Ubuntu: Which to get?

[slackerinabox]

Kubuntu, ubuntu, yada yada yada - I have no idea which version to get. Eye candy is pretty important to me as is ease of use, but I'm kinda clueless. Does any version feature byrLe (the 3d GUI) preinstalled?

 

[Bremen]

Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu are all pretty much the same. The only differences are which GUI is enabled by default (and its trivial to install all three on the same system). Beryl is not enabled by default.

 

[xcript]

The only real difference is the default DE you'll have when you install. For Ubuntu this is Gnome, Kubuntu - KDE, Xubuntu - Xfce (lightweight).

I'd recommend you just go with Ubuntu. If you don't like Gnome much you can easily install KDE (I prefer it), Xfce or any other DE/WM.

Beryl doesn't come preinstalled but I imagine it's pretty easy to get it going once you have 3d acceleration (by installing/enabling the nVidia or ATI driver). Check out the wiki.

 

[Shamrock]

No Ubuntu version "officially" supports Beryl, however...There is a distro that has Beryl installed by default.

SimplyMEPIS 6.5 has Beryl installed by default, and it is an Ubuntu distro. It just went into RC1, so final might be the end of the month.

 

[aidanjm]

I prefer kubuntu over ubuntu. kubuntu uses the "KDE" desktop, ubuntu uses the "Gnome" desktop. KDE I think is more polished and more powerful than Gnome. Gnome just looks a bit ugly to my eyes.

 

[hasu]

I am pretty new to Linux even though I used to try it once in a while for a few years. Last week I tried a new derivative of Ubuntu called Linux Mint - That must be the best (easiest and good visuals) Linux distro I used to date. (Comparing with versions of Mandrake Linux, Redhat, Ubuntu, Edubuntu, Fedora). It installs ndiswrapper by default, for wireless internet.

Edit: As with Ubuntu the ISO file is a little bigger than normal CDs. To be on the safer side, burn it on a DVD. I used Infra Recorder to burn CD ISO image to a DVD

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: xcript
The only real difference is the default DE you'll have when you install. For Ubuntu this is Gnome, Kubuntu - KDE, Xubuntu - Xfce (lightweight).

I'd recommend you just go with Ubuntu. If you don't like Gnome much you can easily install KDE (I prefer it), Xfce or any other DE/WM.

Beryl doesn't come preinstalled but I imagine it's pretty easy to get it going once you have 3d acceleration (by installing/enabling the nVidia or ATI driver). Check out the wiki.

Ok, I'm pretty much just posting so this thread will be on the "my forums" page because I want to check out that wiki entry later. I've been meaning to setup beryl on my Ubuntu laptop.

Also, once beryl is setup according to the wiki, is there anything that needs to be done or anything that anybody suggests to enable their favorite eye candy features in beryl?

 

[AmigaMan]

Regular Ubuntu 6.06 LTS works well for me and is stable. As a developer I worry more about the stability of the system than all the pretty graphics and eye candy. Coincidentally that's also why I have a mac

 

[irishScott]

Ubuntu: Uses Gnome
Kubuntu: Same as Ubuntu but uses KDE
Xubuntu: Downplayed graphics for older machines with slow processors and minimal RAM

Ubuntu 6.10 works great for me. So far.