I hadn’t really given Ubuntu a fair shake the last time I looked at it. I decided to go another round with Ubuntu to see what it was all about. Ubuntu, as you may know, is a flavor of Linux, a free operating system with lots of open source applications. I specifically wanted to compare Ubuntu to SUSE Linux.

The initial act of downloading Ubuntu is easier than SUSE. You simply download a single CD image and burn that, whereas with SUSE you’ll download 5 or 6 disc images or a single, large DVD image. Instead of putting all the application packages on discs, Ubuntu offers you a menu from which you can download from.

One of the downsides of the Ubuntu installer became apparent with my desktop. . It installed fine with my laptop, but it didn’t like my ATI video card in my desktop and switched to 640×480 resolution. This would be fine, except it wouldn’t allow any change of resolution. It was resolute in its resolution. I tried booting up and using safe video settings, which prompted the X Server to crap out and dump me into a text-based mode.

I had run through the installer once on my laptop, so I knew which prompts to hit.

Comparison

The fair shake: Ubuntu vs. SUSE Linux

Originally from Linux and Open Source Blog by E@zyVG

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