Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for desktop and served. It is based on Debian and uses DPKG and snaps as package manager. It has left a significant impact in the world of Linux. Due to its popularity, many Linux distributions use Ubuntu as its base rather than using Debian. Ubuntu may have the biggest community. There was a time when Ubuntu was the go-to Linux distribution for almost everyone because of their innovation and in-house desktop environment called Unity. However, this popularity has decreased over time. Still, Ubuntu is one of my favorite Linux distributions. 

When I first got frustrated with Microsoft Windows, the first operating system that I tried back in 2012 was Ubuntu. I heard there was this company called Canonical, which is freely distributing their operating system on a CD. However, it was old news when I tried getting one for myself. So, I downloaded Ubuntu instead. I fell in love with this operating system right away. Its desktop environment reminded me of macOS interface that I was very fascinated about at the time I was frustrated with my Windows 8 operating system. Ubuntu not only served me well, because of its support for my AMD graphics card through proprietary drivers but it was also fast and intuitive in my opinion. However, Ubuntu was not as stable as I thought it would be and I switched to Fedora, which was comparatively much more stable than Ubuntu. However, due to lack of out of the box support for proprietary drivers such as graphics card and TP-Link network card as well as poor support for media file extensions and codecs such as MP3, MP4 (H.264 & H.265), I found myself switching back and forth between Ubuntu and Fedora. Right now, I have completed stopped using Ubuntu as my personal operating system due to Ubuntu switching from Unity desktop to Gnome desktop.

Still, Ubuntu is one of the best operating system in my opinion not only because it is much more stable than before but also because of the large community, that is willing to help as well as availability of support on the internet. The following are some of the features of Ubuntu that I like:

Different Flavors

As stated before, Ubuntu by default uses Gnome as its default desktop environment. It is a good desktop environment, but it focuses on being usable on not only desktop computers but also electronics with capability of touch screen. Additionally, Ubuntu is one of the simplest to use desktop environments so much so that you need extension to make Gnome look like what you are most comfortable with. These extensions often break with installation of latest Gnome desktop environment. Ubuntu has official flavors with different desktop environments. If you do not feel like installing another desktop environment on top of your default Ubuntu installation, then try one of Ubuntu flavors. The According to the Ubuntu Flavors page, the following operating systems are officially supported and endorsed by Canonical as official Ubuntu flavors:

1. Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE Desktop Environment)
2. Lubuntu (Ubuntu with LXDE Desktop Environment)
3. Xubuntu (Ubuntu with XFCE Desktop Environment)
4. Ubuntu Budgie (Ubuntu with Budgie Desktop Environment)
5. Ubuntu Mate (Ubuntu with Mate Desktop Environment)
6. Ubuntu Unity (Ubuntu with Unity Desktop Environment, which was revived by the community)
7. Ubuntu Studio (Ubuntu with KDE Desktop Environment pre-configured for content creation)
8. Ubuntu Kylin (Ubuntu with Kylin Desktop Environment mainly for Chinese users)

Hardware Support

As stated earlier, Ubuntu supports proprietary drivers out of the box. I am a big fan of AMD graphics card, so I do not need Ubuntu drivers anymore as open-source drivers provided by AMD works well with Ubuntu. However, installing old proprietary FGLRX drivers for AMD graphics cards was also much easier on Ubuntu and Linux distributions based on Ubuntu compared to installing proprietary drivers for any other Linux distribution such as Fedora, Arch, Gentoo etc. Also, my TP-Link USB Wi-Fi Modem also works much better out of the box in Ubuntu.

Online Support

Due to its popularity, Ubuntu may have the biggest online community. If you have any trouble with your system, then just go to Ask Ubuntu website or relevant subreddit.  You can also find fixes for Ubuntu easily by just searching on the internet. Additionally, any fixes stated in forum pages of Linux distributions based on Ubuntu will most likely work on Ubuntu LTS version as well. 

DPKG and Snap Package Managers

Since Ubuntu is based on Debian, it also uses DPKG as default package manager. Most applications for Linux on the internet can be found with .deb file extension, which you can install on any Linux distribution with DPKG package manager. Ubuntu also ships many applications through their in-house Snap Package Manager. Snap is criticized by Linux community because Snap Store is closed source. However, Snap itself is open-source, still Snap runs applications in a sandbox, so Snap application cannot affect your system. Snap can be seen as alternative package manager to Flatpak. 

Fixed Release

All Linux distributions fall under three categories i.e. rolling release, fixed release and semi-rolling release. Ubuntu has fixed release cycle, which means that it takes some time to push new software updates. These updates are tested in rolling release of Ubuntu and pushed to fixed release when possible. This makes Ubuntu stable, but fixed releases not only hold system software updates but also application updates. This results in users ending up with outdated applications in default repositories. However, you may download latest version of applications through Flatpak or Snap. 

Long-Term Release (LTS)

Ubuntu comes with two releases. One is normal release while the other one is long-term release. The long-term release may have outdated system software for example LTS version will not receive latest changes to the desktop environment. However, LTS version is also supported for much longer i.e. 5 years while normal release is only supported for 9 months. 

Download

If you want to try Ubuntu yourself, then go to download page of Ubuntu Desktop. There you can either download the LTS version of Ubuntu or latest version of Ubuntu.