Ubuntu Linux - 9.04 - 'The Jaunty Jackelope'

[sulphurhead]

Ubuntu has tried, where Red hat and Suse failed - to become an 'everyman's linux'. This is their latest attempt at providing an "Open source XP-Killer" at the market. After all, why wouldn't you use it? It's superbly fast, boots almost instantly, usually has all the drivers needed for your machine already included on the one installer CD download (the DVD edition comes mostly with support for other languages) and the best part: its extremely handy when you want to try it. Windows doesn't have a liveCD version as easily available (where you can boot from the CD ROM into a temporary instance of the OS)
Lately tools like UNetBootIn allow for Live USB's to be made (so you just need a 1GB FAT32 formatted USB drive to try out Ubuntu or any other flavors of Linux)

But most of these features were already there. What was so special about the Jackalope? Other than quicker booting and better hardware support - not much really. But a lot of the bugs were supposed to be worked out (though my firefox kept crashing)

What's interesting to note, is that in addition to the desktop / laptop and server editions - you now get a "netbook" edition. Is this a reflection of the impact of netbook sales? Or is Ubuntu trying to get brownie points by pleasing a niche audience? Only netbook sellers and users can answer this one.

Would I recommend Ubuntu? Yup. It's free, secure, fast, optimized for virtualisation, tried and proven for quick boots off CD's and USBs, and is geared to hit the ground running when used to replace windows for all your programs (GIMP for photoshop and OpenOffice for MS Office are two of the best examples of Open source alternatives) Even OpenOffice now boasts of XLSX and DOCX (the irritating windows '07 extensions) support.

What's stopping it from taking over the world? Obscure marketing, lack of user awareness, general apathy, nervousness about trying out their support when it comes to corporate and critical use.

[fizz]

I got a flavour of Ubuntu 9 on a virutalized environment last week and shell based commands made no sense to me. It seemed too low level for everyday usage (I know nothing about Linux), or perhaps those were just the setup screens.

[sulphurhead]

Actually Ubuntu for notebooks and netbooks have a very clean and well organised GUI. I believe it's the server version that defaults to command line - and linux commands are it's own language, it might look confusing. The way I used it for the notebook, I didn't encounter any command lines whatsoever.

[fizz]

Yes, you are right - it was the Server version and driven entirely by command line. I obviously found it less than appealing, but everyone else was nodding their head, so I must be a minority.

[sulphurhead]

To this day, the most flexible Server / Network / Code management is still done at CLI.
I've seen many techies having the perspective that CLI mastery is the equivalent of being able to fix your own car / DYI / Roughing it out ... benchmarks of manliness. Kind of Ironic considering that many don't fare well at manliness standards outside of the IT department

[sammy]

Kind of Ironic considering that many don't fare well at manliness standards outside of the IT department

= dude, your making it easy!

Ozzy, try out ubuntu and setup virtualbox.....then install XP in it in coherence mode.
I dont think you would need to go back after that!

[X.]

Could someone give IDIOT-PROOF instructions on how to install the Ubuntu for notebooks OS that can run concurrently  with my Windows XP SP2 HE? Will I get to choose between two OS's on the bootup screen?

I'd love to give it a spin. I'm a Fujitsu-Siemens laptop: Intel DuoCore 1.6ghz, 500mb ram. Is that sufficient?

[ozzylogic]

I've tried Knoppix and Mandrake, they're pretty good. Coincidentally, I've acquired a couple of ISOs of Mac OS X and a workaround for making them run in VMWare.

[sulphurhead]

As I mentioned, Ubuntu (like most linux options) has the Live CD / Live USB option. AK, if you've not played around too much with Linux installations, partitioning your hardware, messing with the master boot record to do a dual boot - I'd recommend you try the Live USB option and 'try before you buy'.
Here is the site for the software. Instructions can be found there, but here's a quick and easy summary:
1) Format a 1 GB USB drive in FAT32 mode / file structure
2) Download and install UNetBootIn
3) You can go to Ubuntu's site, download the desktop version (690 MB folks)
            OR
    You can use Unetbootin to point to the preferred Linux version (or 'Distro' for distribution) and let it download for you
4) Specify the drive you'd like to make a Live Drive (point to your USB drive)
5) Go

This will take maybe upto 10 minutes if you've downloaded the ISO file of the Ubuntu distro.

6) Reboot your machine
7) During boot sequence, hit DEL or F9 or F10 - whatever prompts the BIOS setup
8. Change the boot sequence to include the USB drive as a higher priority than the HDD
     OR
    Just tell it to boot from the USB Drive just this once
9) Save and continue with the boot sequence
10) Welcome to Ubuntu Linux. If you have booted with LiveCD/USB, it doesn't ask for a user name/ password.
11) First thing to do - set up an IP address if you aren't on DHCP, so you can connect to the internet
12) Add-remove programs takes you to the full option list of things you can download and 'activate' from the net (Loads and Loads of programs available)

I prefer the Live USB option as opposed to virtualization as it probably gives better performance. Virtualization needs a machine with lots of RAM so you can dedicate sufficient amount to get somewhat of a decent performance.

For instructions on how to install it as part of a dual boot look here
I've found but not tried this 'install Ubuntu as an application on windows' feature called 'Wubi' here

FYI - Ubuntu have made it easy for people who want to download using their fave torrent software by providing torrents here


And Sammy....

dude, your making it easy!

I got three words for ya: Martial arts. Marathons. Marriage.
If surviving those three isn't a sign of manliness, I don't know what is

[sulphurhead]

In the news today: linux breaks through the 1% barrier on the worldwide market share on OS. Yay!
http://tinyurl.com/6myem6

[sammy]

Coincidentally, I've acquired a couple of ISOs of Mac OS X and a workaround for making them run in VMWare.

Go the easier route and "acquire" the vmware image directly

Sulphur...i just installed 8.10 (didnt know 9.04 is out at that time!) and was looking at upgrading...possible?

[sulphurhead]

here you go  

[sammy]

That didnt help!
apparently have to update 8.10 with all updates before i can use the alternate CD
now thats quite alot of downloads compared to the 9.04 iso!
so i just reinstalled!

anyways, in all my hunting, i found something interesting.
www.ubuntustudio.org
Since i'm toying with music again, i might give this a try.
Sulphur, u in for the graphics / animation?

[sulphurhead]

In a month... hope to pass that damned exam by then

[sulphurhead]

Ubuntu's Next Release "the karmic koala" or v9.10 alpha is out