[ale] Is this really Ubuntu?

[Brian Pitts]

Alexander Barton wrote:
> About every three years I replace my home desktop with the latest and 
> greatest.  I've heard wonderful tings about Ubuntu.  This time around I 
> though I'd give it a try.  So I installed Ubuntu 7.04 Desktop.  But...
> 
> This has got to be alpha software.  I managed to crash the installer a 
> handful of times just partitioning the drives with the expert mode 
> partitioner.  Hint: don't set a partition type to "dont_use". The 
> drop-down box for mount points was empty half the time.  Even the dialog 
> buttons were flaky -- they ignored clicks unless one first moused out 
> of, then back into the button.  I could go on and on.
> 
> Surely I must have downloaded the beta version or something like that. 
> Perhaps this is a Microsoft dirty trick?
> 
> So, can anyone recommend another distribution?

If you'd still like to give Ubuntu a shot, you could

1) Use the text-based installer rather than the live cd. [1]
2) Wait 14 days for the next version to be released and see if it still 
has the bugs you've encountered.

If 3 years is your usual wait between upgrades, a normal Ubuntu release 
isn't ideal because security updates are only provided for 18 months. 
Perhaps Debian [2] fits the bill.

-Brian

[1] 
http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/ubuntu-releases/feisty/ubuntu-7.04-alternate-i386.iso
[2] 
http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/debian-cd/4.0_r1/i386/iso-cd/debian-40r1-i386-netinst.iso