Ubuntu is a famous operating system based on Debian Linux that is free and open source. The initial release was in the year 2004 and now after more than 15 years, almost people have to question about Ubuntu like, Can we use Ubuntu Linux as a daily driver instead of Windows or macOS? So Ubuntu it is a major OS with multiple editions for desktop, server and internet of things, which is called Ubuntu core. A few years ago, despite having some enthusiastic and interested users and a good fan base, the software selection of Ubuntu desktop was not as diverse as Windows or MAC. Ubuntu was and still is a very good and mainstream choice for servers, but you had to rely on other operating systems for your desktop and certain tasks. The years have passed and the community is even bigger now. There are more open-source software programs and solutions in the market, and it rises an old question, can you count on Ubuntu for day-to-day usage now? If you are curious about what has changed and whether Ubuntu is a good match for you and your daily needs, you are in the right tech debate.
You may have heard that Ubuntu is secure, fast, stable, open source and a lot of other good things, but if you can find the right software for your needs, at the end of the day you still need to use Windows or macOS. Imagine you have an Android OS on your smartphone, without the app store or the third-party apps for messaging, news, shopping and games. Will you continue using it? Android is a very popular Linux based operating system for mobile phones, but its the apps and games that drive this operating system. So, I guess its better to review the available apps for Ubuntu desktop first.
Essential Software availability in Ubuntu;
Default software: The default installation of Ubuntu contains wide range of software that includes libreoffice, firefox, thunderbird, transmission and several lightweight games such as sudoku and chess. Many additional software packages are accessible from the built-in Ubuntu software as well as any other apt-based package management tools. Cross-distribution snap packages and flatpaks are also available that both allow installing software with just a few clicks. Browsers and email clients: You have Firefox, Chrome and even microsoft edge, thanks to its new chromium engine. so no worries about the web browser at all. You can use Thunderbird or geary email client to read, write and send emails. Productivity: OnlyOffice is a free open source set of productivity apps for windows, macOS and Linux. This open source Microsoft lookalike resembles Microsoft Office and works very well with the files made for it. Youll also have libreoffice and openoffice to work with word files, spreadsheets and powerpoints, although these days a lot of users prefer online solutions like Google Dccs and Zoho.
Programming: Ubuntu needs no introduction for programmers. A lot of programmers migrate to Ubuntu each and every day. gedit, atom, sublime text, notepad++ and also VSCode are the available code editors. You can create programs in almost every language and enjoy the robustness and speed of Ubuntu. Android studio users know what im talking about. Sometimes even a simple C++ compiling can be a way faster in Linux. If you are a web developer you can use git, NodeJS and npm, python, php and have access to databases like mysql, postgresql and mongodb.
Messaging: you can use the Skype, Viber, Slack, Telegram, Cawbird twitter client and also Discord. If you use the popular telegram messaging service on your smartphone, you can install the official telegram desktop app too. If you use it for a while, you will realize how limited the competitors like WhatsApp are in terms of features. You can also use Ramme to browse Instagram on your PC. It even lets you upload pictures.
Image editors: GIMP is a free and powerful alternative to Adobe Photoshop that is available in Linux and also windows and mac. It does not have all the fancy Photoshop features but being a free alternative for a pricey software like Photoshop, it offers amazing features.
Video Editor: Kdenlive is one of the best open source video editing software for Linux. If you need to edit a video, it has all the basic and also advanced features like keying, rotoscoping, keyframe editing cool transitions and useful expert profiles. You can also use lightworks, openshots shotcuts and the famous davinci resolve which is a very professional video editing software.
Audio Editor: Audacity is a free and open source digital audio editor and recording application available for windows MacOS and Linux. We can also use waveform free which is a digital audio workstation and ban editing software.
Players: The versatile VLC media player needs no introduction. VLC will play almost any media format you throw at it, video, audio or something in between. As well as playing dvds, VLC can access DLNA shares and online streams and even transcode video from one format to another. lollypop is a feature-packed music player and an alternative to rhythmbox which is ubuntus default music app. Shortwave is an internet radio app that makes it easy to find and listen to internet radio stations. You can also use a Spotify to access your favorite albums and podcasts for sure.
Ebook Reader: To read books with epub format on Ubuntu, you will need to install a dedicated eBook reader app. There are options like Bookworm, easy ebook viewer, buka, and calibre ebook, but Foliate epub reader is one of the top choices.
Image Writer: Etcher is a free open source USB image writer for windows, macos and Linux. you can create a boot-able flash memory or sd-card from an iso or img file.
Virtualization: You can install vmware, virtualbox and gnome boxes for virtualizing another operating system in your ubuntu desktop or manage things directly from the terminal using qemu or kvm.
3D graphics: Blender is a free and open source 3d computer graphics software toolset that is being used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3d printed models, motion graphics, interactive 3d applications, virtual reality and computer games. Computer Aided Design: You can use FreeCAD, LibreCAD, BricsCADand QCAD for designing, modeling and rendering.
Screenshot and Recording: If you want to take a screenshots of Ubuntu and add text, icons and callouts, you can use flameshot. You can use SimpleScreenRecorder to capture your screen. Remote Desktop: If you want to connect to a computer or a smartphone remotely, you can use Anydesk, Teamviewer kde connect, remmina or vnc connect.
Gaming on Ubuntu Linux?
Gaming: Gaming on Linux is often termed as a distant possibility, at least by some hardcore gamers using another platform to play games. Well, you can play games on Ubuntu, but you can not play all the games in Linux. By installing a Steam which is the de facto game distribution platform for windows, MacOS and Linux, you have access to thousands of games ranging from indie hits, to retro-flavored favorites, through to blockbusters and AAA series like the shadow of tomb raider dirt 4 and various warhammer entries. You can also try a Steam Play. It utilizes a compatibility layer to directly run a windows a specific game on Linux. By enabling Steam Play you can play the white-listed Steam games that only recently were only available on windows.
Ubuntu Linux security and Hardware compatibility?
Security: Canonical puts security at the heart of Ubuntu. It offers fast fixes, automatic updates, live patching the kernel without rebooting, 5 years of support for LTS versions, protected VMs, secured snap packages and also imposes access control via AppArmor. It is trusted by various government entities and big firms, thanks to its enterprise grade and industry-leading security practices. You dont need a conventional anti-virus software like windows if your distro is updated. Ubuntu also supports full disk encryption, as well as encryption for home and private directories. You can also use its firewall, UFW.
Hardware Requirements: If you want to install Ubuntu on your machine, the version 20 requires a PC with at least a 2 GHz dual core processor, 4 gigabytes of ram and 25 gigabytes of free disk space. For less powerful computers there are other Ubuntu distributions such as Lubuntu and Xubuntu. Ubuntu also supports the ARM architecture. Most OEMs install Ubuntu desktop on their PCs and laptops by default, mostly because it can showcase the hardware features very easily and most importantly because it is free! Ubuntu is released every six months, with long term support releases that are called LTS every two years. The LTS versions are usually supported for five years and receive updates for bug fixes, security patches and new hardware.
So, what is the conclusion?
The experience of using Ubuntu desktop is a lot better now, with the new user interface and the apps and games available, but still some users have difficulties executing commands in the terminal to do certain tasks. Some apps are still not available in Ubuntu or the alternatives dont have all the features, but you can definitely use Ubuntu for day-to-day usage like internet browsing, office, productivity video production, programming and even some gaming.There are a lot of use cases where Linux is a better choice than windows or even a Mac.
If you havent used a Linux distro, you are missing out on a lot of good things. Linux already powers all the top 500 fastest supercomputers worldwide. It is free, more secure, compatible with old and low-end hardware and it is not complicated to use. Driver gets installed automatically and you can customize it as much as you like. Probably the best thing about Linux is the community of the users itself. You can interact with people to get help on numerous forums. You should definitely give Ubuntu a shot, install it and try these apps for a while to see how they handle your needs, or if you like the experience or not. Thats it for now, if you like this Article, please share it with your friends and also bookmark www.itsfoss.net for more tech debates, Reviews, Tutorials & experience with Linux like this one.