Ubuntu Vs. Linux - whats the difference

Hi all,
I am considering a try on the Linux based OS. I searched the web and found so many of them. Two caught my attention, Ubuntu and Linux (original).
Which one should I choose? which ones has more comparability and works better with my Dell Insprion 1420?
And which OS do u guys personally favor?

Thanks for the help

 

Ubuntu is Linux, there is no generic "Linux" OS per say, but rather multiple OS that use the Linux kernel.

You could call Ubuntu the pop culture Linux, it features easy usability and installation for those new to Linux. Also, you can burn a LiveCD and test the system out before you install.

I started out on Linux Mint which I would highly recommend, it is based on Ubuntu and features multiple user tools that are helpful for newbies. http://www.linuxmint.com/about.php

http://distrowatch.com/ is a great site to research different distributions.
http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major : thats a list of the most popular Linux disro's

 

It's come to my attention that even though they're nice and shiny up at the top, newbies don't like reading the stickies. So below is a link to the sticky you should read over a couple of times.

READ THIS

 

Thanks for the quick reply Proxiam
I have read u suggestions, so now I am thinking that Ubuntu doesnt have good compatibility and its weaker in the technical aspect? Am I right to say this?
I want to install PCLinuxOS. As for the Linux Mint that you have recommended, the features dont really sound attractive.
Hope I have made the right choice?

 

Ubuntu has great compatibility, it strives to have everything working out of the box, I wouldn't say it's weak in the technical aspect (although I'm not quite sure what you mean by that).

Like I said, burn of the LiveCD's of each Distro you are considering, and try them out. Nobody can make your choice for you.

Great guide btw Calvin

 

Linux is a kernel.
I repeat.
Linux is a kernel.

I've been using Ubuntu over a year now, and I really love it. You should give it a try.

 

I hear Mandriva 09 is pretty good =O

 

LOL.

No offense intended. But it is funny.

 

Shrug, you guys are the experts

 

Not laughing at you, Lakjin, just to clarify.

I think I've heard that Mandriva 09 is pretty good too.

 

anuclearbomb if you have any friends with a Linux distribution on their PC, where you think you can get support from your friends, then I would recommend you go with the same distribution as them. Their support will help ease your learning curve and learning pain.

I'm an openSUSE Linux user myself. I have two friends (back in the continent where I used to live) who are Ubuntu users, and we exchange emails often on various aspects, but many times their questions are distribution specific, and I can't help them. Most my Linux engineer colleagues at work use Fedora. So if it were me, and I woke up one day wanting to change from openSUSE (very very unlikely, but lets just "say" this for the sake of my point) then the distribution I would likely choose would be fedora, because I could get immediate and easy support from my fedora colleagues. On the other hand if I were back in the same city as my friends, and no longer had easy access to people with fedora experience, I would choose Ubuntu.

Substitute "fedora" for "mandriva" and "Ubuntu" for "PClinuxOS" and the same philosophy would apply. Go for the ease of person to person support.

 

Erm. I'm pretty happy with Ubuntu.

 

Ubuntu is, in my opinion, the best choice for a new Linux user. Excepting, of course, oldcpu's note. If you do have a friend who uses Linux, ask them for help. Even if they try to get you on some hard to setup distro like Slackware or Gentoo, at least they can walk you through it.

If you're on your own then Ubuntu is the place to be. Ubuntu has an amazing amount of online documentation. They have a massive forum that is incredible open to newbies. Also, NBR's Linux board is home to a ton of happy Ubuntu users. Diving into Linux for the first time can be kind of intimidating but there are resources available and Ubuntu is a great launching point. Once you've used it for awhile and learned something about Linux then you might start looking at other distros but if you're just looking for something that is easy to install and works perfectly out of the box then Ubuntu is your distro of choice.

It is one of the most popular distros out there and it's not just popular because it is newbie-friendly. There are hundreds of thousands of Linux users that have made it their distro of choice because of how wonderful it is.

Personally I use Linux Mint, but I got my start on Ubuntu and the experience was outstanding. I was able to get all my questions answered or easily find answers through Google and Ubuntu's online documentation.

 

Ya I figured.

 

As some one mentioned here they is no OS called Linux. Linux is in fact just a kernel. a kernel is one of the most important component of an operating system.its is the engine of the operating system.it is in this light that "OS" that ship with the Linux. However the term OS is more suited for Windows and Macs where on company gets to build their operating system using tools and technologies developed in house.however if you take Ubuntu for example. is made up of tools from different free and open source software and AFAIK non of the tools that ship with ubuntu were built in house by the ubuntu devs. It uses Linux as its Kernel,Gnome project for its desktop,Pulse audio as its sound server,Firefox as its web-browser,Compiz Fusion for desktops effect,add this to the GNU core utils. and you have a mash up of different technologies from different projects. what makes ubuntu unique is what tools it decide to add to its offering and how it glues them all together to work seamlessly. this is also the way Redhat Linux,OpenSuse Linux and must Linux based Distribution works. That is why the appropriate term for them is Linux Distribution or Distros for short. which is a term that reflect the fact that they are infact distributors of various of free and open source software. all wrapped up in a package. called ubuntu,Fedora,Pclinux,Gentoo etc.

 

See below.

 

yeah i saw ur post i was just emphazing it and explaining in greater details too people alien to the ways of the free software

 

It actually wasn't my post, but thanks for expounding on it.

 

Linux includes much more then a kernel, actually, but ya, it's still a kernel in my book.