Review of Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux
Ubuntu is an African word that means “humanity to others” and Ubuntu Linux was created to pass that spirit onto computer users around the world. Ubuntu is based on Debian and is released roughly every six months (you can get more background information about Ubuntu’s development history and its founder Mark Shuttleworth from Wikipedia). In this review we’ll take a look at Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (code named Dapper Drake). Ubuntu come in builds for Intel x86, PowerPC, and AMD64-bit processors and community support via web forums is also available.
We liked this version of Ubuntu, with its very fast, new graphical installer based on the Live CD Faster system startup and login, simplified menu organization, graphical shutdown process, easy access to power management settings with GNOME Power Manager It also now includes GNOME 2.14.1, OpenOffice.org 2.0.2, X.org 7.0 and a plethora of included application choices, but there’s still no VPN wizard, and playing DVDs should be simpler.
Since it comes on a “Live CD”, Ubuntu’s installation is quite nice. You can just pop the CD in and an Ubuntu desktop will load off of the CD. The desktop is fully functional, albeit a bit slower, because it’s running off the disc. Once it loads you’ll see an “Installation” icon on the desktop you can click to begin installing Ubuntu onto your system. While running the Live CD version I was connected to the Internet so I could browse the web while the installation proceeded, a nice touch that sure beats having to be disconnected while installing.
My Test Box:
* Athlon XP 3000+
* Nvidia GeForce 5900 XT
* 1GB of RAM
* 160GB Hard Disk
After clicking on the Install icon, I followed the prompts until the installation was complete. In this case, I opted to erase the existing stuff on my hard disk and do the install fresh. However, Ubuntu gives you the option of resizing an existing partition manually or with the installer’s help if you want. If you’ve installed Windows already, you shouldn’t have a problem with Ubuntu’s installation menus. Everything is quite obvious and easy to follow.
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