It's been almost a week since
Ubuntu 7.10 was unleashed on the world, and to be honest, we're totally loving the Gutsy Gibbon over here at Engadget HQ. It's the Ubuntu we've been waiting for, nearly every element of the OS has been improved. Installation was a breeze, and pretty much everything is slicker, more stable, and easier to use than before. There's really no reason not to load it up on an old PC and try it out, just make sure you enable Advanced Desktop Effects and install a new theme (there are tons of them out there).
We're curious to hear how everyone else is liking it. Let us know in the comments if you've tried it out yet, and if you have, how it's been going.
posted Oct 24th 2007 6:40PM
I haven't upgraded yet. Please tell me the Leopard background wasn't included with it ...
Looks like a Vista back round. Anyways, everyone knows that Linux the the bestest OS in the world. Even better Mac OSX, fan boys.
Looks like Leopard grass (well it is that exact image actually), Leopard's folder icons, and OS X's hard disk icon, married with Vista's glossy bars if you ask me.
"Looks like a Vista back round. Anyways, everyone knows that Linux the the bestest OS in the world. Even better Mac OSX, fan boys."
Wrong. It is the Leopard background. And just because you believe it is the "bestest" OS, doesn't mean it is.
The great thing about linux, is it pretty much looks however you want it to look. It is amazingly customizable. OS X and Windows can't compare.
No matter how customizable it is (and good luck trying to make GTK look like QT and vice versa), the screenshot is like "Look! I can have green wallpaper too!"
That's not the standard look for Gutsy, though. It's someone's choice. Besides, if we're going by this sort of standard of comparison, OS X is just openBSD with some lipstick and less hardware choice.
A totally upgraded operating system and everyone is stuck talking about the wallpaper...awesome
I installed it to mess with, and it looks really good. If I had a windows machine, and I configured WINE, I would use it instead of windows. But since the PPC version isn't as good as x86, ill stick with Tiger (soon to be Leopard) on my iBook.
I have both a mac (PPC) and "Windows" box (Core Duo). Trust me - stay away from Linux for PPC. If you try to install linux apps, alot of them don't work (x86 only). Fortunately, my work gave me a windows box that I now run 7.10 on. The only issue is that I have to develop for Office 07. WINE doesn't support that... So now I spend alot of time trying to figure out how to configure VM Ware to run Office 07 in Ubuntu. It can be done, but not easily.
If you wait a little while, Crossover will probably support 2007.
Can someone post here if they know whether the new Boot Camp will support Gutsy Gibbon? I'm planning a reinstall of my 24" iMac as soon as I get my mitts on an official version of Leopard, and I'd love to try this out when I do. At the very least, I want to put it head-to-head against Leopard on the same hardware.
Although I'm pretty sure I'll stick with Leopard for some of my Mac-only apps, it would be TOTALLY sweet if this can sub-in in a pinch. Maybe I'll put it on a sexy Japanese subnotebook if Apple can't get its #$^(*% act together and release a much smaller pro-level laptop soon. I still think about my old 12" G4 sometimes; Stupid MacBook Pro.
James - Any OS that runs on a PC will run on a mac with boot camp (that includes Ubuntu). You can even get VMWare on Ubuntu (free) and install Leopard in a virtual machine in linux, so you don't even have to restart. Oh, and I'll trade you a 1 GHz iBook for your MBP ;)
@mike - Installing VMware is pretty easy. If you want to spare yourself the licensing fees, just use the free VMware server, there are step-by-step howto guides available. I use VMware to develop using VStudio myself, and so far it works great.
I tried to install it as a small 10gb partition on my laptop, but it would never partition....
Gutsy is amazing. I'm using it as we speak. I installed it the day it came out.
I love the fact that it handles most of the restricted driver stuff, the fact that you don't have to do anything to make it write to NTFS, and the fact that Advanced Desktop Effects are just plain sexy.
I have been using Ubuntu for a few years now. I must say I am very pleased with this release. Wish I had good enough hardware for the pretty graphics, leave it to me to have one of the unsupported video cards.
would i have to know how to use the command line and stuff to use this? Im considering installing it on my old windows desktop but i don't want to have to find out after that i have to type in random commands all the time. is it more streamlined now that it used to be?
I don't believe you need to know anything about command line to get it installed, it was just like any other interfaced install that i have seen lately.
Jeff, you would not need to know the command line to use Ubuntu Linux 7.10 (Gutsy). The installer is graphical, as is every configuration tool. The big improvement in this version, is the graphics driver configuration, if something goes wrong it will use a safe mode like Windows has done for a while.
Network setup is also straightforward, it should pickup any wireless networks and prompt you for the password when you first try to connect. Note that there have been some problems reported about driver support for wireless cards. I'm told intel, broadcom & atheros chipsets will work; others may not.
When you open an MP3 or a movie file for the first time, it will prompt you, then automatically download the codec. I'm using it and I'm most satisfied.
You shouldn't have to use the command line for installation or day to day operations. Actually, you shouldn't need to use it ever.
Ubuntu's install CD is also a Live CD; you can burn it to a blank CD, reboot, and have Linux running from it in minutes. This is good for testing out if it does detect all your devices (which it is REALLY good at).
The goal of ubuntu has always been to make the OS and linux in general more friendly to the people who know nothing about the computer other than, you press the button and it lights up. They've been trying at it for a while, and this version does a good job of keeping you away from the terminal, with drivers and other typically annoying things handled exceptionally well.
All these guys are wrong. Every tutorial on the internet starts out by saying "open a terminal and..."
I've been fighting gutsy since it launched trying to get wine to work.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a total linux noob, gutsy is my first attempt.
I love it. I had been dual booting with Feisty and only used it to mess with as I had never used linux before. I am a convert now. It did take about a week to get to where I could do everything I did in XP, but it's worth it now.
Pros: Definitely speeds up old machines. Free software (legally and easy to update). More eye candy than vista and leopard combined.
Cons: Small learning curve (The beginner will spend a few hours on the forums like me). Having to use command line (although with this edition I've only used it a couple times. Almost everything can be done in GUI now).
Bye bye XP.
"Having to use command line"
The more you use it, the more that'll move into your Pro's list.
Chris: I agree, CLI is a very much a pro. My desktop at work is 2 24" screens. 1 for firefox, the other for terminals.
Ahh, one of my bash scripts just finished, time to get back to doing work. ;-)
Come on. While I do go into the command line quite often in both OSX and WinXP, how could that be a "Pro" feature when all the OSes out there (except for OS9 :p) will let you do that?
rawhead you misread it, "pro" meaning not the feature but the skills. I am also kind of weak in command line/coding but I am trying to improve. When it really comes to it and I can't do squat without GUI, then I can't consider myself a true geek now do I :D?
Been using Feisty with XP via dualboot for a few months now and the only reason i still use XP is that (a) my wife would need a crash course for Linux - she's just settled with XP(no time to do it atm) and (b) the torrenting program i tried wasn't as good as utorrent (lol which i couldn't get to work with WINE). Gutsy looks and sounds much better and I figure I'll be using XP only as an occasional thing come January! I do agree that learning the Terminal only improves you as a tech guy though so I'd not want to lose access to it!
Question???
My secondary pc has Vista (basic) on it. Is there a way to keep vista on it, and all of its programs....yet I would like to partition (its 160gb) a good sized chunk off of it to be used for testing out the "gutsy gibbon". can I do that.....and how?
thanks for any answers.
You can use partition magic to create a new partition on your existing drive. However you gotta be warned that there's a prossibility that the repartioning can corrupt your vista partition - so back up =P
After partitioning, you can choose either using windows or ubuntu boot loader to dual boot your machine. Good luck!
After almost having to re install my vista partition on my gateway (I unchecked the box to install GRUB when I installed Ubuntu - big mistake. I evenutally got it to use Vista's bootloader and dual boot Ubuntu after hours of google searching) the only issue I have been having so far is that it for some reason takes extremely longer to boot up then my windows counter-part.
Also tossed Xubuntu 7.10 on my PS3 and love the fact that NTFS is supported easily now, makes using my external that much better :).
Go to My Computer -> Right Click -> Manage -> Disk Management -> Shrink Volume.
That will resize your partition and give you some free space to try it.
I highly suggest you boot up from CD when you try to install Ubuntu
the ubuntu installer even has a partition thing when you boot off of the cd. just make a 4gig (3gig or more) partition and a 256MB swap partition. it'll tell you how to do it in the installer. it's pretty straight forward
The "partition thing" is called Gparted, it can also be downloaded separately as a an .iso which is put on a Cd as bootable and used to partition hard drives no matter what OS you are using.
PartedMagic is similar to Gparted, I think Gparted was discontinued due to the guy, a monk, who wrote it. I'm not sure if he was a joking or not. Anyway, PartedMagic is pretty much the same thing only a lot more slick.
After almost having to re install my vista partition on my gateway (I unchecked the box to install GRUB when I installed Ubuntu - big mistake. I evenutally got it to use Vista's bootloader and dual boot Ubuntu after hours of google searching) the only issue I have been having so far is that it for some reason takes extremely longer to boot up then my windows counter-part.
Also tossed Xubuntu 7.10 on my PS3 and love the fact that NTFS is supported easily now, makes using my external that much better :).
Actually, I'm pretty disappointed. The 3d effects convinced me to finally try out linux on the desktop again -- I ran Fedora around rev 3 for a while... but after several hours, I still could not get my old Dell D600 lappie to play nice with my external 24" LCD. This is a deal breaker. Admittedly, the install, the desktop on the lappie screen (1400x1050), the installed apps, everything was great... though desktop effects didn't work. Apparently this has to do with the ATI mobility Radeon in my lappie... but still, unacceptable that this lappie has been out for years. Works great in windows. Tried both ATI and open source drivers, hand hacking in the xorg.conf, got frustrated. Back to windows. I also tried the live CD in my should-have-worked-perfect vista box with Intel integrated graphics. Guess what? It couldn't do the resolution properly there either. I played around with the apps, everything is great... but still not there.
err.... you don't mention using ubuntu at all? How can you be disappointed with something you haven't tried?
You want to know why? ATI SUCKS. That's why. They really don't give a shit when it comes to Linux users. If you had an nVidia card you'd easily be able to use their on-the-fly control panel (after getting it through Envy)
just install xgl-xserver with synaptics.... They should really have included it with the installation of the ATI drivers....
i had a problem with my graphics (dell dimension 1100 w/ integrated). after a while of messing around with xorg.conf, i finally decided to delete it. i forgot to restore the backup and just booted normally... to my surprise, it booted right up with 1024x768 resolution.
Hey Ben, I've got a similar ATI card. I got the effects going by firing up 'Synaptics Package Manager' and installing 'xserver-xgl'. Reboot the machine and try to enable the effects once more. I think you're settled.
I'm having the same issues. Anyone find any solutions to this and integrated graphics running slow on the new configuration?
if I use SMP, I get this error:
xserver-xgl:
Depends: libglitz-glx1 but it is not installable
Depends: libglitz1 (>=0.4.3+cvs20050728) but it is not installable
help!!!
I wasn't aware real nerds/geeks used Fischer Price linux.
I wouldn't even think about calling Ubuntu the Fisher Price of linux, that honor is held for Lindows, Linspire... or whatever they are calling it now.
While Ubuntu has a nice sugar coated interface for users, which does allow people new to linux use it easier, it is built around one of the oldest linux distros still around... debian. At the core of Ubuntu firmly rests a rock solid linux core.
You can call Ubuntu whatever you want, but it is the linux distro is getting the "masses" (I use that term lightly) to try and switch over to linux. They are just taking a lot of the guess work out of installing and setting up a linux box while still keeping the power of linux intact.
I personally choose gentoo for my linux needs, but I wouldn't think twice about Ubuntu if the situation called for it (parents or wifes computer for example).
But won't Linux getting a larger market share lead to the decrease in the elitism that most Linux users like to showcase?
It possibly will lose its "elite" status, but in all reality, who cares? This "elite" status and mentality is what has held it back as a major player in the desktop market. Not to mention, that the larger the linux community is, the better linux is.
When I first started using linux, one of the factors defiantly was because it was different and not common. That was only one of the factors though, the other had to do with its stability, the community, free software and I have a urge to constantly learn about anything to do with computers. I just happened to like it and have been using linux as my desktop since 96 (yeah, dating myself here) and as my main desktop at home for the past 6-7 years.
I may have had the "elite" attitude from using linux, but I have only ever explained why I feel linux is a better solution than Windows or MacOS/OSX. I never put anyone down for not choosing, just stating my case why their OS choice may not be the best solution and trying to help nudge them in the direction of at least giving it a try.
Linux is a great OS and I welcome anyone willing to give it a try or switch. I try to do my part to help anyone that needs it and stay away from the "elitests" that get off on making fun of "noobs". Especially since the linux community is what makes it great, the bigger the community, the more work and effort will get put back into making linux the best it can be.
uninformed troll
Spend some time in a Linux forum. You'll realize rather quickly that everyone there (who matters/regularly contributes code) understands the need to get Linux to the desktop for everyday users.
"REAL" nerds/geeks grow their own silicone, machine their own hard drive discs, and carve their keyboard keys from oak or maple !!!
Ubuntu 7.10 is the easiest and slickest distribution so far and I'm glad they bring a version that normal users, even those without any computer knowledge, will be able to use. They've lowered the learning curve for the once hard to use linux into something most people are familiar with. Nevertheless, there are still improvements waiting to be made, for example: I'm having trouble with my video card (ATI M9 rv250) which is experiencing glitches with the OS. I don't think it'll be fixed unitil newer versions of the xorg driver is out.
Just a few short months ago... *sigh*
..the good old days when ATi cards didn't just work.
....actually, I don't miss them.
And Ubuntu Hardy takes the axe to xorg.conf.
...I don't miss that either.
call me a troll and bash me all you want but on my nvidia card and dell system it would not install the right drivers for my card and I couldnt enable advanced desktop effects.
I am still tired of all this command line stuff that has to be done. I am a network tech by trade and I want to come home and get right to the point on my home pc.
To get the right driver I had to use the command line. To install some programs I had to use the command line. Till everything that can be done inside the gui on a mac or windows I will not switch.
You can probably blame that on nVidia (I'm assuming that was your card) as they only have the CLI installer. (at least the last time I checked, they did)
There's a thing called "Synaptic Package Manager" it's a nice GUI and all you should have needed to do to install almost any application was to find it's name in that, tick the tickbox and hit apply.
Installed via Synaptic also ensure that you receive security updates automatically for the package.
There is also the restricted driver manager which should have detected your nvidia card and prompted you to tick the tick box to install it.
The only real reason I got to the command line now is when I need to change my xorg.conf to switch between my TV or my Projector (still no way to swap between svideo or component, or even to select 720p or PAL-B from either the new x config tool, or from the nvidia driver)
You are a network tech by trade and have a problem using the command line? Seriously? If you don't like the command line and you are in the IT industry, you... ummm... need to find a new career before you get your ass fired.
Reading for comprehension might save your life someday, Kurtis. I'll try short sentences for you.
He doesn't like command line. He didn't say he couldn't use it. I'm pretty much the same way. I work all day in IT. When I come home, I'd like a break from that. I'm not at work anymore, so I don't want to feel like I'm working. (The only caveat is that every once in a while, I get that moment of geek pride when I get something working through CLI that wasn't working before, but I'd still rather not HAVE to do that on a home machine.)
Yes, Linux is better than it used to be about that sort of thing. No, Gutsy isn't as good as Linux needs to be in order to be a mainstream OS. I still have to muck around more than I think I should to get stuff to work the way it should.
Like, my wireless still didn't work out of the box in the new kernel, so rather than fix it, I'm just running Gutsy on the last kernel to save myself time because I already shoved the drivers down that kernel's throat and I don't feel like doing it again. And getting mp3 support was not as simple for me as trying to play one, failing, and letting the OS do the job for me; I had to find and install the codec packages myself. A typical home user would not be able to do that, or wouldn't want to bother figuring out what to do. I, on the other hand, never actually plan on playing mp3s on that machine, but when I saw it didn't work, I felt compelled to do something about it.
Plus, the upgrade blew up when the power went out during the hours-long install (it wasn't supposed to storm, but storm it did). I had to bring the machine into work with me and fiddle with command line stuff in my down time for an hour or two just to get it to some semblance of a working order. Not only is this something most home users couldn't do, especially if it was their only machine, it's something I'd wager a majority of tech shops couldn't do without help, and something the places your typical user would take their machine would flat out refuse even to try to do.
Ubuntu 7.10 is a very nice OS compared to old distros of Linux. It is not, however, ready for prime time.
Agreed with Justin. Things like wireless don't work out of the box and multiple monitors are an absolute nightmare. Points for trying but still not on par with OSX /Windows. It'll get there someday, and here's hoping its soon.
@Justin, so what you're saying is Linux snot as good as Mac OS X, because you can't use any particular hardware on it? You can't use that hardware on Mac OS X either, and at least with Linux you can either hack it into working, or it will work eventually. And when things work on Linux, they just work, no driver install required.
You don't need the commandline to install packages. Just use synaptic. Most howtos will just tell you what to type at the commandline because it's a lot easier to tell people to type a certain series of keys than to scroll down three pages, click on this, look at the top bar, see the little button with the arrow on it three icons to the right of the- yeah, you get the point.
Unbutu is a great tool for a PC technician. The fact that you can boot right of a CD and access data on the hard drives can be a life saver sometimes.
But other than that, what is the point really? Why run this as your every day OS? Sure you can run FireFox, and probably some OpenOffice or something like that, but I don't see anyone deleting their XP or OSX partitions quite yet.
The day I can run PhotoShop/Dreamweaver/Outlook/iTunes/etc is the day I consider it (and also the day Pigs fly).
Most of those run okay under Wine nowadays, I think (don't remember which run for sure except that PS definitely does).
Didn't have any problems running the liveCD, but after installing it to a 2.5" USB drive which was lying around, I found out that my laptop only supports booting from USB floppy drives, not HDD/flash drives, so I never got to see Compiz Fusion.
I can definitely see Gusty becoming popular in the budget PC market. Slapping XP/Vista on top of a several thousand dollar machine is pretty insignificant, but even OEM Vista Home Basic could nearly double the cost of a cheapo PC.
"But other than that, what is the point really? Why run this as your every day OS? Sure you can run FireFox, and probably some OpenOffice or something like that, but I don't see anyone deleting their XP or OSX partitions quite yet.
The day I can run PhotoShop/Dreamweaver/Outlook/iTunes/etc is the day I consider it (and also the day Pigs fly)."
I've been using Linux since 1998 because the fragile nature of Windows installs and cryptic error meesages have annoyed me far more than not having a couple Windows/Mac-only apps has. For what I do with a photo editing tool, Gimp is more than sufficient and has made great strides in usability in the last couple years. And I like almost all of the Linux music managers more than iTunes. On Mac it's an ok (though bloated). On Windows iTunes is inexcusably shaky and finicky. And now that Amazon is selling MP3s I don't see any reason to keep iTunes around. I won't get into Outlook vs. Evolution but from what I've heard they're pretty darn close. As for DreamWeaver, if you're really tied to it I could see that being a dealbreaker, but hopefully Adobe will wake up one day and get their act together with regards to Linux compatibility.
-John
Itunes and Outlook were two of the major reasons I abandoned Windows in the first place. Out here in the real world I can count on two fingers the number of people I know with a legal copy of photoshop and I know no one who uses dreamweaver.
Don't get me wrong I understand that a lot of people make their living out of using those two products and obviously for them Linux is not an option at this time. But for the other 99.99% of computer users Ubuntu and the other mainstream distros are finally providing a viable alternative to the locked down expensive world of MS/Apple. I want software which is safe, secure, free to upgrade, endlessly customisable and most importantly free of the DRM restrictions which Messrs Gates and Jobs want to force down my throat.
I wiped my windows partition in 2005 and haven't looked back since. But whatever floats your boat
"The day I can run PhotoShop/Dreamweaver/Outlook/iTunes/etc is the day I consider it (and also the day Pigs fly). "
with the exception of the iTunes part (the new iPods are made not to work with linux), you can do all of that in ubuntu. sure they dont have the same name, but..
1) theyre free
2) they generally run better on older machines (more efficient code)
3) they do the exact same things, just a different interface
the day windows can do more things than linux is the day i ditch linux (and also the day pigs fly)
Haha, I remember when I installed Fedora Core 5 to play with. I think it was about 3 days after that, windows did it's infamous boot-loop (*almost* gets to login and reboots, endlessly), and I remember slamming my fist, cursing bill gates, and walking away. What I came back to was a very happy Fedora. I have upgraded to Fedora 7, and thats what I use now. My XP partition still exists, and still boot-loops. I haven't found the need to go back.
That said, it is a little bit more work to use. I look forward to trying out this version of Ubuntu. I'm on an IBM NetVista I bought off eBay for $50 with a P4 1.6GHz, and 512MB RAM. I also have a crazy gaming rig that I dumped thousands into, and don't use it (I dont even think it's plugged in anymore).
I also like how almost EVERY reply (to trolls even) is respectable and very articulated in THIS page of Engadget. Says something about Linux users (or soon to be Linux users)
That said, how does Gutsy compare to Vista (graphically)? I want some crazy beautifulness. Not that I have used Vista, but my dad does (or did, till we Upgraded to XP), but it was pretty. Didn't do anything, but it was pretty. Somehow I am willing to bet that Gutsy has better driver support than Vista (Vista came on my dad's PC, and came with hardware that Vista had no idea what to do with, PRE-INSTALLED!!)
yah, no photoshop is a pain, however the others have better alternatives in linux anyways (except dreamweaver which runs flawlessy in wine, there's probably something better out there by now anyway. it's been a while since i was in web dev), so who cares.
I'm using Gutsy and it's great, the only issue I have is that dual monitor support doesn't work properly on my laptop's Intel 945 integrated graphics card. What's the name of the theme that's being shown in the screenshot? I want to install it.
"It's the Ubuntu we've been waiting for"
What?!?!?! We're nowhere near Zesty Zebra yet.
I'm waiting for Horny Hippo.
what are the minimum specs to run this new version of ubuntu?
also the the person asking about making your comp a dual boot...yes you can...if you want to keep vista basic and put this on there get a partition manager (gparted is great) make a new partition and stick ubuntu on there...your system will automatically prompt you when you boot and will ask you which OS you would like to use.
Brett, The minimum recommended specs are a 500 MHz x86 processor, 192 MB memory (RAM), 8 GB of disk space, Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution, Sound card, A network or Internet connection.
Desktop effects (bling) will require slightly more. See: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements
Hey Alex
Thanks for replying, much appreciated dude,
Rock On ~
Brett
I like it quite a lot. I've been following and trying out Ubuntu since 5.10 or so, and this is the best one I've tried yet. However, I still can't get satisfactory multiple monitor support with the Compiz Fusion effects, and it's driving me nuts. Configuring the monitors with nvidia-settings really seems to screw things up in relation to Gusty's built in "Screen Resolution" and "Screens and Graphics" applications (these are still separate...argg).
Compiz Fusion is still a bit unstable in some circumstances though the improvements keep coming and I won't be going without it in Linux anytime soon...
Hibernate is still a problem for me and never resumes correctly, forcing a hard shutdown.
Besides these shortcomings, it is a quite capable OS and sufficient for most people. Additionally, most basic system configurations have been made easier to find and use. Though I'm typing this in Gutsy, I won't be switching over just yet, I really need reliable multi-mon and hibernate. I'll be giving VMWare Server a try soon (Free!) to test the viability of running needed windows apps in linux through virtualization.
Overall --> Recommended
Yeah, hibernate is a big issue for me... what's strange is it worked in both Feisty and Edgy without any problem.
Also, wireless could stand to be improved. After returning from hibernate I can't connect to a network. I am pleased with the out-of-the-box broadcom support.
Does WoW run on it?
Yep, many people are running WOW under Ubuntu and linux in general.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WorldofWarcraft
Yes, according to the Wine application database: http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iAppId=1922
Be warned that Wine is not really integrated into Ubuntu, so you may need to get your hands dirty on the command line for this. A quick search reveals some promising articles: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=linux+world+of+warcraft
Alex
Yes with crossover :)
I didn't have to use the command line for running and installing wine...haven't since dapper..
you can install it from the synaptic program manager..
I've been playing COD2, Half-Lfe2, goldeneye source, doom3 on my laptop for awhile now with no command line workings..
installed wine (in synaptic), then choose the setup.exe with the right button, select "open with.." and put "wine" into the "other" catagory's custom command..works like a charm!
I know this is delving to the command line, but it's the easiest and quickest way to do it. (There is a GUI method, but I'm not walking you through it.)
From: http://winehq.org/site/download-deb
Open a terminal and paste:
wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list
When it's done, go to add/remove and search for Wine. Install. It will also update when a new version comes out.
I feel that it runs quicker and smoother, however i still cannot get compiz to work even though it came bundled with the operating system, nor would it work with 7.04. This is very frustrating for me! otherwise it looks and feels the same as 7.04.
I think its pretty good, I couldn't get sound working on my laptop with an upgrade however, I had to do a full reinstall.
Other than that it works really good, boots faster than feisty(took forever to load my nvidia drivers when booting).
Everything else is more or less the same as feisty.
I performed a clean install on a spare partition on my Feisty machine (Athlon 2100, Nvidia 440MX).
First impression very good - it actually detected my Bluetooth adaptor and could see my phone & Palm. They don't seem to be able to connect though.
Out of the box, it gives me a gruesome 60Hz refresh rate. Linux has always done that to me, regardless of machine or monitor. I always find it a pig to fix cos I'm not an X wizard in the config files and Ubuntu never gives me the options I'm looking for in the GUI. I guess this is less & less an issue these days with most folks using LCDs.
However if I turn on the Nvidia accelerated drivers & reboot, I get no window decorations and the machine hangs within a minute or two. The Nvidia drivers are working fine in Feisty and I had Beryl working in Edgy Eft so I know it's not entirely my machine.
As of yet I haven't had the time to try and fix things but it's kinda disappointing. I've got a friend who really rates the new SUSE - might give that a try.
I could not get Ubuntu 7.10 to install with my new Nvidia graphics card. When I installed it in safe graphics mode, 7.10 would not let me share files with my WIndows XP machine. PCLinuxOS installed with perfect graphics just fine and all networking features worked perfectly without any tweaking required.
I still like PCLinuxOS the best of the many distros I have tried.
7.04 was my first Ubuntu, and I'm kind of annoyed that they've dumbed down the desktop effects settings. There used to be checkboxes for jiggly windows and rotating cube effects. Now you have three choices: none, some, or all. No explanation of what's included in each. The cube effect is gone, which doesn't bother me. But they also got ride of the hotspot for Scale, the exposé-alike program. I used to be able to click in a corner of the screen to activate it. Now I have to press, and hold, shift+alt+up. Supposedly I can fix this in gconf-editor or whatever (looks like the registry editor in Windows...who thought that was a good idea?), but the keys i have to edit have cryptic names and look nothing like what I've found in what little documentation I can find (giving your program a name as generic as "scale" makes it nearly impossible to Google). So...any tips for a newbie?
You can get that back easily. Just install compizconfig-settings-manager (click System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager, then search for it or use apt-get). Once installed, it shows up under Syste->Preferences as advanced desktop effects.
Look for the compizconfig-settings-manager package in Synaptic. Install it and then run ccsm in a terminal.
awesome! thanks, guys.
If there was a way to run directX on linux could you play windows games on it? Ive only ever used windows but it has always been irritating and if I could play games on ubuntu I would'nt use xp.
Not all games work, in fact, not many work. Only the big games seem to work, which makes sense since more work will go into getting them to work.
Linux uses a program called WINE, it is not a emulator for Windows, but allows you to run Windows based programs in linux.
Ubuntu forums and wikis would have information on getting specific applications to run.
I have not heard much about it as of lately, but there was some work porting Direct X over to linux. Not sure where that project stands and with Direct X being upgraded for Vista, not sure how that would affect it process.
To learn more about WINE, head over to http://www.winehq.com
And there's also a commercial (yet inexpensive) environment called Cedega, made especially for games, and it rocks... It runs some of my Windows games even faster than Windows (for instance Warcraft3, Half-Life2)
I'm using Ubuntu Studio 7.10 since the day it got released. Very happy, it's cool not to have to go through all the hassle of preparing it to be an audio workstation
I love it! Huge improvements over Feisty Fawn, and I thought that was a great version! If it weren't for several Windows only programs (that unfortunately won't run well in WINE) that I need for school and work, I would completely wipe my XP partition. Ubuntu became my default OS at 7.04, and this version only served to solidify that for me!
7.10 caused me a lot of problems in the beginning with the splash, but that was remedied with a bit of googling and ubuntuforums
the compiz fusion, no need to modify any Xorg configurations, install restricted drivers, and then enable it, and it worked.
the new alsa drivers helped to, my speakers and headphones work now.
better than vista, go ubuntu, ubuntu rocks
@Jesse S.
I have used many different distributions of Linux including Gentoo, Mandriva, Sourcemage, Fedora, and Ubuntu. They have all had pros and cons, but overall I have actually enjoyed using Ubuntu the most so far. A lot of times it is nice to be able to just plug in a new piece of hardware (webcam, bluetooth keyboard/mouse etc..) and have it work, no googling, no forum searching, no compiling drivers from scratch. That allows me to spend more time on important things, such as school, work and spending time with my kids.
Ive been a Fedora Core 6 user for about a year now, which was my first foray into Linux. It is great for my laptop, which I wasnt ever going to game on anyway, except for one small thing - wifi. Getting wifi to work was always a hassle. So my question - how does Gutsy compare? I was already thinking of going to Ubuntu, I'm just curious as to whether there have been gains made in this department. Can I plug a card in and go, or is it still command line-based?
It's not bad. I like PCLinuxOS better, but it's an improvement for Ubuntu.
I love it!!! It's great! It had a quick install on my laptop and made my xp look so OLD! :) Go Ubuntu!
@schtum: To tweak the Compiz-Fusion settings, you need to install the compiz-settings-manager (it's called something like that). Then you'll have a Preferences menu entry and options in the Appearance Dialogue to customise it. The cube's still there, but a couple of plugins (like Scale and 3D windows for the cube) seem to have disappeared.
I grabbed the x86_64 beta a week before the release (too impatient) and there are some really nice improvements over Feisty - Xgl and Compiz by default, no messing around to get the wireless working and improved settings (the new Appearance dialogue is so much better now that it's been centralised). Only problem I have is that my battery life has been cut from three hours to two, but that isn't too big a problem.
Can't wait to see what Hardy Herron's like.