Ubuntu 6.06 criticisms from a programmer 2733

CBFalconer

Others have pointed out that Gnome has a variety of keyboard shortcuts. It's also possible to modify them to suit yourself. An alternative idea would be to use a different window manager - there is a whole range available, including window managers that are designed to be used entirely without a mouse.

These are often not part of the basic installation of desktop linux systems, but all (including Ubuntu) have them readily available.

Personally, I've never liked info - most programs have documentation in html format. You might have to download it from their website (or use it live on the site).

Can't help you there, other than to sympathise (I've seen similar trouble on a laptop running XP). The newest version of Ubuntu (in beta now) is apparently better with laptops, especially for things like suspend and faster boots.

If you don't have broadband, then obviously that's your choice - although I find it hard to see how it's possible to work as a developer without access to broadband on a regular basis.

If you are thinking about security, then dial-up links are at risk just like broadband. A windows machine without at least a software firewall will be a zombie after about half an hour of dial-up connection, just as surely as if you have a broadband connection - the low bandwidth of a dial-up link gives you almost no protection. And since a hardware firewall for a broadband link costs something like $30, you are very much more secure using broadband and a hardware firewall than using dial-up. While you are using linux, that doesn't much matter. Keep your root pbuttword secure, disable services that are not in use (IIRC, Ubuntu does not enable any network-available services out of the box), and you are several orders of magnitude more secure than Windows + software firewall. There is no reason not to add a hardware firewall as well - it makes the network more modular, and makes it easier to add other machines to the setup.

If you like 4dos, you can get a lot done with bash. Use the virtual terminals (Alt+F1-6, or Ctrl+Alt+F1-6 from X, with terminal 7 as X, is the usual setup).

Ubuntu has the best CD availability policy of any distribution - not only do they let you download for free (like many other distributions), but they will send you a CD for free. If you get the DVD version, it contains a lot of other stuff (like gcc) that is not installed by default, but you can install it from the CD-DVD rather than downloading.

One of the best places to get a linux distribution is with a magazine - your local newsagent should probably have a selection of linux magazines, and at any given time there is likely to be a copy of Ubuntu on at least one of them.

That said, linux life is a lot more fun if you have a good broadband connection, and can get new or upgraded software as and when you want.