So how are you liking Ubuntu 7.10?

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.

[paloooz @ Oct 24th 2007 6:42PM]

I haven't upgraded yet. Please tell me the Leopard background wasn't included with it ...

[SteveMB @ Oct 24th 2007 6:45PM]

Looks like a Vista back round. Anyways, everyone knows that Linux the the bestest OS in the world. Even better Mac OSX, fan boys.

[Ireland @ Oct 24th 2007 8:18PM]

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.

[derek @ Oct 24th 2007 8:06PM]

"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.

[Marduk @ Oct 24th 2007 9:40PM]

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.

[kL @ Oct 25th 2007 4:30AM]

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!"

[Tim @ Oct 25th 2007 11:08AM]

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.

[stephen @ Oct 25th 2007 11:39PM]

A totally upgraded operating system and everyone is stuck talking about the wallpaper...awesome

[thethirdmoose @ Oct 24th 2007 6:45PM]

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.

[mike @ Oct 24th 2007 8:17PM]

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.

[thethirdmoose @ Oct 24th 2007 8:55PM]

If you wait a little while, Crossover will probably support 2007.

[James Yopp @ Oct 24th 2007 9:30PM]

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.

[thethirdmoose @ Oct 24th 2007 9:37PM]

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 ;)

[Rknall @ Oct 25th 2007 4:32AM]

@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.

[Hiram @ Oct 24th 2007 8:48PM]

I tried to install it as a small 10gb partition on my laptop, but it would never partition....

[willsergent @ Oct 24th 2007 6:48PM]

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.

[Eric @ Oct 24th 2007 6:48PM]

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.

[Jeff @ Oct 24th 2007 6:52PM]

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?

[Josh @ Oct 24th 2007 7:03PM]

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.

[Alex Willmer @ Oct 24th 2007 7:21PM]

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.

[Justin @ Oct 24th 2007 9:07PM]

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).

[John @ Oct 24th 2007 10:20PM]

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.

[Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Oct 25th 2007 5:52PM]

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.

[Darren S @ Oct 24th 2007 6:53PM]

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.

[Chris @ Oct 24th 2007 8:15PM]

"Having to use command line"

The more you use it, the more that'll move into your Pro's list.

[SuperQ @ Oct 25th 2007 2:25AM]

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. ;-)

[rawhead @ Oct 24th 2007 9:39PM]

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?

[quahogian @ Oct 24th 2007 10:41PM]

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?

[bugmat @ Oct 25th 2007 10:23AM]

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!

[Murc @ Oct 24th 2007 6:55PM]

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.

[Justin @ Oct 24th 2007 7:03PM]

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!

[Jason @ Oct 24th 2007 7:04PM]

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 :).

[Jason @ Oct 24th 2007 7:05PM]

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

[DarkAardvark @ Oct 24th 2007 11:43PM]

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

[dhughes @ Oct 25th 2007 1:14AM]

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.

[Jason @ Oct 24th 2007 6:55PM]

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 :).

[Ben @ Oct 24th 2007 6:58PM]

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.

[wolf08 @ Nov 6th 2007 5:19PM]

err.... you don't mention using ubuntu at all? How can you be disappointed with something you haven't tried?

[kev @ Oct 24th 2007 9:24PM]

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)

[Ayle @ Oct 24th 2007 9:28PM]

just install xgl-xserver with synaptics.... They should really have included it with the installation of the ATI drivers....

[DarkAardvark @ Oct 24th 2007 11:43PM]

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.

[DFreeze @ Nov 1st 2007 3:37AM]

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.

[Ted @ Oct 25th 2007 11:57AM]

I'm having the same issues. Anyone find any solutions to this and integrated graphics running slow on the new configuration?

[Joey @ Nov 2nd 2007 5:09PM]

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!!!

[Jesse S @ Oct 24th 2007 6:58PM]

I wasn't aware real nerds/geeks used Fischer Price linux.

[zargon @ Oct 24th 2007 7:13PM]

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).

[Jesse S @ Oct 24th 2007 7:36PM]

But won't Linux getting a larger market share lead to the decrease in the elitism that most Linux users like to showcase?

[zargon @ Oct 24th 2007 7:52PM]

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.

[newgalactic @ Oct 24th 2007 7:53PM]

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.

[Fyrewerx @ Oct 24th 2007 8:53PM]

"REAL" nerds/geeks grow their own silicone, machine their own hard drive discs, and carve their keyboard keys from oak or maple !!!