A 10GB partition on my desktop was bored and asked to be installed with all the distributions I have always wanted to try.

First up is Ubuntu. This relatively new distrbution has gotten tremendous press and has been recommended to me by many people. It is apparently the nicest desktop Linux you can currently find. It is based on Debian, but is apparently so easy that your grandma could install and use it. I had problems getting the ISO to burn on a CD and work in my DVD player. I was using quite old media, which may have been the problem. The install seemed to stop at bsdutils installing every time. I now have a small collection of CDs each labelled, UBUNTU coaster (maybe I can sell them on ebay). They make funny noises when inserted into drives; sometimes the drive just spits them out disdainfully.

Andy took pity on my plight and sent me a working CD, which arrived today. Thanks Andy. Have just installed it. No fuss at all. I now have a working Ubuntu install. :)

It has a very clean GNOME interface. It prefers you to sudo to perform tasks. I think this is a good idea for a desktop, as I have seen far too many people (usually from a Windows background) log into X as root, ready to click anything shiny.

Now to upgrade from Warty Warthog to Hoary Hedgehog. If all goes well I may install it on the laptop too.

Note: Ubuntu are currently offering to ship free CDs out to people. Unfortunately, the wait is quite long (4-6 weeks), and I really wanted to try this out.