Why I use Ubuntu
popey.com
It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m cooking the family dinner, so I’m also listening to a podcast. I just listened to the latest episode of Linux Downtime. In it, Amolith, Gary and Joe discuss why they use the Linux distributions they do. While the food cooks, I thought I’d take 20 minutes to bang out a blog post mulling why I (still) use Ubuntu. However, this turned more into a bit of a trip down memory lane and certainly didn’t get banged out in 20 mins.

This is easily number one. I enjoy my computing experience when using Ubuntu. Whether it’s just using the computer for usual human things, noodling with new software from source, or getting new hardware working. It’s fun. I don’t find Windows or MacOS fun, at all. They work, but they’re not fun.

My Ubuntu systems are reliable. They don’t ever randomly break (much).

I’ve been using Ubuntu now for eighteen years. I know (roughly) how it works. I am familiar with the release cadence and set my expectations accordingly.

As you can see from my heterogenous list of devices, the majority run Ubuntu. So being able to try something on my laptop, and then be able to run the exact same command on my server, is pretty handy. Even though they all run different releases of Ubuntu, most of my systems are able to run the same software.

Referenced podcast on Linux Downtime

  • @ladyanita22
    12•1 year ago

    He likes Ubuntu because he’s familiar with it, plain and simple. He dislikes Arch because of the toxic trolls there, and dislikes Fedora for… undisclosed reasons…

  • @[email protected]
    8•1 year ago

    Ubuntu is pretty solid. If you don’t like the looks, there are plenty of Debian-based distros that look different.

    • @wheelsEnglish
      5•1 year ago

      Also there are plenty of Ubuntu-based distros that look different!

      • @coolmojoEnglish
        1•1 year ago

        Also there are plenty Ubuntu flavours that look different.

    • @[email protected]English
      4•1 year ago

      I’v been using Ubuntu for nearing 20 years now. Maybe like 18ish… It took debian’s rock solidness and made it ez pz. It’s super easy to install and configure and runs like a dream. Has long term stable releases especially important for server architecture. Has the “server” install that is minimal on disk space.

      Etc… Just really rock solid distro that I’ve run for decades and has cost me $0 to do so.

      I ran red hat till all the cool kids told me it’s got to be Debian and then Ubuntu hit the scene and that was that. I’m sure Arch is fine and I’d bet had I chosen to stick with Red Hat and move to Fedora it’d also be fine. End of the day it’s still Linux.

  • @[email protected]
    6•1 year ago

    I feel pretty much exactly like OP. It (Mostly) Just Works, and has for almost 20 years.

    Also like OP, I think the snap transition has been thoroughly screwed up. It is the only reason that makes me - on occasion - long for Debian. I wish Canonical would just cure itself of NIH syndrome and drop it entirely. (Not necessarily in favor of flatpak or appimages, either. I like debs.)