Is Ubuntu Still the Default Linux Distro?

[@TheLinuxCast]

Support the Pod, buy some merch: shop.thelinuxcast.org <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="0">0:00</a> Intro <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="164">2:44</a> Our Week in FOSS <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="175">2:55</a> Tyler's Week in FOSS <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="428">7:08</a> Matt's Week in FOSS <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="996">16:36</a> Is Ubuntu Still the Default Distro? <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3084">51:24</a> Nuggies of the Week <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3147">52:27</a> Tyler's Nuggie of the Week <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3215">53:35</a> Matt's Nuggie of the Week <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="3313">55:13</a> Contact Info and Goodbyes

[@noot1337]

People in the linux space act like ubuntu is becoming less popular, however Ubuntu is the only linux distro known to common computer users: they have never heard of Manjaro, or Pop, or Arch, or Fedora, only Ubuntu. for the average computer user, Linux is Ubuntu

[@noot1337]

@@onedarkhorse maybe if they know a linux user or watch linus tech tips. But really, for the normie, linux is ubuntu

[@RakibHasan-hs1me]

After using Zorin, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu mate, PC Linux, Then going back to Zorin again I am sticking with Ubuntu unity. Perfect for older hardware.

[@christiangonzalez6945]

I dont hate snaps, if they fix compability issues. But the real deal breaker for me was when a very limited laptop my mother has just ran out of hd space, because several snaps installed, of the same program. It was so painfull to fix that i just plain formated and reintalled.

[@cejannuzi]

No way. Not possible. You probably had snaps and debs or something. Snaps are easy to uninstall. But a clean install might be a good idea because it gets rid of all the junk.

[@grahamcrawley2639]

Ubuntu is the default for the Linux starter pack. Then the more you learn the more you realise Linux can be what ever you want it to be and there's a better distro out there for you, you just have to distro hop till you find it.

[@fakecubed]

How do you feel about servers? I'm thinking of moving away from Ubuntu desktop, lately, but I have no plans for switching away from Ubuntu on my headless servers.

[@grahamcrawley2639]

@@fakecubed With servers it's more about meeting your business requirements with security, functionality and support than the look and feel.

[@neil388]

I love Ubuntu. My first Linux distro I used in 2012 was Ubuntu. I returned to Ubuntu after 12 years of Windows torment.

[@I0NE007]

I had the same thing! Tried ubuntu in 2012, had zero problems (effectively), stayed with Windows for university work, but now I'm trying to move back to Linux (via Ubuntu)

[@H725-0]

Recently i used Ubuntu on a friend laptop and i've been very impressed by speed, and user friendly, i really don't understand why mint users don't just use ubuntu. if is all for snap i can understand it, but only for that reason

[@jkbobful]

As a brand new Linux user I didn't know where to start and some KZbinrs were recommending Mint over Ubuntu so I just went with Mint its been cool so far

[@H725-0]

@@jkbobful It is and used it for years but i can say as user experience there's no difference from ubuntu, a part from snap

[@warthunder1969]

I personally just don't like GNOME, which is why I use Mint on Cinnamon or XFCE. The cinnamon version of Ubuntu is just an incomplete experience of cinnamon compared to Mint. but use what works for you for sure.

[@MFTAQ]

So then Ubuntu users should just use Debian since Ubuntu is based on Debian. 😂

[@sirsuse]

​@warthunder1969 My personal opinion is that Ubuntu's ui does not looked polished. Mint is way more pleasing to the eyes. That makes a difference to some people, including myself. I find Mint to be extremely stable as well. Not saying Ubuntu isn't stable. But for those reasons listed above I find no reason to dump Mint Cinammon for Ubuntu.

[@nicobeukes4094]

started with ubuntu way back but found my new home to be fedora workstation

[@etherealregions]

I personally like Ubuntu because I'm a born again noob. Since I haven't used Linux since the 90's, and the amount of Ubuntu specific tutorials are very helpful.

[@skeuoo]

@@etherealregions linux mint?

[@etherealregions]

@@skeuoo , I like Linux Mint. It's a good distro as well.

[@omerta3393]

I don't know why people still say that Fedora has problems with NVIDIA; just open up the software app, install the driver, and it magically works well with Wayland too. In contrast, on Arch or Ubuntu (which was fixed in version 24), for example, after installing the NVIDIA drivers, the Wayland session would go away - a terrible thing for laptop users who use NVIDIA as their discrete GPU anyway and not primary GPU!

[@homosexualheisenberg]

I literally cannot use Fedora because of being an NVIDIA user. Wayland works terribly. I was excited to switch once 40 released but it just does not work at all.

[@SalenoftheDusk]

Actual 1990's nerd reporting in! \o/

[@olnnn]

I feel the only real reason to still use base ubuntu over mint, popos etc these days is that the derivatives are all based on the latest LTS so they tend to be stuck with a lot of outdated packages especially right now when it's getting close to the next LTS release.

[@bobsock8718]

I'd agree with Tyler about fedora upsides and with Matt about its downsides, but to a new user I would recommend Nobara, because it's fedora, but without the common downsides like nvidia stuff, code stuff, repositories and having to set up a lot. I think that mint is more for just work, but if you want to do more than that, you use nobara (fedora without its main downsides)

[@mrawther]

In my experience, Ubuntu just works more than most times. And that is a good thing. I don't want to tinker all day. Because of that, my secondary PC/Laptop always have Ubuntu (Currently running Kubuntu. I keep changing flavors every few years).

[@johanb.7869]

I don't tinker because that's when the shit starts to happen. Install a distro and leave it alone that's how I use Linux. I change the theme and the icons and that's it.

[@sheldonkupa9120]

I dont like ubuntu anymore, but i give them credit that they did a lot for the linux community. Using linux since 1992, before ubuntu 9.04 i couldnt get my hardware running. Whatever i tried, something didnt work. And still today, as a basis for Zorin, Pop OS, Mint etc. it has its existence right in my live! I use Pop OS since 2016, hope their next release will satisfy the expectations. A shame that so many big linux companies turned to the evil side somehow...

[@cejannuzi]

I still like Ubuntu and its flavors, esp. Xubuntu. And I often use snaps when the flatpak won't download or install.

[@epecwokhay]

In terms of ML/AI, Ubuntu is the "Default Distro", most of the guides/documentation for those types of projects are written and tested on it. Plus, recently two supercomputers that made it in the top 500, more specifically part of the top 10 fastest in the world by Microsoft (Eagle) and Nvidia (Eos NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD) run on Ubuntu.

[@dannylaqc]

Tried Ubuntu multiple times in the past to introduce myself to Linux, but I always ended up falling back to Windows. However, after trying OpenSUSE (and all the popular ones), I won't be going back.

[@OraOraOra]

Great episode, ngl.. I'm a BIT sad, that Tyler is on Mac now. But honestly, if he has an iPhone & iPad, it's probably much smoother with the Mac. I have my KDE Connect Android Setup. 😆 But yea.. seems like Tyler has an interesting Setup and still Linux available. What works for you! I'm happy, if you are! I think Ubuntu isn't the default anymore, but Ubuntu is still crazy important, I mean look at Pop & Mint! And these are Distros, that I would recommend to new Users or Nobara & Bazzite, depends if they are gamers or not. I think Fedora took over, but only for ppl that already use Linux.

[@keylowmike85]

I would say that Ubuntu is still a little bit of a default distro because of experience. Just recently introduced my daughter to Linux and bought her her very own Thinkpad 11e. Tried to install AlmaLinux, which is my daily distro, and couldn't get the wifi card to work. So I installed Xubuntu on it, and with a network cable and a Google search, I was able to get the wifi card to finally work.

[@electric7487]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="517">8:37</a> sudo chmod 777 -R * Oh boy, I've made that mistake before.

[@proletar-ian]

Interesting, I would definitely have said there was a two-way tie between Linux Mint and Ubuntu to be the default distro

[@warthunder1969]

Matt here after my heart, recommending Linux Mint as a first time user distro :). Don't get me wrong Zaney isn't entirely wrong Fedora isn't bad but I don't consider it totally noob friendly

[@I0NE007]

I feel like there are different acceptable answers for "default," like there is with any detail about Linux. Mint is probably "the most agreed" answer for "if a normal person (Windows user) moves to Linux, which one should it be," Ubuntu is "it was the default, so it should still be the default," Arch is the "if you want to be a 'Real Linux User,'" and Fedora is the default for "Balance between feature adds, stability, and usability." But my understanding of "what is default Linux," which distro shows the peak of what it means to have/use Linux. And for that, I would probably say Arch Linux is the one that comes to mind.

[@jacobee4480]

If you don't wanna pay for Spotify premium there is a way you can crack the file to make it ad free I managed to do it on my Linux, Windows, and Android devices

[@manfredkernMK]

I would share the opinion that Linux Mint is the best beginner-friendly distro. I would also add Mx-Linux. There is a reason why they are at the top on distrowatch. They both remove or do not introduce specific company lock-down. They are boring - and that's good. Both somehow make Debian more accessible.

[@RizalBoon]

I love using LMDE in a VM as a remote workstation setup. The Redhat QXL Paravirtual Graphics driver is available automatically without any additional step needed after update and connect to it using Chrome remote desktop is really easy and convenient.

[@johanb.7869]

MX Linux Xfce for me. I don't mind boring. It needs work and don't give me update problems like Tumbleweed and Arch based gave me. I never have those on MX.

[@RakibHasan-hs1me]

For older hardware absolutely

[@phonewithoutquestion80]

Putting my issues with Ubuntu aside, the perks of a Ubuntu Pro subscription might be the backing some people are looking for if they want to resist change enough to stay on a long-in-the-tooth LTS release. I doubt you're going to sell many average desktop enjoyers on a RHEL clone workstation like Alma Linux, EuroLinux, or Rocky Linux. EDIT: nothing wrong with those other distributions, if you want to mainline them as a workstation, do so. You're just going to go out of your way to access more packages.

[@MagmaSlime-nb5ts]

With the way Ubuntu is these days, especially with Snaps and the malware issue their app store has that they've done nothing about, I doubt it. And even then, Snaps shouldn't need to exist. Flatpaks exist too, and they work just as good.

[@StupidusMaximusTheFirst]

You can only do so much. If you own a large warehouse and you tell people, look, bring here food, you don't have to pay a thing, we're gonna feed the poor for free, and people decide to bring poisoned food, what can you do? Ubuntu is still great for newbies, has paid for licenses and all, everything works from the start, people new to Linux or those who have difficulties understanding these things, Ubuntu is great for them. And it's not really their fault for those snaps. Although if this is how it went, maybe they should shut this down. And tbh, when you see a ton of malware being distributed, that's always an organised effort - ie. governments. They probably know Ubuntu is being used in infrastructure cause it's easy to use, so yeah, that's an organised effort. They are the criminals, they have convinced you criminals are some random dude who just hates the world and wants to infect your computer with spyware... nah, that's not true.

[@no_name4796]

Honestly the distros package managers is practically always the best choise to install app, as snap are shit, flatpak have still lots of problems, appimages are only a temporary solution

[@StupidusMaximusTheFirst]

@@no_name4796 It's all about who maintains those packages. Apparently there is a Firefox flatpack maintained by Mozilla. That's fine. Distro repos are maintained by people who work for that distro and they are serious about what they do. Now some snap made by Iwana Hukyu, is not gonna be safe obviously.

[@joshua_lee732]

Snaps came first...

[@NikPiermafrost]

Snaps came first, also they handle cli utilities way better than flatpaks

[@user-rz1kf4jo4n]

Snaps have 100% weaned me off Ubuntu. I now use a mix of proxmox for servers (due to built-in zfs), arch and nix os.

[@LibreGlider]

I'd say, Fedora is coming for that default distro hard. Closely followed by openSUSE.

[@bertnijhof5413]

Ubuntu right or wrong, my distro :) From Ubuntu 8.04 LTS to 24.04 LTS. I'm proud to have collected all the hated item of Ubuntu (Unity; Snaps and Ubuntu Pro) in my most important Virtual Machine (VM); Ubuntu 16.04 ESM, that I use for my banking. It has the latest classical version of Unity, it runs the latest stable snaps of Firefox and LibreOffice and it uses the Extended Security Maintenance of Ubuntu Pro. The VM is encrypted by Virtualbox, another product from a commercial company, that I use since 2009. Just to increase your limited knowledge, Ubuntu comes with OpenZFS, a COW file system that works in all RAID configurations and is used in many server products unlike btrfs. I use it with Ubuntu since 2018. Linux Mint a fake-default distro, that looks and feels like Windows 98SE :) My second choice after Ubuntu would be Fedora. Is Ubuntu still the default distro? Yes, just look at the numbers instead of producing all that semi-technical bla bla bla bla bla.

[@christiangonzalez6945]

You talking about Open ZFS. Not ZFS the proprietary one.

[@johanb.7869]

No it's not. It's MX Linux Xfce😜 For me😎 Fedora for new users? Isn't Fedora more aimed at developers? I would suggest Linux Mint. It looks like Windows and has a store with everything you need in it. Easy install and easy to use.

[@buteforce]

When something goes wrong with Tyler's Mac hardware wise (it will) he will be left with very expensive landfill.

[@NADEEMKHAN-sj5hn]

For new users, use Ultramarine linux based on fedora Or Tuxedo OS, Linux mint based on Ubuntu

[@user-hh4br5tk5p]

@matt try aerc email client

[@marcoylutz]

I started Ubuntu with Kubuntu 6.06, changed to main Ubuntu with 7.04. I was happy with Unity as well as with the change back to gnome shell. The reason for me to go away is, so I didn't have to use PPAs just to be able to play current games. Snaps are the reason I will probably never go back to Ubuntu.

[@buteforce]

YES!

[@jackz166]

I just don’t like Ubuntu, feel it’s nothing special at all.

[@chrisMuc1966]

Debian > Ubuntu.

[@StupidusMaximusTheFirst]

Obviously. The amount of work going in Debian is massive compared to Ubuntu. Ubuntu mostly bothers with polishing and with its own advertising in businesses. They all have their roles, Debian is more of the foundation, Ubuntu can not exist without it. I would assume Ubuntu helps Debian with those profits, at least I really hope so.

[@lolkthnxbai]

Ubuntu is comparable to AWS, a leech on open source.

[@StupidusMaximusTheFirst]

@@lolkthnxbai The world is full of f@#$ing leeches, they just wanna take and take and take, non stop, whatever they can get away with. Sure FOSS is free for that reason, for the benefit of all, but still, I mean, come on. Those people are not idiots and the leeches are somehow clever - it's the other way around.

[@mattblack5352]

when you go to Google and type in Linux the next word is Mint so I kind of agree that mint is becoming or became the default Linux

[@micaelviana]

That's because the name of Ubuntu is not Linux Ubuntu, we usually just call him Ubuntu. Ubuntu is the default, I'm not saying it's good, I'm using Arch btw, but for sure Ubuntu is the default

[@archrizla]

[@sudoakado]

Arch and Debian all the way. Open Source = Linux.

[@wisnoskij]

Ubuntu has and will always be the worse user distro ever created, bar none, imho. How does anyone trust a distro that continually puts ads and porn in their desktop? I hear good things about their server.

[@Linuxdirk]

Ubuntu is ... well, Ubuntu. An open-core version of a corporate-owned Linux based operating system. For being what it is, it is fine I guess. I would not suggest it to beginners who want to try out Linux, though. I suggest they try Linux Mint instead. It is much more general and not locked in to a corporation. It also feels less bloaty.

[@bcsr4ever]

Best? It never was. Lol

[@ayinsamekh3381]

Ubuntu has NEVER been the best disto

[@tunageldigitti7811]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1982">33:02</a> echo snap >> ~/.hidden was the solution people were looking for, I think.

[@eddieoconnor4466]

Not for me it ain't....insalled the latest version and it bricked my precious Huawei Matebook X Pro...

[@daorkykid]

Wow. Never had a distro completely wreck my device to the point of not being able to boot. Always been able to access bios and boot other linux isos or even the Windows installer.

[@grahamcrawley2639]

That was probably the Chinese spyware