10 Things that make Ubuntu a Neophyte's Distribution

Ubuntu is fast on its way to becoming a peoples OS. I have always wondered what is it that makes people embrace Ubuntu over other Linux distributions. After some pondering, it struck me that the USP (Unique Selling Point) of Ubuntu is its user friendliness. Ubuntu is a distribution targeted at the non-techie crowd - those that want to get their job done and not spend time tinkering with the OS. And consequently, the developers at Ubuntu have bundled simple easy to use GUI front end tools to achieve common system administration tasks. Here I have put together 10 things in Ubuntu that make a new user's life that much simple. I used Ubuntu 5.10 to aid my observation.

Network Tools

This is a graphical front end for all the frequently used network tools like ping, traceroute, netstat, finger and whois. Accessed through 'Applications -> System Tools -> Network Tools' , It is designed with the new user in mind and is quite intuitive to use. In fact all the user has to do is type in the IP address of the machine to ping to and press a button and lo, it displays the result in a user friendly format.

Fig: Network Tools GUI

Ubuntu Device Database Submission Tool

This is another tool I found unique to Ubuntu. Consider this scenario, you have a machine whose sound card is not detected properly by Ubuntu. By using this tool, you can send a report to the developers of Ubuntu giving details of your sound card (like the chipset used) and be assured that in the next release, they will have support for your hardware. But if everything is working properly, then also this tool is useful because it will automatically detect all the hardware and send a report back to the developers for storing in their database. Access it through 'Applications -> System Tools -> Ubuntu Device Database'.

Fig: Device Database Submission Tool

GParted - The Partitioning tool in Ubuntu

This is a GUI based partitioning tool that comes bundled in Ubuntu. Using gparted, you can easily create, resize and format partitions on your hard disk. And if you want to find the make of your hard disk, it is just a mouse click away in this utility (Applications -> System Tools -> GParted). Just click Menu 'View --> Hard disk Information' to see the size, the model, the device name (eg: /dev/hda) of your hard disk and number of heads, sectors and cylinders on it. By clicking the menu 'Partition --> Convert to', you can create a wide variety of file systems including NTFS on your partition. GParted is the closest you can get to user friendliness as far as a partitioning tool is concerned.

Fig: GParted - the partitioning software

Add Applications

One grouse that all users switching to Linux had was the difficulty in installing and uninstalling applications when compared to windows. This is done away with the Add Applications tool in Ubuntu. It is a Gnome front end to the popular command line tool Apt-Get. You want to know how easy it is in installing applications ? I had downloaded a Kubuntu CD image and had burned it on to a CD. To merge it in Ubuntu, all I had to do was click the Menu 'Settings --> Repositories' and press the "Add CD" button. Then I could install all the KDE packages from the CD with the click of a button. And if you are online, you don't even have to add the CD to your repository list. The program will automatically pull the necessary packages from the internet and install it on your machine resolving all dependencies.

Fig: Add/Remove applications Dialog

Device Manager

This is the HAL Device manager. HAL stands for Hardware Abstraction Layer. This utility accessed through 'System --> Administration --> Device Manager', gives you more information about the various parts of your PC like the type of processor used, memory, sound card chipset, mouse and the likes. Even though you can get all the data by browsing the /proc directory, neophytes will find it comforting to have these details a few mouse clicks away.

Fig: Device Manager

Services Settings

This is a very intuitive and simple GUI tool which helps a user take control over which services are started at bootup time. In a default installation of Linux, a lot of daemons are started up during bootup which significantly increases the time that the system takes to fully load a desktop. For example, if you are using a stand alone desktop PC, you can do away with services like NFS, PCMCIA (which is needed only in laptops), Cupsd (if you do not have a printer) and so on; which will make your machine more responsive. You can use the service settings GUI to start or stop all the services.

Fig: Services Settings Dialog

Creating Users & Groups

It is a snap in creating users and groups in Ubuntu using the users and groups dialog. You can even control a user's rights like access to certain devices like cdroms, floppy, internet connection, modem and so on from the User Privileges tab of the User Account Editor. Do you suspect your son is viewing X rated movie CDs on your computer when you are not around ? You just uncheck the option "Use CD-ROM devices" in the user privileges of your son's account and you can rest assured.

Fig: Set per user rights to devices

Troubleshooting is just a chat room away

Ubuntu comes with XChat IRC client installed by default. When I faced a doubt regarding a particular feature, I fired up the chat client (XChat) and logged into the Ubuntu IRC server (Which is the first server in the servers list). And within a few minutes, I was able to get my doubts clarified from the #ubuntu chat room.

Network Setting dialog

This GUI helps users to easily setup the ethernet and modem connections. You can activate and deactivate the devices with the click of a button. Further more, this front end lets you set the hostname and domain name for your computer.

Fig: Setup your ethernet card and modem

Manage your sessions with ease

If you select the Sessions tool from 'System --> Preferences --> Sessions', you can enable any program to start automatically when you login to your account. For example, I use Tomboy - a popular note taking application to jot down notes. When not in use, it resides in my system tray. I have set this application to start each time I log in to my account by including it in the sessions box.

Fig: Managing your sessions

By bringing out such nice GUI frontends to ease the user experience, Ubuntu is doing its mite in promulgating the Linux OS aiding its wider acceptance among the masses. After having used it for close to a month, I can say with certainty that Ubuntu is a distribution which is a worthy entry into the Linux desktop market.