Windows Free - Update 1
Posted on 
February 11th, 2006 by 
Will
After about 4 hours of using Ubuntu Linux, I ditched it and installed Fedora Core 4. The main reason was that Ubuntu does not have a root user. This may seem odd to experienced Linux folks, but the intentions behind it are good. Unless you know what you are doing, you can completely hose a Linux operating system as the root user. So, in order to become as user-friendly as possible for Linux newbies, they require you to use ’sudo’ for everything in Ubuntu.
To me, this was a slowdown. I decided to go with what I am most familiar with, and that is the RedHat-based Fedora Core 4.
More on my venture to discard Windows from my life will soon follow.
6 Responses to “Windows Free - Update 1”
Leave a Reply
Here
My Projects
Relations
Categories
Archives
Recent Comments
- Nancy Chatham on Big Foot Hoax
- Jason J. Baker on I’m Voting Republican
- Lance on Rocking in Boone, Part I
- Don M on Geek Humor
- David & Helen Garrison on Portfolio
February 13th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Good luck with that Will. What are you planning on using @ work? I can get you a calculator and a coloring book to replace that XP box I guess. Hahahaha!
February 15th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
Hey Will, have you check out Knoppix. It is RAD!
http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/packages.txt)
February 15th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Chris: I use XP dutifully at work
AG: I have used Knoppix in the past - works great as a ‘live cd’ to boot from. Only thing I didn’t like was that the developers are German, and when you find yourself needing to read man pages or config files, they are often in German.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:04 am
I would have expected an experienced Linux user to be able to read documentation
All you have to do is type “sudo passwd”. This will change the password of the root user, which creates a separate root account. Doing this allows you to log in as root and creates the root user’s files in /root/.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Derrick,
Yes, you got me with the old RTFM there
Since this article was written over a year ago, I have since given Ubuntu another shot, and am impressed with all of the progress it has made. Still, I recently upgraded from Windows XP to Fedora 6 on my home PC and am loving how much stuff I *didn’t* have to do any special configuring of.
For example, in Ubuntu, my nVidia card was pushing out a measly 1024×768 resolution by default. Attempts at remedying this situation proved to be futile when I followed instructions on installing the correct drivers.
Conversely, when I installed Fedora 6, it defaulted to a nice 1280×1024 and all of my other hardware was configured correctly.
Sure, this is a unique instance of one man and one PC, but it still comes back to me being most familiar with RedHat, since thats what I work with every day, and being pleased by having things ‘just work’, which should be the goal of any Linux distro.
In short, you shouldn’t *have* to read the documentation
July 13th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Not trying to be a jerk
It’s just one of the things I hear people say about Ubuntu a lot.
I think, given Ubuntu is targeted at people who don’t know how Linux works already, disabling root by default is a good thing. Most people will be using Add/Remove Programs or Synaptic, which prompt you for your own password with gksu as a security measure.
It’s a great idea for desktop users, and to be honest, in this Feisty install I’ve found no reason to actually create root. But the possibility is there for anyone who needs it, and in the end, that’s what it’s allegedly about: choice.