I had to set up a Fedora 8 machine recently. The installation process was simple enough, but configuring the system reminded me of several simple features that I take for granted when using Ubuntu, but which, when absent, make the user experience significantly more daunting. Below are four of the features that provide an extra boost of user-friendliness to Ubuntu.
First, though, a disclaimer: I know that some of these features come thanks to upstream developers, at least in part. I’m also aware that Ubuntu is not unique in offering these features; many other distributions, especially those derived from Ubuntu, sport similar functionality. Finally, my purpose in this post is not to present Ubuntu as superior or provoke angry responses from users of other distributions; if you think your distribution of choice offers features that uniquely contribute to the user experience, I’d love to hear about them in a constructive manner below.
1. ‘command not found’ handle
When Ubuntu users working in the terminal call an application that exists in the repositories but is not installed on the local system, the ‘command not found’ utility conveniently explains how to install the program they’re looking for. This has come in handy for me numerous times when trying to follow tutorials or use applications whose executables have different names than the packages by which they were installed.
2. Easy installation of multimedia codecs
When I try to play a video or audio file in Ubuntu but don’t have the appropriate codecs installed to handle it, Ubuntu conveniently pops open a dialog box asking if I want to download and install the software necessary to play the file. This is a major help to new users, and a good compromise between advocates of shipping multimeida codecs with Ubuntu in order to make things work better out-of-the-box, and those who argue that the distribution should come free of proprietary components.
3. More complete live CD
Ubuntu is the only mainstream Linux distribution I know of whose live CD contains all of the software I need to be truly productive. Other live distributions lack important components, like a full-fledged office suite, and tend to assume that users will burn a stack of four or five extra CDs full of packages and keep them on hand while working in a live session.
Although it’s easy enough to use the package manager to install additional applications in the live environment, there are situations where that’s not possible–when no Internet connection is available, for example, or the machine is low on memory. Having a live CD that’s remarkably useful on its own is a distinct advantage for Ubuntu.
4. Better command auto-completion
Auto-completion of commands in the bash shell via the ‘tab’ key has long been a feature of most Linux distributions. But Ubuntu–and the upstream developers upon whom it relies–have taken auto-completion to the next level, incorporating it into command-line based applications like apt-get and init scripts.
This feature saves a lot of time and thinking. For example, if I’m trying to install a package in a terminal but am unsure of its exact name, I can simply type ‘apt-get install’ and the first few letters of the application, then press tab to have the shell automatically fill in the rest. Similarly, if I want to ‘su’ into a different user account but am unsure of the user’s name (or don’t want to type the whole thing), Ubuntu can auto-complete the string for me based on the first few letters.
I wouldn’t call any of the features above essential, but they give Ubuntu an extra touch that makes the user experience especially smooth. And on its march to become ‘Linux for human beings’, an added dose of user-friendliness is precisely what Ubuntu needs to convince the masses that free software can work for them.
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I quite agree with you about ubuntu being easy to configure, but its quite unfair to use fedora 8 as a basis for drawing your conclusion about fedora. lot as improved with fedora 10. althoug i must admit most of what you talk about are true esp the auto-completion which seem to be integrated with apt-get. about the media codec it seems to be by design. Fedora is very unapologetic about not shipping media codecs in its repositories. which can be a pain for new users.
Cool, I didn’t even know about the auto-complete feature.
I take it you are a native English speaker. Count yourself lucky, speaking one of a few dominant languages which Canonical has included in the livecd. If you are Russian, or French, or Chinese you might not feel so lucky.
My understanding is that Canonical makes LoCo’s responsible for re-engineering a livecd for specific local languages.
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/derivatives
And when they are available Canonical doesn’t even provide them via shipit when they are available. Nor are they linked from the download Ubuntu page. You sort of have to know they exist already to know to look for them buried in the wiki.
Yes sure, you can install language support via the internet as part of the livecd session! So instead of downloading say open office, if you are a native language speaker using the Ubuntu livecd you have to download the language support for the entire desktop…every single time you reboot the livecd…just so you can feel comfortable interacting with the text messages in the language you speak.
Does that make sense to you? Making native language speakers download language support instead of applications? Computing for human beings indeed.
It will be interesting to see how Canonical chooses to make space trade-offs on the livecd once they have their UbuntuOne/Ubunet services up and running. Will they make space for the specialized client software for their web services on the default livecd by throwing out other applications? I guess we will find out.
A livecd is a particularly aggressive size target. Putting open office on a livecd like Ubuntu does comes at a cost..that cost is language support. Those of us who are lucky enough to speak the dominant English language benefit with enhanced functionality, but the cost is to exclude a significant number of other people, speaking lots of other languages from having any functional experience at all. That’s pretty selfish of us English speakers and a narrow view of what it means to be a global community.
Fedora’s default Desktop livecd takes a completely different approach..it provides a wide swath of native language support as exists for all included applications. That’s why open office isn’t included by default in the Fedora Desktop livecd, there just isn’t space for it and its native language support. Ironic…isn’t it. Because open office has very good language support, it makes it harder to include on a livecd in a way that makes use of that language support. Its a catch-22. The livecd target is a very difficult target due to its now relatively small space.
The default Fedora Desktop is equally suitable for users across large chunks of the globe. Not all languages, but a large number. You can get a complete list by looking at the fedora-livecd-desktop-default.ks available from the Fedora spins-kickstarts package. Care to dig up the complete list of languages supported in Ubuntu’s default livecd? Is it just English?
And on top of that Ubuntu’s livecd still doesn’t include that flash browser plugin by default (just like Fedora). It can’t as Ubuntu nor Canonical has distribution rights from Adobe. In Ubuntu, the flash plugin is installed on demand from Adobe’s own website using a packaging trick. It’s probably misleading just a weebit to claim Ubuntu’s livecd is replete with all necessary functionality for the typical user when Adobe’s made a pretty impressive claim that 99% of all users are consuming flash content.
A typical user on average is most likely chinese, and most likely needs the flash browser plugin. The default Ubuntu livecd experience may not serve that person very well at all.
Nowadays, liveusb or other “flash” memory device targets are much much more interesting than livecds. First because more devices, like netbooks, are coming out without cdrom players (this should be a very big deal for Ubuntu supporters as they have a stake in the netbook device arena). Second, because the portable storage formats are getting quite large and quite popular, they represent a moving target in terms of space constraints. They are a spectrum of device sizes which means there is more room to provide a spectrum of downloadable “live” images that take advantage of that space. Third, you can do more than just “live” imaging, you can actually save state on top of the base live image, capturing customizations such as the installation of additional software like the flash web plugin or gwibber so you don’t have to do it over and over again.
I know Fedora has a liveusb solution with data persistence and I’d wager Ubuntu has it too. Instead of talking about livecd’s why don’t you spend some time getting more familiar with the liveusb technologies and other “flash” memory target concepts because they are far more important moving forward than the cd format.
-jef
Jef Spaleta: I can understand your pain because English in not my native language I wasn’t born speaking it.
But from a quick search in google I was able to find a few versions of Ubuntu’s live DVD in diffrent languages.
here is the link http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#dvd
The only down side is the fact that its a DVD not a CD but i’m also sure with a bit more time searching goole you can create your own Ubuntu Live CD with support for your native language and you can even upload it somewhere so other people would be able to enjoy it thats what the open source spirit is all about
@The-Mentor
Dvds are much larger and thus the trade-off between enhanced functionality for one language group and basic language support for another is not as strong. This article is not about livedvds.
Also note that the DVDs aren’t made available as part of the shipit program. When LoCo team members from non-english speaking countries request professional looking, Ubuntu branded media from Canonical to hand out at events…these dvds are not made available. That’s significant as LoCo teams are an important part of how Ubuntu spreads out of the linux enthusiast area and into the hands of more mainstream computer users.
Your argument about googling for a solution can equally be applied to argue that a US English cd or dvd should be a LoCo built image and not the default. Why should English be treated preferentially in the default? Why not Chinese? As a global community, the Ubuntu community can either try to treat different language speakers as equals, or they can pick favorite language groups to support with enhanced functionality and offerings. Canonical seems to have chosen to pick favorites.
-jef
[...] First, though, a disclaimer: I know that some of these features come thanks to upstream developers, at least in part. I’m also aware that Ubuntu is not unique in offering these features; many other distributions, especially those derived from Ubuntu, sport similar functionality. Finally, my purpose in this post is not to present Ubuntu as superior or provoke angry responses from users of other distributions; if you think your distribution of choice offers features that uniquely contribute to the user experience, I’d love to hear about them in a constructive manner below. Read more at Works With U [...]
Well, points 1 and 4 are available in every other distro. Maybe it’s not enabled by default, but if you use Debian (or a derived distro) the packages “command-not-found” and “bash-completion” provide these functionalities, so they’re not specific to Ubuntu.
You would probably like http://fishshell.org/index.php
I thought Fedora didn’t auto-complete user names since it might be a security issue.
As much as I love auto-completion in Ubuntu, I wish it were more widespread; for example, you can’t use it with aliases by default. In addition, only some programs auto-complete parameters, but it would be great if all programs could support it. I’m not entirely sure if it’s just the built-ins that do so, but it’s very convenient.
[...] a slightly older post, but after I read Workswithu’s report on the four features that they believed set Ubuntu apart, I had to agree whole-heartedly with the fourth one regarding implementation of auto-complete on [...]