Whats so great?

What's so great about Ubuntu compared to other distros besides the giant wiki? I've used ubuntu and many other distros but everyone seems to push Ubuntu especially on beginners. My question is, WHY? Why not something like PCLinuxOS where everything is ready to go from codecs to the wireless setup.

This is the place where I say that Ubuntu isn't a bad distro. I just don't see why it's so hyped compared to other distros.

Maybe the money behind the distro? For me ubuntu was the first sucessful installation of linux on the hardware i was using at the time (around 6.10 release). The user base is very large and that helps because if you have a problem usually someone else has the same problem and might have already found the solution.

As far as why people tend to reccomend this over others, I would guess just from the fact that it is so well known to most non technical pc users out there.

I've heard of Ubuntu. I've never heard of PCLinuxOS. IDK. Ubuntu works well for me but I've never tried any other flavor.

seth556 said:

What's so great about Ubuntu compared to other distros besides the giant wiki? I've used ubuntu and many other distros but everyone seems to push Ubuntu especially on beginners. My question is, WHY? Why not something like PCLinuxOS where everything is ready to go from codecs to the wireless setup.

This is the place where I say that Ubuntu isn't a bad distro. I just don't see why it's so hyped compared to other distros.

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I don't particularly like Ubuntu, but it is amazingly popular. I must give them credit for what they are doing for FOSS.
They have a large community and steady, predictable, active development. They also have a lot of momentum and the project seems to progress in harmony; I never hear about major disagreements or infighting amongst Ubuntu developers, like with Gentoo and Debian, for instance.

Jason Kitchens said:

As far as why people tend to reccomend this over others, I would guess just from the fact that it is so well known to most non technical pc users out there.

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That could be a major point, in addition to the ease of use for those new to linux. No sense trying to push them into a Slackware install, right from the git-go.

Misfit138 said:

I don't particularly like Ubuntu, but it is amazingly popular. I must give them credit for what they are doing for FOSS.
They have a large community and steady, predictable, active development. They also have a lot of momentum and the project seems to progress in harmony; I never hear about major disagreements or infighting amongst Ubuntu developers, like with Gentoo and Debian, for instance.

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Ubuntu is our gateway drug; once we have you hooked, we switch you over to something that takes up more of your time, like Gentoo.

Captain Newbie said:

Ubuntu is our gateway drug; once we have you hooked, we switch you over to something that takes up more of your time, like Gentoo.

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the first ISO's free kid. Well, all of em' are I guess but the others might require some thinking.