Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 launched into beta, our hearts
By Thomas Ricker 
posted March 21st 2008 4:10AM
posted March 21st 2008 4:10AM
posted March 21st 2008 4:10AM
powered by gdgt
Canonical Ubuntu 12.04
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> Ubuntu's quaint, alphabetical naming convention.
Engadget FTL!!! Shame on you. Let me fix this:
> Ubuntu's quaint, Alliterative Alphabetic Animal naming convention.
You broke my heart. Snark harder.
Ah. Your fix gave me a much better name for Ubuntu 8.10:
Illiterate Ibex!
Meh, it's just another iPho... I mean OS X Copy.
I mean, can't anyone but Apple make something inventive?!
Uh... seriously?
Maybe you're too busy focusing on what's going on right now. Look into how each of the OS's have developed and you'll see that *nix has contributed a ton of innovation to the desktop. If you want an example that means something right now, look at Compiz. This hit way before Vista's effects, and now companies are selling you applications that will give you the 3d cube in Windows.
Jesus I thought I'd make it all the way to the bottom without reading about some apple fanboy crap. Thanks for ruining that.
Sorry that linux doesn't charge a huge premium for pretentious cool. Sorry that programs are free for linux and that every single motherf*cking program for linux isn't preceeded by a lowercase i.
@MBS
Since your comment has made it apparent that you do not know this, but OS X is based on the Mach kernel which is what BSD, but is really close to all *nix's. In fact, OS X would be nothing with out *nix and the open source community behind it. Apple used and hid behind the BSD licensing system to take work from the open source community and use it and sell it.
Haha I love it how you all thought I was serious... It was a gentle poking-fun of all those commenters that just have to post that every single phone or pmp is just an iPhone clone.
@MBS: Idiot.
Amol said: "Wah-wah-wah, I'm a whiny baby!"
Enjoy ubuntu, the windows of linux.
pop in the disk and just click install!!
when you are ready for a real distro that doesn't come with the child seat attached, http://gentoo.org
I am an Ubuntu user and have given more than a passing thought to doing a Gentoo install. The problem with Gentoo is that it requires you to have another computer right next to the one you are installing on so you can continuously look up some esoteric piece of documentation.
To give an example, got to screenlets.org and look at the instructions for installing with Ubuntu (download the .deb, click to install) versus Gentoo (about 2 pages of terminal commands).
I think I'll stick with Ubuntu, or maybe I'll give Linux Mint a spin...
# links gentoo.org
there, you just got a second term where you can read the handbook.
only 1 machine required. honestly the only reason i use linux is to play with it, ubuntu is boring because it just works out of the box, just like windows, there is no fun in that. ubu gives me less of what i need (gaming and whatnot) while I greatly enjoy just playing with gentoo to make it work how i like. unfortunately, once it doe work, i stop using it...
sorry guys, i much prefer vista as my day to day OS. oh right, i also have gentoo on my 2 servers, both headless.
i typed alt+f2 on the top of my previous post, yet it didn't show up...
Ubuntu is no where near the Windows of linux. Linspire and a few others are the Windows of linux.
Ubuntu has done a really good job of using linux tools and thought process to make it easier for more people to try and use.
Other distros like Linspire have completely sugar coated the distro to make it more Windows like in the hope to get the Windows users.
Gentoo is what I run at home and while it is a little more difficult to install than other distros like Ubuntu, the new GUI makes it easier.
The links method works good and while it does require another computer, I actually prefer the remotely accessing it via SSH.
I ran gentoo for several years. Primarily because it could be better optimized to the hardware I was using at the time.
With x86_64, that advantage is pretty much gone.
Another advantage of gentoo was that it used to have recent versions of software available very quickly, and it was easy to pick certain pieces of software that you wanted to install the bleeding edge versions of.
Unfortunately with the decline of the gentoo foundation and the community a lot of this advantage was lost as well.
In the end, what finally made me move away from gentoo was the long downtimes required when some application broke because of an update and you had to recompile it. Just recompiling the one application was bad enough, but most of the time it broke because of some upstream library requiring you to recompile several large libraries first.
Got it, loaded it on my 160gig drive, and played.
Wow. Pretty stable for a beta..... open office loads fine, streaming stuff seems to work.... and is it just me or is this a tenth the beast Vista is? Memory usage so low.... sure its not using all 8 gigs but low.
Will my wireless drivers actually work this time?
I've seen a lot of comments here debating the legitimacy of Linux as an operating system as compared to Mac OS X and Windows. Neither of these systems is inherently a "better" system for the world, Linux is great for servers and high-end workstation computing, Windows is the platform for most business activities and gaming, and Mac is for media creation and home use.
That said, I use all three operating systems on a regular basis, and I really cannot justify not using a Mac as my main machine (I do a lot of media stuff though). Windows can really be a pain, even when you know what you are doing, but it is really the platform to use for games. And Linux... well, that's a different story.
A lot of people have mentioned that it's not the fault of Linux for having trouble with certain hardware, saying that it is the fault of device manufacturers for not providing Linux drivers. True as this may be in theory, this explanation does nothing to help the less computer-savvy part of the market that can't tell the difference between Google and the internet. They are simply going to want their computer to work. They are not going to find solace in blaming device manufacturers for their computer not working. They are not going to use a complicated string of terminal commands to enable their wireless card. They are not going to buy a machine based on how Linux compatible it is. And they sure as heck are going to be pissed off when they find that they can't run any of their applications without a crazy amount of hackery/magic/good luck. Linux is fine for those who know what they are doing, unfortunately, we are the small minority. Until either device manufacturers decide it is economically feasible to develop Linux drivers, or the Linux community makes it much easier to find the exact driver for your device and install it without a hassle, Linux will remain a tool for geeks only.
As much as I would like to see more people using Linux, there are just a few too many issues for most people to deal with right now.
Well said. Whatever floats your boat. The only losers in this battle is the people who hate on everyone else choices. Rep your OS but don't be a dick about it and maybe you'll bring more people toward your side.
Sweet, a new Ubuntu release on my 21st b'day (no, really)!
Now I can upgrade my Linux installation while getting totally smashed.
Haha... friends don't let friends root drunk...
I always love the comments about how Ubuntu is somehow not as legitimate a version of Linux as perhaps Gentoo or Debian. Personally I think there is room for a variety of versions. People have different tastes and interests. I like the fact that Ubuntu makes certain things easy for me. I like to spend my time using my computer, not trying to make is usable, but hey that's just me. Other people like spending all their time configuring things, and if that is you then by all means spend your time with Gentoo. And still there are others like my Dad how can barely work Windows. As long as there are different kinds of people there are going to be different kinds of operating systems. Be happy there is choice, and that someone makes one for you.
Let me start off by saying I do like the IDEA of Linux. Unfortunately, I don't think the IDEA is carried out in practice as well as it could be. Open source has many pros but also has some cons. Amongst those cons is the problem of numerous branches off, and in Linux's case, far too many: http://kde-files.org/CONTENT/content-files/44218-linuxdistrotimeline-7.2.png
I don't want to sound like I am against Linux, I am not at all, I just wish they would sort of combine efforts more when it comes to OS/drivers. It's like too much effort gets spent "reinventing the wheel" so-to-speak, that effort which could be better applied to aspects such as WiFi/Bluetooth/ATi/Mono.
This is where I like how Microsoft, in the PC world, can concentrate (somewhat) efforts on their future products because they don't have to worry about branching off into several different "distributions" of their product (more like taking the highest SKU and removing features to make others, but that's another issue entirely). The only issue MS has to really worry about is hardware drivers but since many people use Windows (and mostly every lay person does) the manufacturers will definitely continue to pump out Windows drivers.
I'm not going to comment on Apple in detail since this isn't really the article for that, I'll just say that Apple's situation is a fortunate one for them because they only have to support a limited hardware configuration. They can easily put on the "well, if it doesn't work on your non-Mac x86, we don't give a shit" type of air and the mac fanatics will continue to provide driver after hack to make it work (not that it's a bad thing at all, I admire that).
As for the person who commented (seemingly negatively) about the .NET platform, I think you are thinking about it in a too MS-centric (read: Windows) way. Yes, it is developed by Microsoft and yes some of the parts do revolve around Windows API, but look at it in a more general sense: a Java-replacement. .NET does not intend to kill cross-platform but actually provides a great way to enhance the current situation of cross-platform development. Yes, you can use Java as it is now, but Java does not offer you the performance to write certain types of applications and the UI themes still look a bit old and do not blend in.
Now take a look at the Mono project, which intends on bringing the .NET platform to Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows (of course). While the Mono project is still a bit (ok a good bit) behind the current MS .NET framework, it is a great concept that I hope gets realized into a viable platform for the future. Once WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) gets included (emulated) into Mono, things will be really awesome for cross-platform development IMO. If you want to know what I mean, try writing a network application for both Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, you'll soon get pretty frustrated. Having a common language that could be used to make a program, with excellent performance, in ANY OS would be a blessing.
Back to Ubuntu, I think it's a great OS that sort of "puts a face" on Linux to the general public (read: people who aren't exactly computer savvy). I almost think of it like the elections here in the US, before we narrow it down to two or three candidates the general public seems pretty dim about all of them, but once we get it down to Hillary/Obama, then people start to know alot more between the two. The point? If people (your lay people) only have to focus on "Ubuntu" rather than every other distribution, Linux will get more popular. Not that I am saying that Ubuntu is the best distro at all, it is just the most "charismatic" at the moment. :)
I'm not a fanboy of any of these companies in particular, I just look at concepts not emblems or brand names. Yes, I have an iPhone, iPod, and Apple TV but I run Windows XP/Vista/Ubuntu on my PCs and I have Vista/Leopard on my laptop.
For anyone looking into trying this BETA and currently has the previous version running on a LAPTOP, wait till version 8.x is complete. The wireless capabilties are currently mashed basically, just wait till it gets the attention it needs. Although it is great to see a BETA out.
ubuntu....I love you...
Hi all just loaded hardy heron on my hard drive, first noticed that it took a long time to install (laptop evo n1000c). Upon booting to it, I was thrilled that it took just over a minute to load (gutsy took eternity). For more pleasure it loaded all my drivers and screen resolution was great. Updated from beta stuff and so far so good. A few negs is that I don't like the mozilla history (when you click the down arrow) get lots of large text. Both my internal ethernet and my net gear worked with not problems. Too bad automatix is gone for this version (but I do wish the guys at that site great fortune in their new endeavours). I had one problem after update the update manager crashed.. so I filled in a report and am sure that will be fixed. Upon this initial evaluation, I am very pleased and can't wait for the final release (I have 2 other computers waiting for it).