Followup: Ubuntu vs Fedora

[pixel]

Switched to Ubuntu 10.4 right after it was released and guys, I have guilt over how much I love it. Even the windows buttons moved to the left.

Zippy bootup. In fact I threw the netbook version on my 2 year old (I think it's like the 2nd model released by ASUS) netbook, and it booted just as fast as my dad's brand new ASUS netbook running Windows 7. I'll admit, I gloated.

Change to apt-get has been pretty painless. The only thing I am missing from yum is tools to search for packages. Most of the time it doesn't slow me down much but it'd be nice to check if a package exists before I try to blindly install it. Tips welcome!

Things are just available, and often with clear instructions. Sometimes it was a crap-shoot to find things on Fedora.

Most everything 'just works' including my Blackberry and my Kindle. Now I've got calibre to manage my Kindle and that's been joyous.

I think it's pretty. It feels slick right out of the box. I've added some of my favorite goodies to make me feel at home and it's all been easy as pie.

UbuntuOne caused some pain at first, I don't use is as much as I thought I would, but when I need it it's there.

Edit: Went an reviewed some of my old posts. The install start to finish was 40 minutes, impressive right off the line. Was also impressed with printer install, nVidia support install. I stopped using Gwibber, which is the default twitter/facebook/social media app, didn't like it, never got over it. Am using Tweetdeck now, it makes me love twitter again.



Current desktop as it stands. Love conky, haven't tweaked it to perfect but I'm getting there. My .conkyrc is here.


My top panel is not actually gone it's just on autohide. And some windows.


Ruby on Rails development with Guake, screen, (autotest showing) & gedit (w/ gmate)


I have to say I've been really pleased. I haven't even glanced at Fedora in months.
Questions welcome, people showing off their Ubuntu setups also welcome, I love to get ideas/inspiration.

Comments

[feathertail]

Docky FTW! I use the Global Menu Applet also, but it doesn't work with Firefox yet, so I installed a plugin that hides the Firefox menu bar when it's not needed. Also I use this theme: http://www.elementary-project.com/

What's gmate? I use gedit but I don't think I've heard of it.

[pixel]

The Global Menu App looks slick. I <3 Docky.

Gmate is a collection of plugins for gedit to make it behave more like textmate. It's aimed at Ruby/rails developers that are using linux instead of mac. It's on github: http://github.com/gmate/gmate Each plugin is turned on/off individually, so if you're not working with ruby you might still find something useful without needing to activate everything.

[baggyeyes]

I went in the opposite direction - got rid of Ubuntu, and installed Fedora 13 instead. I'd had quite a bit of troubles getting various bits to work on Ubuntu, and since I'm on dialup, I just couldn't keep downloading the same bits over and over. (Once was enough to me, but not to the system which kept throwing up during installs.)

That's Linux! There's always somebody who has an excellent experience, and someone who hasn't.

But, I (shamefacedly) ask, where did you get that wallpaper?

[pixel]

Wallpaper: http://artisis.livejournal.com/9427.html (I kinda can't believe I found it, but that's another story.)

I certainly don't have anything against Fedora, and it was a rather random move on my part, trying for a bit better Rails development environment. I don't have any weird hardware to support either so that probably makes a difference. In fact I feel a bit guilty for switching, I was a pretty staunch Fedora supporter for years, so if it's working for you, keep going!
On the other hand I like being able to tell people to use Ubuntu because I like it so much when before I'd say things like 'Ubuntu is geared a bit more for Linux newbies, but I use Fedora.' And not be able to explain why.

[baggyeyes]

Thanks for the link!

I'm glad Ubuntu is working out for you - I usually like to switch around between WM, so I'd go between Gnome, KDE and XFCE all the time. It just didn't integrate the various WMs smoothly.

[kerravonsen]

The only thing I am missing from yum is tools to search for packages. Most of the time it doesn't slow me down much but it'd be nice to check if a package exists before I try to blindly install it. Tips welcome!

"apt-cache" is what you're looking for. That's the "search for packages" command-line tool. It is part of the "apt" package, so it will already be there. No, I don't know why they decided to make it a separate program, instead of part of apt-get.

If you like GUI apps, then "synaptic" is a spiffy package manager. It makes it a lot easier to browse for packages you didn't know you wanted, such as games... (grin)

Another good package to install is "debian-goodies", which is a collection of tools which interact with the packaging system. The one I use the most is "dpigs", which shows you which packages are taking up the most space. Good for trimming down a system if you want to save space or simply remove packages that you know you aren't using.

[pixel]

Ahh hah! Many thanks!

So many packages...so little time ;)

dpigs says my biggest offenders are openoffice and java (aside from kernels) color me not very surprised....heh

[dragonwolf]

"aptitude search" also should work.

[blnchflr]

The only thing I am missing from yum is tools to search for packages. Most of the time it doesn't slow me down much but it'd be nice to check if a package exists before I try to blindly install it. Tips welcome!
I still install most everything via Synaptic (System > Administration > Synaptic), where you search for packages, and can see what's available, what's installed, etc. But if you're used to the command line, it'll probably be too slow for you :o)

I had my panels completely disabled in Lucid Beta (not just on autohide - the line still showing up annoyed me) and replaced with AWN, which was very shiny. But it also covered things too often on the bottom of the screen, especially when browsing the internet, and when installing Lucid proper, I so far stayed with the panels, and am happy with them. But they're definitely not as shiny as a dock.

[pixel]

I've used Synaptic a bit, and it does feel slow, compared to apt-get and the like, I've played a bit with aptitude, should re-check that out I think, it's sort of in-between. I have to say that apt is more helpful than yum, making suggestions etc, and that covers sometimes when I make a blind stab at what a package should be.

My panel is dark so I don't even notice the line there, but generally I try to use Gnome-Do instead of the menus. If you ever try to go back, I suggest Do, most everything I want to get at, I can get to with Do, which is Keyboard controlled. Your setup was my inspiration to try to minimize menu use ;)

[pixel]

PS, where did you get the Ubuntu icon?

[blnchflr]

Uhm, I stole it from someone on the internet, *hangs head*.