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Solution: stop using Ubuntu. There are lots of other very able distributions out there, many of which not only have better privacy features but also are techno
by zx2c4 13y ago
Solution: stop using Ubuntu.
There are lots of other very able distributions out there, many of which not only have better privacy features but also are technologically superior in one way or another.
In no particular order, these are all very capable operating systems for a variety of needs:
* https://fedoraproject.org/ https://fedoraproject.org/
* http://www.centos.org/ http://www.centos.org/
* http://www.opensuse.org/ http://www.opensuse.org/
* http://www.mageia.org/ http://www.mageia.org/
* https://www.archlinux.org/ https://www.archlinux.org/
* http://www.gentoo.org/ http://www.gentoo.org/
* http://www.sabayon.org/ http://www.sabayon.org/
* http://www.debian.org/ http://www.debian.org/
* http://www.linuxmint.com/ http://www.linuxmint.com/
This list is non exhaustive. They are all free. They all work well in different places. There are others too.
We've all had ample indication that Ubuntu was headed for the pits. It's time to move on.
-- a proud gentoo dev
- adamnemecek 13y agoYeah, I switched to Debian a while back and it was surprisingly frictionless.
- klrr 13y agoLinux Mint? Isn't that essentially the same thing as Ubuntu or am I missing something? That is, is it the lens search that is the problem or are there other privacy concerns about Ubuntu?
- zx2c4 13y agoI think they've got an edition based on Debian.
- l337n1nj4 13y agoYou are correct, sir/madam/whomever.... http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php
- l337n1nj4 13y agoMint is based off of Ubuntu, but also has a version based off of Debian, as zx2c4 has pointed out. The biggest difference is that Mint uses the Cinnamon desktop environment, as opposed to Unity, which was forked from Gnome 2. Also, they use Nemo, which was forked from Nautilus, which has more functionality and features as opposed to Nautilus.
- keithpeter 13y agoI thought MATE was the Gnome 2 fork, and Cinnamon was based on GTK3? Disclaimer: don't use either, I use CentOS on the serious work machine and Debian (non-free) on the playpad.
- prg318 13y agoYou are correct: MATE is the GNOME 2 fork that uses GTK2. Cinnamon is a modified version of GNOME3 that uses GTK3 and provides extensions to the GNOME3 desktop so that the default desktop looks and feels like a default GNOME2 desktop. Linux Mint uses Cinnamon.
- mayneack 13y agoLinux Mint also uses Mate. http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2366 http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2366 Cinnamon is listed first, but Mate is much more of an equal player here than something like xubuntu is compared to ubuntu.
- null_ptr 13y agoIt's only the Unity lens, that's why you see people here recommending Ubuntu derivatives like Kubuntu and Xubuntu.
- pnathan 13y agoYep! I've moved to using Debian for production machines and gentoo for personal/development machines. I've been quite happy with the move. SuSE has a big focus on the enterprise level - I didn't realize that until earlier this year when I talked with a SuSE dev. So enterprises have options other than Ubuntu for standardized & supported Linux.
- zx2c4 13y agoNot to mention the venerable RHEL. List of Enterprise Linuxes: * http://www.redhat.com/products/enterprise-linux/ http://www.redhat.com/products/enterprise-linux/ - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux * https://www.suse.com/solutions/platform.html https://www.suse.com/solutions/platform.html - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Desktop http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Desktop * http://www.centos.org/ http://www.centos.org/ - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CentOS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CentOS * https://www.scientificlinux.org/ https://www.scientificlinux.org/ - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Linux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Linux And so forth...
- rlpb 13y agoOr use Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu or Ubuntu GNOME. None of these use Unity as their default desktop, whose default behavior is really what this complaint is about.
- donpdonp 13y agoIf Unity is the problem, Ubuntu has the Gnome Shell already in its repo. Its quick and easy. $ sudo apt-get install gnome-shell You keep the benefits of the Ubuntu package repo, kernel patches, etc.
- rlpb 13y agoYes. This is true for all the other Ubuntu flavors, too. Either way will get you to the same system, since all the flavors share the same Ubuntu apt archive. Using a flavor directly just gets you your chosen desktop environment by default.
- banachtarski 13y ago"benefits"
- ashazar 13y agoI tried this and run startx. What i get is only a black screen. Even though i restarted my laptop, still black screen. How can i return back to Unity?
- nowarninglabel 13y agoYeah, it's quite sad to me, I thought I would never move on from Ubuntu, it was really great until Unity and all this other crap they started piling on it. And now with the corporate fear-mongering over their trademark, that's the last straw for me, I'm going to try moving upstream to Debian and recommend companies I work to do the same.
- MrZongle2 13y agoSame here; I was a huge fanboy of Ubuntu for years, but Canonical seems hellbent on introducing change for change's sake. At first, it was mildly annoying but easily corrected: the nonsensical decision to move window maximize/minimize/close buttons from right to left is an example. But Unity was a bitter (and buggy) pill to swallow. I've moved on to Linux Mint and Crunchbang. Can't say I miss Ubuntu at this point. If they decide to pull their heads out and pay more attention to the wider community, I may eventually use a distro again. I wish them well, but I don't feel that their priorities intersect with my interests.
- SkyMarshal 13y ago>the nonsensical decision to move window maximize/minimize/close buttons from right to left is an example Haha, fwiw I actually love that move. I work on a laptop 99% of the time and just maximize all my windows and alt-tab among them. Moving the window buttons as they did saved an entire toolbar worth of vertical space and enabled them to create a highly responsive top left menu area: Normal use: Window Title & Description Holding Alt or Mousing Over: Switches to window buttons and menus Saves space, works seamlessly. Of course, I keybind literally everything to Vim binds so I almost never use the mouse, which I think is where a lot of hate is coming from - right-handed mouse users feeling like they have to move the mouse further now to hit the window controls.
- cdash 13y agoNo thanks, I am fine.
- levesque 13y agoThe problem with other distros is the lack of a design. Ubuntu was the first Linux distro I used that did not look like a donkey's ass (back in 2008~). Even today's Gnome Shell does not look as good as Unity... it also does not scale well for my display's 1600x900 resolution (top bar icons are way too small). The other distros might work well technically, but imho they don't look as good and they require more tweaking, which is a hassle for me.
- 0X1A 13y agoThat is completely subjective. A lot of people hate Unity, the same way people hate every DE that exists. So much so that some do not even use a DE. Using a DE as an argument for Ubuntu's advantage is weak as they're usually ambiguous. I say usually because it tends to be that Unity, like Mir, isn't really adopted into any other distribution in official repositories. Even more so after Mir's release, since it'll be dependent on it.
- dragonshed 13y agoAesthetic and taste are subjective, effective and coherent visual design is not.
- nitrogen 13y agoHowever, the distinction between "aesthetic" and "design" is once again subjective.
- stackcollision 13y agoReporting in from the "I hate Unity" department. If I wanted to use something that looks like a mac, I would just get a mac.
- emn13 13y agoFavorite "bonus" feature: annoying semi-transparent blurs you can tweak but not turn off. Gratuitous fades. Choppy animations on an underpowered GFX.
- chappi42 13y agoBut Ubuntu looks good (imo) and is comparatively easy. Hope many Apple/Windows users switch to it. Big step in the right direction. Apps 'uncomplicated' software and I think it is very necessary that there is a mainstream Linux distribution which focusses on 'uncomplicated' computing. 'Privacy' be damned. At least as long as one can configure settings as easy as is the case here. (Privacy quoted as I cannot see the problem here, compared to e.g. google or facebook which are able to build up a whole profile of you (and me)). (would love to try out gentoo once, but time...)
- zx2c4 13y agoPlenty of other distros are easy and look good too. Gentoo isn't one of them, but a few others on that list are pretty okay...
- chappi42 13y agoI know, but Gentoo is by far the most interesting. - The others feel like a downgrade/hassle from Ubuntu (I love unity, 'pretty okay' is not good enough). Tried Debian (which we use for servers) but had problems with my labtop, Suse I used before Debian, Fedora/CentOS ok but has the 'wrong packet manager', Mint, mmh, another fork). Maybe Ubuntu does some compromises but I don't see pits.
- zx2c4 13y agoIf you've got the time, Gentoo is very rewarding indeed.
- antihero 13y agoI used to use Gentoo, but I figured Arch follows the build-your-own philosophy and has the added benefit of not having to wait for everything to build all the time. I like both distros, but would you say there's any significant reason to switch back? Noticeable speed/stability difference? Gentoo did fork udev, but I'm honestly fine with systemd for my desktop.
- dysoco 13y agoI used to be an elitist and dump sh*t in Ubuntu, but lately I've been running it on my Desktop. I mean, it works, it's pretty, it's used... plus there's something in Unity which I like, it just gets out of the way (most of the time). Of those distros you've posted there, I'd consider OpenSUSE, Mageia and Debian. OpenSUSE and Mageia are KDE-Centric and I'm not a big fan of it, and Debian is OK although had problems with it in the past. I'd stay with Funtoo if I could, but honestly I don't have the time anymore.
- synchronise 13y agoProblem is that none of those distributions, except for the bloated mess that is Linux Mint, has adequate support for PPA's. Hence, I'm sticking with Lubuntu.
- zx2c4 13y agoMost of those distributions have mechanisms comparable to PPAs for similar functionality.
- tete 13y agoOkay, this will make me sound like fanboyism (I guess it is, but I am an Arch user - with our company running their servers on FreeBSD), but you might also like: * http://www.slackware.com/ http://www.slackware.com/ * http://www.freebsd.org/ http://www.freebsd.org/ * http://www.netbsd.org/ http://www.netbsd.org/ * http://www.openbsd.org/ http://www.openbsd.org/ * http://www.dragonflybsd.org/ http://www.dragonflybsd.org/ All of them are used in production, search engines (at least FreeBSD (Google backends and DuckDuckGo) and DragonFly BSD), space crafts (at least NetBSD (ISS)), internet service providers (all of them), resarch agencies (all of them), US government/military (well, I am not sure about DragonFly BSD in this case).