Edgy Eft Knot 2 Released

Klaidas writes "The Ubuntu project has released a second Knot CD — an alpha version of Edgy Eft. Notable new features include a new 2.6.17 kernel, Gnome 2.16 beta 2, Firefox 2.0b1, OpenOffice.org 2.0.3 and much more. It is availible for download on Ubuntu's image server. The final stable version is still slated for release in October 2006."

ubuntu is by far the leader

[legoburner]

Ubuntu is now the leading choice for linux by quite a margin [distrowatch.com]. Us poor gentoo users languish in 10th place :(

Re:60 days?

[EvilIdler]

They did it with 6.06. Of course, there were problems that needed fixing in a swift patch,
and some systems didn't boot (mine included!) without knowing yer stuff ;)
So yeah, the Ubuntu developers are definitely a wee bit optimistic.

Still lacking the x86_64 / i686 multiarch support

[Anonymous Coward]

Other distributions like Fedora, Mandriva, etc. have the feature of installing both 32 and 64 bit libraries, so you can compile for either one using your compiler -m switch. Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) has a lot of these dual libraries missing (like the 32-bit libXcursor.so that prevents google-earth from running on Dapper64, or even wrongly linked, like the /usr/lib32/libGLU.so linking to a 64 bit version. They need to fix this in order to appeal to the cutting edge users.

Still not that impressed!

[bogaboga]

While the whole world seems to be very impressed with Ubuntu and its derivatives, I am still to be impressed after having tried it for about three weeks. I will however give credit where it is due. For one, package management seems to be very much improved.

What still bothers me is the fact that in Ubuntu's GNOME file selector interface, I cannot simply paste a URL and have the program open the referenced document. It is also incredibly ugly for me...why? In KDE, this is possible but the fonts and general look are very ugly and are already starting to look ancient.

Multimedia on the web is still a big hassle. Even for sites that offer RealPlayer streams, GNOME's RealPlayer, even if installed cannot grab the stream by default!

The help system is still very wanting. Some have even told me it does not exist. Assumptions are made that everyone can go online and get the neccessary help. But what happens when you are on the road with no internet connection? Windows beat Linux on this.

Before I get modded down for what some will call trolls, I will stop here but I agree that Ubuntu and Linux still have a long long way to impress folks like me.

Re:"Edgy Eft"? Seriously?

[SamSim]

Thanks for those comments, everybody above me. Now for the ACTUAL explanation.

In Terry Pratchett's book Strata there is a race called the "Ehfts". They are short fluffy things IIRC which nobody can quite understand. The quote is "Everybody thought Ehfts were funny, and nobody knew what Ehfts thought of anything". They get seen doing boring menial work, like sweeping floors. An Ehft computer is a room full of Ehfts, each one handling part of the mathematics. And Ehft books are very long strings with knots tied in them encoding the story. You read them by feeling your way along the string and feeling each knot. In the book, the protagonist, Kin Arad, "signs" an Ehft's book by tying a personalised knot on the end.

Strata features a sort of proto-Discworld in it. It's not a Discworld novel and the disc world featured is not the same one in the Discworld novels, but they are very much along the same lines. I like the novel, to be honest, I think it's a fun read. Ditto The Dark Side Of The Sun, which is Pratchett's other pre-Discworld scifi book.

Thank you and goodnight.

Re:good 4 everyone

[Adelbert]

I agree, for a single user, "sudo" is kind of useless. However, if you have a large number of users, sudo is a godsend.

In the standard Linux/Unix setup, you have a lot of users with minimal control of the system, and one "superuser" (root) who can do anything. This all-or-nothing setup is inherently risky, and a bit outdated.

With sudo, a good sysadmin can use the "sudoers" file and select which users can do what. They can change this quickly and easily, and make groups and so on sans hassle. Users cannot, for security reasons, be given the root password. They can, however, just be asked to re-enter their own password to verify that it is in fact them.

In short, sudo is a masterful idea. Also, it allows for some rather funny cartoons [xkcd.com].

As a Windows user...

[NeuroManson]

I welcome our Ubuntu overlords. But seriously. As far as something that can allow the average Windows user to get a taste, or even build experience in using the Linux OS, this is the best way to go.

For one, you can use the live CD to figure out how to get Linux to do everything you want, without making major changes in your existing setup.

With luck (and perhaps a determined developer base), by the time Vista shows up to ream all of us Windows users in the ass, Ubuntu (and subsequent imitators) will be "general public" ready, so we at least have some options.

Separated by a common language, but don't show it.

[The Monster]

I understand how we've got different pronunciations for vowels, which tend to shift all over the place. (Oy rally do.)

I even get how a bloke might have to change a tyre on his lorry, maybe open the bonnet and fiddle with the carburettor to get the thing working, so he can pop over to some bird's flat to knock her up. Then he could find he's required to step outside so he can put a flaming fag between his lips and suck on it... because of the Anti-Smoking Nazis (pronounced either way).

Now, can you explain 'leftenant'?

But this is what got my attention:

One of the many things people have complained about is Ubuntu's fairly plain splash loading screen, as well as all the "scary text" scrolling by.

Ever since Windows 95 and the window floating in the clouds, with the pulsating blue bar across the bottom of the screen, the conventional wisdom has been that users are 'scared' by words during the boot. Anyone suffering from logophobia needs to seek professional help, not have enablers writing software for them.

I am reassured by those text messages, and should one of them fail, I damnwell want to know which one it was. Of course, that might just be because I'll do something about it, rather than freak out about the computer being borked.

Fair And Balanced?

[magicnumber]

Interesting how the Slashdot editors judge an alpha release of Ubuntu worthy of a front page story, whereas the broken-X-when-updating fiasco of a couple of weeks back was conspicuous by it's absence.

Very interesting indeed..