Over the weekend I installed Ubuntu Linux on two of my computers.
I tested the waters with Ubuntu Desktop on an old desktop PC that I rarely use and was surprised to find that the installation was completely painless – it detected all of the hardware and even set up partitions so I could keep the old Windows installation. But I was so impressed with Ubuntu, I got rid of XP on that machine.
I then replaced XP on my old laptop with Ubuntu Studio, which is optimised for media production. It even runs AudioMulch pretty well under Wine!
What can I say? I’m now a Linux convert! I reckon Ubuntu is the best OS I’ve used. I was afraid it would be too difficult, but if you’ve ever used the Windows command line or registry, Ubuntu is actually very easy. There is a learning curve, but it feels empowering. And of course Ubuntu is free, open source and all that good stuff. Other OSes now seem so restrictive and cumbersome by comparison. Ubuntu also has all the bells and whistles if you want them, such as the Beryl visual effects, and performance is much better on my old hardware than Windows ever was.
One of my favourite thing about using Ubuntu is that installing most programs is just a matter of selecting them from the ‘Add/Remove’ menu – no need to search the web for an installer, then download and run it – Ubuntu does it all automatically. Likewise with software updates.
Next I’m going to set up my main desktop PC to dual boot Ubuntu Studio and XP so that I can still access the few programs that I need which won’t run on Linux/Wine/OSX (mainly Adobe Audition) but mostly I’ll be using it as a file server and media center, running MythTV.
When the new Macbook Pro arrives I won’t be putting Windows on it. If anything I’ll add Ubuntu to it, but Wine also works on OSX, so I’ll still be able to access many of my Windows programs where necessary. Instead of Audition I’ll use ProTools, which is OK, since I also use it at uni. Eventually I hope to leave Windows completely.
I highly recommend that you give Ubuntu a try – especially if you have an old computer lying around. There’s nothing to lose, and you may just fall in love with it like I have!