29 Nov
Posted by Harper as General at 01:15 AM
Tags: desktop linux, linux, osx, ubuntu, unix
I am a linux mad man recently. I was noticing today that almost all of my devices i enjoy using are unix and mostly linux based. Pretty insane. So with that thought i decided to unshackle myself from the man and attempt desktop linux for the first time.
I am scared. Hold me!
I am currently installing Ubuntu on my laptop. 7.04 didn’t boot on this guy - but 7.10 rocks pretty hard. So i am not yet disappointed. I am hoping that i will not need anything SUPER windowsy for awhile. And if I do - I am just going to install windows in either qemu or vmware. We shall see.
Honestly, I want a macbook. I love OSX. I love the general usability, and the ease that everything works together. I love the app integration. I am absolutely in love with Address Book. I love making my contacts better and better. I hope to have EVERYONES email and phone. ;) But i don’t like how it obfuscates all the fun unixy parts. I wish it had a better package manager. I wish it was easier to dig into the trenches without getting into the darwin version of dll hell. But, I am not soo worried.
I am addicted to debian’s package manager. From playing around on my fancy new ubuntu/debian servers to playing around with my various desktops i have played with. I have found the secret to linux. NEVER COMPILE ANYTHING. seriously. wth was i thinking back in 93. compiling all this shit all the time. that was bullshit. The new new is the way to be. I am dead serious. If i had a choice for running a server. it would be debian - based purely on the broad scope of packages that are in apt. And then if it isn’t in apt, i am easily able to find a .deb of the package. Rock. RPM’s can suck it (that’s right rackspace.. better watch out! I may change everything to debian at a moments notice!).
I love disto wars. Ma. I remember when Atkins and I were trying to decide whether to use slackware or yggdrasil linux. back in the day. we usually went with slackware. Then redhat came out and blew our minds. Then we didn’t care. until now!
Oh the struggle!
I am pretty happy that these are the worst things happening right now in my life. Which unix derivative to use for a desktop. ;) Rock On!
8 Responses
Matt Hellige
November 29th, 2007 at 11:54 am
1Totally agree, except that I might be a little more favorably inclined toward OSX. I haven’t done lots with it, but it seems like a pretty fair balance between Unix and prettiness/convenience. Honestly I kind of feel like this is basically the same place Ubuntu is headed. Before trying Ubuntu, I’ve used Slackware, RH, Debian, Gentoo, OSX (not to mention SunOS, Solaris, IRIX, HPUX, OSF/1, AIX, etc.). So I have a pretty good amount of Unix experience, and honestly I am SUPER impressed with Ubuntu on the desktop. Debian on the server and Ubuntu on the desktop is working really well for me right now. I rarely have to compile anything big, but THANK YOU to the 1990s for teaching me how to do it in a sane way and keep things manageable. :)
I hope I never compile the Linux kernel again. Also I hope I never download anything onto 80 floppy disks ever again.
Jen
November 29th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
2Finally, someone believes in the “don’t compile anything” opinion I have! Yay!
Adrian Holovaty
November 29th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
3*Sniff sniff* — I migrated to OS X a few months ago after several years of desktop Linux…and I miss it.
The Debian/Ubuntu package management alone is worth the occasional having-to-futz-with-wifi shenanigans.
Suresh
November 30th, 2007 at 5:34 am
4Ubuntu is awesome!
I run both Ubuntu and Solaris on my laptop. Solaris is my prmiary development platform, quite understandably.
Have you tried OpenSolaris yet? Give a shot at Indiana. It’s not close to Indiana in terms of usability, but, with technology is far superior, and if you’re a serious developer it should really get you interested. Two of the most important innovations to get integrated into Solaris:
1. DTrace - http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/dtrace/
2. ZFS - http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/zfs/
No wonder, OSX Leopard has got these two features ported, DTrace for their XRay UI and ZFS for their Timemachine feature.
Suresh
November 30th, 2007 at 5:37 am
5Sorry — I meant Indiana might not be close to Ubuntu in terms of usability… as in package management and such. Interestingly, it was conceptualized by Ian Murdoch along with the community.
Jeff Judge
November 30th, 2007 at 11:06 am
6I’m glad to hear your happy with Ubuntu…reading this post is exactly what I needed to push me to install it on my Thinkpad. I downloaded the iso sometime ago but haven’t installed it yet.
I agree that the Mac interface and applications are optimal, but am also annoyed in the tucking away of the underlying os. I’ve been using two laptops for a year now, a Thinkpad for documents and spreadsheets and a Powerbook for coding and everything else. I really just want a single machine that does both really well and think that the Mac is the 80% solution for now.
Re: package managers, you can install apt on pretty much any Linux distro and use macports or fink on OSX, no?
Harper
November 30th, 2007 at 11:10 am
7Hi Jeff!
Yea. i have used macports and fink on OSX before. It was awesome. But i always found myself dealing with weird path issues - or not finding something i was sure i had installed. It just wasn’t as smooth.
I have not installed apt on any other linux boxes - although i may start doing that to defeat the evil YUM.
In regards to my success thus far - i am happy with it. But i have been working hard to get vmware working for a couple tasks that i require windows for. I will probably have to buy workstation again - because fucking vmware requires separate licenses for windows and linux. wth. its not like i can use my windows license when i have linux installed on my compy. I may attempt to use qemu
mh
November 30th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
8Heh, back in the 90s you *had* to compile everything, especially if you were into the new software coming out, because
1. Package management sucked and only half-worked
2. Everything was changing so fast that new packages weren’t released nearly often enough
And yeah, slackware was the shit. The base system was what, eight floppies?
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