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November 6th, 2009, 22:01 GMT · By Doru Barbu
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Right after Ubuntu's fifth birthday it was time to celebrate once more, because a Karmic Koala was released, and it brought with it a lot of reasons to upgrade. If Ubuntu 9.10's smart looks haven't convinced you yet, maybe the fast boot times and overall enhanced performance will. You still don't know what Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) is all about? Then read on, we will clue you in. While writing this review, I tried to put myself in the "shoes" of a new Ubuntu user. This meant that I didn't go on to installing my favorite programs or setting up everything as I like right after installing the operating system, but instead I tried to make do with what Ubuntu provides in the default installation. Also, I tried to stay away from the terminal and, largely, succeeded in doing so. We've tested Ubuntu 9.10 over a period of one week on the following systems: · AMD K8 nForce 250Gb Motherboard
· AMD Sempron 2800+ Processor
· Nvdia GeForce FX5500 Video Card
· 512 MB RAM
· IDE HDD 80 GB Maxtor
· LG CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive
· 17" LG Flatron L1730S LCD | · Intel Gigabyte GA-965P Motherboard
· Intel Pentium 4 3 GHz
· Nvidia Leadtek Geforce 7300GS 256 VRAM
· 1 GB DDR2 RAM
· SATA HDD 80 GB Seagate
· Samsung WriteMaster CD/DVD RW Drive
· 19" DELL LCD |
 · Notebook HP ProBook 4510s
· Intel Core2 Duo CPU T6570 2.10GHz CPU
· Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 HD
· 4 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
· 250GB 7200RPM HDD
· LightScribe DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
· 15.6" WXGA HD LCD | · Notebook Fujitsu-Siemens AMILO M1437G
· Pentium M 760 2.00 GHz CPU
· ATI Mobility Radeon X700
· 768 MB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM
· 80GB 5400RPM HDD
· DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
· 15.4" WSXGA LCD |
· AMD K8 nForce 250Gb Motherboard
· AMD Sempron 2800+ Processor
· Nvdia GeForce FX5200 Video Card
· 1.5 GB RAM
· IDE HDD 80 GB Hitachi
· LG CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive
· 19" Samsung SyncMaster 910N LCD | · Intel Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2 Motherboard
· Intel Core 2 Duo 7500 2.98 GHz Processor
· Nvdia ASUS GeForce 7300GT Video Card
· 4 GB DDR2 RAM Mushkin
· SATA2 HDD 250 GB WesternDigital
· 22" Samsung SyncMaster 2233 LCD
(tested with Ubuntu 9.10 AMD64) |
Installing Ubuntu
So, you download this freshly-prepared ISO image, write it to a CD, then you pop that back into the disk drive and reboot your computer. Assuming that your BIOS settings are correct, Ubuntu should start loading and, after a while, present you with an almost empty GNOME desktop. If you just want to see what this operating system is all about, you're free to wander around the menus and try out the applications – since this is a live session, the chances of doing something that will alter or destroy valuable data are slim to none. But if you're talking business, the Install icon is right there on the desktop, waiting for you to double click it. The average installation takes about 15 minutes, depending on the language options that you select and whether you have an active Internet connection or not, but you can be done with it in less than 10 minutes if you install from a USB drive. Most of the complicated partitioning schemes, like dual booting setups, are greatly automatized, and if you want to dedicate an entire hard drive to Ubuntu then your installation will be trouble-free for sure. Softpedia has covered the changes that the latest Ubiquity installer incorporates, and I think that the feature slideshow is a great addition that gives a brief but diverse overview of what Ubuntu has to offer, just perfect for new users as it may serve as a quick "which application does what" rundown. If you have installed previous Ubuntu versions, you won't have any problems in getting 9.04 on your machine. First impressionsWhen the (short) installation process is done, restart the machine and get a real feel for the new and very polished boot process. At first you will get a minimalistic-looking splash screen with the Ubuntu logo in solid white on a black background, but after a few seconds the new X-based bootsplash will kick in. The developers were hoping to design a streamlined boot process that would be able to start XSplash very early and they nearly did just that in Alpha 6, but the kernel output was destroying its smooth and professional look so they decided to cover up the text with a (albeit short) USplash session. If you didn't enable automatic logins while installing, GDM (GNOME Display Manager) a.k.a. "the login screen" will disrupt the smooth journey to the desktop by asking you to pick a username and provide a password. The overall look is in line with the USplash theme, rendering a minimalistic and unobtrusive appearance, albeit a little too dark for my taste. After the credentials have been supplied, XSplash will return for a little while, which can be quite annoying.  |  |
There is a good side to XSplash's extended presence on your screen. By the time GNOME has finished loading in the background, the X-based bootsplash will fade out and you will be given access to a completely ready desktop environment, no hidden load times here. The view to the wallpaper is unobstructed, the graphic itself being quite an improvement over the abstract and brownish ones that were included in previous Ubuntu versions, or the animal themes in the last few releases. At least for me, the golden sand dune can be too bright at times, but that can be mitigated by lowering the Gamma value in your video card control panel or by simply changing the wallpaper altogether, because you have a wide choice of stunning backdrops right from the get-to. The new icon set complements the minimalistic look that is present throughout various components, and the libnotify popups integrate well with everything else, sporting smooth fades and transparencies. Initial setupProbably the first thing that you notice and which you are familiar with is the Firefox icon on the top panel, next to the Help launcher. By using it you can quickly access a browser session, provided by Firefox 3.5.3 (version 3.5.4 was made available three-four days after the official release). As you're probably well-accustomed to this web browser, I won't go on about its security features and the customization possibilities. All you need to know is that it's there, and it's ready to be used. Let's see what the Ubuntu developers included for instant messaging. In the Internet menu is the Empathy IM Client, it can't be more obvious than that. You start it up and a wizard appears. I was expecting to configure my XMPP account in one go, but apparently Empathy's creators thought that everyone would be using Jabber.org's service, so they didn't provide a way to enter an alternative address in the wizard. The good thing was that the Network Error notification that followed suit had a big "Edit Account" button on it, but unfortunately the server setting was hidden under yet another "Advanced" group. After you've configured Empathy and your Contact List gets filled with your buddies, it's time to drop them a line and, preferably, some emoticons to express your feelings about this operating system that you have installed. Well, calling the chat window simple would be an overstatement; it's stripped down to the bare basics in fact. There are no formatting controls and, well, no buttons in it. If you want to insert an emoticon (not type one), you will either have to right-click the text area or click the "Conversation" menu and go into the "Insert Smiley" list. For me, that is pretty limited and cumbersome. When you close the Contact List, it simply disappears. You can access it from the Indicator Applet, but it takes a while to get used to not having a dedicated IM icon in the notification area. Aside from the lack of features, chatting in Empathy works as expected, and I didn't encounter any problems. Evolution Mail, on the other hand worked flawlessly. I started it up and I was greeted by a setup wizard through which I configured everything, quickly. My e-mail setup requires SSL, and it was right there, along with all the other relevant options. Upon finishing the wizard, my e-mails loaded up and, surprisingly, even my folders and starred items were correctly set up. However, there was no way I could convince Evolution to import my feed list, or to act as a feed reader. Thunderbird is quite a good aggregator, but Ubuntu's default e-mail client is simply not capable of doing that (there is a plugin, but it's not installed by default). After noticing Empathy's behavior when closing the Contact List, you would think that Evolution works in the same way. In fact it doesn't; once you close the window it's gone for good, and there appears to be no way you can configure it to remain active in the background. If your e-mail client stays opened all the time, like mine, you're stuck with a big window and with an entry in your taskbar all the time. Productivity applicationsWith all communication problems sorted, let's figure out how Ubuntu can help us get some work done. In the Office menu you will find a dictionary application, Evolution and the well-known OpenOffice.org software suite. We knew for quite some time that Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) would incorporate OpenOffice.org 3.1.1. This office suite will take care of word documents, presentations, and spreadsheets, and after you get used to it you will see that it's as good as any other alternative office suite and in some cases better. Proprietary formats are well supported, and the faster startup times will cut down on the waiting period between clicking a document and actually starting to work on it. I'm not a big fan of Evolution GroupWare, but it seems that it is preferred in corporate environments to the detriment of other similar solutions or software suites. While it lacks some features that would come in handy, it balances them out with the easy setup, no-surprises interface, great stability and low resource usage. It incorporates a calendar, a task organizer and a memo manager, and users can import vCards, .csv, vCalendar files directly. Evolution works with all versions of Microsoft Exchange Server, with the exception of Exchange 2007. It can be synchronized with Palm Pilot devices with gnome-pilot, and OpenSync enables it to be synchronized with mobile phones and other PDAs. For graphics work we have an old-time classic that has been included in Ubuntu since the get-go. I was hoping that GIMP 2.8 would be ready in time for inclusion into Ubuntu 9.10, but that didn't happen, so instead we have the latest stable version, GIMP 2.6.7, which is about two months old. While it still doesn't feature layer grouping, it is the best free software alternative for graphics and image editing. Of course, since we are talking about productivity apps, including a good Solitaire card game application is a must. If you're a purist and you want to port your Windows habits to Ubuntu, you will find AisleRiot Solitare to be much more advanced than its proprietary counterpart. It features more than 20 different card games that you can play by yourself, including FreeCell, and if you get bored with it you can choose something else from the collection of logic, puzzle and action games that Ubuntu ships with. Multimedia support and connectivityAfter all this setting up it was time to relax a bit, maybe even watch a video or two on YouTube. So I started up Firefox and I didn't get anywhere fast, because there was no Abobe Flash support. Ubuntu worked on integrating a Firefox plugin that searches and installs the Adobe Flash Player with the package manager, but it appears that YouTube's custom scripts override that function, and instead it will point you to the official Adobe Flash download page. That complicates things a bit, because it misleads a new user into manually installing packages. If the user happens to stumble onto another page that doesn't have any custom scripts, Firefox's Adobe Flash plug-in finder will work correctly and you will be able to choose which Flash support package you want (Adobe's, of course) to install, enter your password and that's it.  |  |
The speculation that Banshee will replace Rhythmbox circulated intensely during the initial development of Karmic Koala, but Rhythmbox remains the default music player and media management application in Ubuntu, for now. It is a fairly capable program that can accommodate both novice and more demanding users, and it features play queue and playlist management, multiple playback modes, Audio CD creation and import, podcast support, Last.fm scrobbling and, last but not least, device sync and management. Since some audio formats are restricted, if you load up an MP3 file you will be prompted to start a search for suitable codecs, then you can install them. However, Rhythmbox refused to play the file even after taking those steps, and it was necessary to quit and then run Rhythmbox again for it to work. Personal Media Players that use the MTP protocol for connecting to the computer have been a constant source of problems, but getting them to work is quite easy if you know where to look. If you plug one of these players into one of your computer's USB ports, you will see that Ubuntu itself recognizes the device and offers a variety of actions for it, but Rhythmbox doesn't appear to detect it. To get it to work you need to enable "Portable Players - MTP" in Rhythmbox's "Configure Plugins" Window, then your will be able to copy music to your player. MSC devices, those that can be manipulated like a regular USB drive, work without a hitch.  |  |
One particular problem with Ubuntu's setup is that MP3 files, and possibly others, are set up to open with Totem, the video playback application, instead of Rhythmbox. I think the system is configured this way so that you can preview or listen single files quickly, and if you think they should be part of your collection you will copy them to your music folder. This mode of operation isn't fully configured either, because you will need to configure a music folder in Rhythmbox and eventually enable the new file detection in it. However, you can choose to open a file with another application by tweaking its properties. Although Totem has a simple interface, it is a powerful multimedia player. When the codecs required to play a file are missing, you will be prompted to install them in the same way that Rhythmbox does. Although I tend to think of media applications as video and audio players, Totem can do a bit of both. It's not a media management utility, but it supports playlists, subtitles, and when you're listening to music it can even display visualizations. A variety of formats are supported, even High-Defintion videos, such as H.264 encoded ones or the popular MKV container.  |  |
If you plug in a digital camera, Ubuntu will detect its presence and a helper will be displayed, offering to open a Nautilus window to browse the photos on the camera, or to start up a very functional piece of software called F-Spot. This digital photography management application includes a set of very useful features that allow you to organize, tag, correct, export and, of course, view your photos. Although its interface can get quite busy, with the toolbar, sidebar and filmstrip all occupying a section of the screen, the number of functions packed in F-Spot is well worth it. The timeline slider and the extensions that can upload your photos to various online services definitely deserve being mentioned, and if you need extra functionality, the included extension finder may be able to help. Large file downloads, like ISO images, are being increasingly delivered through peer to peer networks like BitTorrent. Ubuntu bundles the Transmission application for torrent downloads. While it is a neat and simple to use application, Transmission could be enhanced by adding a first run wizard that will help new users set their download and upload limits so that the torrent traffic doesn't interfere with VoIP or web browsing. Once you downloaded one of those large ISO images, you will probably want to write it to a DVD or some other optical media. Simple disk creation and duplication tasks like image burning or data backup can be handled by Nautilus, which features a context menu entry for ISOs and a "Send To" item that enables you to add files to a data disk. More complicated tasks, like Audio CD or Video DVD mastering, can be done with the Brasero Disk Burner. It has a very intuitive interface and a lot of useful usage indications, but you won't find any multimedia editing features like DVD menu creation. Also, the annoying "Image Checksum" plugin is still enabled by default, initiating an integrity check of the written data immediately after finishing the burn process. Since most of today's computers and optical drives/disks are reliable enough, I think that the checksum plugin could be disabled by default, or even made to display a prompt asking if you want to check the written data. Ubuntu on notebooksMost of the notebooks on which we tested the new Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) had Intel chipsets, but even so, the level of out-of-the-box functionality is impressive. On both the HP ProBook 4510s and the Fujitsu-Siemens AMILO M1475G all the components were correctly recognized, the hotkeys worked, power management was a breeze, and not even using the hardware wireless switches was a problem. The volume wheel and the remote control on AMILO required no additional setup, and I was happy to see that the Bluetooth module on the HP ProBook was already set up and ready to be used. A very useful feature for notebook users is the home folder encryption option that is available when installing the system, since the data stored on laptops is more valuable than the device itself in most cases. Encrypted Private Directories was introduced in Ubuntu 8.10, but it wasn't enabled by default and, to actually secure data, the files had to reside in a special folder if they were to be encrypted. However, this approach relied on the user to store sensitive data in the private folder, and configuration files like Pidgin's logs or account settings were still vulnerable. Ubuntu 9.04 extended the encryption to cover the whole /home folder, but it still had to be set up manually. In Ubuntu 9.10, this feature is available at install time, and I must agree that it's a very efficient way of protecting your data. Instead of wasting precious resources by encrypting or decrypting common system files that are of no particular interest, it only secures the place in which the user stores its files, the /home folder. You need to take some precautions when you use the Encrypted Home Folder feature, to ensure that your data won't be rendered useless. By enabling it, the password that you set during setup is used to initially decrypt a much stronger passphrase, which in turn is used to decrypt the data. This generated passphrase is presented to you upon first boot, and it's recommended that you write it down or otherwise store it in a secure place, because it is vital to the recovery of the data, should something go wrong. If you forget your password and lose this passphrase, your files will be locked, and the chances of recovering them with a brute force attack are slim. Application managementSince there is no feed aggregator preinstalled and Evolution can't do us the favor of fetching the news, the only choice left is to install one. If you have been paying attention to the images on Ubuntu's installer, then you know about Ubuntu Software Center. Add that to the fact that this program is accessible directly from the Applications Menu, and it's not that hard to guess where a new user will go when looking for software to install. So, let's see if Ubuntu Software Center can help us get a feed aggregator. Do a search for "feed," pick one of the listed applications, and in the information page there is an "Install" button that needs to be clicked. After you enter your password the application is installed – it couldn't get much simpler than that. When the idea of replacing "Add/Remove Applications" first appeared, some voices argued that Ubuntu already had too many different ways to access the repositories and that they should be consolidated. That didn't happen at this time (maybe in later versions), but "Add/Remove Applications" was definitely replaced with a worthy successor. Ubuntu Software Center is a friendly application that has well-defined software categories, built-in search and detailed package information. The Synaptic Package Manager is still included, but its interface and features are aimed at the advanced crowd, so the Ubuntu Software Center is a great resource for new users. BugsI must say that I consider Empahty to be a serious "bug." Although its inclusion into this release is probably similar to the way PulseAudio was adopted, Empathy is seriously lacking in some respects. The audio/video chat function is often unstable or unusable, the configuration options are spartan at best and the account manager and creation tool is complicated and often unintuitive. The latest Pidgin developments have initial multimedia chat support, and the available plugins make it an extremely versatile tool that shouldn't have been replaced so easily. ConclusionIf you read this review from top to bottom, you will see that many of the software installation/customization tasks were related to the lack of support for some technologies, like Adobe Flash or the MP3 audio format. Support for them, along with many other useful things like fonts, a Java virtual machine and DVD playback can be added to the system by simply installing the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package, with the Ubuntu Software Center app. All those separate knick-knacks could be done away with a single move if the Ubuntu developers created an after-installation prompt that would clearly lay out the associated licensing problems and through which the Ubuntu restricted extras package could be installed at the press of a button. Aside from that, Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) is a great operating system. The hardware support is excellent, and the resource requirements are lower than in many commercial operating systems. The bundled software package is quite useful and it perfectly fits the needs of a novice or business-oriented user. If you're familiar with the previous incarnations of this operating system, Ubuntu 9.10 will appear to you as a mere visual overhaul over its predecessors, but there are many more subtle changes under the hood. Taking a look at the bigger picture, the Ubuntu family of operating systems is expanding. You can now base your distributed server infrastructure on the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, and if you own a Dell netbook you can even try out the Ubuntu Moblin Remix. Last but not least, I personally hoped that Lubuntu, the lightweight XFCE-based community-developed distribution, would be accepted among the officially supported editions, but it looks like we will have to wait until Ubuntu 10.04 for that.
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EDITOR'S RATINGS:
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| User Interface: |   (4/5) |
| Features: | (5/5) |
| Ease of use: | (4/5) |
| Pricing/Value: | (5/5) |
| Overall: | (5/5) |
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READER COMMENTS: |
| Comment #1 by: Albert on 07 Nov 2009, 02:21 UTC |  reply to this comment | I feel that the the set of computers chosen for installation was not comprehensive enough I use a netbook and my understanding is that Ubuntu 9.10 performs poorly on these machines. To the point, where users with certain netbooks were advised not ot upgrade and one netbook distributoin went from being Ubuntu-based to Debian-based. Your review did not cover these points very major points and I judge it to be inadequate. |
| Comment #1.1 by: Stoyan on 09 Nov 2009, 17:10 GMT | Ha-ha...for netbook use ubuntu remix edition. |
| Comment #1.2 by: Jim Van Damme on 15 Nov 2009, 01:26 GMT | I put LinuxMint Gloria on a 5 year old laptop with 256M of memory. It doesn't run the eye-candy (installed with it turned off by default) but it sure is faster than XP. It installed my $10 refurbished Netgear wireless dongle and HP wireless printer just fine. The "I'm free of Microsoft" light bulb went on over my head (actually an LED)! |
| Comment #1.3 by: Sam on 04 Mar 2010, 05:32 GMT | Stop Whining like a little baby and appreciate what the author has done. |
| Comment #2 by: rohith on 07 Nov 2009, 05:23 UTC | reply to this comment | Ubuntu 9.10 is awsome.. i love it.. and this review is good for beginers's.
I have to tell that there is a serious bug in ubuntu 9.10 its about wireless driver for broadcom its only available after updating synaptic once and installing via hardware drivers peoples who dependent on the internet access through wifi may face prblem regarding this hardware driver issue and its ridiculous that it was working fine in 9.04 !! |
| Comment #3 by: Mariusss on 07 Nov 2009, 07:35 UTC | reply to this comment | Hi can ubuntu 9.10 be seted to auto login insted of login everitime wen u open the pc ? |
| Comment #3.1 by: Marius Nestor on 09 Nov 2009, 11:18 GMT | Hi,
Yes it can. Go to System -> Administration -> Login Screen, unlock the application, and set it to "Log in automatically". |
| Comment #3.2 by: eggdeng on 11 Nov 2009, 23:03 GMT | You get offered that option during installation. After install, you can set it up in System -> Administration -> Login Screen . Just check log in as username automatically. |
| Comment #4 by: scott on 07 Nov 2009, 17:38 UTC | reply to this comment | Am I the only one who hates kk? I am ready to give up and buy 7. I have tried, tried, tried my best since 8.04 to use ubuntu exclusively. If my time were worth minimum wage then I would have several thousand dollars invested in ubuntu. With each new distro it' seems like the same old problems. Skype won't work right. Or google earth, or evolution. Wine won't do anything right.
Boot time is ridiculous. Apps just disappear. I tried google gears and it just shows up when it wants to then disappears for days. I'm no tech genius but I can read and follow instructions. I started this with joy in my heart for finding a way to stop giving my money to Bill Gates. Today I am ready to send him a check and an apology. |
| Comment #4.1 by: jay jay on 09 Nov 2009, 15:26 GMT | yes you are the only one. kk has been great for me i updated from 9.04 and everything worked after the update. i have no problems with skype or google earth. |
| Comment #4.2 by: VincentH on 14 Dec 2009, 09:45 GMT | Probably your machine is so old, it cannot run Windows 7. So your only other choice is Windows XP which isn't sold anymore (and needs at least 1,5GB of memory since SP3). First try to add some extra memory to your machine; ask your local computer-store for it. They probably try to sell you a new pc including Windows 7, because they make more money then. So, good luck! If you need good advice about upgrading your pc for cheap, just ask for help on Ubuntu-forums. |
| Comment #5.1 by: ubuntu4life on 13 Dec 2009, 20:42 GMT | true. |
| Comment #6 by: Linux-user on 09 Nov 2009, 01:24 UTC | reply to this comment | Empathy isn't the only bug. There are still some bugs which were present in the first release of Ubuntu, but still aren't fixed in this eleventh release of Ubuntu. Some examples:
- There still isn't a complete copy / paste functionality. Gnome has some clipboard, but this only works with several Gnome applications. It's still impossible to copy some text or a picture from Firefox, close Firefox and then paste the text in Gedit or paste the picture in The GIMP. Don't say Glipper or Parcellite is the solution, because they aren't the solution. They're only a half working workaround. This bug just needs to be fixed in X.
- List View in Nautilus still doesn't work. When pasting some file or creating a new file or a new directory from the context menu, you can only access these options when you do a secundairy click in white space. When there are a lot of files in a directory (so a scroll bar will appear on the right side of the window) there's no white space left and it's impossible to use the context menu to create a new file, create a new directory or to paste some file you copied earlier.
- The context menu appears when pressing the mouse button, instead of when releasing the mouse button. Because of this behavior it will happen you invoke an item of the context menu, while you didn't want to. This is what happens: You perform a secundairy click by pressing the right mouse button (or the left mouse button for those who are left handed), the context menu appears, but if you accidentally move your mouse a few pixels towards the bottom of the screen, the first item of the context menu will be active. Now, when releasing the mouse button, the activated item of the context menu is invoked. Some examples of what can happen:
- - Performing a secundairy click on a hyperlink in Firefox often causes Firefox to open the page in new tab.
- - Performing a secundairy click on the desktop often creates a new directory.
- - Performing a secundairy click on a picture in Nautilus often opens the picture in Eye of Gnome.
This happens to me several times a day. This weekend I was at a friends and he's also using Ubuntu. In the few hours I was at his place, he encountered the right click bug at least five times.
Those annoying bugs really need to be fixed, but I wonder if this will ever happen. I don't expect bugs number one and three to be fixed, because (in the eyes of the developers) they are no bugs, but it's just the desgin of Linux and thus it works as expected. You just have to keep your application open untill you're ready pasting your text, picture or whatever and being able to select an item from the context menu with only one press and one release of the mouse button (instead of two) is a feature. Well, the design is just simply completely wrong and these features keep on annoying people everyday and the first bug even causes people to loose their work.
I don't have much more confidence in the second bug to be fixed. This bug was first reported in 2002, but the developers still didn't take any action to fix this bug.
These bugs need to be fixed, they're really annoying and keep on bugging me and even keep on people to loose their work. |
| Comment #6.1 by: Pingvin on 09 Nov 2009, 20:32 GMT | Weird. I been running Ubuntu and Kubuntu etc. for several versions now and I have never encountered those bugs or problems. I have also never encountered any of the users I help with ubuntu of any version with those bugs or problems. You sure the problem and bugs lies within ubuntu and not something in your hardware setup etc? Some very exotic keyboard or faulty one or faulty mouse.
Weird |
| Comment #6.2 by: Linux-user on 10 Nov 2009, 20:10 GMT | @Pingvin:
No, this has nothing to do with my hardware. The first two bugs I was talking about can be reproduced by everyone who runs Ubuntu.
How to reproduce the first bug:
- Open Firefox;
- Select some text and select "Copy" from the context menu;
- Now close Firefox (not only one tab of one window, but just close all tabs and windows);
- Start gedit;
- Try to paste the text you copied before;
- It's impossible, because the clipboard is empty.
Or:
- Start Evolution;
- Select some text (like a password from an "I forgot my password" e-mail that was sent to you) and select "Copy" from the context menu;
- Close Evolution;
- Start firefox;
- Try to paste the password in the password field of a logon form on a website;
- The clipboard is empty, so you can't paste the password in the logon form.
Or:
- Start Firefox;
- Copy an image, like the Softpedia logo at the top of this website, using item "Copy image" from the context menu;
- Close all tabs and windows of Firefox;
- Start the GIMP;
- Click on File, select Create and click From Clipboard;
- You'll get an error stating the clipboard is empty.
I think that are enough ways to reproduce this bug.
Now let's reproduce the second bug:
- Start Nautilus;
- Copy a file or sirectory using the item Copy from the context menu;
- Browse to a directory which contains a lot of files and subdirectories (I'd recommend to browse to /etc);
- When you're using Icon View, press the right mouse button (or the left one when left handed);
- You'll notice you can do a secundairy click on a directory and on some white space;
- Calling the context menu from white space results in another context menu as when calling the context menu when the cursor is on an icon;
- This is the way it should work, because you can do a secundairy click on some white space to call a context menu which includes options like Paste, New Folder and Create File;
- Now change to List View using the drop down menu on the right side of the function to some in and out;
- You'll see a list of icons with no white space;
- Try to get a context menu containing the items Paste, New Folder and Create File;
- It's impossible, because you can only get this context menu when doing a secundairy click on some white space, but there is no white space when using List View in a directory which contains a lot of files.
The only bug which could be somhow related to hardware is the third bug. A mouse with a higher DPI will register even the smallest movement of the mouse, so the bug occurs more often when using a mouse with a high DPI. I've got a Logitech G5, set to second of three available DPI settings. The only people I now in real life who use Ubuntu are my parents and a friend of mine. My parents have got a Logitech mouse which is about 7 years old and they encounter this bug. I don't know which mouse my friend uses, but I think the mouse is about 3 years old and he encounters this bug at 50% of all secundairy clicks. My old mouse was a Logitech G5 (first model) and I encountered this bug using this mouse. Two months ago I bought the newest Logitech G5 and I still encounter this bug. It doesn't occur as much as when using my friends mouse, but I still encounter this bug at about 5% off all my secundairy clicks when using my Logitech G5.
If you want to try to reproduce this bug, just try to do a lot of secundairy clicks after another. Don't keep your mouse at the same place, but just keep on moving your mouse across the screen while performing secundairy clicks. |
| Comment #6.3 by: ubuntu4life on 13 Dec 2009, 20:43 GMT | I think the new Dbus is going to solve those problems... |
| Comment #7 by: ger mulvey on 09 Nov 2009, 09:59 UTC | reply to this comment | I have to agree with linux-user. Some very old bugs are still present.
The whole point of a new release is to provide a newer more complete and less buggy app or os. Sadly for me Ubuntu is not the os I felt was right for me. Very disapointed with this release.
For me grub2 was implemented too soon. Also for many dual booters it is likely to cause headaches if you need to modify your boot for any reason. Some other distros using the legacy grub often don't add 9.10 to the boot menu either. |
| Comment #8 by: stuart may on 10 Nov 2009, 04:38 UTC | reply to this comment | 'automatized' - because saying 'automated' sounds so 5 minutes ago |
| Comment #9 by: John Kohler on 10 Nov 2009, 19:01 UTC | reply to this comment | For me, Karmic Koala is awesome in all respects but one.
In addition to wired and wireless ethernet for my laptop, I still
want dialup access as well. The the software driven modem (Winmodem)
in my laptop can use a linux software driven program but I am a little
too dense to install one.
But, with earlier versions of Ubuntu, I could install Gnome-PPP
sudo apt-get install gnome-ppp
And, from www.linuxant.com, I could obtain a debian modem driver
dpkg dgc_1.11.........deb
and it worked on 9.04 and earlier.
It doesn't work with Karmic Koala, though.
John |
| Comment #10 by: EmptyH on 10 Nov 2009, 19:45 UTC | reply to this comment | I agree about the right click mouse problem, this has been bugging me for some time now. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. I hope the fix it soon. Other than that I love Ubuntu. |
| Comment #11 by: SREE on 12 Nov 2009, 04:17 UTC | reply to this comment | It is very difficult to connect BSNL broadband in ubuntu 9.10. But in version 9.04 it is very easy..
I feel this is a bug in this version. I use ubuntu for last few months.. due to the latest version i have to satisfy with version 9.04. |
| Comment #12 by: Howie on 12 Nov 2009, 13:10 UTC | reply to this comment | Installing Ubuntu is easy and it works very well. However the problem is getting peripherals to work.
E.g. printers. I have a lexmark X1270 all in one. It is detected and I am given the option to select the correct driver from a list. However a lot of Lexmarks use the Z600 driver which needs to be downloaded and installed as per these instructions
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardwareSupportComponentsPrinters/LexmarkMultifuncPrinters
Many people have these printers as they are cheap. It would be good if a the information to set up printers etc was available instead of having to search the forums. |
| Comment #13 by: Neil on 13 Nov 2009, 20:23 UTC | reply to this comment | Downloaded ISO desktop 386 from softpedia and burned ISO to a CD. Booted to the installation GUI and click on install. Nothing happens. Tested the MD5 - failed. Downloaded the alternate installation - this worked. Now I will see how the O/S looks to me. |
| Comment #14 by: nf3 on 14 Nov 2009, 13:57 UTC | reply to this comment | ubuntu 9.10 = bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug bug
I like ubuntu but this is the truth about 9.10 . |
| Comment #14.1 by: Gary on 19 Feb 2010, 16:11 GMT | I agree. I had 8.4 desktop and server installed on an AMD machine and it worked fine. I foolishly tried to upgrade to 9.10 desktop and the trouble began - repeated freezing of the GUI.
A few disk wipes later, I have returned to Windows for the desktop and 9.10 server (which seems to work fine). I have 9.04 desktop on CD waiting for my patience to return for another try - maybe.
I suspect the problem is with the GUI (and an "older" ATI Radeon 9600 graphics board. I did spent hours searching the Ubuntu forums and the Internet in general with no useful results.
[BTW: why isn't the Ubuntu forums segmented by release version? 10,000 posts on how to fix v8 doesn't really help much with 9.10 problems] |
| Comment #15 by: Eeeeean on 14 Nov 2009, 18:12 UTC | reply to this comment | I love the Karmic NBR. Did a fresh install on an EeePC 1000h and everything worked without any problems whatsoever. Apart from its looks, Karmic NBR actually feels much more like a grown-up distro instead of a stripped down version of Ubuntu with an unwieldy interface (Intrepid NBR). |
| Comment #16 by: Mad Scietist on 16 Nov 2009, 08:07 UTC | reply to this comment | I totally agree with scott. I have been using linux since the mid nineties, when it was still almost unknown, and ubuntu is one of my least preferred distros. Gone is the clean, beautiful coding of the early days. Ubuntu is going the same way as windows, and looking at windows 7, windows is going the way of linux. The elegance of Ubuntu has been completely destroyed by the last few releases. the coding is bloated and messy. I actually had to rewrite some of 9.04 to get it to work flawlessly. Looking at 9.10, none of those bottlenecks or bulges have been fixed. I much prefer windows 7. People go on about how light and fast it is. No one realizes how much more faster and lighter it could be if someone took time to clean it out. The performance from modified versions is almost twice that of stock versions, but people just want to go on and on about ubuntu, although they know nothing about the deep workings of it. |
| Comment #16.1 by: ubuntu4life on 13 Dec 2009, 20:47 GMT | Why all those negativities about Ubuntu?
Ubuntu did a lot of good things for Linux. And perhaps some bad things to Linux. But it is the first OS that is a real competitor to Windows.
Be a little bit more positive next time please =D. |
| Comment #17 by: bobm on 18 Nov 2009, 18:54 UTC | reply to this comment | I find Ubuntu 9.10 has improved the wireless drivers. Firefox 3.5.4 looks great but it is extremely slow.I tried all online advice but no improvement. I have gone back to 9.04!I hope they get the basics right in next release. |
| Comment #17.1 by: Vadim P. on 19 Nov 2009, 15:47 GMT | Firefox was always slow for me, so I switched to Google Chrome for Linux. http://dev.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel#TOC-Linux |
| Comment #18 by: gomez on 20 Nov 2009, 05:44 UTC | reply to this comment | I belive Albert is one of those microsoft agents out there to distroy linux and promote windows |
| Comment #18.1 by: Albert on 12 Dec 2009, 19:05 GMT | No, I wouldn't say that. I have been a supporter of GPL'd software for many years. (I contributed back to an open source community by doing the docs for an app, have you? Didn't think so.) I don't run windows on my netbook, which originally had linpus lite on it. The netbook runs Puppy Linux 4.3.1 and Easy Peasy 1.5 on it. I have an old desktop running windows XP on it as I use it to run a home network connecting macs and my wife's PC and I don't have the tech skills to do that from Linux.
The only thing I miss in Linux are some METAR weather apps so they are run from WINE. I am not a Microsoft spy or whatever. In fact, my favourite text editor is emacs and I use org mode. And I run the linux version of maxima. And before I retired I did my CV in OO writer and I still do my income taxes using an OO Calc spreadsheet with bmy own functions using the BASIC that comes with OpenOffice.org. .
I believe in open source for pragmatic reasons - commercial software that I liked and used has disappeared. If these apps had been open source or GPL, they might still be with us today. I am thinking of KAMAS, a multi-purpose software application (outliner, database and operating system) and Geos / Geoworks.. |
| Comment #19 by: tomooka on 21 Nov 2009, 22:23 UTC | reply to this comment | totally agree, linux/ubuntu is still a game written by programmers 4 programmers, I'm totally disinterested what "terminal" and commands are (like 99% percent of the population of this planet I suppose). The project lacks any coordination whatsoever and maybe instead of churning out endless distributions they better get one working. linux for everyday user with windows ergonomy and ease of use is still a dream and always will be as the whole open source thing is more of ideology and way of life than thinking about end user who will always love GUI-oriented programms. |
| Comment #19.1 by: Linux-user on 23 Nov 2009, 17:43 GMT | "The project lacks any coordination whatsoever"
You're so right. Most of those open source project have absolutely no coordination. Those open source developers just do what they like. They start developing an application and release an unstable 0.1 version. There are bugs in it and people report those bugs, but the developer doesn't care about fixing those bugs, because he has great ideas, some new features to include in the application. An unstable 0.2 version is released, which contains even more bugs. The developer adds some more new features and releases version 0.3. Then he gets a full time job and has no more time to develop the application. A stable 1.0 version will never be released and bugs will never be fixed. A few years later someone else picks up the development of the application. He adds he few features, doesn't fix a single bug and then development stops again.
Linux/Ubuntu is just a bunch of applications in pre-alpha, alpha and beta state. A lot of bugs are more than five years old and it doesn't look like those bugs will ever be fixed. Everyone just develops the features he likes and bugs aren't fixed. |
| Comment #19.2 by: Dark Archos on 14 Dec 2009, 13:13 GMT | I totally disagree. Ubuntu is very user friendly. The terminal is awesome. You might just be too used in using Windows, that's why you have that opinion. If one really wants to use another OS, there will always be a learning curve, regardless of what OS that is. In Ubuntu's case, it's so flexible that things can be done using both GUI and the terminal. It's not necessarily for programmers. It's only a matter of whether you have the courage (and the guts) to learn something new. |
| Comment #19.3 by: fourcultures on 27 Jan 2010, 11:31 GMT | I've tried to understand the dislike of the terminal but I can't. It's useful. In any case practically everything I've wanted to do in Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10 can be done by pointing and clicking anyway. Here's something very much like a terminal command that the other 99% would be able to recognise:
http://www.softpedia.com
this tells the web browser application to use the hypertext transfer protocol (http) to load and display the homepage of the softpedia website, which is located on the world wide web (www). You can type this instruction yourself, or copy and paste it. There. Not so frightening was it? If you can do that, you can use the terminal. |
| Comment #19.4 by: niek on 28 Feb 2010, 15:49 GMT | for programmers only?
on windows:
i CANT change the order of the taskbar-buttons
I CANT change the theme without hacking the whole system
I CANT add an extra tskbar
I CANT switch between desktop environments
I CANT add more desktop effects
I CANT install anything without risking a virus
I CANT plug in a device without having to search for a driver
on ubuntu linux I CAN!!!
and those who are whynig about that terminal. you CAN do everything without. its just simpler (and quicker) to say "paste-this-in-your-terminal" than having a complete list of "go here here here here there on the top is a button click there there there search this and then its solved" |
| Comment #20 by: jpsimm on 22 Nov 2009, 02:03 UTC | reply to this comment | User friendly??? Well Ubuntu used to be but no more. It's about those of us who, through no fault of our own, are stuck with dialup internet access. Ubuntu, and other distros, recently dropped the ppp whether k or gnome. I've never been able to find out why. No one at the Ubuntu factory has ever answered my query. So, I've changed to PCLinux Gnome. They still include dialup support via convenient menu inclusion.
Sudo apt get Gnome ppp you say? I say "catch 22" since you have to be on line before you can apt get anything.
C'mon Ubuntu, how hard can it be to leave the Gnome ppp menu item intact? I seriously doubt that a kernel upgrade made this impossible. I rather think that someone thinks there are no more dialup users. Who ever thinks that should move to the booties in the USA where there are still some phones fed by open wire.
If Linux were like MS in one respect it'd be no problem. We all know that with MS one needs only to drag an application to another computer and the dependencies will export with it. Then you click the .exe and off you go. I dig Linux but someone has got to do something about the restrictive aspects of the package managers. We need a universal manager so that we can, while offline, export a program from and older Ubuntu and import it to the newer. The fact that this cannot be done unless one has a propeller on his beanie is what insures that Linux will never overcome Microsoft.
I really hate to say what I just said but I have to say it because I believe it. Someone please prove me wrong. Sure, I want to know why but I also want to see the menu the way it used to be when I used Ubuntu. And will someone at Ubuntu please remember that it's not good business to dump a market segment that is still alive with users.
Thanks,
JPS |
| Comment #21 by: venky ds on 22 Nov 2009, 11:36 UTC | reply to this comment | i liked Ubuntu 9.10 very much,but the problem is internet is not accessing on my pc in Ubuntu 9.10 through ADSL2+ router .i was able connect in XP.please help me i like ubuntu 9.10 .i asked in every but there was no response .i was also able to connect internet in mint 7 Gloria through DSL in network connections .please help me..... |
| Comment #22 by: maxmonroe on 27 Nov 2009, 18:40 UTC | reply to this comment | Hey !Any of you guys had any problems with hdd detection when installing 9.10?
If not, i did! And i switched back to 8.10. i guess the 9.10 is not ready . Neither is 9.04. |
| Comment #23 by: Francesco on 29 Nov 2009, 22:41 UTC | reply to this comment | I have put Ubuntu 9.10 in an Acer Ferrari 4000 notebook, with AMD Turion 64 processor 2ghz and 2 gb RAM. I have chanced the original HD with a 260 GB one entirely dedicatet to Ubuntu.
The notebook works with no problem, it's fast to load, and automatically manage all the necessary updates (hardware and software). It's recognize the bluetooth and the wireless card very easily.
I'm very happy if I compare the same notebook working originally with Windows XP. |
| Comment #24 by: Ankur on 04 Dec 2009, 11:46 UTC | reply to this comment | Its fantastic, I really like that, I am planning to develop my OWN Linux based on ubuntu. |
| Comment #25 by: Dave Powers on 04 Dec 2009, 21:43 UTC | reply to this comment | I like Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty, but i can't afford broadband internet and it is too hard to get and install the dial-up utilities such as wvdial or GnomePPP which is the one I am supposed to use instead of wvdial. Does anyone know a good place to find these utilities and all of the dependencies needed to make them work?
Sincerely Yours,
Dave Powers |
| Comment #25.1 by: LinuxLarry on 12 Dec 2009, 14:47 GMT | Dave
I have a usb modem. i managed to get working in 9.10. i cant remember all the details but it took quite a while to get everything working. I do remember I had to uninstall modem-manager. change a bunch of permissions and such. check out these links. I am using Gnome-ppp it works great now. I also disabled network-manager. I have to say Ubuntu is no longer dialup friendly.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6296683&postcount=4
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/469881 |
| Comment #26 by: Elderlybloke on 09 Dec 2009, 03:25 UTC | reply to this comment | I had problems with 9.04 and went back to install 8.10 .
Upgraded to 9.04 late September and everything went well.
To give a balanced vies of problems in Ubuntu, in the Forums there is a link to check on the number of posts about problems with each release for the past couple of years.
I checked on how many for 9.04 , a bit over 900, and for 9.10 up to now , a bit over 1100.
May have been less for 9.04 but by no means a painless experience for a lot of people.
If at first you don't succeed , try a bit later.
I will give 9.10 a try in a day or two, when I have done some more reading , in places like this. |
| Comment #27 by: charles jackson on 11 Dec 2009, 16:47 UTC | reply to this comment | I've been and will probably remain a windows user since certain business related programs i've been using are custom-designed and only run under windows
thus, I opted for the simplest, most windows-friendly installation - using wubi and installing through windows
i installed the ubuntu variety (gnome dsktp) which is a default on both a dell domension with 8 gigabytes of memory and an AMD Phenom chip and on a dell mini-10 netbook
both installations went perfectly and in both instances i could boot to linux and work on all compatible files that had been created under windows
while the desktop computer was immeasurably fast already, the netbook runs much faster with Linux that with its windows xp |
| Comment #28 by: oceania68 on 12 Dec 2009, 12:50 UTC | reply to this comment | I had done a fresh install of KK, and it functions perfectly, Those whom claim bugs in KK should use the bug tracker program and submit it.
I have neva considered the copy paste claim as a bug but more a security feature.
Tho i do not have problems copying and pasting from one program to another, even tho i had not tried it after it is closed down. Thus to say, I have not used Nautilus, I have no need too, perhaps it is something to do with the convergence of those programs that limit the interactions such as clipboard. Who knows, but send it too the developers thru bug tracker and they may be able to come up with a solution...
To say these bugs have been prevalent since Ubuntu 1, is weak on the developers part, but only if the community had submitted the bug in the first place.. And in my experience, many people say they have found or experienced a bug of sorts but have neva submitted it to the developers for processing and fixing...
So for me, Ubuntu KK works like a dream thus far... with no complaints what so ever....... Yet.. And it works to everything I use it for....
Cheers... |
| Comment #28.1 by: Linux-user on 17 Dec 2009, 13:26 GMT | I completely missed this reply, although it has been posted five days ago. I wonder how I didn't see it.
All of the bugs I'm talking about have been reported many times. Some bugs have been reported in 2001 (years before the first Ubuntu was released) and have about 30 duplicates or even more, but the developers just don't care. I and other members have been begging to please fix these bugs. What did they do? Did they fix these bugs? No, they banned me! They thought I deserved a ban, because I was not helping in the process of fixing bugs! After EIGHT YEARS there wasn't even a single progress in fixing the bug and I asked them to please fix this bug after all those years and they just banned me!
That day I had enough of those amateurs and their amateuristic and buggy software. That day I went out to an Apple Store and bought myself a MacBook Pro.
Ubuntu also doesn't do anything to fix the bugs I mentioned. The bugs alread existed before the first version of Ubuntu was released and these bugs have been reported at Launchpad years ago. I shared my ideas of how these bugs can be fixed, but the developers just don't care. There's absolutely zero progress in the process of fixing these bugs and I doubt they will ever be fixed.
Well, I don't care anymore. I've got a MacBook Pro now and everything just works on this machine. |
| Comment #29 by: steve on 12 Dec 2009, 12:52 UTC | reply to this comment | i love ubuntu 9.10, it just works. its the first distro i have tried ( and i only dable in linux periodically, when the urge takes me), and it recognizes everything wifi included and worked. the troubles i had with vista were increasing so instead of windows 7, i tried 9.10 and i am truly converted. i havent gone thru all the in and outs but so far i have found it fast and reliable. |
| Comment #30 by: Inder on 13 Dec 2009, 15:10 UTC | reply to this comment | Downloaded 9.10, installed via USB flash drive and have been using it for a month now...No problems yet...Except that brightness hotkey...it does not work...I am satisfied with this version but it seems lot of people are not! I have not encountered any bug yet! Lucky me!
Thanx...
P.S. Any solution for that brightness hotkey? The laptop is Lenovo G550... |
| Comment #30.1 by: Dark Archos on 14 Dec 2009, 13:25 GMT | Same here. I also have no idea why some people are having problems with Ubuntu 9.10 (same with 9.04). They're just running perfectly. It depends on the hardware, I suppose. But application bugs? None. |
| Comment #30.2 by: Linux-user on 15 Dec 2009, 10:02 GMT | @Dark Archos:
"But application bugs? None."
Then you're so biased you don't even see the bugs or you just use only a very small amount of the software in Ubuntu.
Read comment #6.2. Those are bugs which already exist since the first release of Ubuntu. These are just a few examples of the many bugs which are in Ubuntu. |
| Comment #30.3 by: Inder on 15 Dec 2009, 18:56 GMT | I agree that there are some bugs...But I haven't encountered yet...This maybe due to the fact that I don't close Firefox while I copy-paste something from Firefox to some other applications...Same is with Evolution. I never encountered this bug because I never close Firefox or Evolution when I am using some data from either of the two...So at-least not a bug for me:)...
Regarding that white-space, yes, maybe there is some problem, but that will arise if I specifically do what has been mentioned in the "bug revealing" post!...
Oh come-on man! I would rather live with these small bugs than spending hundreds of bucks on some commercial OS...And I don't have to worry about malware either! I remember when I had Windows installed I always used to check if the AV, Firewall, Anti-Spy has updated itself or not, even though I had enabled them to automatically update themselves!
Sorry for my poor English... |
| Comment #30.4 by: Linux-user on 17 Dec 2009, 13:55 GMT | For me these aren't some small bugs. The copy/paste bug is a very critical bug, because it causes users to loose their data if they close the source before pasting. A working copy/paste is one of the basic functions of an operating system. An operating system should never forget what I've copied until something else is copied or if the system is rebooted / the user logs off. I'm now running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and the quote of reply #30.2 is still on the clipboard, although I copied that piece of text on the 15th of September. I just close the lid of my MacBook Pro and the next day I open the lid and everything is still on the clipboard. It doesn't matter if I close Safari or leave it open, the content of the clipboard is saved. Even if I kill the Finder (killall Finder), like killing explorer.exe in Windows, the contents of the clipboard aren't lost. In Mac OS X the clipboard just works as epected.
The price of Mac OS X was included in the price of the MacBook Pro, so I don't know how much I paid for Mac OS X, but I'm glad to spend hundreds of bugs on some commercial operating system if this commercial operating system works. Mac OS X just works and I don't have to worry about malware. Ubuntu is a nice try to be a solid operating system, but it fails. It's a nice alternative for people who don't have much money, but I'd never use it on the desktop in an office. An operating system that causes data loss, because it forgets what you've told it one second ago shouldn't be on the desktop in an office. In my opinion Mac OS X Snow Leopard is the best operating system I've ever used.
English isn't my mother tongue either, but I think there's nothing wrong with your English. |
| Comment #31 by: ubuntu4life on 13 Dec 2009, 20:36 UTC | reply to this comment | I love Ubuntu/Linux.
And I think that 1 package solves most of the problems beginners mostly occur; ubuntu restricted extra's.
I know, its still not the best solution, but for so far, a good one.
"The future will be open." |
| Comment #32 by: taomaster on 17 Dec 2009, 04:56 UTC | reply to this comment | I have been using Ubuntu from the start. The newest 9.10 is a mess. I had to go to Mint 8 64bit. Those guys over at Mint has made a great distro out of Ubuntu.Most of the bugs i have issues with has been mentioned by others here, so i won't get into it. Try Mint 8, very nice. |
| Comment #33 by: Morne on 17 Dec 2009, 14:09 UTC | reply to this comment | I've tried it on two machines, both P4 Celerons with 512MB ram. The cd works ok in live mode, but I struggled with intermittent freezing of the OS requiring hard reboots. Also after installing, it took almost an hour, all it did was freeze after prompting for my login password. It's very disappointing cause I'd like to give windows the boot, but even with it's licensing issues and other niggles, it's still the most reliable to use. |
| Comment #34 by: Beerhunter on 17 Dec 2009, 16:05 UTC | reply to this comment | Yeah there are some bugs in KK, for example Nautilus share doesn`t work right in network, y can see it but no access, even if the smb server is set by default. Jaunty runs better in KK there are too many bugs witch wore solved in Jaunty.
But no Way I love Ubuntu anyway, it`ll be my favorite OS |
| Comment #35 by: karmicKola on 21 Dec 2009, 04:07 UTC | reply to this comment | I recently switched from Windows to Ubuntu, These are the challenges
1) No support for WIreless drivers for some Dell laptops, After installing NDIS wrapper and following the instructions and not getting anywhere, Bought a D-link USB wireless adapter
2) I need support for Activex and i could not yet figure out how to get it to work. |
| Comment #36 by: Alex on 31 Dec 2009, 14:31 UTC | reply to this comment | This system is great! About netbooks, you should use Ubuntu Netbook Remix edition. But it runs great on my laptop. Great review! |
| Comment #37 by: kisleki on 31 Jan 2010, 14:17 UTC | reply to this comment | Hello Everybody!
Do You know about Ati Drvier for ASUS EAH TOP Radeon 3650?
Thats not a normal VGA from the 3650 series its 10% faster overclocked and I don't know can I install the new ubuntu.
My computer "said" change to linux!!! :D
So I want to install that OS but I don't know thats possibly.
Please help me because my friend who working with linux since long time said, try it! And if the ubuntu can download your good driver you can use that, but I want to buy a new 1TB for that and that is not needed if I can't use the linux.
So thanks your answers for all.
Byebye: KisLeki |
| Comment #38 by: David on 03 Feb 2010, 14:47 UTC | reply to this comment | I have installed this ver. ubuntu on my wifes notebook and it works wonderfully, install was seamless stress free all devices worked perfect. The notebook is a Fujitsu-Seiemns Lifebook E4010. After install just run the update all installs run perfect you just have to remember not to turn the pc off, after the updates reboot to be safe even though you don´t need to and done.
what is really great is boot times with XP it took 2 -4 minutes to boot and the HD was always working with Ubuntu about 1 min and the drive is silent and your looking at the desktop. wonderful system |
| Comment #39 by: Luke on 04 Feb 2010, 05:38 UTC | reply to this comment | Well, I have to wonder about you people. I don't know why I have to say this, but the upgrade path for those who require 98% stable software is as follows:
Start with the latest Long Term Support (LTS) release. Then wait until its support demise, and upgrade two weeks before the very end. Repeat.
Seriously, that's how it is with these projects. If you want the advanced features of the newer operating system, you pay with stability.
Also, desktop switching is better than closing apps every time you sneeze. In linux, sleeping apps only take ram, not your processing power, and so unless you have under 3/4ths a GB of Ram, then try it out. |
| Comment #40 by: Greycoat on 06 Feb 2010, 20:43 UTC | reply to this comment | "C'mon Ubuntu, how hard can it be to leave the Gnome ppp menu item intact? I seriously doubt that a kernel upgrade made this impossible. I rather think that someone thinks there are no more dialup users. Who ever thinks that should move to the booties in the USA where there are still some phones fed by open wire."
AMEN. I'm on dialup and don't use Kubuntu as much as I could and/or would because of NOT being able to easily connect to the internet via dialup.
I "tinker" with Kubuntu and CAN use the internet installing Linux apps over dialup by using VMWare with Linux being the guest OS and Windows Vista being the host OS which allows me to dial out.
Why they are screwing and/or dumping dialup users is beyond me. |
| Comment #41 by: Arnab on 16 Feb 2010, 08:24 UTC | reply to this comment | I think i will give a shot to ubuntu latest version as i have been with XP from long time now but after reading the comment i thinks it time to do some experiment and also with the Linux Mint 8 Fluxbox Community Edition
As i think the new Linux Mint 8 Fluxbox Community Edition OS is much better so lets give it a try .. |
| Comment #42 by: xDev on 25 Feb 2010, 16:25 UTC | reply to this comment | finally installed 9.10 and no problems at all
on the contrary, Windows 7 is trying to kill me!! |
| Comment #43 by: ankesh on 02 Mar 2010, 09:34 UTC | reply to this comment | there is problem with ubuntu in its mobile wire less , i think wvdial and its dependencies should be pre-installed before updating , how can i will be able to update if i will not get an iternet connection installed in ubuntu .many users have bsnl evdo and that doesn"t work without wvdial and wvstreams. |
| Comment #44 by: ankesh on 03 Mar 2010, 12:30 UTC | reply to this comment | hello there yah its right that 9.10 does not support dial up very well but i get rid of this by installing wvdial it needs other two packages libwvstream andlibqt3-mt_3.3.8-b5ubuntu you can download it through keryx or softpedia
esily get installed and its works superb. |
| Comment #45 by: june on 05 Mar 2010, 03:27 UTC | reply to this comment | can you give me a program for dual screen ( 2,3,5,6 t0 10 user acct. are possible to run at the same time in one screen. |
| Comment #45.1 by: AlanR on 18 Mar 2010, 16:45 GMT | I would really like to begin using Linux BUT - MUST have dual-screen capability, one screen just doesn't cut it anymore.! :(
Can anyone confirm whether this is possible or not - the lack of switchable dual screen mode is a BIG negative for me. If not, then it looks like I will be forced to stick with Windows. :=(( |
| Comment #46 by: sorabh Kumar Sharma on 07 Mar 2010, 20:57 UTC | reply to this comment | Internet connection in 9.10 is not working ...i had 9.04 version previously ... upgraded through internet connection ... it was working in 9.04... but after upgradation to 9.10 ... it had stopped working ... any solutions... i am using broadnand connection... |
| Comment #47 by: Kikolani Shish Noranzo on 09 Mar 2010, 14:05 UTC | reply to this comment | I have just installed Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit on a virtual machine (VMware Fusion). It is pretty impressive.
The only thing I didn't like was the interface(the dark window frames, and the interface has become dark/brown instead of orange). |
| Comment #48 by: Dr.Prahallad Panda on 19 Mar 2010, 17:47 UTC | reply to this comment | Ubuntu does not install in my 2 years old desktop from CD supplied by Ubuntu. |
| Comment #49 by: Greg on 22 Mar 2010, 00:30 UTC | reply to this comment | I have to agree with comment #2, Rohith, regarding Broadcom drivers. I have been trying to get Ubuntu up and running, see the drivers listed, tell it to activate, it tells me it cannot. So, there I am. Stuck on wireless with no drivers loaded, so, back to vista. Sad. I like the look and feel of ubuntu and linux mint, both - same problems.
If you have the solution, please tell me! I cannot get it to partition correctly either, tells me it cannot format this or that partition each time I load it.
luv_hot_chiles@hotmail.com
I am eager to drop windows -- fully --- and dedicate all my time to Ubuntu, Mint, or ??? but I need the wireless to work!!!
I am sick of windows and need the change. Yes, windows works for me, for what I do, but I prefer to get off the OS (resource hog)(viruses) and get the linux gig rolling. |
| Comment #50 by: akdavesvec on 23 Mar 2010, 14:55 UTC | reply to this comment | I live up in Alaska, and I'm very excited to do away with BILL GATES and his $#$)( Windows. I only have dial up out here at my cabin, so downloading Mandriva is out of the question. I've used Linux on a friends computer and am eager to get my own Linux OS. I know this is really putting in out there but if someone out there could send me DVD or CD installation OS for Mandriva I would make sure the favor was returned some how someway! My mailing address is P.O. Box 3096, Soldotna Ak 99669. Thank you LINUX :) Hopefully someone out there can spare the time to make someones hopes come true. |
| Comment #51 by: amunra on 27 Apr 2010, 18:24 UTC | reply to this comment | I removed my Windows 2 years ago working with fast ssd system and have installed Ubuntu on it.
Today almost all my machines are Ubuntu based. I agree it is not a perfect OS, however it gives you freedom of choice and control. No need for updates - usually it works more stable without. No need for system reboot when system changes made. My Ubuntu server has been online for 4 years without any need for reboot. You could just connect it to network, built it in into a wall and it would work as long the hardware would let you.
The story with developers is pure tragic. At the very beginning they were creating their comments as encrypted but clear and short as possible. They were also working on their projects for the whole life .
Nowadays the developer may became a builder tomorrow. He creates houndreds/thousands lines of not needed texts, with just few comments needed inside it.
Under Linux we have bad man pages with bad readmes which are coming from wrong versions .
Under Windows we have still not properly working system, overloads, IO-hangups,etc...
All this is caused by a group of the same people.
I am working with IT since 25 years and I can tell you one thing: there is a simple way of making things work. Encrypting infos and putting unwanted comments plus wrong documentation is not the right way. Simplicity and proper definition with small groups make the best working systems.
But, well, such is life. I like Ubuntu -it works well when not doing updates :)
enjoy!!! |
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