Questions about Ubuntu

Pros:

• You become at least a little familiar with Linux, which many servers run on
• It is very easy to setup a development environment in Ubuntu.
• If you commit to it, you should be familiar with the command line which makes things fast and winds up being useful in all kinds of situations
• It's cheaper than a Mac

Cons

• You can't reasonably expect to run Adobe products.
• There is a learning curve that takes time. (Though, for Ubuntu it is relatively small)
• People will think you're a nerd? (That may not be a bad thing anymore)
• Elitists are everywhere. You'll run into camps based on what programming language you use, what text editor you use, what distribution you use, etc. It is usually light hearted but sometimes it gets in the way.

Some hardware devices do not have Linux drivers so you may find some compatibility issues. However, this shouldn't generally be a problem with Ubuntu unless you are working on some bleeding edge or unusual hardware. If you have any concerns, ask on the Ubuntu forums about your hardware's compatibility. There are all kinds of resources out there for this, but I haven't really needed them in a while so I would just ask in the Ubuntu forum.

Yes you can erase your OS and replace it with Ubuntu BUT I wouldn't recommend it for your first time. There are other options, namely using a liveCD to get a taste of what it is like and using a Virtual Machine. I would recommend going the Virtual Machine route if you can. Check out VirtualBox—I'll bet there are guides on youtube that will help you through the process. This way you shouldn't have to worry about hardware compatibility and you'll be able to run Linux ontop of your existing OS. It isn't as risky if you mess up.

If you have an old computer laying around that you aren't dependent on, I say throw it on there and see what happens. Ubuntu is only one distribution of Linux. There are lots of others for legacy hardware or computers with limited resources so if Ubuntu doesn't work for whatever reason, try to find out why and consider another distro. You can research and learn about distros at distrowatch.com You'll learn the most by doing, so if this is an option for you—it is probably your best option.

Also remember, Linux is NOT Windows so don't compare any kind of Linux distro to how similar it is to Windows. Instead, try to take the time to understand how it is meant to work. Most Linux distributions come with a package manager (Ubuntu uses Aptitude). It is very important to learn how to use that well.

If you have anymore questions, please send them my way!

Good luck! :D

I have a old dell inspiron laying around. Any tutorials on installing ubuntu...I don't want anything on top of my os since the computers already bad. Any good tutorials?

HI Tristan There are many opinions among developers regarding the advantages of using Ubuntu. I have little experience using Ubuntu for actual development, however I have in the past completely replaced my OS with Ubuntu and had mixed reactions. First I would suggest not uninstalling your current OS, depending on whether or not you use windows, or mac. It is better (at first) to just boot Ubuntu from a disk. This will give you time to experiment with the operating system, without removing your current OS (and potentially regretting it). If you decide to erase your current OS, and replace completely with Ubuntu, you will have to re install all of the drivers for your computer manually from the manufactures web site. Some times you might run into glitches and problems with this and it can get frustrating. But I don't want to down Ubuntu completely, Its a very unique OS with many features and functions that can be beneficial to Development. All in all I suggest that you download and try Ubuntu from a boot able disk or USB stick, experiment and have fun. Just remember Once you erase your OS it won't magically come back it will be gone!

With all mistakes comes knowledge. Todd Schneider

Ubuntu has an installation guide..

You may be surprised at how easy it is to install Ubuntu. It really isn't difficult at all. If your computer already has an OS on it, it will get erased during the partitioning phase. (Step 4 in the installation guide)

Can you explain to me what the difference is between Linux and Ubuntu. Is there a difference? If so, which is better for a web dev? Would you recommend mac os x over linux for web dev?

The relationship between Linux and Ubuntu can get into some really geeky history which I would be happy to explain but it would be long and boring probably.

The basics are that Linux is a "Kernel." You can think of it as like the core of your operating system. It is what turns your hardware into software. Well, different people and organizations combine that Kernel with different sets of tools—text editors, GUIs, package managers, etc—and distribute them. Ubuntu is one such distribution.

So, Ubuntu IS Linux, but Linux is not necessarily Ubuntu. Does that make sense? There are other Linux distributions like Gentoo, Arch, and Slackware. They are all running on top of the Linux Kernel just like Ubuntu is, but they have different sets of tools with different philosophies. Ubuntu is especially friendly to beginners so I would recommend starting off with that. You may never need to try another distribution really.

If I had to choose between Mac or Linux for web dev, I would probably go with Mac for practical reasons. You can run PHP, Ruby on Rails, etc on Mac just like you can on Linux. I think Mac has a package manager called "homebrew" but I'm not particularly familiar with Mac so you'll have to consult someone else. Mac is also Unix based so the command line is very similar on a Mac as it is to Linux. On top of all of that, you can run Photoshop, Illustrator, Final Cut Pro, etc. Last time I was on Linux, there were no good video editing programs for it. Things may have changed.

Thanks