Managing two desktop PC's with Gentoo is a nightmare. Last summer, after a gcc upgrade, I've had to recompile all the packages, with all the problems coming together. Fox never compiled. So, I've got a powerful PC with a dual core amd64, 4Gb of RAM and a nvidia 7900GT graphics card for Gentoo, and my Sony laptop is now running Kubuntu. I used to have Windows XP + Mandriva, but finally I found I have no need for Microsoft at all, even for ripping DVD's. So I formatted the hard drive, reinstalled, and gave Kubuntu a try.
Kubuntu is N°1 on Distrowatch. Maybe because they seem to call home everytime somebody installs Ubuntu. But it is certainly worth trying to understand the popularity of Ubuntu.
And I am fed up with Ubuntu.
Here are several remarks :
- I hate this sudo thing. What do you do when you plug a ext3 external hard-drive and you want to browse it ? The only reasonable thing is to run kdesu konqueror in a normal distro. I know, the ultras will say it is not safe. But you have to strike a deal between security and usability on the desktop. With Mandriva, just type alt-F2 and kdesu konqueror. Or start from a konsole.
- The Adept updater is not finished and buggy. I got several frezzes that could only be fixed by digging in the system and suppressing by hand a .lock file. Fantastic for a distro which is supposed to facilitate the desktop ! From my tray icon, I can launch several sessions of Adept. This is not practical.
- The software offer is poor. There is no Kuickshow. I could not find "Transcode".
- There is no such thing as the PLF (Penguin Liberation Front). "Attention, novembre 2006 : The PLF Ubuntu project is shutting down, due to lack of time of its maintainers." (http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/depots/plf/plf-fr). Availibility of PLF packages is important for my freedom ! Resistance to software patents is a part of foss story !
- The distribution is not up-to-date. Why should I wait more for the 3D office ?
My conclusion is : I am going to ditch this distro and come back to my good old Mandriva. I have the same feeling when I give a regular try to Gnome. I rapidly come back to KDE, which is way more advanced. Mandriva is not perfect, but much better. Except the PR, I cannot see the point with Unbuntu.
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1 comment:
Personally, I think that the combination [Ubuntu Feisty + Beryl 3G desktop] is quite compelling - while acknowleding of course that Ubuntu is far from perfect yet for device plug-ins..
However:
* customer-wise, there is such a traction behind Ubuntu
* technology-wise, Debian is also growing by the day
, so I am quite confident that the H/W and S/W issues you'll mention will be solved.
I've tried Mandriva 2 years ago, but not overall satisfied with it. Following unbearable repeated crashes of my laptops, I finally jumped to a Ubuntu+XP-based config on my Asus laptop in apr'07. The two other considerations (besides security/speed) for the switch was:
* a "human-ready" user-interface - some pros may dislike Gnome and don't find any advantages in Beryl-like interfaces, but to me - and to many others - it is just the right way to embrace Linux
* a critical mass of professional and personal applications - and compatibility with Office
Kyo
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