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  • #2171957

    Why You should Use Ubuntu on the Desktop

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    by jlholmes21 ·

    We’ve all heard of it, some of use love it, some of us hate it, but the following are reasons why we should use Ubuntu Linux on the desktop.

    1 – LibreOffice
    LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice and it is amde by the people who make OpenOffice… This being said it is better than OpenOffice. Firstly its faster and has an initial launcher application which works a bit like Steam in a way. You have your programs installed and then select which one you want to use, I say Steam but XFire is a better example in this case. Although it lacks the features that Microsoft Office or iWork (Apples Office Suite) have, it is still a suitable solution for free desktop computing. Ubuntu doesn’t have any of teh trueType fonts that Windows have, like my personal favourite, Calibri (Office 2010 default font). It has Arial which is my second favourite and some of my teachers favourites. Times New Roman is nice when I want to copy and paste something into a wiki and thast about all. Then theres Impress which is basically Visio. I don’t user visio but I think Visio is a bit better because it has mroe features, but because I don’t use it it doesn’t really matter. The spreadsheet and presentation programs are what i need. They are comaptible with Office like all the other programs, however they don’t have all the extra Word Art and Graph features you get in Office 2007 and Office 2010. To add there is no Clip Art but you can download from the Ubuntu Software Centre a massive 500mb Clip Art package which is amazing.. and that leads me on to nubmer 2

    2 – Ubuntu Software Centre
    This program is amazing… it allows you to access over 35000 peices of free software. There are some programs that cost, mainly games and coded packs but they aren’t really needed. It also helps if you suppliemnt the Ubuntu Software Centre with PlayDeb, GetDeb and Synaptic Package Manager. PlayDeb and getDeb are another source of free open source games and applications. However don’t use the .deb packages that asks you to install, set it up manually. Synaptic Package Manager allows you to fix broken packages and uninstall packages a lot faster than the software centre, this was removed in Ubuntu 11.10 for some strange reason, I think its because advanced users have their own methods of doing things on Linux, like, for example, the terminal, which you can install packages with… including WINE

    3 – WINE
    WINE or Wine Is Not an Emulator is a prgram for Linux which allows you to run your Windows applciations. On Ubuntu all you have to do go into the terminal, there is a short cut for this, CTRL+ALT+T, then type ‘sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa’ and then type ‘sudo apt-get update’. After doing this it will install and update WINE with the update manager. After it installs WINE go back into terminal and type ‘winecfg’ to set up WINE for good usage. Some applciation will require some tweaks and some just won’t work. To see what Applications and Games will work go to http://appdb.winehq.org/. Also install winetricks. winetricks will allow you to install things like DirectX, .NET Framework and some other things like Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 for certain applications like Curese Client or World of WarCraft to work properly

    4 – Unity + Inproved Compiz
    Unity isn’t my personal favourite when it comes to GUIs for Ubunutu or any Linux for that matter, but the new and improved compiz makes the experience a lot better. Installi the compiz control panel with the software centre allows you to get ride of the one thing that Unity anoys me with.. and that is auto-hide. When you run an applciation maximized, Unity quick launch panel will hide and its annoying but you can disable the auto-hide but it doesnt require a reboot after though, but because Ubuntu is faster than Windows by about 1500% on my PC with boot up and shutdown times it takes about 20 seconds to do both. Unity is nice and the login screen they bundled it with, although a login screen, makes for a sleek user interface that is faster than a Windows PC and sexier than a Mac.

    5 – Works with 99% of modern hardware
    By modern hardware I mean anything from the past 10 years of computing. Just about all of it works.. from graphics cards to printers. Ubuntu will automatically detect drivers that aren’t built into the kernel and it will isntall them and prompt for a reboot and you can also set up a nice software source for certain drivers, for example, graphics card and printers, so the drivers are updated with the update manager. Windows can’t update 3rd party drivers with Windwos Update and any drivers it can update, it doesn’t do it properlly and cause failed boots or BSoD. You could use programs like DriverMax or software you have to pay for, but why do that when you can get it for free.

    These are my 5 main reasons. I have other reasons but if I lsited them I would be here all day… Also to add I ahve used Ubuntu Linux since 10.04 and stuck with 10.10 for about 9 months.

All Comments

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    • #2897567

      None of those are reasons for me to use Ubuntu.

      by charliespencer ·

      In reply to Why You should Use Ubuntu on the Desktop

      Those are reasons why Ubuntu can be an acceptable replacement if you’re using another OS, but none on them are reasons to switch to Ubuntu. In your first paragraph you twice cite examples of how LibreOffice is inferior to MS Office products. Why run apps under an emulator when you can run them on their native OS? Hell, Windows works with 99% of modern hardware.

      • #2897565

        I forgot to mention the cost

        by jlholmes21 ·

        In reply to None of those are reasons for me to use Ubuntu.

        Why pay for programs that can build techological empires when you can get them for free. Even Rockstar Games support the Linux project with their rendition of it in GTA IV. come on. Do Microsoft expect us to pay ??150 for an Operating system and then ??250-??450 for Office (although I can get it for like ??40 on software4students) When I can grab myself a copy of Ubuntu packed with all these programs and more and not pay a single penny. This is good for system builders as it leaves more budget for the hardware.

        • #2897564

          Call me

          by charliespencer ·

          In reply to I forgot to mention the cost

          when you can run AutoCAD. Not another or similar CAD package, but AutoCAD itself.

          Call me when I can manage a fleet of desktops and laptops with tools like Active Directory, Group Policy, and System Center.

          Call me when our customers change all their contracts from specifying we use “Microsoft Office applications” to include the phrase “or compatible substitutes’.

          In short, call me when Ubuntu meets our business requirements, because I’m not choosing an OS based on what games it supports.

        • #2897563

          I said …

          by jlholmes21 ·

          In reply to Call me

          .. on the desktop. This emans everything from business to personal use. If you did some extra research you’d find out their there are suitable substitutes for almost every payware windows/mac application

        • #2897554

          "suitable substitutes"

          by charliespencer ·

          In reply to I said …

          “Suitable” is in the eye of the user. In our case, “suitable” is defined by our customers, who contractually mandate the applications we are to use when creating files, documents, and other content we deliver to them. Per contract, substitutes applications are unacceptable.

          The ONLY reason to use an OS is if it supports the applications you want to run. If the apps you use are available for multiple OS, then factors such as cost, attitude toward vendor behavior, etc. can come into play. If the apps you want or must use are available for only a single OS, then that is the only option.

          If you had titled your original post “Why I use Ubuntu on my desktop”, I would have agreed with you completely.

        • #2897547

          Why?

          by tony hopkinson ·

          In reply to I forgot to mention the cost

          So they can make money of course…
          All claims that moving to linux is free as in beer are rubbish, lots of costs involved they are just not directly handing over your cash to Sir Bill.

          It’s free as in choice, Ubuntu is designed to minimise choice to be more appealing to windows appliance users, some of us aren’t one. Whether we use windows or not.

        • #2445809

          Why not?

          by bob-el ·

          In reply to Why?

          I have Ubuntu running on a desktop computer and a netbook and xubuntu on a 10-year-old Toshiba laptop. It has not cost me a cent to download, install and run any of those so your comment about Linux being free is rubbish is, itself, rubbish.

      • #2897548

        No idea which sad person marked you down

        by tony hopkinson ·

        In reply to None of those are reasons for me to use Ubuntu.

        some people take their dogma a bit too serious.

    • #2897549

      Nah that’s some reasons why you choose to use Ubuntu

      by tony hopkinson ·

      In reply to Why You should Use Ubuntu on the Desktop

      Didn’t see one that applied to me, very few that applied to anyone else.
      LibreOffice and Wine are reasons to use linux anyway, app mangers are two a penny…

      When I use linux, either for experimenting or or development Ubuntu is not even on my list. It’s designed as a windows wannabe for appliance users, I fail to see the point. You like it, fine, I’ll stick to what I like.

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