Just curious, I've poked around Ubuntu as a desktop OS. It's nice. Are there any advantages to having it on your server?

I can say that I use Ubuntu on my desktop, and I love it. It's rock solid, and very fast. I haven't used it in a server envrionment yet, so unfortunately I'm not sure how it performs in those conditions, but I love it on my desktop

-Kevin

I run ubuntu on my desktop, and on my laptop its an awesome desktop environment. I have run in on my server here at my house, but I found that it's very bloated for a server environment.

Having said that, I haven't run it on my linode, but I'm sure that Chris has taken away a lot of packages that you don't need. Because of the nature of a linode, you could always just make a disk image with ubuntu on it and test it out see how you like it and delete it if you don't.

- Robbert

There has been a push at Ubuntu lately to make people aware of Ubuntu as a server distro. It was good timing that I released the image when I did, since Ubuntu's management had been discussion the need to get the "word" out -- they contacted me regarding the timing, and Linode.com is now listed on Ubuntu's Marketplace page. So, at least they're headed in that direction.

The obvious difference to Debian is that Ubuntu releases much more often (every 6 months, I think), and thus they have, in general, much more recent versions of packages. /troll

-Chris

Heh, i was just making the step towards Debian on my Linode when I thought I'd read this to see what this Ubuntu is about.

So, Chris, should I (not a Debian guru) go with Ubuntu rather than Debian small? I suppose Ubuntu can use the same apt sources as Debian, right?

Thanks

I just was reloading my linode with Debian, and was part way done when I realized I should of used Ubuntu instead. So I started over with it. It's nice, and I recommend it if you're looking for a stable Debian type distribution without the cobwebs.

There's a reason it's called stable, if you dont want 100% stable packages, dont run stable. If you want more bleeding edge packages use testing or unstable, or install Ubuntu. And here's an answer to the Ubuntu/Debian apt repository question