As I have said before, I’m a big fan of Open Source. None more rabid for Ubuntu Linux and Canonical, Ltd. It helps that Mark Shuttleworth is cute, too.
In my Linux history, I have seen and tried Ubuntu Edgy Eft, Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, Kubuntu Feisty, and PCLinuxOS. I tried Ubuntu Linux first because it’s reputed to be the best around.
When I tried it, I would never have looked back, had I not had so many applications I “needed” on Win XP back then.
When I had to reformat the Ubuntu drive to use it for my music files, I was teary-eyed. But I had my reunion with Ubuntu Linux when Windows XP wouldn’t work anymore, no matter how many reinstalls I’ve done, on poor, old, circa 2001 Phoenix (PC Desktop).
Later when I had my “rabid Linux week”, I downloaded PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. With Ubuntu Feisty, poor old Phoenix couldn’t take running it, so I had to revert to Edgy Eft, despite having to kick and scream that I had to let go of Feisty.
I then decided to try PCLinuxOS because of so many people raving about it on the Ubuntu forums. I also considered Arch Linux, but I stayed off it when I read that it was better suited for developers.
What I like about PCLinuxOS is that it’s pretty fast, as a Live CD. It has been hailed on LiveCDList as the third best LiveCd. When I installed it, it was noticeably faster than the Ubuntu LiveCD.
The only thing that I didn’t like about PCLinuxOS was that it had graphics that seemed juvenile, like a sorcerer, and a dragon hung on a moon. I forgot which windows/boxes these appeared, but they were the reasons that I decided not to install PCLinuxOS. Through PCLinuxOS, though, I discovered Frozen Bubble, a game on Linux similar to DynoMite. Though I didn’t install it, at least I learned something useful from trying it. 🙂
I had downloaded the Big Daddy release. PCLinux2007 seems to be more professionally done though. I promise I will download when I have the idle time to spare. 🙂
I also downloaded Kubuntu Feisty Fawn. I was impressed with Kubuntu’s ice-blue look and it was sleek to say the least. I was more than impressed with the look. My jaw dropped. Honestly. But when I looked at the applications, I saw that it had no games! Aww!
But despite my desire to try all the better distros out there, I don’t have time to download them all yet. And ever since I’ve been enamored with Ubuntu, I decided to settle on using it on my PC desktop. With a little tweaking, I turned the drab brown desktop into pink tulip heaven, and I couldn’t be happier. I only have to have the patience to sit down one day and arrange everything: files, codecs for media, and the networking agent on Phoenix the desktop. It’s been messy since the move from Windows. And to think that was two months ago.
One thing I don’t like about Linux in general is that there are much too many distros out there for comfort. I go crazy just looking at distrowatch.com. Thus I do not go Linux-hunting anymore, as I just lose hours looking at all the lovely distros beckoning me to just try them, try them, try them..
Until the day I can afford to lose an entire week trying out Linux distros, I shall be happy with my Pink Gnome/Ubuntu environment. 🙂