Ubuntu 6.06 Reviewed 351
Mark writes "This year has been a huge step forward for Desktop Linux users. First, Fedora Core 5 was released and featured the new Gnome 2.14. Then SUSE 10.1 showed us how well applications could be integrated to make a desktop look great. Now it was time for Ubuntu to release their latest version: 'Dapper Drake.'" Oh yeah, the inital review is good, too. Worth checking out for desktop Linux users.
Painless Upgrade (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Interesting)
"EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! Make sure you type dist-upgrade rather than upgrade . The process will totally hose your machine and render it *completely unbootable* otherwise."
Is it just me or shouldn't that be impossible? Can't you at least fix the dependecy tree so that it'll barf out an error message? I mean I've used tools that are like "do it exactly this way, in this order, OR ELSE..." but that on much more obscure thing
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Informative)
To make a long story short, upgrade is ba
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Informative)
This morning I was upgrading my debian Etch, and got a rather scarey message concerning xwindow-xorg. It didn't cause any problems on my system, but apparently on some systems it destroys the Xorg part without replacing it. ("So be sure you check, and replace it if you need to.") That was the first time I've seen quite such a scarey message during an upgrade, and I wasn't even moving off of Etch.
I'm not sure this is relevant, but given how similar Ubuntu and De
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Interesting)
I did it the wrong way, and X broke horribly (the change to a modular server is a bigger package reorganisation than mere "upgrade" is designed for). However it was /bootable/, and a dist-upgrade from within the crippled box mostly fixed it.
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:5, Informative)
During the dist-upgrade step you will probably have to answer some questions about using new config files vs. existing modified ones.
You do need to reboot if you want the new kernel running. (2.6.15)
Afterwards you might have to tweak some things like the wireless drivers or display drivers. I had to download the synaptics driver because the new one has bugs that manifest for 64 bit systems.
But it really is that easy!
-hank
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:5, Funny)
Will this be fixed in future versions of the tutorial?
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Informative)
Ubuntu install easier than XP initial startup (Score:4, Interesting)
new HP laptop.
The Ubuntu install was suprisingly easy. I answered 3 or 4 questions, like my name and my time zone, and
do I want to install Ubuntu on the entire hard drive (I answered yes). After the install finished, my wireless was working
without a hitch, and I had a nice clean desktop to enjoy.
In comparison, the XP setup was mystifying, and it was *already* installed. During bootup, windows kept popping up,
sometimes several unrelated windows at once. First, a registration window came up. While we were trying to answer
the list of questions there, an Anti-Virus wizard popped up. Next a little window came up to tells use that XP had found
my wireless network, but strangely enough the registration app didn't know how to use it.
Next, a Recovery wizard popped up and recommended that we make recovery disks (using 1 double layer DVD, 2 single layer DVDs,
or 13! CDs). Another little window told use to install an XP update, so I completed that first. Then, we took the suggestion of
the Anti-Virus wizard to reboot, and we've never seen the Recovery wizard since. We even went searching the disk and the
help system - couldn't find it.
Wireless never came up by itself, we had to drill into the Control Panel to enable it.
When we were all done, we were greeted by a desktop festooned with icon/ads. There was an icon for Blockbuser,
AOL dialup, AOL broadband, MS Office 2003 60 day trial, etc.
Another point of comparison, when I inserted my USB key in the Ubuntu laptop, a folder appears with a list of files on the key. Nice. Under XP,
before I can even view the contents, I have to choose who to see it. It is a photo album? A slideshow? There were more choices than could
fit in the pop-window, one had to scroll down to see the Ubuntu equivalent option, view files.
In every way I preferred Ubuntu experience, and I'm sure my grey-haired Mom would feel the same.
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:2)
Why do people insist on using slower VI syntax? Use instead:
":x"
-- that writes, then exits the program. It's what you want anytime you'd think to do a wq.
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Informative)
$ gksu update-manager -d
Will tell you that a new release is available will do everything for you.
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:2)
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:2, Interesting)
So then i figured i would try a fresh install, but as soon as i booted the live DVD, neither of my mice,Logitech mx700 and mx510 worked.
So i had to reinstall Breezy 5.10
Needless to say im slightly disapointed in Dapper Drake
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:5, Informative)
-matthew
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:5, Funny)
so you got the opportunity to use dist-upgrade what, twice?
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:4, Informative)
-matthew
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Informative)
DIST-UPGRADE, I repeat - DIST-UPGRADE (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:3, Informative)
BTW, the version numbers are actually release dates, so 5.10 (not 5.1, actually) is 2005 O
Re:Painless Upgrade (Score:4, Funny)
But does it run... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:But does it run... (Score:4, Informative)
With a little work, yes [ubuntuforums.org].
If you're question was whether XGL is the default, the answer is of course no. XGL is unstable and it's future is uncertain as it's 'competitor' AIGLX [wikipedia.org] is included in Xorg 7.1.
Re:But does it run... (Score:2)
Re:But does it run... (Score:2)
Personally, I do not see a layered approach as being that much of a problem as long as it does not lead to performance issues, and experience to date indicates that XGL performs fine.
Re:But does it run... (Score:3, Informative)
Here is why it is a big step (Score:5, Insightful)
This year has been a huge step forward for Desktop Linux users.
I know that people here frequently complain about things like duplication of effort and forking as things that dilute the impact of Linux and free/open source software on the world. I tend to be of the opposite opinion. You want something geared at the business desktop with good integration and commercial support? Get SuSE. You want something that carries the name of a recognized brand? Get Fedora (yes it is still in many places considered the standard, just look at how many hosting providers provide is as the primary or only platform). You want something different that has a reputation for rock solid stability? Get Debian. You want a user-friendly Debian? Get Ubutnu.
The point is that the diversity is what makes these things possible. None of those things would be done nearly as effectivly under a "one size fits all" approach.
Re:Here is why it is a big step (Score:2)
You want desktop with good integration and commercial su
Re:Here is why it is a big step (Score:2, Informative)
j/k
Re:Here is why it is a big step (Score:2)
Then you get Solaris 10. You didn't specify it had to be Linux...
Re:Here is why it is a big step (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Here is why it is a big step (Score:2, Insightful)
I really don't see a problem here. The majority of what you learn in installing and setting up a linux box is distro-independent. When you add to that the fact that 90% of the desktop oriented distros ship with one of two desktops, there's really very little to distinguish among them for the uninitiated. It's true that newbies may not understand the differences among all the available distros, but they don't need to. All you need to know is to look at the top five or ten distros at distrowatch, and start tr
Desktop/Server/Alternate (Score:2)
Re:Desktop/Server/Alternate (Score:5, Informative)
* creating pre-configured OEM systems;
* setting up automated deployments;
* upgrading from older installations without network access;
* LVM and/or RAID partitioning;
* installing GRUB to a location other than the Master Boot Record;
* installs on systems with less than about 192MB of RAM.
Sounds to me like something that could be invaluable to people not necessarily running the latest and greatest.
Re:Desktop/Server/Alternate (Score:2, Informative)
The alternate CD boots into the old text based installer, and allows more options to be configured.
I don't much care for the desktop method of installing.. it didn't even ask if it was OK to install GRUB, just went ahead and did it.
Re:Desktop/Server/Alternate (Score:2)
Until they fix their disk partitioner to see existing partition, I consider it not ready.
BTW some people said run gparted from the desktop before I run the installer. It doesn't see the partitions either.
Re:Desktop/Server/Alternate (Score:2, Informative)
I still can't... (Score:2)
Re:I still can't... (Score:2)
Re:I still can't... (Score:5, Funny)
Neither. I just went to Ubuntu's web site and wished it boots up really hard. Didn't work.
Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:4, Insightful)
Not that I'm ragging on Dapper Drake; I installed it the first day it came out. But it is being touted as an XP replacement when it isn't. I think it is only a marginal improvement over the last version in terms of ease of use for people who aren't already savvy. The improved theme certainly looks good, but that only goes so far when you are looking to replace XP for normal users. I think the Ubuntu team really needs to rethink leaving out MP3 decoders and regular codec support. Microsoft doesn't seem to have 'licensing issues' when they ship XP with those features, and neither does Apple.
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
Just run the script. Easier than chasing codecs... http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/ [freecontrib.org]
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2, Flamebait)
A dist should still offer to download and install it if it feels putting it on the CD violates their sensibilities in some way.
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:4, Insightful)
On Ubuntu's site, there is an easy and excelent step-by-step walkthrough to get everything to work, as well as an explanation for why they legally cannot include that stuff in the core distro. RestrictedFormats [ubuntu.com]. Another thing I had trouble with is getting midi to work (not sure why that didn't work out-of-the box, but Ubuntu's wiki had good instructions for getting midi files to work too. I downloaded the DVD iso and I must say, the install and desktop experience is the best I've had - Windows or Linux.
They are also in the process of trying to reach a point of automation where getting everything working is as easy as possible while still complying with the law. See RestrictedFormatsProblem [ubuntu.com] and RestrictedFormatsSolutions [ubuntu.com].
And as always, if you want it done faster, feel free to lend them a hand. The solution you propose is being worked out and discussed; for starters you can look here [ubuntu.com]. As far as the law goes, well, the congressional elections are coming soon (if you live in the US) so find out how your incumbent has been voting and get 'em out if you don't agree with how they've been voting on tech issues.
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:4, Informative)
(Also consider it just proof of concept; you might not want to do exactly the same things. For example, it's better (IMHO) to do things the right way [ubuntu.com] than to use automated options like Automatix or EasyUbuntu.)
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
They CAN'T "rethink" MP3! (Score:2)
Of course Ubuntu would have support for MP3 if they were allowed to!
Re:They CAN'T "rethink" MP3! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:5, Insightful)
Bah! Is MS paying these people to write one post like this on every mention of linux progress anywhere?
Dear Sir,
Your post is addressing the needs of a computer user (Grandma). You argue that she could not use Ubuntu Dapper for her computing needs. According to you, she would have problems with the following:
Because this is why she can't switch, I am guessing that you presume she does not know anyone who can help her with that. Fine. And because you argue that this is what makes Ubuntu inapt as an XP replacement, you must be arguing that she em can do all of that on her own with Windows XP.
"Grandma" does not exist, so stop pulling her out. Let's analyse what kind of person Grandma would have to be to fit the description: She is concerned about the performance loss between the nv and nvidia drivers, but unable to follow the three steps documented under "documentation" on Ubuntus webpage to get the nvidia driver. Also, she is completely able to download and install an updated executable from the correct website when she is in Windows. That kind of person does not exist.
I am really sick and tired over these kind of comments. "It is really good, I use it, but I doubt anyone could manage to use it". What you are trying to say, is that not everyone can setup and manage a computer, and maintain a healthy, powerful and updated operating system on it. This is old news. It applies just as much to your favoured operating system (which pshyciatric examination would reveal to be Windows) as Ubuntu Dapper.
As a counter-point, and an exercise to the GP, please do compare the routine of installing office applications on Windows compared to Ubuntu Dapper. Oh, it came pre-installed on Dapper? OK, that's unfair. Then compare installing any other application on Dapper vs. Windows. The ease-of-use for new users is vastly better with Dapper's extremely user-friendly shell over apt-get and dpkg. Windows is more difficult on this much more common task for a newbie than installing custom, 4%-extra-performance-gaining graphic drivers.
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
Sure ! It's absolutely essential to running that spiffy new interface they call Aero, or something.
Beside that, I would not know.
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:5, Insightful)
I could tell, because you highlight "./configure; make install"
In fact, if it was _that_ simple, it would just be "make install", but it isn't.
About clicking the "setup.exe" , well, someone need to tell you to do that. People don't know by default that they need to click that to install. Plus, they can't se the ".exe" in XP, because file extensions are hidden. So they need to click the "setup" file with the flashy icon. And with no help whatsoever, of course. Plus, the CD with the software popped out of nowhere. Or maybe "grandma" went to best-buy and bought the software.
Let's talk a little bit about me. I use Ubuntu, and I didn't use
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I'd be more concerned that they know what this means rather than exactly what to do about it. They need to know that in some situations [insert licensing entity here] is either refusing to avail their 'technology' on this platform, or that they require payment in order to use it. I'd like to see Americans start to gain a greater understanding of the political aspect of technology, and how it affects the choices they have.
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes. That reason: your coworker should not be doing his own installs.
I'm honestly not an elitist - I tease my coworkers about using Windows and they tease me about Linux, but it's all in fun. However, Linux tried for two hours to tell your pal that the graphics card didn't work, and he wasn't willing to believe it until Windows said the exact same thing. That doesn't indicate a flaw with either OS, but rather a serious problem with your coworker.
Did he also get frustrated when Linux wasn't able to find his SCSI drives, and even more so when Windows confirmed that he only had IDE installed?
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
If you need mp3, it's only a part of the installation to get it.
Installing NVidia support, too.
Installing Ubuntu + mp3 + nvidia binary drivers is not harder than installing XP, and least it was for me.
Plus, when installing XP, you then need to install office software, plus some pdf reader, plus AV software, in order to have a usable desktop. Does grandma know how to get those things?
Aside from that, even if lack of mp3 was a real problem, there's no reason w
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
They may "know" it, but the rest of us know they're wrong. Every system needs configuration when you install new hardware or an OS. Most users just use whatever came on their computer; the work has been done for them, but it still had to be done. Windows won't magically work when you put new hardware in any more than Linux will.
"I think the Ubuntu team really needs to rethink leaving out MP3 decoders and regular codec support. Microsoft doe
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
For a long time the argument against MP3 was pretty simple: liscencing fees were expensive. But Fluendo appears to be offering mp3 support in gstreamer free of charge. The on
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:4, Insightful)
whoah... let's kill this "It's not ready for grandma to use" meme... I'm a grandparent and I have absolutely NO problems with Linux at all... If Grandma can follow a recipe in a recipe book, or follow a set of knitting instructions (and I'm pretty sure very few of you could), then she's perfectly capable of following the instructions for doing easyubuntu [freecontrib.org] or automatix [ubuntuforums.org]... although looking at Arnieboy's thread for automatix... even I'm confused... trying to work out where to start with it
and the easy ubuntu page of instructions, while simple, fail to mention that you have to copy and paste each line at a time into a terminal... durr... come on guys... switch on... some people require very explicit step by step instructions to do this...
mind you, recipe books assume a lot of basic knowledge and so do knitting patterns...
Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. (Score:2)
Absolutely right. although I'm not sure Windows should really be the ultimate standard Linux distros are aiming for. "Oh, it's only as bad as Windows" doesn't seem to me to be the kind of motto FOSS people want to live by.
Me experiences (Score:5, Informative)
In a nutshell:
So overall, I'd say, "excellent" on the visuals, apps choices, functionality (so long as wireless networking or network printers are not needed).
IMO, desktop users will be happy. Notebook users will be less than happy.
Re:Me experiences (Score:2)
Not quite sure why you gave it 'excellent' when those important things didn't even work.
Re:Me experiences (Score:2)
Re:Me experiences (Score:5, Informative)
Funny thing there, install networkmanager (and probably the gnome applet to go with it) and a great deal of the complexity goes down. It's surprisingly easy. At least with my ipw chipset. It configured things for WPA or WEP or wide open. It lacks LEAP support and therefore I couldn't use just that and had to do more advanced things, but if you just need wide open, WEP, and WPA support it will make configuring the wireless Windows-easy.
-Remote print support:
I recently wrestled with printing to a windows desktop system with attached printer, but the bad side effect wasn't as you described. In my case, the target windows Box print queue would hang, requiring restart of the windows print spool service. The workaround was to disable bidirectional support under the ports tab of the printer tab on the windows box. At least in my case with an hp printer/hpijs, you can't do the bidirectional support on a windows server, but hplip would support it locally, but that won't help to access a windows printer.
So wireless support they left out the thing that makes it much easier by default (don't understand why), and with that it would have been very nearly perfect there.
Print support to a Windows shared printer was quite evil and obscure google searches were required to figure it out. It was nothing that Ubuntu itself could have done much about, since HPLIP doesn't support remote printing, and HPIJS supports remote printing, but not the bidirectional features. Add to that the only work around is a server-side print config change. However, I imagine this to be a fairly frequent for Ubuntu users and probably should be documented somewhere prominent.
This is useless (Score:4, Insightful)
Saying that, Ubuntu already won me over at Breezy. With the new Gnome 2.14, Dapper is much faster again.
A milestone (Score:3, Interesting)
Good, but... (Score:3, Informative)
Also, after installing Dapper on my computer in one location and then moving to another network, my ability to use DHCP suddenly disappeared! I'm sure I can get it back, by Mac OS X and XP didn't give me any trouble. (Though, to give credit where credit is due, XP died completely, because of a hardware upgrade, which, didn't affect Dapper at all.)
All in all, though, not to be overly negative, I recently set up Dapper on a school development computer and got Apache, PHP, PostgreSQL, and SSH working in a matter of minutes, so, to the developers of Ubuntu, kudos.
Re:Good, but... (Score:5, Informative)
If you're paranoid about your users getting root on the box, physically secure it for a start and deny them shutdown permission (to reboot to the boot menu) you'd be better off...
Re:Good, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't love that, but it's not a big deal for most people. It's certainly not something that should prohibit average desktop users from running Ubuntu. Try holding Apple-S during boot on your OS X machine sometime, it does the same thing.
Besides, if someone really wants your data and has physical access to your unencrypted hard drive, you're screwed anyway.
Re:Good, but... (Score:2)
or he could press e on an option, and specify init=/bin/sh or similar, and boot up directly in a shell. This works on every distro, unless you lock your grub menu.
Repeat after me: if untrustworthy people have physical access to your box, your security by login is basically gone. If you want to secure your data i
MEPIS: (K)Ubuntu with codecs (Score:5, Informative)
MEPIS has recently confirmed the fears of some that Ubuntu is turning into a platform, displacing Debian itself...MEPIS is/was a KDE desktop based on Debian. The founder's concern with the stability and reliability of the Debian base recently led him to base his distro on Ubuntu sources instead.
So now with MEPIS, you get Ubuntu, except that it's KDE default, and it comes with every player (Real, Quicktime) and codec plugin for Kaffeine that can be found. Plus, the general layout of menus and the installer have won good reviews all around.
They're currently a week into beta4 on the new version based on the Dapper base and will likely have an RC1 out by mid-June.
MP3 in Free Distros (Score:5, Informative)
Re:MP3 in Free Distros (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:MP3 in Free Distros (Score:3, Insightful)
I do believe that with Sun's change to the Java license that it is supposed to be included in the next version of Ubuntu. The change c
Re:MP3 in Free Distros (Score:4, Insightful)
"The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Philosophy: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customise and alter their software in whatever way they see fit.
These freedoms make Ubuntu fundamentally different from traditional proprietary software: not only are the tools you need available free of charge, you have the right to modify your software until it works the way you want it to."
emphasis added
Re:MEPIS: (K)Ubuntu with codecs (Score:3, Insightful)
Easy Dual Boot Install (Score:3, Interesting)
All I have to say is: wow! I burned the 'Desktop' CD, booted it up on my Thinkpad R52, and was able to play around in the OS to get familiar with the environment. Once I was satisfied that everything was running smooth (it saw all of my devices, including wireless, with no problem) all I had to do was click on the 'Install' icon on the desktop.
The installer itself was excellent. Like I said having installed other distros in the past this graphical install *in a desktop environment* was excellent. The part that I had dreaded the most was setting up dual boot (I already had XP installed). The installer saw the XP partition (NTFS) and allowed me to resize it and install Ubuntu in the newly freed space (and automatically installed GRUB). This was absolutely beautiful functionality, and I think it will really make a great transitional tool for migrating us lame Windows users over to Linux.
Impressive (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Impressive (Score:3, Insightful)
Good for desktops, bad for certain laptops. (Score:5, Informative)
Just for reference, the forum post [ubuntuforums.org] and the bug report [launchpad.net].
Re:Good for desktops, bad for certain laptops. (Score:2)
FWIW, this isn't just mindless bitching on my part; I'm subscribed to the relevant bugs and have confirmed not only a bug but also a fix (to the fglrx bug in question).
These bugs are grave enough that I have no doubt the Ubuntu folks, with our help, will work on getting the regressions fixe
Re:links? (Score:3, Informative)
It sounds like for all of these regressions enabling the "ati" driver in xorg.conf will fix the major issues. Of course, the problem then is that you're running the ati driver, not the fglrx driver, which actually comes from ATI. (Confusing as hell, I know).
You should see something like this in
Xubuntu (Score:4, Interesting)
Dapper Drake has very good laptop support (Score:2)
I just bought an Acer 5670 Aspire laptop. I had to install the Dapper Drake beta initially as the ATI Radion X1400 high end card wasn't supported by Breezy Badger. The particular Broadcom ethernet wasn't supported either by Breezy Badger. But with the new version, everything works very well.
After hacking FreeBSD and other Linux distros for years I got into a mode where I "just wanted to use" a computer and not have to be continually fooling with it to get an OS and apps to work. Ubuntu has been t
Broadcom Wireless works! (Score:4, Interesting)
No more ndiswrapper, and now I can use the absolutely amazing knetworkmanager!
Re:kubuntu (Score:2)
Re:Pretty nice (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.ublug.org/ubuntu/twinview/twinview-how
I had to put this in the Device section:
Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX 440 AGP 8x]"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "RenderAccel" "1"
Option "DigitalVibrance" "127" #Vary me
Option "backingstore" "true"
#twinview
Option "TwinView" "1"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "31.5-82.0"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "50-70"
Option "MetaModes" "1600x1200,1280x1024; 1280x1024,1280x1024; 1280x1024,NULL; 1024x768,NULL; 800x600,NULL; 640x480,NULL"
Ubuntu has been wonderful compared to other Linux distros. There are still headaches, and I think it's disingenuous to say that it is anywhere near as easy to use as Windows. I gave Dapper (beta 6) to my friend, claiming this. He was happy with the install and was delighted when the first thing he saw was that it had put icons on his desktop for his Windows drive. He clicked on them, and it said "you do not have permission to access this" (because the drives are mounted by root). There was no obvious recourse (the solution being editing
It just really bothers me that literally the first thing he saw on his nice, clean desktop was broken. I have had exactly the same situation in installs on other computers (which is why I knew how to fix it). I sincerely hope this is working in the current release.
I use Ubuntu as my desktop OS, mainly because of Ion3. I love the strength and flexibility of Linux. But I no longer recommend it to those without serious computer experience. Ubuntu is trying very hard, but I think it's gonna take them a couple more years. I know this is the cliche in Linux, "ready for the desktop in five years", and I don't think it will necessarially be that long.
It's just that any OS designed for non-experts needs to do a lot more whole-system novice-user testing.
Re:Pretty nice (Score:2)
Easy Ubuntu is something I've tried a little bit, and seems to work for a lot but I don't know if it introduces a Read/Write NTFS driver or not? What's the easiest graphical way to edit the fstab? Until there's a simple checkbo
Re:Pretty nice (Score:3, Informative)
I'm on a KDE
Re:Gnome is unusable. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:But there are so many bugs...! (Score:3, Informative)
I remember reading at the last minute that Ubuntu decided to add kde 3.5.1 and xorg7.1. Both are only a week or two old. Bad decision.
Ubuntu is much larger than kubuntu so they probably ignored the kde bugs as most of them used gnome.
I find it disturbing but sadly these days all the distro's have these bugs. I found the livecd less buggy then suse's or knoppix so far.
But I need XP for school this summer and I will wait until next fall to install Ubun