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Jan

Ubuntu an OS/X killer ?

Posted by sharps, tagged with mac ubuntu vista

Tim Bray is looking to switch from Mac OS/X to Linux on his laptop. Some good comments on his blog about sourcing a laptop vendor that will pre-install Linux. I haven't looked for a while but when I did a couple of years ago - your choices we're pretty limited - you'd end up with a gawky looking laptop and a gawky Linux install - but they would work together.

I'm sure things have improved. I'm currently running Ubuntu (see previous blog postings here) on a three-year old Sony Vaio (VGN-S170B) - it's a compact and light machine and fast enough for most things - the best feature is the 1280x800 display which is pretty sweet (you'd expect Sony to have decent displays) - coupled with Ubuntu's aesthetics it's turned a couple of heads and a few people have asked me what "it is" at conferences, etc. By far, Ubuntu (6.x) is the best laptop install experience I've had with Linux - pretty much everything worked out of the box (aside from getting it to play DVDs).

So is Ubuntu an OS/X killer - nah, not anytime soon - but keep watching - the gap is closing. Give it another couple of generations and I think Linux will compete favourably on the desktop - maybe then we'll see some real adoption and the availability of more apps. Maybe a Vista killer then.

Comments:

Ubuntu (6.06/6.10) is great until you start updating it--things could & would become messier and messier. I will never trust Ubuntu unless I can find a good (paid) support. Go with Solaris Express. In due time, you will find your perseverance more rewarded.

Posted by W. Wayne Liauh on January 29, 2007 at 10:39 AM PST #

Oops, didn't realize this is a Sun's blog. Sorry. Stupid me.

Posted by W. Wayne Liauh on January 29, 2007 at 10:40 AM PST #

I've been updating regularly since I installed 6.x and haven't noticed any instability (or things getting messier and messier). I've tried Solaris on my laptop (in fact 2 different laptops) but I didn't get very far. For what I use a laptop for - I don't think Solaris would be better than Ubuntu.

Posted by Rich Sharples on January 29, 2007 at 11:15 AM PST #

As much as I enjoyed running Solaris 10 on the 17" LCD Dell I had, I have to say I was impressed by Ubuntu's ability to easily hibernate and then resume from hibernation.

Posted by Patrick Giagnocavo on January 29, 2007 at 12:32 PM PST #

@Wayne: (1) What went wrong updating your Ubuntu? I don't know, I just know I'm running it on both a couple of desktop and server machines in different variants (6.06.1 on servers, 6.10 on the rest of boxes), and usually dist-upgrade works rather well. The only thing, though, you should probably avoid is doing a cross-distribution upgrade at least 6.06 -> 6.10. (2) What keeps you from asking ubuntu.com for paid support? They'd be more than happy offering this to you... (3) I actually tried running Solaris Express on my notebook and I like the platform (as well as I love Solaris on servers), but I will stick with Ubuntu on my personal machine for as long as Solaris Express is unable of providing support for my ipw3945 WLAN module and the onboard ICH7 sound chip (Ubuntu does well out of the box here...).

Posted by kawazu on January 29, 2007 at 11:23 PM PST #

Interesting. I'm just contemplating the reverse (Ubuntu to Mac OS). Like you, Rich, I think Linux - and, in particular, Ubuntu - is almost there for the desktop, and Solaris still - bummer - has a ways to go. But Mac is sooo nice . . . Regards, David

Posted by David Coldrick on January 30, 2007 at 03:36 AM PST #

Ubuntu is working very well for me. I installed it as soon as I got my new Toshiba Tecra M5. It has been working without a flinch. Some graphics problems arise every once in a while. The wireless was extremely easy to configure, almost as easy as Windows. Under Ubuntu, the most wonderful features are "sudo" and "get-apt" commands. I was able to install and applications very easily, and actually did quite a bit of Rails programming on Ubuntu in my free time. So, I give it a bit thumbs up for the laptop!

Posted by M. Mortazavi on February 02, 2007 at 03:41 PM PST #

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