richs-lxh

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala 64bit Alpha 4 – Distro Distro Test Stage 1 – Install and First Impressions

Ubuntu Links and Info
Distrowatch: http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=ubuntu
Homepage: http://www.ubuntu.com/
Wiki: https://help.ubuntu.com/9.10/index.html (Currently not implemented as still in Alpha stage)
Forums: http://ubuntuforums.org/
Download Location: Torrent – http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/alpha-4/karmic-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent

This release is being tested on a laptop:
eMachines
AMD Mobile Athlon 64bit 3000+ (1.8Gb)
1Gb RAM
Ati Mobility Radeon 9600 (128Mb)
Broadcom Wireless Network Card (Using ZyDAS USB2 wireless as Broadcom B43 drivers not available as standard)
1280X800 Widescreen Monitor
US keyboard

Download and Install
I chose to download the iso via torrent using Deluge on Ubuntu 9.04.
Once downloaded I Md5sum checked the iso and used Brasero to burn the iso at 4X speed.
Reboot and choose “Install Ubuntu” as I have a spare testing partition (Ext4 35Gb).

I went through the familiar install routine of keyboard, timezone, name, password etc and chose my already formatted partition and clicked to install.

Touchpad not fully functional during install
First problem noticed – My touchpad mouse has no tap to click enabled. I had to use the Left Mouse Button at the bottom. As far as I know that always worked before during installs. This was remedied once I booted to the desktop via the System > Preferences > Mouse configure application, and I just need to click the checkbox to enable tapping.

Install and reboot was very fast
The install process was very fast, as an impatient distro-tester, Ubuntu installs always got me a bit on edge, but this install was fast. Obviously the main install of any distro is the transfer of the “usr” (Unix System Resources) files which is usally about 90% of the entire install. I haven’t checked if this Alpha 4 release is missing any major apps yet, but I was impressed with the speed.

First Boot
I was greeted with a new Login Box, so Ubu KK continues with the image changes which happen each release. I get to the desktop and…… Yes! That awful brown isn’t there, I have noticed that oranges, reds and blacks are getting darker and that (shiddy – for want of a better word) brown is getting darker too. I know we can change the theme and the wallpaper, but it’s that “first impressions” thing. Anybody I have shown Ubuntu to has always commented on the awful brown theme, but there you go.

Usual Ubuntu first boot “happenings”
There is a new “Palimpsest Disk Utility” on the top panel. It popped up to tell me one of my discs are failing. This is an 80Gb laptop hardrive, with a 10Gb Ext3 partition with Backtrack3 installed, then two 35Gb Ext4’s for Ubu JJ and KK and 1Gb Swap. I regularly run the disc-checker and no other distro has complained, so I don’t know what the problem is.

Restricted Drivers/Hardware
No Restricted Hardware Drivers Manager popped up to let me know that my Broadcom B43 wireless is strictly prohibited and punishable by death. Ok, joking, but I just think the no wireless firmware/drivers thing is just stupid now, especially as Gnome comes with Mono and its proprietary Microsoft code. Luckily for Atheros users we now have ath5/9k as even the use of Hal by Madwifi’s ath_pci was a shootable offense.

Clicky Explore Time
So time to go hunting new apps and seeing how fast this new release is. It’s fast. Yup, rich said “Ubuntu-Is-Fast”. I know, I surprised myself! Well, granted this is the 64bit edition and I am using Ext4 which should help, but the menus, apps (even Firefox!) open quickly, it all has a smooth feel to it as well. This is still the “first impressions” stage, and I have known Ubuntu to do a Windows and start to slow down after a week or so of use, but it still feels snappy. Talking of Firefox, remember when you had to manually install Flash? Well, I went to Youtube and got
a cool Flash pop-up offering me Gnome Flash, Gnash Flash and Adobe Flash. So, better the devil you know, I went for Adobe Flash which incidentally arrived with some baggage, 14 extra packages to be exact.

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala 64bit Alpha 4 – Distro Test Stage 2 – Post Install Changes

Network Manager Vs Wicd
I dislike Network Manager and Nmapplet, and remove it as soon as it has served its purpose, which just happens to be so that I can replace it with Wicd! It helps to get me to its Nemesis

Network Manager for me has always caused problems, forums are full of support threads asking how to get it to connect with wireless Wep/Wpa etc. I guess it improves each release, and i didn’t have any problems connecting this time round, but I just hate having to keep removing the “autoconnects” as I use different Essids on my laptop and like to choose each time. As it happens, on Wicd I can manually choose any Essid for autoconnection, but that’s my choice. NM seems to just take over and do it anyway.

Wicked Theme from Hp !!
Did you notice the theme in my screenshots? I was looking around for a dark theme with blue in it, and I stumbled across the Default theme that is used on Hp machines that come with Ubuntu preinstalled, and is called Glassy-Bleu. It has to be the best looking Gnome theme i have seen for a long time. Probably as sexy as Dreamlinux’s Mac Style themes, but that would be like comparing apples and bananas, different fruit altogether, but very tasty!.

Theme can be found here: http://hpmini.archive.canonical.com
How to get and install the galssy-bleu theme:
wget http://hpmini.archive.canonical.com/mie/dists/hardy-hpmini/universe/binary-lpia/glassy-bleu-theme_21_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i ./glassy-bleu-theme_21_all.deb

Thanks to K Hendrick on Ubuntu Forums for posting THIS link.

Ubuntu One
I opened the Ubuntu One Link on the Places tab on the top panel, and opened it to find a couple of directories “My Files” and “Shared with me”, there is also a “Connect” button, but when I pressed Connect, nothing happened. I checked out the Ubuntu One documentation, and used my Launchpad account to login but nothing happened, it just kept returning to the login page, so I suppose I will be reorting my problem as they say on the ubuntu one page:

We’re currently in Beta mode and working quickly to provide a great experience. Please report any problems!

UPDATE: I finally got logged in to Ubuntu One and it’s free 2GB storage service and have uploaded my wallpaper and the HP Glassy Bleu theme .deb file,

To share anything in my “Shared” folder, I only have to click “Share” and add the email addresses of trusted friends to give them access to my shared files.

Final Impression
I’m still using it. I installed Gftp, Thunderbird and Deluge as I wasn’t all that keen on Transmission. But that’s the beauty of Linux and having access to Ubuntu/Debian repositories. There is always an alternative application.

I have used the desktop every day for general forum, website and admin tasks and it has held up nicely. This is Alpha 4 however and things are “expected” to break so that you can report any bugs, but after several updates and a bit of tweaking, the only thing that has a bug is the shutdown process. It tends to just hang, so for the moment I hard shutdown by holding the power button down. No biggie, it’ll probably fix itself after a few more updates.

I am noticing a speed difference this time round. However……………….. Firefox is still buggy as hell when running Flash intensive sites such as Youtube. I’m just so glad that I am using an AMD processor and not having the nightmare time that many Intel users are having now.

I was/am impressed with Ubuntu 9.04 and this latest offering 9.10 is very very promising indeed. I know that there is still a while to go for the October release, but I have a feeling this is going to be quite a robust release even though it has a few new additions.

Well done again Ubuntu fellas!

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