Ubuntu 9.04, I'm impressed

Ok, my friends are scared when I tell them about Linux. Probably because they've seen my Gentoo box with Enlightenment17, where almost nothing works like they expect.

Ok, I've set up my Gentoo box to suit up only my needs. Thus, I don't have automatic mount, music/video players which looks similar to popular apps, even my Desktop look great, but this is strange... So, where do You have StartMenu?

Ok, I've observed Ubuntu for some time, I tried install it on my laptop almost 3 years ago, but it failed on X configuration. I've tried then several Linux distributions, and only on Gentoo I've managed everything to work OK. And Gentoo suits my needs, administration, package managment and philosphy. I'm not tired about compilations of software. This is my choice. And I'm happy with my Linux box, even I have to mount usb sticks manually, even I don't have F-spot or Digikam for managing my pictures (and I do a lot of pictures), even I use Xmms2 for managing my music and Smplayer for videos. Even, I use everyday command line. This is the most production suite I've ever found, and I will not change it to something else...

Just, I'm only waiting for stable and full operational E17 and one photo managment app without KDE or Gnome dependencies. I believe, it's just a matter of coding time.

Thus, I'm impressed of first look on Ubuntu 9.04. I downloaded live cd and unpack it. Because my CD doesn't work at all, I tried to manual add to my grub.conf entries with Ubuntu-Live, reboot the machine and try it. Just try it. I didn't want any effort to put it working. I gave it a chance. And I'm impressed. Again.

Everything just works. Out-of-the-box. Do you know what it means? It means, that any person without any knowledge about computers, and Linux, will find Ubuntu user-friendly. Just imagine:

• Graphical interface works, not to mention, that Compiz effects work too
• Automounting usb sticks works, not to mention, Ubuntu will ask what I want to do, i.e. if I put my photocard it will ask if I want to import photos to F-spot
• Detecting mp3-players. Works too. However, mp3 is not supported, but two clicks and I can listen to my favourite music in RhythymBox, even Jamendo works!
• Alright, now the crash test - the network. And I'm impressed again. Ethernet connection works, Ubuntu will notify if the cable has been plugged or not. Ok, that was easy. Time for wireless. I have an IPW2200 card with light-button. I push the button. Orange led lights up. Ubuntu notifies me about working card. I have only to put my password to the network. Have I written I'm impressed?

Remembering all stuff I had to do with Fedora/Debian and finally Gentoo 2 years ago, and my happinnes of making orange led working I can say, and I'm sure I'm right, that Ubuntu 9.04 is one of the easiest operating systems on that planet. Installing it on your hard drive will be easier than installing Windows Vista and you'll have after the installation, desktop ready to work. OpenOffice suite, Firefox, music and video player, email app, some games, photo managment app, network connection apps, cd/dvd recorder app and much more. For Linux geeks -- suspending and CPU-scaling works out-of-the-box. What do you want more?

I don't want to change my Gentoo with E17 to Ubuntu, but for you, if you don't have time for setting up operating system, and you want it to just works, I recommend you Ubuntu 9.04 or Fedora 11. Next time, I'll try Fedora 11 and Kubuntu 9.04.

Edit:
Kubuntu seems to be not-finished, at least for events notifying. KDE Plasma effects work very good, but first contact was not so easy as with Ubuntu. It is not intuitive where to click to find my usbstick! And Amarok didn't search for propertiary codecs...