Works With U -- a site that follows Ubuntu (followed by my own Ubuntu musings)

Not that there aren't a whole lot of blogs focused on Ubuntu, and while I initially thought this one to be new, it has been around for awhile.

Works With U appears to be the kind of site that has a "business plan," and is a bit more put together than the average blog -- like this one.

I don't have any kind of business plan -- I just do this blog around my other various and glamorous job duties at the Los Angeles Daily News and hope to drag in some traffic while indulging my technological proclivities.

But nonetheless, there's more than enough room for all kinds of blogs, Web sites, forums and the rest in the world of computers in general, open-source software in the less general, and Linux and its many hundred distributions in particular.

One thing that Ubuntu has going for it -- besides a product that's more solid than not -- is the friendly attitude of its community. They're pretty welcoming to new users and are actively seeking them out. That's the way to build a distribution, a project and a movement.

So I've got to hand it to those heavily involved with Ubuntu.

Everybody who blathers on about this stuff is always saying that while Ubuntu is popular today, another distribution or project will rise to eclipse it tomorrow. Right now, to tell you the truth, I don't see anybody catching up to Ubuntu.

What does seem to be happening -- and what must happen, in fact -- is that the process of installing and configuring any operating system (and especially Linux) has got to be easier, less arcane, more complete and more trouble-free. And thus far, Ubuntu is all about these things.

Once I get the $0 Laptop back -- it's being used at home during the iBook G4's illness -- I'll try to replicate my printing success that I achieved in Debian Lenny. I will also try to solve the USB Flash drive mystery. ... Then there's the matter of our 4-year-old's games, which don't work quite as well in Ubuntu as they do in Debian.

As much as I love Debian, on many levels it's just not as polished as Ubuntu. For my hardware anyway, Ubuntu gives me suspend/resume (which works most of the time, anyway), greater touchpad control (in Debian it's OK for me but goes hinky for my users; I'm sure there's a solution here somewhere), a "switch user" function that works better, plus the promise of three years of support for the LTS.

But ... the stock Debian desktop install is just that much faster than Ubuntu, and if I can figure out the solution to my various and sundry problems, it all comes down to personal preference and what my hardware likes. .. and if I get the PCMCIA slot replaced on the Gateway laptop and can use wireless, that's a whole other can of compatibility worms.

So the upshot is that any loyalty I have is fleeting as far as operating systems go. Whatever works best and quickest is what I want. And as the field changes, I'm always looking anew at the players.