Ubuntu

Ubuntu Desktop is a Linux distribution derived from Debian. It is one of the most popular (Desktop) Linux distributions available, and many other distributions are derived from it. Development is sponsored by Canonical.

There are two editions of Ubuntu Desktop – Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Desktop Alternate Installer. The only difference lies in the installation programs. Ubuntu Desktop has a simple, graphical installer, while Ubuntu Desktop Alternate Installer has an ncurses installation program. It is suitable for use on low-resource computers.

Installation Program and Installation Process: The graphical installation program of Ubuntu Desktop is very basic, and lacks support for disk encryption, LVM, the Linux Logical Volume Manager, and RAID. There is an option to encrypt the home directory, but that is the lone, physical security feature it has.

The alternate installer edition, with the ncurses interface, has support for LVM, disk encryption and RAID. It also has the option to encrypt the home directory.

Desktop Environments: Starting from the 11.04 release, Ubuntu ships with the Unity as the default desktop, with a fallback to GNOME 2 for machines that do not meet the minimum hardware requirements for running Unity.

Installed Applications and Software Management Out of the box, Ubuntu comes with most of the software that the vast majority of users would need for their daily computing needs. Those that are not pre-installed, like non-free applications and codecs, can be installed if the appropriate repository is enabled. Like on any other Linux distribution, the software repository contains thousands of free applications that you can install.

Debian’s Advanced Packaging Tool, APT, is the application management framework on Ubuntu. The most common command line utility for managing applications is apt-get, with Synaptic and Software Center as the user-friendly, graphical frontends. Both graphical applications are installed out of the box, but Synaptic offers a lot more features than the newer Software Center. The Software Center offers paid applications from Canonical’s software partners, but those are few, compared to the free applications in the default repository.

Graphical Administrative Applications: If you are running Unity, the graphical administrative applications are in the System Settings. In Fallback mode, that is, if you are running GNOME 2, they are accessible from System > Preferences and System > Administration menus.

Physical and Network Security Posture: Per physical security, Ubuntu Desktop with the graphical installer has a very bad physical security posture. For starters, the installer does not support disk encryption, and it does not provide the option to password-protect the boot loader. These are two features that are used to enhance the physical security posture of a system.

Because the Alternate Installer version of supports full disk encryption, it is possible to present a better physical security profile, and, therefore, achieve a higher security rating than if you use the graphical installer edition.

A new installation of Ubuntu 11.04 has only one open port – 631, the Internet Printing Protocol port. The firewall is not configured, and Gufw, one of 3 graphical clients for managing ufw, the command line frontend to IPTables, is not installed. AppArmor, the mandatory access control program is loaded, in enforcing mode. Ten (10) profiles are loaded by default.

Hardware Requirements and Resources: Ubuntu is supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit Intel-compatible platforms. To run the Unity desktop, a computer with 3D-accelerated graphics is required. Recommended minimum memory requirement is 512 MB. However, 1 GB or more, will make your computing life a little bit less stressful. The minimum disk space required to install the latest edition is 4.4 GB.

Download links for the latest stable editions of Ubuntu are available here. Official documentation and other support links are available here and at Questions and Answers.

Recent Reviews and Tutorials: The most recent reviews and tutorials on Ubuntu Desktop published on this website are listed below. You may peruse the full list of reviews and tutorials here:

• Install HY-D-V1 desktop on Ubuntu 13.04 HY-D-V1 Desktop is a new desktop interface built atop GNOME 3 using a combination of Webkit, JavaScript, Python and HTML. It is the desktop environment on Hybryde Fusion, a Linux desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop. See some screen shots here. Hybryde Fusion is the work of Larrieu Olivier, a French software developer. This tutorial shows ...
• Dual-boot Windows 8 and Ubuntu 12.10 in UEFI mode Dual-booting Windows 8 and a Linux distribution in UEFI or EFI-compatible mode can be a very frustrating and unpredictable adventure. You just never know how the system will boot or whether it will even boot at all. I have a computer that I built (assembled) using a motherboard with UEFI firmware. By default, it boots in ...
• Ubuntu is not a community distribution That should be obvious to anybody who’s been following the development of Ubuntu, but for those who have not, here’s the deal: Ubuntu is not a community distribution. The sooner you get that, the better, especially if you’ve been under the illusion that Mark Shuttleworth cares very much about your own idea of what a community ...
• Triple-boot Windows 7, Ubuntu 12.10 and Fedora 18 on one HDD To Triple-boot Windows 7, Ubuntu 12.10 and Fedora 18 on a single hard disk drive (HDD) presents a different set of challenges than dual-booting any two of the set on same HDD. This article presents a step-by-step guide of one method of how to install such a system. Note that with the cost of disk storage ...
• Ubuntu Touch – SDK alpha and preview images released The Software Development Kit (SDK) and preview installation images for Ubuntu Touch have been released. Ubuntu Touch is the umbrella name for Ubuntu for Phone and Ubuntu for Tablets. Both platforms were released this year, with the latter coming just a few days ago. This is a developer preview release for the code-happy to mess with. ...
• Ubuntu on tablets: Who’s on board? Ubuntu on tablets is the latest Ubuntu platform from Canonical, the company behind the popular Linux distribution. Barely two months ago, the company announced Ubuntu for smartphones. Before that, was Ubuntu for TV and before that, too, was Ubuntu for Android. While Mark Shuttleworth and crew seem to be making all the right moves, making their ...
• Install Razor-qt on Ubuntu 12.10 Razor-qt is a relatively new desktop environment built atop Qt technologies. From the ground up, it is designed to be resource-friendly, so that it can run on old and new computers alike. It hasn’t gotten a lot of press, but I’ve been keeping track of its development since it was started. The latest edition is Razor-qt ...
• Ubuntu for smartphones: Will this penguin fly? So, Canonical just announced Ubuntu for Phones, a version of Ubuntu for smartphones. But this is not a version you can download and root your smartphone with, just a development project for vendors and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). But will the target audience bite? And if they do, how serious will they be committed to the ...
• Note to EFF: FDE implementation in Ubuntu’s Ubiquity is only at 50% In Privacy in Ubuntu 12.10: Full Disk Encryption, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Micah Lee gave the non-profit organization some credit for pushing Mark Shuttleworth and crew to implement full disk encryption (FDE) in Ubiquity, the graphical installation program of Ubuntu Desktop. That feature, together with LVM, the Linux Logical Volume Manager, made their debut in ...
• Ubuntu 12.10 review As always, the latest edition of Ubuntu was released on schedule. Ubuntu 12.10, code-named Quantal Quetzal, was released on October 18. What’s different about this release, is that it is the first October release that I can recall in a long time that comes with new features that are at once cool and controversial. End-to-end ...

Screenshots: More screenshots from the latest edition of Ubuntu Desktop.

Installed and available Educational applications on Ubuntu 11.04.

Installed and available games.

Installed and available Internet applications.

Installed and available multimedia applications.