Those that know me well, will know that I am a desktop Linux advocate and that I completely moved my home desktop to Ubuntu after considering what I really need my computer to do. The list below is a pretty comprehensive list of what I want to be able to do with my computer:
- Run in a timely manner
- Not crash when something/anything throws a wobbly
- Internet Access (General Web Surfing)
- Internet Chat (MSN, Skype)
- Word Processing, Spreadsheets
- Storing / Editing Photos from my digital camera
- Printing Documents
- Scanning the odd document or photo
- Playing music (MP3s, Internet Radio)
- Playing Videos/DVDs
- Burning CDs/DVDs
- Simple Development & Editing Text Files
For me the switch was not about the politics of "free software vs. the almighty evil other company or proprietary software" but the fact I don't need or want a server farm to run the latest version of the software, have a bloated desktop that takes 10 minues to “load my personal settings”, have to upgrade my PC every 6 months or update my virus definitions religiously.
I migrated to Ubuntu just after Vista was released, after hearing and having a few negative experiences with Vista on other people’s hardware. For me, moving to Vista would have meant that I would need some new hardware. My home PC has a fairly modest specification consisting of Athlon XP 2000 (1.67 GHz Processor), 1GB RAM, 64 MB RAM NVIDIA Geforce 2 Graphics card, and 2 x 250gig hard drives. I could have moved to Mac but that would have meant shelling out at least £600 on hardware (something I might still consider when my current hardware starts to feel slow).
I’ve been using Ubuntu on my home servers since the “Badger” but never really felt that it was quite ready for my desktop, until Feisty. I took the plunge after weighing up the pros/cons and trying the live CD with my hardware. Do I regret it? Definitely not. For years I’d run Linux in a VM, now it is the other way round and I am running Windows in a VM for all those legacy applications that must use Windows.
The first thing that hit me was how fast my system goes on such a modest specification. Put simply, every aspect of my computing needs in the list above is covered by Ubuntu. I’ve yet to encounter a task which I can’t accomplish in Ubuntu. For me the benefits include “less” worry about mal-ware, viruses and my general security, performance and the total cost of my home computing experience is much less (More Free-Software/Free-To-Use alternatives and less hardware upgrades).
There are a few minor niggles such as driver compatibility, wireless connectivity and lack of commercial software. However, I am lucky enough to own a scanner (Packard Bell 2400), wireless card (Not sure of model, it just worked) and printers (Samsung ML-1210, Samsung ML-4550) that are ALL supported under Linux. Others might not be so lucky. The fact I am NOT a gamer also helps. The lack of commercial software refers to the unavailability of commercial software like Photoshop and Fireworks. These are pieces of software I’d be happy to pay for if they were available. Though I believe this will change over time as more and more people are starting to use Desktop specific versions of Linux such as Ubuntu. Free-to-use software such as Skype, Opera and RealPlayer are already available and have been for some time.
The simple truth is that if Windows was as performant and secure as my Linux Desktop I would have probably stuck with Windows as it does just work with most hardware.
My advice to anyone looking to buy a new PC would be to try Ubuntu first. You can download the live CD from the Ubuntu website and try it without installing it. Its also the first real distribution that doesn’t require extensive Linux or computing knowledge. You can install it and use it.
Ubuntu Website -> http://www.ubuntulinux.org
Ubuntu Forums -> http://www.ubuntuforums.org
Dell computers with Ubuntu -> http://www.dell.com/ubuntu
13 comments:
It would be helpful if you started running Oracle stuff on Ubuntu. For example SQL Developer is not really working as it does on Windows. Probably only tested on Oracle Linux ;)
This isn't something I've tried yet (other than XE in a Ubuntu VM on my work laptop).
I've not tried SQL Developer or JDev on my home Ubuntu as I haven't had a need (yet). Everything for work stays on my work laptop and unfortunately that is a standard Windows build.
If your having problems with SQL Developer or JDeveloper on Ubuntu try raising it in the forums, I know the Product Managers have to keep an eye on the forums and they may be able to help.
It might be worth starting a poll there as I imagine there are lots out there who use Ubuntu as their development boxes.
Oh and I would love for all Oracle Products to be certified with all Ubuntu but sadly thats not my call.
Kris
I know Kris, even the LOBI is not Ubuntu based :)
Comment about SQL Developer has already been left in the forum but unfortunately not resolved yet.
I know Oracle internally is not as Linux minded as you'd hope, with all Windows dependencies like cisco softphone, Collaboration Suite (OWC). Still hope Larry will go for a Linux based OBI as default instead of as option that is not 100% workable.
I've never been able to run Ubuntu without troubles on my laptop, but PclinuxOS it's easy to manage as Ubuntu, maybe a good alternative for some hardware.
Franco
I forgot to mention that on PCLinuxOS I was able to run SQLDeveloper without troubles!
Franco
bit I've just tried installing sqldeveloper on my ubuntu vm (gutsy) that I have on my work laptop.
I have all the partner and commercial repos enabled and installed sun jdk 1.6.
I then downloaded the "Oracle SQL Developer for Multiple Platforms", unzipped it to my home drive and ran . ./sqldeveloper.sh from the command line and everything worked fine.
I set up a connection and did a "select * from dba_tables;", It seemed to work without problem.
What was the specific bug? I'm very curious now.
Kris
Try to filter table data (which is essentially a WHERE clause) and then remove the filter again. I have trouble getting rid of that filter.
Bit,
I gave this ago on a 7.10 VM Ware instance, connecting to an XE database over jdbc.
I then tried both a LIKE and = clause and both seem to work correctly so it seems very odd.
Kris
Photoshop = GIMP just 7.5Mb and most tools that Photoshop has. Oh, and it is free...
Which flavor of Windows do you run on a VM (Player???) with Ubuntu as host? Can you also plz disclose the source of the Win VM?
I use virtual box but have used VMWare Server.
Unfortunately you'll have to obtain a valid windows license. I used an old xp disc that came with the pc before I switched to ubuntu.
Kris
I agree with everything u say about linux desktop. Im very fond of ubuntu and i defenitely gave up with the most bougth software in the world.
The only problem is that if i enter a computer shop trying to buy a pc runing on linux os, the clerks will consider me a lunatic one.
Do u know that is almost impossible to buy a pc without MS windows inside?
Ciao
Antonio
...and im running sqldeveloper on Ubunto 8.04. Everything is working fine. The only problem was to match the Sqldev version eith that of JDK.
Antonio
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