Ubuntu is code for Linux fun

May 28, 2005 1 comment

I’m falling in love with this linux distro. It’s fast, it’s no thrills, it just works really well. The Synaptic package manager is so convenient and easy to use. I thought the FreeBSD ports system was cool, but this is even better. It’s a nice little GUI that allows you to either browse through the packages or search for the app you’re looking to install. Any we’re not talking about just bs programs, we’re talking about programs you actually want to install (Azureus, RealPlayer, Limewire, etc). Their dependencies are automatically installed as well, and boom, you’ve got yourself a useable app in about 30 seconds. The download rates are incredible as well, I’m getting consistent 475-500kb/s with my cable connection.

A perfect example of this was this afternoon, I had a few static pages from my Wordpress blog that I didn’t feel like diving through the database to find the text I was looking for, so I figure what the heck, I’ll install Apache, and just fire up the old blog. Here’s what it took in Ubuntu:

  • Install Apache2 via Synaptic
  • Installer knows I already have lighttpd running on port 80 so it won’t autorun Apache after reboots (perfect!)
  • Kill lighttpd, start Apache, check to make sure everything works
  • Move old blog directory to Apache’s www directory
  • Check blog, forgot to install Apache PHP4 module
  • Install PHP module via Synaptic
  • Check blog, forgot to install PHP mysql module
  • Install MySQL module via Synaptic
  • Blog works perfectly

Unix is hard, huh?

1 comment


Glen Stampoultzis said 4 days later:

I like ubuntu but I still have problems with it. The other day I booted up and my mouse pointer was moving really slowly. I still can’t get vmware going. Sometimes when I start the menu’s will freeze for about 10 minutes then come good.

Still waiting for a linux that just works.

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