I’m Using Ubuntu. Please Don’t Kill Me.

Apr.30.2008

This post is more for my nerdy readers, assuming there are some. I made a recent decision to take a few months away from the computing mainstream and check out the open source realm.

An important note here, for those of you that don’t know, I’m a tried and true Mac user. OS X makes my heart sing, and ever will. I am not abandoning my true love here, just waiting for the rumored new Macbook Pro’s that are hopefully coming out soon.

I’ve been curious about Linux for a long time, and with the quasi hype that’s been surrounding Ubuntu of late, I thought to give it a shot. At the time of this writing, I’m nearing the end of my second week of working with it. I’ve been through two distros, including the fully supported Gutsy Gibbon 7.10, and the Beta (and now thankfully full RC) Hardy Heron 8.04. Though this is no surprise, both versions have better out-of-the-box driver support for the laptop I’m using than Windows Vista Ultimate.

First thing I suppose I should say, if this is any sort of a review, and take it from a die-hard PC man of 10+ years, and a die-hard Mac loyalist of 3+ years (No, not Steve Balmer, me.), Linux is not for the faint of heart [read: n00b].

If you don’t know what “command line” means, or aren’t willing to delve into an often much-more complex realm of computing required to make some of this goodness work, I recommend either staying away from Linux altogether, or snagging a machine that comes pre-loaded with Linux, such as those offered by Dell.

I will say that as a designer, some of the visual interaction that you can configure in Linux are just shy of 100% hotness:

I have everything that you see in this video running at the time of this typing and more. It’s amazing how smoothly the system runs when doing insane things like wrapping an HD video around the 3D cube of your desktop switcher… mmm… nerdy goodness.. I know some of the stuff you see there seems a bit over the top, and I’ll be the first to admit that it is, but a large portion of the added glory that is Compiz-Fusion (native to Hardy Heron) not only increases the quality of my user experience but the effeciency as well.

All that flashy crap aside, the best part of Ubuntu that I’ve run into thus-far is that it’s completely free, and extremely extensible. The Add/Remove Programs option in the Linux “Start Menu” is nothing short of mind blowing to anyone that’s used just about any computer in the world in the past decade or so. You need something? Open Add/Remove programs and search for it. E.G.: I needed an FTP program. I searched for, found, and installed an excellent (and completely free) FTP app in less than a minute.

The obvious downsides are a lack of official support for high-end development software (Photoshop/Flash/Etc.), and the difficulty required to get around said lack. I will say that I have Photoshop CS2 and CS3 running perfectly on my machine, but not without overcoming the aforementioned fear of command lines and embracing my advanced computer-hacker-ninja-magic skills.

I suppose I could continue with an in-and-out detailed review, but I think I’ll just go ahead and end it with a brief summary:

Ubuntu is great. It’s not for everyone. It’s fast, effecient, and excellent for your everyday computing needs. For more advanced usage, I recommend advanced skillz. It has extremely advanced visuals for those willing to figure them out, and some really good out-of-the-box hardware support that is downright impressive for an open source project. But that said, it’s still not ready for the mainstream, or the everyday user. I’ve done more hacking and tweaking these past two weeks than Ghengis Khan during a weekend village raid.

Final verdict: Buy yourself a Mac + Textmate + Transmit + Photoshop and never look back.