So after I decided to preview Fedora 9 and Ubuntu 8.04 for my switch to desktop Linux, I spent the rest of the week and weekend playing with both. I really wanted to like Fedora better, since I’ve always been a Red Hat user (I run CentOS on all my servers) and thus more comfortable with that platform.
However, it seems I have now drunk the Ubuntu Kool-Aid. I have to admit it is very pleasing to use, and the Synaptic software manager is so simple and straightforward that it might even have me forgoing the command line for installing software! (Although I was very impressed with their bash hook which suggests a software package to install if you try typing a command that doesn’t exist. I typed svn --version and it suggested I install the subversion package… very neat trick!)
Also, Fedora 9 uses such a new version of the X server that NVidia doesn’t have optimized 3D drivers for it yet. (Of course, the fact that NVidia doesn’t release open-source optimized drivers is a big problem, so I hope ATI soon comes through on their promise to do just that, so I can get rid of the NVidia card). Plus, their new, integrated software install/update tool, while offering lots of promise, was very disappointing. It timed out for 10-20 seconds with almost each mouse click while it “refreshed repository data” or something, and even then it never seemed to work just right.
Speaking of accelerated 3D, Ubuntu’s “Full Desktop Effects” mode (using Compiz) certainly lives up to its hype. It’s amazing how far a healthy dash of eye candy can go towards making a system more enjoyable and usable. (Since I couldn’t get optimized drivers working in Fedora, I couldn’t try Compiz on it).
Ubuntu also seems to have a much better community around it. I haven’t run into a single issue yet that I couldn’t find an answer for by searching their forums, and their users are very helpful without the slightest bit of elitism.
I tried Fedora+KDE and just didn’t like it at all. I still need to try Ubuntu+KDE (Kubuntu), but I’m pretty sure I’ll just stick with Gnome.
Another week or so of playing around, and I should be ready to take the plunge!
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