The upcoming release of Ubuntu 10.04 is on the way and with its new theme, looks simply stunning. With an online music store built in, integrated cloud backup services and a strong focus on social networking, could this finally be the release consumers have been waiting for?
It’s true, I’ve given Ubuntu a thrashing from time to time, but it was deserved. (See Hey Ubuntu, Stop Making Linux Look Bad and Two Simple Suggestions for Ubuntu) Now, it deserves a little of something else.
Last week the first Beta of Ubuntu 10.04 was released, providing a solid glimpse of what will comprise the final release in a month’s time. It looks damn good.
On the face of it, Ubuntu 10.04 appears to achieve what no other distro has been able to do yet – near perfect integration. From start to finish this looks like a highly professional, sleek, commercial grade operating system. Truly. Whatever Mark Shuttleworth has been doing in his new role, keep doing it, because this release looks to be the best ever (and it’s me saying this, so you know I’m not wetting my pants over nothing).
It’s Got the Look
Promises made, promises lost, we’ve been waiting a long time for a new, fresh, updated look and feel for Ubuntu. Really, no-one really liked the orange and brown, but we did put up with it. Thank the Heavens now we finally have a brand new, sleek look. I like it. I really like it. How else can I put this? It’s awesome.
The boot sequence is a sharp and the new corporate font looks great. Very sleek and modern. Thank goodness that horrible black and white pulsating Ubuntu logo is gone from 9.10!
Lucid boot splash screen
The login screen is simple, but light and well integrated. Here you get your first glimpse of the new color scheme including the new purple background. It does look somewhat Mac-ish, but it works really well.
Lucid login sreen
Logging into the desktop is where it will hit you. This is no regular Ubuntu. This thing is modern, sleek, purposeful. The default desktop theme is quite dark, much removed from the traditional Human theme and is called, Ambiance.
Lucid default desktop theme, Ambiance
However, there also a lighter option called Radiance.
Lucid alternate desktop theme, Radiance
Both sport the new widgets on the left (although in the screenshots they have been moved back to the right), which has caused no end of controversy. Speaking of which, what’s all the fuss about? Ubuntu users are happy to put up with poor quality releases, but move the buttons and all hell breaks lose.
Mark Shuttleworth has made it clear that Ubuntu is not a Democracy and that these decisions are not up for discussion. Quite frankly, that’s fair enough. Each Ubuntu team makes decisions about how things will be and you just have to put up with it, or change it. When it comes to OS X or Windows you are far more restricted than using any Linux distro. If you want ultimate control, fork it and make your own distro. In the mean time, use it, change it, or move on.
Buttons on the left or right aside, the Ubuntu desktop finally looks first class. This new branding is just what the doctor ordered, and will no-doubt make it much more attractive to consumers. Of course, one can also install Gnome Shell to get a taste of what’s to come!
Gnome Shell running on Lucid
Next: The Complete Package?
Comments on "Ubuntu 10.04: The Perfect Consumer Operating System?"
HOW DARE THEY MOVE THE BUTTONS!!!!! HOW DARE THEY GET RID OF GIMP!!!! HOW DARE THEY BASE UBUNTU ON DEBIAN UNSTABLE!!!!!!! Long Live Fedora! (but damn 12 to HELL!)
Has the Net-Manager applet been fixed in this release ?
i put ubuntu netbook remix on my msi wind netbook and have had zero problems. Of course I\’m just a low end user, no youtube posts. no all day im ing , i dont edit video , i could care less whats on my ipod (did get it working though i detest itunes) . I install new distros on old pcs from time to time. Fedora12 looks good but getting all the multimedia working is a pain. If i recall my UNR played flash video quick and easy. If a pretty paint job (desktop) gets people weaned from the big players , more power to Linux. People are so scared of free (or cheap) software . If more people started with Linux they would have more of an idea of how things work. There are so many people who have no clue and want to stay that way. Anything that helps in expanding the masses mindset has to be a good thing . IMHO
So they\’ve taken OUT the image editor and put IN a video editor? Because more people edit videos than images? Or because video editors are cool and GIMP has an embarrassing name? Just change the name, folks, that\’s all you need to do. There\’s nothing wrong with GIMP.
You could call it the Pictorial Ubuntu Service.
I have been using Lucid since March 19 and it is rock solid, I love it.
I usually install the Ununtu RC\’s but never a Beta.
In this case you are safe – its from testing and its a LTS.
____________________
If you are on Karmic and want to test lucid use TestDrive.
Terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:testdrive/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install testdrive
____________________
Then run “TestDrive” (System Tools menu).
Forgot to link to my Lucid report:
http://silverwav.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/taking-a-chance-on-lucid-10-04-beta-1/
Oh and Gimp takes 2 min to install so no big.
Wow, this is a huge improvement from 9.10. Nice work Mark Shuttleworth.
In the 9.10 release, I was subject to the nvidia n6600 issue, not allowing the live OS or install to boot. Therefore, the only way I could do an install was through a clean copy of 9.04 and upgrade to 9.10.
But not this time. Here nouveau helps out, allowing the 10.04 lts beta 1 to boot. And it\’s faster.
Looks like Ubuntu is now ready to make serious inroads to the pc OS market again.
Nice work and a solid kudos from http://www.linuxgameconsortium.com
Installed on P4 1 GHz w/2GB RAM… not bad, but the software manager is a pain.
It appears to begin searching the 30,000 or so packages the instant you type one letter in the search window, which basically stops it right there. I have had to kill/restart the software package manager 5-6 times now, I have spent 5 hours with it and only got it to install wireshark and a few samba server packages.
I thought Mandriva\’s package manager was slow and klunky… but damn it works, never locks up and finds things in seconds, not hours like this ubuntu thing…
Time to maybe try Linux Mint to see what highly professional, sleek, commercial grade operating system is. I know it\’s made from Ubuntu but the point is that, what Ubuntu is showing just now, Mint has shown a couple of years ago.
Just a thought…
I don\’t use Ubuntu and I don\’t like it either, but it would be great to see the biggest Linux spam getting mature and achieving its so dreamed goal – easy use. It is good for everybody, even who does not like it. However, if they had based their desktop on KDE their results would be a lot easier and lot more polished now.
I am a fan of Ubuntu but its like its a bueaty queen keep changing its look. I use Ubuntu and Windows 7 something I would never do, but printer driver are VERY lacking in Dell brands or not at all.
I have a Dell V105 which is going straight to the bin as soon as I get the fully functional Brother 4 in 1 on Linux. Some companies Dell should actually support there hardware in Linux since it claims it supports Ubuntu, but it quietly removed Ubuntu support here in Canada. What they call support is a single Indian Man not even in a Dell building who had no clue what a terminal was or that there were more than one GUI, very very sad.
I plan to drop Windows 7 I can now run Window Office under wine in Ubuntu 9.10 its a snap. I hope Ubuntu 10.4 has pre-installed wine 1.4?? or higher it makes my 100% switch that much easier. I can\’t wait for 10.4 the beta version is a blast, finally the dog S#$%$#% theme is gone.
I just wanted to say two things:
1) The placement of the minimize-maximize-close buttons matters. Not to technical users, but Ubuntu\’s target audience: people who think their computer has a virus if the buttons are in the wrong place. Just trust me on this, if you take Ubuntu, stick the taskbar on the bottom of the screen, change the Applications-Something-Something menu to a single button that says \”Start\” and change Firefox\’s name to \”Internet Explorer, your grandma won\’t be able to tell the difference, but if you take that same setup and put the close button on the left side of the windows, she\’ll flip out and say that she doesn\’t understand how to use her computer (and will probably never accept it).
2) I wish Ubuntu would just make the options \”Rolling Release\” and \”Long term support\” and not put people through major upgrades every 6 months. Ubuntu\’s problems are no worse than we get with Windows. The differences are that you don\’t upgrade Windows every 6 months and you can download new programs without updating Windows.
I\’m still happily using hardy, so @korin43 I don\’t know what you\’re moaning about, you don\’t have to be bleeding edge. I\’ve had ubuntu on my system for years and stuck on the last LTS, as it has been pretty much solid. I\’ve a few irritations with compiz and my screensaver but I\’ve learnt my way around them.
Synaptic has always been slow. The new software centre looks absolutely horrible. If they like the mac way of doing things why not follow the mac installer idea?
I hope suspend resume woes will be banished, and the network manager will be better. If ubuntu really want to copy osx, they should copy the mac preferences panel. I can\’t stand drilling through menus for things, it\’s bad enough in windows.
The theme still looks all over the shop. Orange icons and purple… gasp. Let\’s hope the release is more than eye candy.
It would be nice to know what\’s new in the server edition. I use ubuntu server, and it\’s been more user friendly than redhat. I\’ve had no compulsion to try the interim server releases.
Huh? They don\’t ship Gimp? Why? It\’s why I began using Linux. Is it the name?
Put it in caps: G.I.M.P.. It\’s the finest example of an application that is valuable being made available to the people who need it.
Zeno (an artist)
@dmesg
Try the Synaptic Package Manager under System -> Administration, rather than the Software Centre.
@froner
They ship GIMP, just not with the default install. You can install it easily via the package manager.
-c
Throw out the photoediting and install videoediting? Doesn\’t make much sense for a consumer. Neither does OS X which is usually more about making stuff looking cool instead of useful.
I don\’t get the gripe about Ubuntu\’s old color scheme. It might have seemed odd for those used to the brain-numbing Mac and MS schemes, and every newb immediately complained about the \”Ubuntu Browns\”, but after a while, its quality outshone first impressions. – now we get butt-hole purple!!
First thing I\’ll be doing is removing the default theme and installing one of older human themes… colors of yams and earth. — anybody who likes the new color scheme is obviously into the look of butt-holes.
Oh, and you were full of it in your previous posts, and you\’re still full of it…
@justanotherreader
Thanks for the encouragement!
-c
Took me a while but I finally got around to your suggestion. (because I needed to wipe the drive for a different test) Indeed bypassing \”software center\” is a bit faster. Might be a while before I get back to looking at Ubuntu but from what I\’ve seen so far I can say that I certainly will…
Thanks for the shout back with the suggestion.
BTW thanks \’justanothereader\’ for the good laugh. I just love the obtuse non sequitur… keep \’em flying. =D
To change the buttons back to the \”normal\” side, simply run this command:
gconftool-2 -t string –set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout menu:minimize,maximize,close
Please pass that along.
It looks so good … it promises so much … Despite swearing off Ubuntu, I\’m installing it, the nth time I\’ve tried the big U. Instability which doesn\’t get fixed has been the reason I\’ve never stayed with it, and it will be a long time before I trust it for my main Linux computer (using sidux: a cutting-edge KDE distro where problems always get fixed quickly;) but I\’ll give it a go on a spare laptop.
Fingers crossed that Ubuntu can make a long term release that really works … I\’m going to give it a good work-out. The first 15 minutes with 10.04 is awesome.
@timrichardson
Could you be more specific? \”Instability which doesn\’t get fixed\”? Where, specifically?
I\’ve been using 9.04 for the last year and it has been rock solid. Not perfect, but it certainly is stable for me.
(OTOH, no software is \”perfect\”.)
Every distro I\’ve tried has had some sort of problems, somewhere. Ubuntu has been consistently one of the best for me, overall, since the 6.06 release.
Some people are easily pleased 10.4 lasted 12 hours on my system still full of bugs, I lost the close Minimize Maximize buttons, I then restored them and still had problems, the minimize button closed all the tabs I had up, still need to set everything up Flash player, and all the proprietary drivers, and for new Be\’s thats will be the problem for them setting up proprietary drivers. I have now installed Mandriva 2010, to give that a shot, same here everything needs downloading and setting up, looks like it will be back to Mint for me tomorrow, I love none commercial Linux distributions everything works out of the box, no messing about getting everything to work
Mint I\’m coming back once again, your spot on with everything…..
Since Lucid\’s official release, I have:
… and every single one has gone absolutely flawlessly.
This is the most impressive release of Ubuntu I\’ve seen. And it is the most beautiful version of Linux I\’ve ever seen. I have been very pleased. Wireless works across the board. Sound works. Nvidia drivers installed without a hitch. Desktop settings remained just like I had them (even compiz). PostgreSQL, MySQL, Apache, RAID … everything worked perfectly.
My only hangup was with getting 64-bit flash working. But even then I was able to get it done in ten minutes with some googling.
Way to go Ubuntu.
Not even close. Upgrading my MacBook Pro from 9.10, which I knew was a mistake before I even clicked the upgrade button, resulted in loss of sound, hours of trying to figure out how to get Flash back (turned out the repository only has 32 bit version so I had to go to an obscure page on Adobe\’s site to find the proper file), and the min, max, and close buttons on the opposite side of windows for God-only-knows-what-reason. If you think your average consumer is going to put up with this, much less spending the hours to un-f@ck their system every time they upgrade, the developers must be smoking the same crack that made them think it was a good idea to move the min, max, and close buttons to the other side of the windows. Changing things for the hell of it and force-feeding it to the consumers in an operating system that cannot perform basic tasks is Micro$oft\’s job, and going down that path would be very unwise.
Some people could screw up a train-wreck.
> Some people could screw up a train-wreck.
Wait, exactly how does someone screw up a train wreck? Would that be making it a worse train wreck or preventing the train wreck from happening at all? Wouldn\’t the latter be a good thing?
I\’ve heard the term \”You could screw up a free lunch\” or \”You are a friggin\’ train wreck,\” but I don\’t get the new one. Guess I don\’t get out of the house enough.
Hmmm…
I have to admit, I don\’t care that they moved the min/max/close buttons, but I can\’t believe that, with all the studies which show how bad an idea it is to keep the close button in such close proximity to the other two, that they didn\’t separate it from the pack. I guess it was too much work to be innovative, so they settled for different. Easy enough to restore.
I love Ubuntu, and this is the best version yet. Nevertheless, I will agree that, although Firefox does a decent job of recognizing missing add-ins (missing codecs still pose a significant oversight for general acceptance), Adobe does an absolutely abysmal job when it comes to user install experience.
I saw one user found the 64-bit version of Adobe player, care to share? I still can\’t get Hulu to play on my Ubuntu box.
knocknrod, I also am running Ubuntu 9.10, 64bit on an AMD dual core. With Firefox I have no problem running any Hulu videos and even all the TV videos like Star Trek from the CBS website. The bandwidth streaming is not real good as it stops every 2 or 3 minutes to catch up but this is all about their websites not Ubuntu, Firefox, the computer hardware or my broadband provider. I am certainly no Linux expert but I will tell you that I have not found anything Ubuntu can not provide when it comes to current applications. Two years ago after using Linux professionally since 1998 I finally got rid of Windows COMPLETELY. Ubuntu finally provided me with the desktop I was looking for and hoping would finally be there.
Although I actually did an upgrade from 9.04 successfully I would strongly recommend a full clean new installation of 10.04 Simply backup all the /home folders you want to save and do it! You will be glad you did. I can hardly wait to install 10.04 with my new 500 Gb hard drive I bought just for this release! It is going to be wonderful. The reviews and videos on Youtube have been amazing! Just as a note… I will be moving the Gnome buttons back to the original positions. Here is how you can do that.
To change the buttons back to the \”normal\” side, simply run this command:
gconftool-2 -t string –set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout menu:minimize,maximize,close
Please pass that along.
I love the new ATI Radeon Open Source Video Drivers (which were installed by default.) I finally have easy control over my dual-head setup, including the ability to rotate my monitors into portrait mode with the click of a button.
I hated (and I\’m not over-using that word) the xorg.conf file, and I hope I never have to edit it again.
Thank You Ubuntu team–you\’ve hit a Home Run with 10.04!!
I see lots of complaints about Gimp not in the new release. What I read in in the forums, the reason for this was lack of space to fit the new release onto a cd drive. Gimp is still in the packages as well as a lot of other good programs.
Hats off to Ubuntu, good job on 10.4. No issues loading this version on any desktops/laptops currently running in my org.
I\’m a long-time proponent of Ubuntu. Once set-up it is 50x easier to keep running than Windows. It is far more robust. You don\’t have to worry about an end-date for your software. All your updates just flow to your machine, like happens with iPhone updates.
BUT, the PRIMARY objection you get from people is \”It doesn\’t quite look the same as Microsoft\”. So for all the smart graphic design people out there in Linux development land, let me say just ONCE: Never intentionally add a feature that is TRYING to make Ubuntu more different to Windows, unless you put an easy end-user GUI-settable switch to turn it off. That goes for the buttons on the wrong side to the colour scheme. Having to do the workaround mentioned above (system level command poke) IS NOT a suitable answer to returning things to \”how they should be\”. The reason OpenOffice is SOOOO successful is because it looks and feels more-or-less the same as MS Office, with some extra features.
Secondly, what idiot in Mark\’s team forgot to fix the GRUB install. I don\’t mind that the install ISO CD will not work with a previously set-up dual-boot WinXP+Ubuntu9.X system… but just tell people it won\’t work. Don\’t try to do the install and leave the PC unable to boot any OS. The problem is an issue with Grub v1 and v2 getting confused with which is the Master Boot Record and/or leaving too much Grub v1 around. Again the only workaround is low-level command line firing of various Grub update utilities. If Grub v1 was found, then do NOT half-install Grub v2. The only other solution is to download the SuperGrubDisk (and use it in your CD drive to boot). Reminds me of having a floppy boot.
So all up, nice gradual improvements. But one glaring error-check problem in the install routine, and all user-interface changes ought be optional, not compulsory. We\’re trying to win them over, not p!33 them off.
I have been working on with 10.04 since the release. I love it, i have had very few problems with it and i am really impressed with speed. The only problem I have had is getting the DVD play back. I found a nice little how to at http://crackednoodle.com/2010/04/dvd-playback-for-ubuntu-10-04/
That took care of it.
Thanks,
Brad
Thanks to pcm_man for the tip to put the buttons back where everyone expects them…
Was happy with the upgrade from 9.10 to 10.04, still no improvement in the WLAN performance, signal still too weak compared to when it runs w. XP.
What I just noticed this week, after adding extra users via useradd, is that if someone tries to su out of a locked desktop the video just goes black and hangs or does other stupid things like display a 1 cm square pointer and \’explodes\’ the GUI display to something like 10 DPI. Totally useless then, powercycle to recover control. Is ok if one logs off first. HP nc6000 Laptop. When the guests leave I will remove the other accounts then I will never have to su in the GUI.
Any tips for the WiFi performance?
I\’ve been using Ubuntu since 7.something and every version I\’ve been thrilled with EXCEPT for 10.04. Oh its pretty enough but doing the upgrade from 9.10 broke enough things that I have to do a fresh install today, which is the first time I\’ve ever had to reinstall Ubuntu. I obviously wish I had never upgraded! I\’ll give it one more try and then I\’m going back to 9.10.
I strongly suggest that people DO NOT upgrade and instead do a fresh install with 10.04. And waiting a few more weeks might not be a bad idea either!
Debian for mall ninjas.
\” Ooooooo ! It looks kewwwwl\”
Does anyone actually do work with Ubuntu/Sid with a neato theme and splash screen. ?
I gotta go hug Lenny and make a Skype call.
@reginaldgerard
Hey! I\’m the one who posted the gconf-tool-2 one-liner. pcm_man RE-posted it.
Not that big a deal, really, except that it is.
I have got to tell the Linux world how great this release of Ubuntu really is! I have used Ubuntu since version seven. This version is the smoothest, the fastest and the best looking and best supported of any release to date. I did a full clean install after backing up mail, /home and my VirtualBox drives.
Without changing anything on those virtual drives my WindowsXP performs at least 4 times faster for some operations. EVERYTHING WORKS AND WORKS FAST! Especially access to network drives (which are folders on the local Ubuntu machine). This system is so so smooth and fast. It is just amazing.
I have committed myself to stay with this version of Ubuntu during the LTS support period BEFORE I knew how incredible this would be. I am one happy computer man!
10.04 LTS may install nicely, but if you upgrade things go downhill. K9copy and K3b worked great until upgrade. Now I have a Dvdauthor problem.
MY 8gb usb drive is finally recognized, but won\’t see my 8gb SD card.(My 2gb SDs work fine).
@ jsilve1
sorry, wasn\’t intentional, just picked up the thread near the end and didn\’t read from the beginning…
More feedback to all…
Even more disappointed w. the WLAN experience, sometimes it disconnects and then just stays \’disabled\’ regardless of what I try to restart. If I shutdown and restart the OS it will work again for a while, then same story all over.
Also can\’t mount more that one USB drive (won\’t recognize them automatically either) at any one time.
WLAN issues are the most annoying though.
One mad nite about 2wks ago, Did full install of 10.04/Ultimate 2.7 and dumped Win/7. Balls. Lot\’s a balls. Spent all nite reading forums adjusting a few things. Installed a few drivers. Installed Chrome stable Linux. Then started accounts for wife and daughter. Put everything just like it was in their W/7 desks, Themes and all. Long story short, wife and kids only asked why I moved the MinMaxClose to the other side? And why do the videos not jerk now? ( funky DSL tripled down speed on Linux??) They still don\’t know the difference. Point is works for us. Faster and better. And take your windows pictures dvd load em in your Ub pictures and use for themes. Purple/schmerple. You can do this in \”scripts\”. Life is good.
Hi there I wanna use TataPhoton device to get connected to internet on my Ubuntu system, but I (being a new to Linux) don’t know how to do so. I request you to help me with this. Thanks a lot