Review: Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Hardy Heron
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Hardy Heron
Well modders, it's that time of year again. That's right, it's a new Ubuntu release. But wait! Don't feel ashamed for asking yourself if it's worth the upgrade. Why, that's exactly what I'm here to tell you about! So just sit down, have a cup of tea and read on.
Introduction
This exciting piece of software engineering is Ubuntu's 8.04 release, codename Hardy Heron. You may be wondering, "Why would I want to leave a Feisty Fawn to join a Hardy Heron?" Ah ha! So you haven't heard of Hardy's new and fantasico features! We have...
- Out-of-the-box Wireless Support!*
- Restriced (Nvidia, ATI) Driver installation!
- Universe and Multiverse Repos Enabled from the install!
- Only the latest and greatest software for the license-minded!
I know, my hand started twitching with excitement too. I had my doubts after using 8.04 RC1, but this stable release took those and swept them under the porch (is that a legit saying?). As I was saying, the changes seem minuscule, almost trivial, but when you install that new system and run it for the very first time, well, lets just say it's like taking that first bite of solid food as a toddler. You may have thought that ground up carrots were lunch, but oh man does that Honey Nut Cheerio taste sweet.
The New
What a list of features, don't you think? Numero Uno had me from the LiveCD. Any Linux user will know of the headaches and brain-numbing commands that are needed to have IFFY wireless internet. Since I can't scream at you through text, NOT ANYMORE FOLKS. MY SQUEEZE-THE-LIFE-FROM-ME-SO-I-DON'T-HAVE-TO-KEEP-TRYING-TO-GET-THIS-TO-WORK WIRELESS CARD WORKED OUT OF THE BOX. AND YES, MY COFFEE IS GREAT!! My Linksys WUSB54 v4 card consistently gave me troubles in the past, and even gave me troubles with the RC1 release, but with this new stable version, it worked from the get go and with relatively high connectivity (75% or above most of the time). You may think this is nothing to brag about, even something you want to keep to yourself (75%? That's nothing, right?). Believe me guys, this is HUGE. You'll see why in the coming sections. *As always, it depends on the card and your success will vary from mine. Don't let this deter you; try the LiveCD and see how it goes.
And now for an anecdote. As I sat on my less-than-comfortable computer chair, browsing the interwebs, a little green icon appeared and caught my eye. This icon seemed to be nothing special, it had a little green, some gold, and a stripe or two of silver. One could easily graze over it and not even know it was there. But this icon had something about it. It drew me to it. I needed to know why it was there. A simple mouse-over should do the trick, right? One long second later, the familiar light-yellow-gold dialog bubble grew from the icon, with a larger version of itself. Awww, a cute little graphics card. A smile grew on my face. New Restricted Driver. An even larger smile grew on my face. One bubble click later, I was downloading and installing the official Nvidia Linux Driver. Yep, that's it. One. Click. Gone are the days of editing config files, adding sources to your repos and making potentially unstable system changes. Now, it's all in one, tiny, click. Rejoice Linux user, rejoice! For now you can enable the "Extra" visual effects (Compiz/Beryl) that again, Ubuntu installs for you.
Breathe reader, breathe! If that story was too intense for you, here's some nice, light reading. Back in the days of yor, package management was quite usable, though still in it's infancy. You find a package you like, search Synaptic, waiting for the progress bar to finish.. only to find no results. You check the packages site, you read and reread again, "Available through Synaptic". Lies I say, lies! Like a contract binding yourself to indentured servitude until you turn 70, you skipped the fine print. "You must enable to Universe and Multiverse repositories in Settings". Yep, now you feel dumb. Don't worry though, you're all set here. All 24,555 packages (and growing) are available hot off the press.
And to conclude my overly-lengthy look into the 4 greats of Hardy Heron, I stop with the new software. Only the cream of the crop is on here, and even that is only the creamiest of the cream. We've got knockouts like GIMP 2.4.5, OpenOffice.org 2.4 and Firefox 3 Beta 5. The Evolution Mail Client is as always present and there are addicting games up the yin-yang. As for the rest, you'll just have to check them out yourself.
The Old
Everything you'd expect from the guys at Canonical is here. We've got Synaptic, Gnome, x86_64 versions, server versions, KDE and Xfce versions, even a few third-party versions are now official releases. We've got top-notch office, graphics and internet programs, and we have everything else in between. But, that's where the old's end. As I said (multiple times) before, you're only getting the latest and greatest. I bet you can guess what I'm giving Ubuntu right now, right? Keep that number in your head, and we'll see if you're right.
The Gamut
You probably don't need me to tell you that Linux is great. As a matter of fact, crenn's poll says 52% of our users use it. To top that off, I'm Registered Linux User #471863. That's a lot of people. However, some still say that Linux isn't ready for the desktop. Oh are they wrong. My wireless was detected and running 2 seconds into loading the LiveCD, all my documents are Linux and Windows ready, all the Windows-only software has Linux counterparts (which are sometimes better (OO.org..)) and Ubuntu 8.04 now has a brand new Windows installer. Heh?! Don't worry, I'll back the truck up. You have a full install of Windows, and don't want to mess anything up with a trial of Ubuntu. It's understandable. Don't worry about that anymore. You don't have to partition yourself. You don't have to worry about losing documents. You're set. Ubuntu comes packed with a Windows installer that will DO THAT FOR YOU. Burn the .ISO, put it in your drive while running Windows, and BAM!, an installer appears. Fly away with the penguin Windows user, fly.
Open those Windows and let computing euphoria take you away.
My hands hurt. Carpal tunnel is sending pain impulses coursing through my nerves. I have to backspace every 4 characters to undo a mistake from typing so much. And I haven't even told you the half of it. Ubuntu had me from the first LTS release (meaning it has extra-long support) of 6.06. Ubuntu took my heart again with 8.04. Everything just works. My NTFS partition was immediately recognized. My Nvidia 8800GT had drivers in a mouse-click. My wireless card is sending sweet, sweet bytes over the interwebs. And you know what the best part of all is? I didn't pay a penny for any of it.
Linux isn't ready for the desktop. Pashaw to that! I spit in the eye of the non-believer. My 64-bit install of Ubuntu is more stable, more usable and more system resource friendly than any install of 64-bit Vista. Who isn't ready for the desktop now, Mr. Virus? You may see a green hill with a bright blue sky through a Window, but open that sucker just a tiny bit and you have a bug infestation. There aren't any bugs where the penguins dwell.
10/10 - If you don't at least try it you're a fool! And I pity the fool!
Edit: And just for fun, here's a link to my new Ubuntu install screenshot. http://interimo.deviantart.com/art/U...nshot-85302885
Edit 2: Here's another screenie; new desktop, GTK, Metacity and Conky!
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Originally Posted by Crimson Sky
