Ubuntu, Linux For Human Beings

Ubuntu is a free, open source Linux-based operating system with a clear focus on the user and usability (it should “Just Work”). When you finish your Ubuntu installation your system is immediately usable. Ubuntu is a GNU/Linux system, slightly polished and with GNOME as default desktop environment. It doesn’t try to fit Windows users, it tries to fit users in general. Ubuntu is a Debian-based distribution that seems to be trying to get Sid-like freshness into stable-like stability with a 6-month release cycle. Since they only have to worry about packages breaking on 3 (and not 11) architectures, and supposedly a subset of the various available libraries that their distro focuses on, this seems like a reasonable goal.

Ubuntu is based on Debian, the grandpappy of noncommercial Linuxes, and thus inherits Debian’s best-of-breed package management system, Apt. You can deal with Apt via the command line or the powerful point-and-click Synaptic interface. Ubuntu is a Linux-based operating system that is community developed, updated regularly and offered for free. Designed to be user friendly, the Ubuntu OS comes with built-in software for office productivity (i.e., word processor, spreadsheets and presentation applications), e-mail, calendar, chat, web browsing, photos, and more. Ubuntu is free and open source , meaning that not only is it distributed without charge, it may also be freely improved upon. Instead of selling Ubuntu itself, Canonical makes money by selling paid support for Ubuntu. Ubuntu is available in over 40 languages. It also allows users to submit additional translations by using the Rosetta Translation tool.

Ubuntu is more geared towards non-hackers. Ubuntu is also conservative with updates; every change made to the operating system or to the base applications is peer reviewed for security. And of course, being an open source platform, Ubuntu inherits the positive security characteristics of Linux in general. Ubuntu is being promoted as the first easy to use desktop oriented Linux distribution. Over the years we have had a number of desktop oriented Linux distributions such as SuSE, Mandrake (now Mandrivia), and Fedora amongst many others.

Ubuntu is special in a few ways. It has regular, predictable releases , every 6 months with Long Time Support (LTS) releases every 1.5 years. Ubuntu is based on Debian, a distribution known for its excellent package management and selection of packages, including such excellent games as The Battle for Wesnoth and the Quake II engine (game not included). Debian’s package manager is unassumingly called dpkg, but when you go to use it, you usually use the command line program apt-get instead, unless you’re searching the package repositories, in which case you need apt-cache, or reconfiguring a package, the command for which is dpkg-reconfigure.

Ubuntu is packaged with a variety of open source applications, including Firefox and OpenOffice.org. It also comes pre-installed on laptops, desktops and servers.Ubuntu is a complete, free operating system that emphasizes community, support, and ease of use while refusing to compromise on speed, power, and flexibility. It’s Linux for human beings–designed for everyone from computer novices to experts. Ubuntu is a cutting-edge Linux distribution with a dedication to freedom, ease of use, and flexibility. This flexibility manifests not only in how Ubuntu creates a powerful and extensible operating system for your computer but also in how you evaluate and install it.