Ubuntu as development workstation

I’m a big supporter of Windows. Always have been. Recent years I tried Ubuntu a couple of times and without exception, ALWAYS ran into a show stopper, ranging from not installing (6.04), not getting wireless to work as easy as a wanted(6.10), could get it to crash and not start up in 10min (7.04).

Now, again six months later, Gutsy Gibbon is here. I’ve seen numerous developers write that Ubuntu is a great development environment, so again I went for it.

First Impression

7.10 is slick! After 1 minute I managed to get the flashy desktop graphics to work on ATi (just needed to apt-get xserver-xgl) and got my wireless working with WPA without any configuration. Excellent.

Installing eclipse, java 6, filezilla took me just under an hour (long download). Installing maven was a breeze when following the read-me. I must say, it just works. The recent year Ubuntu has received a enormous momentum, which drives the community like never seen before. When searching for an arbitrary problem, every Google hit actually came with solid solutions. Admitted, I don’t compare with many other vendors, but Ubuntu is really easy!

Feeling when coding

Coding in ubuntu gives a slightly different look and feel, especially in eclipse. Firstly, eclipse starts faster on my machine on Ubuntu. Also the screen anti aliased all the way, which provides a soothing feeling to the eyes. The only negative side effect I found, was the slightly larger font in the package explorer. This was in previous Ubuntu versions as well and I think it has more to do with eclipse on Linux.

Anyway, normally I’m a Linux basher, but the truth has to be told. Ubuntu would made it as my home-brew development machine. Didn’t see that coming. I’m sure that once I understand Ubuntu better and better, I’ll even like it better and better. Windows I know by hart, Linux I’m practically a total newbie. It’s refreshing!

But…

On a project I’m still going to advertise Windows. Although I have absolutely not found ANY bugs in Gutsy Gibbon, I still don’t trust it like Windows. The years of absolute surrender to it, makes it hard to really trust anything else.

If any operating system will break through the Window monopoly, I’m absolutely certain it’ll be Ubuntu. The easy, the graphics, the repository are UNMATCHED, even by Windows. Wow. That hurt

As always, I’m open for debate!

Greetings,
Andries

Update 23/12: I have been experimenting with Hardy Heron, the alpha 2 release of the latest Ubuntu. Surprisingly, maven2 is now available on Synaptic. Excellent job Canonical! Only thing missing now is eclipse 3.3 to complete the picture.