[Ubuntu] Ars Technica previews Ubuntu 10.04 / Lucid Lynx

[mkrishnan]

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/...tu-1004-beta-1-is-looking-good-less-brown.ars

Most notable is that LL apparently will finally have a new default theme. Seems like a nice progression from the Human theme. Actually, apparently there are two new themes, Ambience and Radience (not sure which one is depicted in Ars Technica's review), and I can't find pictures comparing the two. The theme is still a Gnome theme running (AFAIK) on a fairly similar version of Gnome, so it isn't really an interface overhaul per se, which only comes when Gnome itself is substantially updated (as KDE was a couple of years ago).

Ubuntu 10.04 is currently available in beta; it'll be an LTS (long-term solution) version of Ubuntu, meaning that it will receive extended reports (for those less familiar, Ubuntu's release cycle is two releases per year, generally, happening around April and October; releases are numbered by the last two digits of the year -- 10 -- and the month number -- 04).

 

[miles01110]

Read their review which I thought was a little light on content, but it looks interesting. I'll probably try out the beta when I get around to it.

 

[mkrishnan]

Read their review which I thought was a little light on content, but it looks interesting. I'll probably try out the beta when I get around to it.

Yeah, they didn't really say much about more meaningful improvements in 10.04. From my quick perusal (the other link I provided has an overview of what's new in LL), these are the things that look interesting to me:

Under the hood -- looks like they've done some improvements on the boot and suspend / resume process to make them faster and aesthetically more pleasing. User level fun stuff -- this looks interesting:

Social from the Start

We now feature built-in integration with Twitter, identi.ca, Facebook, and other social networks with the MeMenu in the panel, which is built upon the Gwibber project, which has a completely new, more reliable backend built on top of desktopcouch. Gwibber now also supports a multi-column view for monitoring multiple feeds simultaneously.

 

[miles01110]

User level fun stuff -- this looks interesting:

Yeah I found that bit intriguing as well. Makes sense for one of the more user-friendly distros to fully embrace social networking. I tried out Gwibber a while back and it seemed fairly ho-hum, but at least the multi-column idea seems like it has some potential... even if it's a vastly inefficient use of screen space

 

[mkrishnan]

Yeah I found that bit intriguing as well. Makes sense for one of the more user-friendly distros to fully embrace social networking. I tried out Gwibber a while back and it seemed fairly ho-hum, but at least the multi-column idea seems like it has some potential... even if it's a vastly inefficient use of screen space

Having seen Compiz/Fusion, I now recognize that vastly inefficient use of screen space is almost a basic requirement in a Linux release.

 

[KingYaba]

Install AWN and it's like I'm really using OS X! Well, sort of.

The fglrx binary driver for ATI video chipsets does not yet support the X server in Lucid. As a workaround, users should use the open source -ati driver instead. (494699)

D'oh

 

[twoodcc]

i might try it in a VM

 

[Shadow]

Looks good. I tried 9.10 in a VM a while ago, and I was really impressed with it.

 

[roadbloc]

I used Ubuntu full time before I got my mac. It was like my crossover OS from Windows to OS X.

I still miss it today, but unfortunately I have no use for it.

 

[maflynn]

I'm happy to see that ubuntu is leaving the turd color behind, though I'm not entirely sure about the current selection. Plus their current iconset clashes with the new colors that they're changing it too.

People seem to be lining up on both sides of the argument, but many seem to miss a major point. This is linux and you can easily change the colors, fonts, icons, themes, etc. I'm not sure why many are getting so upset when its very easy to change.

I flip flop between ubuntu and fedora. I've been using fedora more and more because ubuntu throws in crap I don't want. They're pushing their paid cloud service, they're adding social networking stuff, where as fedora, you get only open source software, no proprietary products by default.

 

[robj]

I have tested it and it's not bad, but the UI is the same as seen before, only a new theme to GNOME.

Honestly GNOME looks very old. I cannot remember when Gnome 2 was launched but It was a loooong time ago.

In contrast, this oldness has given GNOME a lot of stability, KDE 4 is very buggy.

I'm a regular user of 9.10 in my home computer and I'm very happy with the OS, but talking about UI, I think Ubuntu is a step before Win7 or OSX.

 

[maflynn]

In contrast, this oldness has given GNOME a lot of stability, KDE 4 is very buggy.

I've found KDE since that last few updates (now at 4.4) is very solid. Personally, I've found the whole widget/plasma stuff a waste of my resources so I generally stick with gnome. Yeah, early on KDE was unstable but now, its pretty good - at least when I last used it.

 

[KingYaba]

It's out today. I think I'll wait a few days before I upgrade my system. Heh, they replaced Gimp with F-spot which are two entirely different programs. I just think that's stupid but what ever.

 

[maflynn]

You do realize you can still install gimp. Its just that they're bundling a different app.

 

[flight]

It's out today. I think I'll wait a few days before I upgrade my system. Heh, they replaced Gimp with F-spot which are two entirely different programs. I just think that's stupid but what ever.

You can still download it from the repositories. Not a big deal.

 

[belvdr]

I installed 10.04 onto a VM today. It seems a bit snappier than 9.10. So far, I've enjoyed the experience.

 

[*LTD*]

I'm happy to see that ubuntu is leaving the turd color behind, though I'm not entirely sure about the current selection.

It's actually two different shades of it.

 

[Eidorian]

I'm using it right now. The repositories were a little tough to hit the first few times though.

The IM/socal networking integration with notifications is great.

 

[flight]

I'm downloading it (via torrent, like a good boy). I've got the RC installed on a VM and everything looks great. I switched the buttons back to the right however, for consistency.

I'll be upgrading my laptop that's currently running 9.10 when I finish the download. I hope they have made gains in battery life. Windows 7 seems to blow it out of the water in that department.

 

[maflynn]

I'm using it right now. The repositories were a little tough to hit the first few times though. :eek

Yeah, I'll need to wait till tonight to play with it. By the time it finished d/l the stuff from the repositories it was a bit late at night for me.

I played with the beta so I don't expect to see any surprises. I have been using fedora but dealing with the mac hardware with F12 is a nightmare at times. A great learning experience but perhaps 10.04 will be a better fit.

 

[KingYaba]

You do realize you can still install gimp. Its just that they're bundling a different app.

I certainly do. Having GIMP on a live CD is a nice thing when a simple photo edit is needed. But it's about convenience. I'll install 10.4 and have a huge list of updates plus the restricted-extras. Now I have to punch in another piece of software in the terminal.

 

[AppleFan1984]

I'm a regular user of 9.10 in my home computer and I'm very happy with the OS, but talking about UI, I think Ubuntu is a step before Win7 or OSX.

Take a closer look at the menu bar in 10.4. It's subtle, but a bit more Mac-like.

I have it running on one of my old PCs, and I love it on my netbook. I enjoyed 9.10, but since I switch all day between Mac and Ubuntu it's nice to have them looking just a little more like one another.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Ubuntu Gnome is now a polished turd.

Anything GTK is a turnoff for me.

 

[miles01110]

Just installed it and used it for the day on my old Core Duo MBP.

...not bad, but still a long way to go. Just feels clumsy to me, although part of that could be from having to get used to the old-style keyboard and trackpad again

 

[KingYaba]

Just installed it and used it for the day on my old Core Duo MBP.

...not bad, but still a long way to go. Just feels clumsy to me, although part of that could be from having to get used to the old-style keyboard and trackpad again

If you dig through their support pages, they have Macbook-specific drivers for trackpad, power, isight, keyboard, and all those goodies.