Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx review
We were the first one to review the Ubuntu 10.04 1st Alpha and to be frank, we were not terribly impressed as it did not bring any noticeable improvements over the Ubuntu 9.10. The new version, thanks to extremely diligent and talented folks at Canonical offers a slew of new features:
PiTiVi video editor added
GNOME 2.30
F-Spot replaces GIMP
New themes: Ambiance and Radiance
New wallpaper
Linux kernel 2.6.32
New nVidia hardware driver
Gwibber social media application
Faster boot time
Ubuntu One adds contacts and bookmark sharing
Ubuntu One music store integrated into Ryhthmbox
Ubuntu Software Center 2.0
We made a prediction that GIMP will no longer be a part of the Ubuntu release. The reason was that the GIMP was just too complicated for the normal end users. But, there is no need to panic as it is mere a few taps away – easily installable through Ubuntu Software Center.
Canonical has added a new video editor to the package, PiTiVi video editor. It is not as powerful as Final Cut Pro (for Mac) or Vegas Pro (for Windows), but it is good enough a casual user who does not do a lot of video editing.
Ubuntu 10.04, just like its earlier siblings allows you to boot into the Live CD version. This allows you too see if every thing is working out-of-the-box without installing it.
New Theme
There is a new theme that makes a debut with this new version of Ubuntu. This new theme is called Ambiance and we must say that it looks much more attractive compared to silly orange theme sported by the earlier Ubuntu versions. Also, close, minimize and maximize buttons have now been moved to left, thus giving it a Mac-ish look. Windows users may frown a bit on Ubuntu’s decision, but we actually appreciate Ubuntu copying Mac’s interface as Apple has done an incredible job in keeping the interface elegant and practical at the same time.
There is another theme called Radiance which, unlike Ambiance is a light-colored theme.
Social Media Integration
Ubuntu knows that people do a great deal of social networking these days. That is why they have integrated the Gwibber Social Client directly into the top of screen. Just click the envelope and you are good to go. It allows you to connect you to myriad of social networking tools – Facebook, Digg, Twitter, Flicker, StatusNet, FriendFeed, Qaiku and Identi.ca.
Ubuntu One – It has been updated making the user to easily deal with files and folders. You get the usual 2GB for storage. The Ubuntu One Music Store has been integrated into Rhythmbox, a music player that has been bundled with the Ubuntu 10.04.
Applications Included (Category Wise)
Internet
Empathy IM Client
Gwibber Social Client
Firefox
Transmission BitTorrent Client
Terminal Server Client
Remote Desktop Viewer
Games
AisleRiot Solitaire
gbrainy
Mahjongg
Mines
Quadrapassel
Sudoku
Graphics
F-Spot Photo Manager
Simple Scan
OpenOffice.org Drawing
Multimedia
Brasero Disc Burner
Movie Player
Pitivi Video Editor
Rhythmbox Music Player
Sound Recorder
Office
Dictionary
Evolution Mail and Calendar
OpenOffice.org
When you first start the Ubuntu Software Center, you will notice a orange-colored “featured application” button. Clicking on this button will provide you a list of those apps which are great, but are not installed by default:
Audacity
Blender
Cheese
GIMP
GNOME Do
HomeBank
Inkscape
Liferea Feed Reader
Pingus
Stellarium
Moovida Media Center
Internet Experience
Flash plugin is not installed by default but is available via the software center. Note that other distributions like LeeeNux, Mint 8, Jolicloud all bundle the flash plugin and thus, Youtube works out of the box. Mozilla is working on an open source video codec to replace flash. Perhaps then, we will be able to enjoy Youtube support without installing the Adobe’s plugin.
We also found the Firefox a bit slower in our netbooks and we prefer Chrome over Firefox in Ubuntu.
Pros:
- Runs faster than any Windows till date
- Looks like Mac OS X. OS X = Coolness factor
- Boots fast!
- Ubuntu software center is the best way to install apps on an OS. Period
- LTS release = Long term support
Cons:
- No GIMP
- No Youtube support out-of-the-box
- Inclusion of a Video editor was not necessary. They could have included it as a recommend app in Software Center instead
- Inability to cycle wallpapers
- No LinkedIn service in Gwibber
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You touched on the fact that some have been unhappy about the move of the buttons from right to left. It is possible to move the buttons back to the right through the GUI without a need for terminal commands.
Alt+F2 > Type “gconf-editor” & hit run > apps > metacity > general > edit the value for ‘button layout’ to “:minimize,maximize,close” (the colon at the beginning rather than the end moves them back to the right).
Unfortunately if you change theme at any time it reverts the buttons back to the left again so you will need to do this any time you change theme.
ive installed 10.04 and have to say im not impressed at all, nothing really new, and is not that different to 9.10 other than the windows buttons moved to the left which is awful. For the life of me i caanot understand why they are trying to make it look like a MAC, i absolutely detest MACS i would like UBUNTU to stand out on its own and leave its on mark on the desktop world, unfortunately it is just ripping of the commercial desktops of windows and macs, what a shame!!
You guys are killing me with the whole “not that much different or better than the last release”. For gods sake people they release twice a year! Imagine if Apple or Microsoft had the same schedule?! How many years was there between XP and Vista, Vista and 7?
Have you thought about all the changes, optimizations and improvements under the hood that you don’t see that goes into each release of Ubuntu?! What do you expect, a reinventing of the wheel every six bloody months?
Jay, it is more like ‘reintroducing problems’. Instead of fixing bugs, they are more bent upon adding new features. Example – the mechanism of using an external monitor with my netbook is still poorly implemented.
Are you really sure “No Youtube support out-of-the-box”
should be listed under “Pros”…?
Thanks Marcus, corrected now
I’m really happy with this release of Ubuntu. My previous version was 8.04 LTS. I’m using a Dell XPS M1330. Things I would highlight:
– much faster boot: within 20s I’m working. It’s great!
– faster wake up from suspend: it’s really inmediate
– chromium from repo! I love this browser. Faster impossible
– skype from repo! working ok with pulse audio. I had problems in the past with pulse audio
– al specal keys work now correctly (volume buttons, brightness, media-center key, etc.)
– nm-applet works much better. I use it for connecting to 3G broadband and VPN (openvpn) (PPTP and Strongswan tests still pending).
– bluetooth is great! install blueman-applet, and get rid of bluetooth applet. I use it to connect to 3G and it’s really great!
What I don’t like:
– vmware server 2.x crashes kernel. Although I installed it (with a patched kernel module), it disabled automatic startup.
– evolution is not evolving to my needs, I switched to thunderbird 3 (part of repo!) which has great calendar plugin and works great with google calendar. I love “open in new tab”.
– notification aggregation in a menu. I disabled it, Now empathy is in the notification area again, so I see when some writes me.
– empathy’s IRC client does not highlight enough important messages. I switched back to xchat-gnome. Before, I used pidgin as unified messanger. Now I use empathy / xchat-gnome combination.
I don’t use Ubuntu one. Currently, I have no need for bookmark sync. And 2GB may not be enough. I subscribed another multi-platform backup solution (crashplan) which works great.
All in all, I’m very happy with 10.04 Lucid Lynx.
I’ve tried this version on a Compaq Presario V5000 and have spent the better part of 3 weeks trying to get the damned wireless card to work. I have scoured page after page of advice and nothing thus far has solved the problem. I will try a few other solutions and if no success by the end of the week I will revert to Jaunty 9.04 or a different Distro. Suffice it to say I am not happy.
Update.
I finally got the WLAN card to work! The primary reason my machine was not working was found in this output in Terminal: “Network not claimed”
During my initial attempts I had installed Ndiswrapper, Wicd and Broadcom wireless drivers(on a wired connection) via Synaptic Package Manager and following various instructional guides using these tools I was not successful.
I reinstalled Network Manager which I had removed to accommodate Wicd and found a collection of Broadcom drivers( on a Fedora Site) specific to the card on the V5000, I downloaded these files on another computer transfered to Documents in the Home Folder. I extracted 2 Inf files, 2 Windows EXE and 1 SYS Files. Once this was done I went to System>Administration>Wireless Drivers and directed it to Install Drivers(GUI). The first of the 2 Inf was selected and the Wifi Led lit within seconds. I was able to connect to a neighbor’s connection successfully.
I used the following Command Line commands in Terminal to reach the point of success.
#1. nm-tool { This indicated that my card was not turned on}
#2. sudo Ishw-C network {this verified my wireless controllers and if you run this command without sudo a warning advising to do so will appear in Terminal }
I did not need to run other commands or Blacklist anything. The above tips worked for my specific setup. I hope this will help others avoid the frustration I encountered. Below is the “Official Ubuntu Wifi Troubleshooting Guide link.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessTroubleShootingGuide#lshw
Addendum:
I discovered one day after I got the WiFi to work that each time I shutdown the computer I had/have to uninstall the Wireless driver then reinstall it for the wireless to activate and work. It works flawlessly as long as the machine is not shutdown. It is an annoying yet easily dealt with situation but unacceptable in an OS that is supposed to be LTS. A convert from Windows might or might not figure out how to do the work around and it would do nothing to enhance Ubunut/Linux in the opinion of average computer users.
Approximately, 2 days ago I decided to check out something with the CD Drive and found that it is no longer detected. I received this message:
“Unable to mount cdrom0, mount: special device/dev/scd0 does not exist”
I am researching this issue and found I am not alone encountering this problem. What good does it do for the Lucid to look so beautiful when it is so fatally flawed?
Ubuntu is job security. That’s why I’ve installed it on as many work computers as I can. Windows 7 just does what it needs to; anyone can install it and go. But Lucid, it requires command line knowledge, as well as advanced computer skills to make it run properly. Try installing a dell 5100cn printer via a network with Ubuntu. That requires knowledge far beyond joe wifi. And that is why I love ubuntu.
Addendum #2:
I’ve been running Lucid for just over a month. In my June 26 update I noted an issue with having to manually reset/install the Wireless driver at each start up–I solved that problem and wireless activates as soon as the system boots. It activates, connects and locks onto whatever network(s) it detects.
The inability to mount the onboard CD/DVD drive remains unresolved and the error message: “Unable to mount cdrom0, mount: special device/dev/scd0 does not exist” persists,
I have found this problem remains an issue with many Users even at this late date. I am however able to use an external DVD-RW drive. It is detected instantly upon connection and works without any problems.
ATTENTION. Urgent Notice!!! . Malicious Command Line Instructions.
There has been an effort to conceal dangerous command line commands in various Ubuntu Help Forums. These instructions can erase your hard drive and destroy data to attached devices such flash drives. Use extreme caution when running commands in Terminal/Console based on advice posted help forums. You may read an Official Alert with more detailed info from the link below.
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=319