Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 available for download

Don't act like you didn't have April 24th circled in your day planner -- heck, you probably stayed up all night hoping Hardy Heron 8.04 would be launched as the 24th dawned in Australia. Regardless of your level of fanaticism towards the OS, the latest flavor of Ubuntu is finally ready for mass consumption. You know what's waiting for your torrent manager right down there, so why on Earth are you still reading rather than downloading? Get!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in, image courtesy of doninside]

[slarity @ Apr 24th 2008 8:49AM]

I really gotta jump on linux and give it another go.

[horizontaleight @ Apr 24th 2008 8:53AM]

There is nothing better than Ubuntu to get started...

[bondsbw @ Apr 24th 2008 8:56AM]

Agreed... I think you'll be impressed by the Compiz engine (Advanced Desktop Effects), if you haven't used it before.

[Thomas Tetter @ Apr 24th 2008 9:15AM]

They've finally added Wubi to the standard Ubuntu ISO. Wubi makes running Ubuntu for Windows users extremely easy. In fact, Wubi is what got me hooked on Ubuntu back last fall.

If you're thinking of trying out Ubuntu again, then now is defnitely a good time to do it.

Wubi FAQ - http://wubi-installer.org/faq.php

[afluriach @ Apr 24th 2008 9:23AM]

Yeah I'm using Ubuntu right now. Been without m$ for a few weeks. Everything on my laptop works fine--oh and the shell is a lot of fun once you learn how to use it.

[maty @ Apr 24th 2008 9:48AM]

I'd personlly give Mandriva a go if Ubuntu had your head going in circles before; much easier for beginners (has a super-easy GUI for ndiswrapper and picked up my graphics drivers/installed compiz and all I had to do was select it from the menu. And Ubuntu wouldn't even load past the GRUB menu)!

Ubuntu's good, but its jumping in a bit at the deep end, I found. Then again, others might have different experiences.

[fred @ Apr 24th 2008 9:52AM]

Ubuntu is ok. Doing all of the "basic" stuff like Word processing, web surfing, and simple photo editing, are no problem.

If your needs go beyond that, and you dont have the stomach for command lines, editing source.list files, and getting the runaround from the package manager or hit-or-miss online help, then stick with what you've got. Compiz is fun for a minute, but not enough of a reason to go into this cocky and act like this is going to be a cakewalk.

And yes I do use Linux currently on 3 PCs.

[JerkfacedFed @ Apr 24th 2008 10:40AM]

Cool feature, at first I didn't understand the point of Wubi because I thought you still used Grub. Allowing Ubuntu to show up in the Windows Boot Manager is pretty slick. I actually havent tested 8.04 yet even though its been in beta for a while. Gonna give it a try in a VM to test out the new features.

[OneLove @ Apr 24th 2008 11:23AM]

I will be hard installing something called, "Ubuntu Hardy Heron" but i will give it a try. (...who comes up with these names?)

[tekdemon @ Apr 24th 2008 1:30PM]

I think with Linux you either gotta embrace the insane command lines and constant internet searching (for solutions to whatever insane problem arises), and occasionally a little it of your own detective work when you encounter problems that nobody else has been able to figure out (at least no obvious solutions from googling), or just not dive into it. Because honestly, sooner or later you'll run into some insane problem or another, and just assuming you can stay in a pretty GUI isn't going to happen.

And I've been using various Linux installs since Mandrake 6 (they started at version 5.1 so 6 is pretty ancient). I actually bought it in a retail box too, lol. Man...6 had some serious issues with how "easy" it was to get X Windows working.

Oddly enough, I think it's less frustrating to just go learn the command lines and files to edit yourself than to run into inexplicable errors in an "Easy to use" gui.

But seriously, unless you're on limited hardware or running a server I don't really think most linux installs are neccessary at all for a home user. Running linux just to feel like you're a hardcore computer nerd is stupid.

[Aprime @ Apr 24th 2008 1:57PM]

I hate myself because I keep reading it 'Hardy Hardon'.

[Will H. @ Apr 24th 2008 8:38PM]

I've been using Ubuntu for a while, and I've been using 804 since the alphas, and it's been improved very much.

I have to say, I really think 804 is a GREAT distro, and certainly worth a look at, even if you just play with the liveCD. Have fun!

[Joseph @ Apr 24th 2008 8:49AM]

Yawn!

[Andir3.0 @ Apr 24th 2008 8:52AM]

... yet it was apparently interesting enough for you to post.

[Joseph @ Apr 24th 2008 8:55AM]

My comment is what made it interesting

[Pochi @ Apr 24th 2008 9:08AM]

@Joseph

It really was.

[Scott @ Apr 24th 2008 8:52AM]

I'll be installing this on my Eee tonight. Xandros Xanblos

[Byrdman @ Apr 24th 2008 5:13PM]

do you know if it will work out of the box? ubuntu 7.10 was a pain to install on the eee without any tweaks. i just hope they did what Mandriva did and made the new release work without any tweaks

[Gav @ Apr 24th 2008 8:55AM]

It's actually been available for over a day now, it's just they didn't update the download page. If you clicked the link for the RC version, you got the final version.

Looks interesting anyway :D

[the tansman @ Apr 25th 2008 9:54PM]

well aren't you cool!

[MeatyPi @ Apr 24th 2008 8:55AM]

Yes! I love heron, especially hardy ones, so this is perfect for me.

[Pochi @ Apr 24th 2008 9:53AM]

That pie is disturbing on several levels. But your comments are good. I am so torn.

[Raheem @ Apr 24th 2008 8:58AM]

I had Ubuntu on my laptop for a day or two (I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about). I found I couldn't install most things?

[Graham @ Apr 24th 2008 9:02AM]

Thats because "most things" like your standard *windows* programs such as Photoshop, iTunes, etc. dont run under linux normally. Hence the reason you can purchase software for macs and pcs, its the same with linux software.

[Jeremy @ Apr 24th 2008 9:26AM]

I had the same problem it was because your software sources were probably turned off

[Doinunix Sincemidseventies @ Apr 24th 2008 9:36AM]

Yeah, I wonder if they fixed the GUI wireless configuration. Nothing like having to hand-edit a few /etc/... system files to get WEP and wireless channels, etc up and running

And that powernowd that's trying to change CPU frequencies on CPUs that don't change frequencies - think that's fixed, too?

(like when visiting Engadget - surf, start page load, catanoic crash)

Fun stuff!

Not!

(I use Ubuntu on my "other" machine but continue to be disappointed how NOT ready for prime time it (and other Linux versions) are)

[JerkfacedFed @ Apr 24th 2008 10:50AM]

Yea, go into Synaptic Package Manager and enable all of the sources. Ubuntu is one of those evangelist open source software distributions by default, but you can show 3rd party restricted software by simply modifying the sources that show up in the package manager. You can always apt-get programs on your own, but Synaptic makes it easy because you dont have to worry about dependencies. Pulling down SVN code and compiling it yourself is another option too. Read up.

[Raheem @ Apr 25th 2008 9:08AM]

Why was I low ranked for that?

[shawnmos @ Apr 24th 2008 9:00AM]

"the latest flavor of Ubuntu is finally ready for mass consumption"

Don't they always say that? What makes this version so special?

[Kaminix @ Apr 24th 2008 9:12AM]

I think what they meant is that it's released and ready, no unfinished software and stuff. I released the RC last week and ended up with a couple of problems extra really... anyway it's still a great OS. I'm hoping the next release will have stuff I need for Japanese input/output easier available and that they'll have fixed the rt2500 driver so I won't need to mix with modules.

You go back to Windows land if you like that better; even with a couple of problems with network drivers and input/output of text, I'd choose Ubuntu over Windows and Kubuntu over Ubuntu any day.

[JR @ Apr 24th 2008 9:25AM]

If you've ever visited the Ubuntu forums, there's a coffee theme.

[jak0b @ Apr 24th 2008 9:05AM]

at first I thought it said hairy hardon... LOL... jokes aside I really like ubuntu i've used it for about a month along side XP, and i'm looking forward to installing this version within the week

[Raheem @ Apr 24th 2008 9:15AM]

I thought that too :\ Maybe that says something about us?

[Rask @ Apr 24th 2008 9:13AM]

Hopefully people buy a lot of support contracts to pay for all that bandwidth.

[MrWacko @ Apr 24th 2008 9:59AM]

They don't pay for the bandwidth, at least not all of it. I work at the University of Kent, UK, one of the major mirrors for ubuntu (among a lot other things). As far as i know we don't charge for the use of our bandwidth for FOSS.

BTW this is by far and out the busiest day for our servers I've seen since i started. Still no where near maxing out our 40GBit Super Janet connection tho :p

[afluriach @ Apr 24th 2008 9:22AM]

dammit, I just installed 7.10!

[Andir3.0 @ Apr 24th 2008 11:58AM]

The good news is that you can upgrade right from Ubuntu without needing a new CD.

[CaptSaltyJack @ Apr 24th 2008 2:23PM]

Log into your 7.10 box (not remotely!) and open up a shell, and type "sudo do-release-upgrade". Boom.

If someone knows how to do this through Gnome's GUI, feel free to add here.

[OVerclockerX @ Apr 24th 2008 9:25AM]

I don't really feel like I need to nuke my Ubuntu 7.10 installation yet, I has done everything i wanted to and its finally up2date (lol, Fed joke)

[John P @ Apr 24th 2008 9:28AM]

Downloading now. I've been using gutsy gibbon for awhile now and it's nice, but some things didnt work quite right out of the box (VI, of all things). So here's hoping they've fixed that and perhaps made wireless compatability a little more robust.

[Repeating Myself @ Apr 24th 2008 9:39AM]

> ...some things didnt work quite right out of the box (VI, of all things)....

!!!

> ...So here's hoping they've fixed that and perhaps made wireless
> compatability a little more robust.

Amen.

[thatrotierkid @ Apr 24th 2008 9:35AM]

haha wow so either MIT pulled themselves off the mirror list or their server crashed because they were there 15 mins ago when i tried to download. they are the closest mirror to me since wpi doesnt offer ubuntu :-\

[Chuck @ Apr 24th 2008 10:13AM]

WPI use to have internal mirrors. Talk to NetOps, they use to love running them for on campus.

[thatrotierkid @ Apr 24th 2008 10:21AM]

haha ya my roommate works at netops. they support fedora/red hat and a few others but no ubuntu as of yet

[Josh F @ Apr 24th 2008 9:40AM]

Contemplating updating my server (that I just put 7.10 on)..

The page on Ubuntu's website has an outdated link for alternative download locations..

http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/

For Torrents (i386):
Desktop: http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso.torrent
Server:
http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-server-i386.iso.torrent

[steve @ Apr 24th 2008 11:43AM]

for 64-bit torrents:
Desktop: http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent
Server: http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04-server-amd64.iso.torrent

All of the download servers are being overrun with client requests. Use bit-torrent for it's ORIGINAL INTEDNED USE, dowloading linux iso's :)

[broli @ Apr 24th 2008 9:47AM]

Am I the only one that's getting tired of these "speaking to you" kind of news posts. Every news post lately tries to reach a new level of witiness and even starts to tell me how I should feel, what I want and to worship Apple. Engadget just quite the crap and get serious mkay?

[DarkLightConnection Unbanned @ Apr 24th 2008 4:35PM]

And I like engadget because they're NOT serious :-)

"Seriously", what's the point on acting like you didn't have a sense of humour?

[Dean @ Apr 24th 2008 9:48AM]

mmm hairy hardon

[leafy @ Apr 24th 2008 9:54AM]

Nah thanks I'm not into pokemon