Why do you choose Ubuntu ?

It has a reputation as being good for newbies.

I don't use it, btw. I use Debian proper.

@ruchirablog:

Is there any special benefits in ubuntu over centos?
Ease of use – allegedly.

It's got a huge library (as does Debian), PPA is nice when you need a package that isn't in the repo, aptitude/apt-get is pretty nice, it's easy to upgrade between versions, it has a huge amount of community support, tutorials, it has a fixed and reliable release schedule, etc.

For me, though, probably the two biggest reasons are that it's very lightweight (ubuntu minimal is indeed quite minimal, I've got it running on a P3 too) and simple (installing just what you need is a snap).

Overall, I find that, when it comes to distros for servers, it just does what I need, so I see no real reason to switch to a different distro.

So do you guys think ubuntu saves more ram vs centos in your linode? like how much?

I use Ubuntu on my servers because I use Ubuntu on my desktop/netbook, and I use Ubuntu there because it generally works well as a desktop OS. I also agree with Guspaz's reasons.

Memory usage should be about the same for each distribution running the same stuff on the same architecture. More complex packages with a lot of compile-time decisions (e.g. Apache) will vary more, but probably not by much.

I suppose the more compelling question would be "why use CentOS?" It's always struck me as having all of the annoyances of RHEL (rpm, yum, lethargic release schedule) but without the benefits (support). It is, however, required by some commercial software (cPanel comes to mind).

I always assumed people used it for more up to date packages, like php, mysql, etc.

CentOS tends to be rock solid, but a bit behind.

I use Debian simply because that's what I use at home, and it's easier for me to remember the foibles.

You can be just as behind if you stick to LTS releases of Ubuntu ;)

I don't use Ubuntu because cannonical doesn't support packages outside of 'main'. The Ubuntu security team only cares about 'main'.

If you need deb, use debian.

@tinono:

I don't use Ubuntu because cannonical doesn't support packages outside of 'main'. The Ubuntu security team only cares about 'main'.

If you need deb, use debian.

Officially true, and I believe USNs are only sent for main, but I've not yet heard of a case where a known vulnerability was not rectified in universe. An example from today would be:

http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-995-1

In 10.04, this moved from main to universe, but concurrently with the fixes to 8.04/9.04/9.10, it was also updated in 10.04:

rtucker@tremens:~$ apt-cache policy libmikmod2
libmikmod2:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 3.1.11-a-6.1ubuntu0.1
  Version table:
     3.1.11-a-6.1ubuntu0.1 0
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security/universe Packages
     3.1.11-a-6.1 0
        500 http://mirror.rit.edu/pub/ubuntu/ lucid/universe Packages

(Perhaps not the best example, but it's the one I have right here.)

I use debian for similar reasons to most people above.

Full security support, a really good freeze process resulting in a good stable release, smoother upgrades between major versions, etc. I trust their approach to security.

In common with ubuntu is APT and aptitude, which is the package manager I love, and much configuration is the same between the two.

Ubuntu has a huge user community, which in my experience can be a little less knowledgeable than the Debian community (a fair bit of bad advice, and people stuck without answers, in Ubuntu forums) but on the other hand is much more welcoming towards and tolerant of newbies. One good thing is that a howto guide for Ubuntu will usually work with Debian and vice versa in case you can't find any info specific to one or the other.

@bryantrv:

I always assumed people used it for more up to date packages, like php, mysql, etc.

CentOS tends to be rock solid, but a bit behind.

I use Debian simply because that's what I use at home, and it's easier for me to remember the foibles.

for example

apt-get install nginx

installs the latest version available on nginx?

I love the apt packaging system, but Debian stable is a little slow for my taste, and I don't want to run unstable or testing just to have the latest version of packages.

The latest version of Python in Debian stable is 2.5.2, which is ridiculously old: http://packages.debian.org/lenny/python

In Ubuntu, the latest version of Python in the stable release is 2.6.5 (one behind the latest 2.6 release, but it has all the features that were added in 2.6): http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/python

Trying to upgrade Debian to Python 2.6 is a huge pain in the ass, because certain core tools of the distro rely on Python, so it's easy to accidentally break them.

I choose CentOS :P

Ubuntu was a personal choice. In school, we were actually taught Slackware.

What the hell is downloadvlcplayer.net ??

A URL? That points to a server, which serves you a page.

Judging by reading, and by (crazy enough) clicking said link, I discovered that it points to a page to download the VLC media player…

He means it's some weirdo unofficial site, that may or may not alter the program or show ads.

Official is http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ .

it's VLC bundled with adware.

Is it a GPL violation (by not including a copy of the GPL)? I tried to verify, but the download link on the site is broken (getting timeouts, once managed to get an incomplete 200KB installer).

I used to use Gentoo everywhere when squeezing every last drop of CPU out of your system mattered. I like Debian based distros now, but Debian itself is (or was) too far behind everybody else, so I use Ubuntu.

This is was my first shot at Linux. Tried Ubuntu (several times). Felt too desktop-oriented. Went with CentOS.

@gainesms:

This is was my first shot at Linux. Tried Ubuntu (several times). Felt too desktop-oriented. Went with CentOS.

Yeah, if you use the desktop install, it's going to feel desktop-oriented. Try the server install.

Have it as a desktop OS.

Open source.

Great Community

Easy to learn, easy to install and debug.

Google is more efficient in finding help with Ubuntu related problems ;)

What more can I say, just love it :wink: