Re: [vox] linux recommendation

[Bill Kendrick <nbs@soniMAPSc.net>]

On Sat, Mar 03, 2007 at 03:19:22PM -0800, David T. Harris wrote:
> The only downside to Ubuntu (that I know of - I haven't played
> with it extensively) is the whole you need to use sudo
> for everything an admin wants to do (you in this case)
> because there is no root account by default.

On my desktop machine, which I've been using Kubuntu on for -- oh maybe
a year now? -- I've never had any reason to create a 'root user' account.
Using sudo has been perfectly suitable for me.

In fact, since I'm always _me_ (my normal user), I don't ever have to
worry about "~" pointing at the place I expect it.  Once I've entered my
password once in a session, I don't have to type it again, so if I need
to go back and adjust or reissue a command, it happens right away.

e.g.:

  $ sudo aptitude update
  Password: ...
  ...
  $ sudo aptitude upgrade
  ...  <-- no password prompt this time

On my server, on the other hand, I had to set up a root account so I could
mess with CUPS.  Ubuntu is not very friendly when it comes to remote
printing to CUPS on a system w/o any monitor or mouse! <:^(

(Thanks to Mike Simons for helping me tweak the CUPS options just right
to get it working.  I can even print from my WinXP laptop from work w/ no
hassle!)

PS - My dad is in his early 70s and used KDE on Debian without any 
real trouble.  (Only some OS-level stuff related to printing and a full
/var, if I recall correctly. *sigh*)

It slowly got out of date (didn't help he was on dialup and lives 100mi
away), and eventually someone gave him a Windows box when he asked them
for help with something.  >:^P

Dunno how THAT's turned out for him, but he really doesn't do much beyond
email, web and printing, anyway.  I'd definitely recommend Kubuntu to anyone.

-- 
-bill!
bill@newbreedsoftware.com
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/
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