]

I was very proud of myself for finally installing linux on the other half of my HDD. I told my friend that I had decided on Ubuntu. He then chuckled at me and said it was "fluffy" and that it was "not real Linux". I was just curious to see if this was a commonly held belief and why so? What makes it "fluffy"? And what would be considered "real linux".

I don't want to be a nerd poser!

Sarah
-don't panic, I'm mostly harmless-

 

[pentode]

It's Linux. Ubuntu is often recommended for people new to Linux because it offers a fairly automated installation process and doesn't overwhelm you with a lot choices to make. At the same time, some hard-core Linux users like to have more control over their installation and configuration.

Ubuntu is based on the Debian distribution and takes advantage of the great Debian package management software (Apt, aptitude, etc). If you interested in looking at another distribution once you get familiar with Ubuntu, Debian would be a logical place to look.

If Ubuntu is working for you and doing what you need, don't worry about any pseudo-geeks trying to put you down. Tell him to come up out of his parent's basement once in a while and get a life.

If you were running Debian, someone would say you should be running Slackware or compiling everything from source.

Congrats on getting Linux up and running.

 

[geirendre]

Ubuntu, and Kubuntu, Xubuntu etc... are just as much Linux as
any other distro.
It's more newbie-friendly than some other distroes are,
and this has led it to get a reputation of beeing not so "hard core"-Linux
as say Slackware, Gentoo etc. But IMHO, that's just BS!
Stripp of the nice GUI's and you'll find your average
Debian based distro, and a strong community behinde it.

Try it and deside for yourself I say.
If you are like most others, you end up trying at least
a dozen distros before you settle down with the one You prefere.
And Ubuntu is a good start.

 

[Grenage]

There are many Linux elitists as there are Windows 'fanboys'. Ubuntu is absolutely real Linux; it's perhaps not choice of most Linux users after they've some experience under their belt, but I think it's the best starting point for new Linux users.

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[stefanwagner]

Why shouldn't ubuntu be first choice for experienced Linux users?
I'm running Linux for about 9 years, and since 2 years it's ubuntu (well: xubuntu) - I didn't try out LFS but I compiled KDE from source on a 233 Mhz PC (two and a half day, if I remember correctly) and often compiled my kernel myself.

I would call myself an experienced GNU/Linux user, and why should I avoid a userfriendly package-management, and short update-cycles?

@sarahnade: If you like to know, why your friend thinks, ubuntu isn't a linux, ask him, not us.
Differences between distos are mainly found in the installation process and there is a handful of installation/update routines, namely: rpm, yast, deb, ...(more?).
LFS is different*, and of course some realtime linuxes or such for very special purpose.

(*Linux from scratch. You get every program from source, including kernel, compiler, basic libraries and compile anything from scratch.
Since you need a compiler to compile the compiler, and a kernel, to run the compiler, and librarie used to compile the compiler, you compile some things twice or three times).



don't visit my homepage:

http://home.arcor.de/hirnstrom/bewerbung

 

[zeland]

In the same vein, ask your friend if he/she is using LFS (Linux From Scratch) or something more "fluffy" (relatively) like Debian or Slackware. Any Linuxer should know that, Linus's Kernel + GNU Tools/Compnents = Linux. Any distribution that has this formula is a REAL Linux distribution.

--== Anything can go wrong. It's just a matter of how far wrong it will go till people think its right. ==--

 

[pavNell]

Does ubuntu do the things that you need to? If so then who cares? Not real Linux? Thats BS. I still talk to old grumpy unix guys who turn their nose up to linux only because it's not what they've grown to know and use. Sounds like your friend. IMO, Linux is not Linux if you install proprietary drivers into the kernel. But don't tell Linus that! ;-)

 

[sarahnade]

Hehe thanks for all the input. Dont worry, I'm not planning on getting a new distro or anything. I like it so far.

I guess what I was asking was, what is different about Ubuntu as apposed to other distros (or LFS, since that seems to be the most "hard core") that gives it the "beginner linux" reputation that most of you agree it has?

I don't mind it being for beginners. I'm a beginner! That's why I picked it. But being utterly free of experience with Linux, I honestly have no clue what's different about it.

If it's just because of the instalation process (that it come with tons of handy programs already installed on a neat little CD), then that's silly.

But if there's another reason (like if those handy programs are watered down and don't allow as much freedom), then I'd like to know so I don't tell my friends I'm a Linux pro and come to find out, I'm using leetle baby Linux.

BUT, like I said, I like that it's for beginners. I needed to start somewhere.

Sarah
-don't panic, I'm mostly harmless-

 

[Grenage]

Well it has a GUI for more than the usual debians. The real difference is that it's been taken up as a "newbie" linux. That means so many new linux users are starting with it, and the support base/forums are far more likely to have solutions to problems they might encounter.

8/10 times, if you have a fairly common linux problem, a google search will lead you to the ubuntu forums.

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[sarahnade]

aha! A self-fulfilling reputation. That's odd, but it makes sense.

Sarah
-don't panic, I'm mostly harmless-

 

[jshurst]

Ubuntu is a great flavor of linux. If you start off with something like Debian then you're going to be frustrated (at least I was). I got linux installed, but then I was faced with installing and configuring X (so I could get a GUI). This is great and all for learning purposes, but for someone who wants to try linux out, you don't want to have to spend a week trying to install it (plus it comes with 9 CD's! - yes I know most of them are repos...).

Ubuntu is a very polished system and if linux intends to have a greater influence on the average computer user then this is a the best way to go. As with any linux version you can pretty much do anything you want. If you want a stripped down version then you could just go with the server install.

Don't worry, if you're using Ubuntu, then you're a nerd! ;-)

J

 

[Kozusnik]

Now I take offense to the "nerd" comment...I feel "geek" is the more PC term.

Actually Sarah, I started on Mandrake 6.1 (think I bought the cds at Staples), so I've been using it for a few years. I kept with Mandrake until the switch to Mandriva. During that time, I had several other drives in my pc to test other distros. Red Hat, Fedora, SuSe, Gentoo, DSL, and several others. You know what, I have a wife, a child, and work that keeps me too busy to "fiddle" anymore. I don't have the time to compile everything from source and make sure I have all of the dependencies. I switched to Ubuntu (actually Kubuntu) and I like the simplicity. I may switch to another distro, but I can promise M$ will never see me again!!!

Mark

p.s. I've also switched several machines at work to use Linux. We're running RedHat 7.3 (HL7 interface engines), Fedora Core 4 (Lab project), RHEL 2.1 (future interface OS), Mandrake 9.1 (webserver/MySQL/etc.), Kubuntu 6.10 and 7.04 (Zimbra/Jabber), and Ubuntu 7.04 (my new pc). My work life is so much easier to manage.

Try not to get frustrated. Like someone said, Google has most of the answers. Or, come back here.

 

[sillyVM]

ubuntu let me run oracle,websphere,vmware,lamp,samba+ad,many jsp engines for free while rhel5 need a subscription to even update packages (wt*? r we talking about linux here? it's not like the wrote every package in their repository)

ubuntu let me get the best out of hardware with minimal amount of work. i ve loaded it on so many poweredge server and workstation, it has by far the best hardware support i have ever seen, yes better than out of box RHEL5. did i mention it's free?

try get a copy of windows that will handle four quad core processor with 32-64GB of ram...see how much is that gonna cost ya windoze

 

[BobMCT]

Just jumping in as a professional *nix geek. I think *ubuntu is every bit a true linux as any other linux distro and even more so because they shunned the M$ voodoo agreement unlike other distros I'm currently using/trying. Can't wait to migrate all my servers/desktops back to *ubuntu (and I'm talking hundreds).

Good choice and good luck.

Bob