New Respect For Ubuntu

Published on May 21, 2007 By MasonM In Misc

I installed the newest version of Ubuntu, called Feisty Fawn, ugh, on my laptop when it was released. As a long time Slackware Linux user I held a certain dislike for Ubuntu as it is a very GUI-centric distro and I'm a hands on kind of guy. But, as I like to keep up with what the various distro developers are doing I installed this newest offering from Ubuntu to see how it compared to their past releases.

I have to say that I have a whole new respect for this up and coming distro. After installing it on my laptop I found that everything was properly configured and working the way it should, unlike their previous releases. I installed a touchpad configuration tool and set up the parameters for the touchpad to my liking. Even that worked as it should. In Slackware I have to patch and recompile the kernel, install an additional xorg driver, and then compile the touchpad utility before I can do the same thing. Impressive.

Hybernation and standby worked "out of the box". This is also impressive as that also requires some extra work on Slackware.

I then installed Beryl so as to have some nice, cool, desktop animations and a 3D desktop. It worked perfectly right off the bat. Very nice. It took me two days and a lot of config file editing to get it working in Slackware as I had to compile everything from scratch.

I've been running this Ubuntu release for a few weeks now, putting it through it's paces, and just living with it long enough to give it a fair test. I have to say that it's passed with flying colors. While Slackware will always be my favorite distro for tinkering and building a fast running custom OS, Ubuntu has found a home on my laptop. When I'm on the road I don't have time for tinkering and custom building my OS or compiling something every time I need a new tool, I just need it to get the job done. Ubuntu fills that need perfectly.

With Ubuntu I can use my cellular pc card with no problems and actually get a faster connection with it than using it in Windows. I can watch DVDs, listen to music, and use the Open Office suite to get my work done. Graphics and video editing is a snap, my digital cameras and video camera work great, and all without a bunch of additional work on my part.

I'll be keeping it on the laptop. Good job Ubuntu.

Comments

Gideon MacLeish

on May 21, 2007

What kind of computer do you have Ubuntu installed on? I have a P3 Dell that I ordered FF disks for. The laptop is pretty good, but it dogs with the proc and I can only run 2-3 apps max (600 MHz proc, 512 mb RAM, 11.5 GB HD). I ran the svc tag and found Linux 6.2 drivers, but I'm not sure that they would work right.

I posted a question to the Ubuntu forums (might as well do my research while I'm waiting on my disks...I know what questions to ask this go around!), but any personal experience from your end would be welcome.

MasonM

on May 21, 2007

I'm running it on a Dell Inspiron with a Celeron M processor and over a Gig of RAM.

What do you mean "Linux 6.2 drivers?"

A couple of things for you to check out. Firstly, with only 512MB of RAM, you should have a nice 1GB swap partition because it will need to swap. Secondly, is DMA enabled for the hard drive? You can use "hdparm dev/drivename (probably hda)" to see. hdparm /dev/hda DMA should be set to on.

The fact that it's a P3 is going to cause some minor performance problems, but Ubuntu is compiled so as to run on them. Stepping up the RAM will probably help a good bit.

Run the command top in a terminal window and you can see what's taking up resources, both cpu and RAM. Any services you don't actually use should be turned off so as to not use resources. A program called bum (boot up manager) is handy for editing the inits for the various runlevels.

Consider using a lighter web browser. Firefox is very resource hungry. Opera is a bit easier on them and works pretty well. Dillo is very light but it's rendering on anything but basic html leaves a lot to be desired.

Another thing that will help is using a lighter window manager. Gnome does use a lot of resources. You can install XFCE and use it. Fluxbox is very, very light and once you get used to it it's a very nice window manager. I use Fluxbox quite often myself and at one time it was the only window manager I used. I'd say that would make the largest immediate impact on how your system runs.

Gideon MacLeish

on May 21, 2007

What do you mean "Linux 6.2 drivers?"

just quoting the Dell site...lol...I believe they were written for Red Hat.

As for the RAM, unfortunately I think it's maxed on this machine. Ubuntu is supposed to run on 256, though. Granted, it won't be flying with that, but I'm hoping it will be adequate. Thanks for the tip on the swap file.

My desktop is an 850 MHz PIII and so far no problems; while this one is a bit slower I'm hoping it will react similarly. As for browsers, I like FF but will try Opera for that reason. Any word on how Maxthon compares?

Thanks for the tips. I'm hoping to get as much out of this macchine as I can and those will definitely help.

MasonM

on May 21, 2007

Yeah it'll run on 256, but that doesn't mean it will run well

You absolutely will need a 1GB swap for that.

I wouldn't pay much attention to the Dell website with regard to Linux. They aren't the sharpest folks around when it comes to Linux. What is this driver supposed to be for?

I'm not familiar with Maxthon so can't comment there. I get the impression it's just a Netscape clone. Hell, even netscape would probably perform better on that system than FF, but Opera has plenty of features without as much overhead.

You're welcome, happy to help. For that machine you might even want to think about trying out Slackware Linux as it runs quite well on older machines and comes with Fluxbox in the default installation. In Ubuntu you don't want to use their Fluxbox package as it's behind development quite a bit and is pretty crippled. You'll need to download and compile the development release if you go that route.

Any questions related to Linux just let me know.

SanChonino

on May 21, 2007

Any word on how Maxthon compares?

Maxthon really didn't work well on my Ubuntu machine, but that was with the 6.10 build, I've been using Opera since the reinstall . . . so my advice is about as useful as tits on a boar hog.

foreverserenity

on May 21, 2007

Goodness, you people are so smart with all that computer jargon! I'm like Ubuntu...uh?

!

Nice pic of Liv btw!

MasonM

on May 21, 2007

Any word on how Maxthon compares?

Maxthon really didn't work well on my Ubuntu machine, but that was with the 6.10 build, I've been using Opera since the reinstall . . . so my advice is about as useful as tits on a boar hog.

Hey at least you tried it and can report it didn't work very well. First hand experience is always best.

While I don't use Opera myself I have tried it and it's not a bad browser at all.

MasonM

on May 21, 2007

Goodness, you people are so smart with all that computer jargon! I'm like Ubuntu...uh?

!

Nice pic of Liv btw!

Just geek speak.

I like that pic too. For some strange reason my computer seems to have collected quite a few pics of her.

MasonM

on May 21, 2007

I tend to change my desktop image about every day. This is today's Ubuntu desktop:

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