| Ubuntu 7.10 - The Best Version. |
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| Written by Administrator | |||||
| Thursday, 01 November 2007 | |||||
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Even when you're not the follow-the-crowd type of Linux user, who can resist the plethora of new features on this new incarnation of Ubuntu 7.10 aka Gutsy Gibbon If my memory serves me right, there were only a few new features in Ubuntu 7.04 aka Feisty Fawn, like the emergence of the Windows migration tool, landmark multimedia support, avahi, etc.
My affair with Ubuntu 7.04 was an off-and-on kind of thing. I use Ubuntu 7.04 only when my wife uses it for writing her blog. She had to use the Ubuntu 7.04 on her Shuttle PC with Pentium 4 processor because of the very erratic wireless connection when using Windows XP. With Ubuntu 7.04, my wife has stopped having the problems that the Belkin Wireless G USB Network Adapter gave her on the Windows XP. I have just Ubuntufied my wife. I am sure that my wife is just one of the many thousands of Ubuntu users out there enjoying non-Man-Vs-Wild Linux experience.
GNOME 2.20.0 desktop of Ubuntu 7.10 amd64 Live CD.
The Ubuntu 7.10 Various CDs And DVD Features.
Ubuntu 7.10 is based on Linux kernel 2.6.22, gcc 4.1.2 and glbc 2.6.1 while the desktop is powered by GNOME 2.20.0 and X.Org 7.3. In case you don't know, the X server 1.4 comes with the new input and output hotplugging feature and also the much awaited bullet-proof X. Well, the latest applications that made it to Ubuntu 7.10 are OpenOffice 2.3 and Firefox 2.0.0.6.
This edition of Ubuntu 7.10 was released on 18th of October 2007 and it will be supported until April 2008. For your information, Ubuntu 7.10 aka Gutsy Gibbon is available as a Desktop CD (a Live CD), Alternate CD and Server CD for both the i386 and the amd64 architecture of CPU. The Sparc architecture is also supported by the Server CD. In addition to the Ubuntu 7.10 CD, you can also download the DVD version of Ubuntu 7.10 which will provide you the Desktop, Alternate and Server CDs, all under one roof. The Live DVD offers about four thousands software packages. However, it will take you at least a few days to download the DVD iso images from the torrents.
It took me three days to download the i386 DVD but I had to wait for about a week to get the amd64 DVD of Ubuntu 7.10 via broadband. Definitely worth the wait! Especially this version! The four thousand over packages on the Live DVD of Ubuntu 7.10 is just the tip of the iceberg. With the combined strength of the main, restricted, universe, and the multiverse repositories, you can browse about twenty three thousands of software packages, via the synaptic package manager. By the way, those four categories of repositories will actually be enabled by default when you install Ubuntu 7.10 to your hard disk. However, all of the four repositories will be skipped if you try to install Ubuntu 7.10 without an Internet connection. Besides the various language packages, dictionary packages and server packages, the Live DVD also has GNOME packages not available on the Live CD, like Liferea, Workrave, Xchat, Ubuntu- calendar, Planner, Epiphany-browser, Abiword, Dia, Beagle, etc. Also available on the Desktop CD and the Live DVD is the build-essential metapackage for you to install various packages which are needed to build Debian packages.
The ATI and the Nvidia drivers are also bundled in the Desktop CD and the Live DVD in order to enable Compiz-Fusion by default. Amazingly, the CompizConfig-Settings-manager program, for configuring Compiz is neither in the Live DVD nor the Desktop CD. It is in the repository. I think the developer should have at least bundled it in the Live DVD, since they have already enabled Compiz- Fusion by default. I am sure you will find it very convenient to have the Alternate CD of Ubuntu 7.10 as it can also be used for upgrading an older Ubuntu version. In addition to being able to perform a text mode installation, the Alternate CD also offers installation of a command-line system and can also be used to rescue a broken system.
The main extra that you get from the Ubuntu 7.10 DVD is that you can use it to perform what an individual Desktop CD, Alternate CD, or Server CD can do. However, it took me about a week just to download the DVD image via the KTorrent. The CD images are generally the wiser choice. I needed only a few hours or a day or two to download the various Ubuntu CDs together.
Shown below are the lists of boot options found on the DVD, Desktop CD and Alternate CD. The new option that I noticed on the Desktop CD, was the OEM Install option.
The boot options for the Live DVD.
The boot option of the Desktop Live CD are:- -Start or Install Ubuntu. -Start Ubuntu in safe graphics. -Install with driver update CD. -OEM install (for manufacturers) -Check CD for defects. -Memory Test. -Boot from first hard disk.
The boot option of the Alternate CD:- -Install in text mode. -OEM install. -Install a command-line system. -Check CD for detects. -Rescue a broken system. -Memory Test. -Boot from first hard disk.
Hardware Requirements For Ubuntu 7.10.
The microprocessor must be at least 500MHz with a RAM of at least 192MB. The more the better. From my own experience, 512MB of RAM is needed to comfortably use Ubuntu 7.10. You need more RAM if you intend to install Ubuntu using the Desktop CD (Live CD) or the Live DVD. With a RAM of more than 320MB, you should not have any problems using the Desktop CD or Live DVD to install Ubuntu 7.10 to the hard disk. On the other hand, if your PC has a RAM of less than 320MB, you may need to the text install option of the Alternate CD.
The Human Theme.
Canonical is still holding on to the Human theme. I do hope that it will be a different theme in the next version of Ubuntu 8.04 aka Hardy Heron. The desktop is still very clean and consists of only one Examples folder and one Install icon. The new wallpaper is not exciting at all. To me, the wall- paper does represent the Human theme, as it consists of "spindles" of human hairs, of course, with varying degree of glow and amount of the Eumelanin and Pheomelanin pigments.
As usual, there are three menus located at the top desktop panel: Applications menu, Places menu, and System menu. The items on those menus are quite similar to that of Ubuntu 7.04 with exception of the debutants like the Appearance Preferences tool, Screens and Graphics tool, and the Tracker search tool. New applets on the top desktop panels are the Fast-user-switcher applet and also the Deskbar applet. I found the Fast-user-switcher to be truly fast when I needed to switch between my wife and myself as users. The Deskbar applet allowed easy access various internet search engine and also the versatile local Tracker search tool. Out of the three notebooks and four desktop PCs which I tested on, only two notebooks and one desktop PC have compatible graphic card, thus allowing Compiz Fusion's minimal 3D eye candy from being enabled. As far as the eye candy is concerned, I like the Animation eye candy! The good news is that nothing has crashed with the Compiz Fusion enabled by default on any of my notebooks or desktop. Canonical has chosen the right timing to implement Compiz Fusion! Although, I am unlikely to use the 3-D functionality, I still think that it is one of the most important features that a modern desktop needs. First impression is very crucial in the very competitive PC industry.
Accesories folder, Games folder, Graphics folder, Internet folder, Office folder, Sound & Video folder, and at the bottom-most is the very familiar Add/Remove Applications icon make up the Application menu.
This is the Places menu. I like this menu because I frequently use it to browse the network shares.
New item that I noticed on the Preferences folder of the System menu are:- Appearance, and Bluetooth preferences.
New item that I noticed on the Administration folder of the System menu was the Screen and Graphics.
X Setup Will Never Be Difficult!
I didn't have to meddle with the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file when I ran the Desktop CD on all of my three notebooks and four desktops. All of my old and new LCD screens, including the one with 1680x 1050 were accurately configured without needing any intervention from me or the new Screen and Graphics tool. As a result, I had no chance to use the new GTK-based graphic tool, called Screen and Graphics tool. Actually, this was the first time I was hoping for a failed auto X server setup, so that I could experience the new bullet-proof X feature in action. By the way, you are supposed to get a failsafe mode screen of VESA 800x600 or VESA 640X480 when your X server fails. No more command-line hassle when trying to fix a failed X server start up. This long-awaited bulltet-proof X technology will definitely make new Linux user very thrilled and feel blessed. Woohoo!!
The new Screen and Graphics tool.
Ubiquity Is Definitely Faster.
You can launch Ubiquity, the installer for Ubuntu 7.10 by double-clicking the Install icon on the left- upper corner of the GNOME 2.20.0 desktop. I find Ubiquity to be much more polished and it is much faster than it was in Ubuntu 7.04. The installation of Ubuntu 7.10 consisted of the usual dialogs and screens. As usual, it started off with the Welcome screen together with language selection. Then the Where Are You? screen appeared so that you can configure the timezone. Subsequently, the Keyboard Layout screen app- eared and was followed by the Prepare Disk Space screen. It's for preparing your hard disk partition. I chose guided over manually. If your choice is "manually" then you'll meet the Prepare Partitions screen. As expected, Ubiquity will divide your hard disk into the / parition, /home partition and swap partition, if you want the installer to create a dedicated Ubuntu system for you.
The next screen was that of the Migrate Documents and Settings screen. It will appear only if you have Windows Operating System on your hard disk. During my testing, it couldn't detect Window Vista on one of my notebooks but detected the Windows Vista on another notebook. The Windows migration tool would tell me that there were no users or operating system to import from if the tool couldn't detect the Windows Vista or Windows XP. Next screen was the Who Are You? screen for entering your username, password, and computer name. Lastly, the Ready To Install screen appeared and by clicking the Install button, the whole process of installation ensued. I had no problems with Ubiquity on all of the notebooks and desktop PCs that I tested on, I needed about 13 to 15 minutes to install Ubuntu 7.10 on the newer PCs and needed about 20 to 27 min- utes on older PCs. Faster than Ubiquity in Feisty Fawn. However, you have to be a bit patient when the installations come to the stage of configuring the apt where it may seem to "hang" a bit. You need to wait for about 2 to 4 minutes for it to scan the update mirrors.
In order to have a user-friendly dual-boot system with Windows, Ubuntu 7.10 will allow write access to NTFS partition via the ntfs-3g 1.913 driver, by default. You can only have read access to the NTFS partition in Ubuntu 7.04. Icons representing the NTFS partitions will appear on the GNOME desktop after you have logged into the freshly installed Ubuntu 7.10.
Improved Restricted Drivers Manager Too!
The message that you'll encounter when you log into the GNOME desktop of the freshly installed Ubuntu 7.10 takes the form of a small window adjacent to the system tray, informing you about the availability of any restricted drivers for your computer devices. This small window disappears within seconds, before I could take a screenshot of it. This new version of Restricted Drivers manager has improved a lot. It showed me a lot more devices that needed restricted drivers or firmwares as com- pared to the one in Ubuntu 7.04. Fortunately, with this new version of Restricted Drivers manager, it doesn't show you the "unnecessary" device that needs the restricted drivers/firmwares anymore. This version of Restricted Drivers manager could also detect my Broadcom miniPCI wlan adapter with bcm4312 chipset. It couldn't be detected in Ubuntu 7.04. Even the winmodems in my desktops and my notebooks were detected by Ubuntu 7.10. In order to show you the Restricted Drivers manager in action, I used my Compaq Presario V3222AU notebook as the Guinea pig. With the Restricted Drivers manager, installing the latest Nvidia driver for my Compaq Presario's Nvidia card and also the firmware for its miniPCI BCM1390 wlan adapter, with bcm4311 chipset, were very easy.
When I hover my mouse pointer over the applet of the Restricted Drivers Manager.
The Restricted Drivers control appeared panel after clicking the Restricted Drivers Manager applet
Checking the checkbox for the Nvidia driver resulted in the appearance of the "Enable This Driver" dialog.
Downloading and installing the Nvidia driver started after I chose to enable the driver.
Finally, I was requested to restart my Compaq Presario notebook. This is the part that baffled me! This is not Windows!
Default Compiz-Fusion Did Not Crash Anything.
Once the Restricted Drivers manager had installed the Nvidia driver for my Compaq Presario notebook, I rebooted, and then, I logged into the desktop. This time, I got a brief message again but this time I was told that I have a new restricted driver in use. Then, I noticed the minimal desktop effects or eye candy. The only compiz-fusion effects that I like is the Animation effects, which is enabled by default. Then, I added the much-needed compizconfig-settings-manager from the repository so that I could enable more Compiz-Fusion effects easily. By installing this compizconfig-settings-manager, another option appeared on the Appearance Preferences tool. The new option is called custom option. Choose the custom option to enable extra 3-D effects like desktops on cube, etc.
This is the Animation effect that I like.
This is the Appearance Preferences tool. There are only 3 options available before I install the compizconfig-setting-manager.
Better Plugin Finder Service And Better Integration.
Getting Firefox browser plugins is definitely easier with Ubuntu 7.10, even on the amd64 version, as compared to Ubuntu 7.04. Kudos to the developers! I was offered to install GCJ Web Broswer plugin by the Firefox's Plugin Finder Service, when I tried to run the Logmein Java applet. In Ubuntu 7.04 amd64, I had to manually download the Sun Java plugin from the repository when the Plugin Finder Service failed to find any Java browser plugin. Even then, the plugin that I download from the repository for Firefox in Ubuntu 7.04 could not run the Logmein Java applet. Fortunately, the GCJ Web Browser plugin offered by the improved Plugin Finder Service for Ubuntu 7.10 amd64 solved the Ubuntu 7.04 amd64 problem. The Plugin Finder Service looked even more polished in Ubuntu 7.10 i386 when I was offered a choice to choose between the GCJ Web Browser plugin, the Icedtea-java7-plugin, the Sun Java plug-in, Java SE 5.0 and also the Sun Java plug-in, Java SE 6.
As far as Flash is concerned, I had no problem getting the amd64 version Ubuntu 7.10 to play Flash content as the Plugin Finder Service of Firefox readily offered me a choice of between Adobe Flash player and the open source, Gnash. The non-free Adobe Flash player can be found in the Multiverse repository while the Gnash Flash player can be found in the Universe repository. Fortunately, all these repositories will be enabled by default when you install Ubuntu 7.10. They are, however, not enabled in the Desktop CD (in live mode) or Live DVD.
Multimedia Codecs.
Like Ubuntu 7.04 amd64, the restricted or non-free multimedia codecs or plugin were offered when I tried to play various audio or video file formats e.g Quicktime files, Xvid, DivX, Mpeg, Mp3, Mpeg4, Real media files and even my original but non encrypted DVD movies. There is ample information on the Internet on how to make the Totem movie player capable of playing encrypted DVD movie. With the exception of the encrypted DVD movie playback hassle, the multimedia aspect of Ubuntu 7.10 was handled in a very user-friendly way: this landmark mechanism will let you download the required codecs whenever you try to play any of the various audio/video formats. Of course, the open source format like Ogg Vorbis file is supported out-of-the-box.
WiFi Networking - Almost as good as Sabayon Linux 3.4f.
Making your wlan adapter of Broadcom's type work is just 4 clicks away, with the help of the Restricted Drivers manager. After downloading the bcm43xx-fwcutter package, a dialog popped up and I was required to specify the location of the bcm43xx wl_apsta.o, so that the bcm43xx firmwares could be extracted to the /lib/firmware directory.
If you don't have the wl_apsta.o file, you can choose to download it via the same dialog.
While WiFi networking on Ubuntu 7.10 has improved a lot for the Broadcom's wlan adapters, the support for other types of wlan adapters (PCI, miniPCI, PCMCIA, or USB) with different chipsets had been excellent.
The wlan adapters which I've tested and found to be supported by Ubuntu 7.10 out- of-the-box are:-
-ipw3945 miniPCI wlan adapter on my Dell Inspiron 640m notebook. -ipw2100 miniPCI wlan adapter on my Dell Inspiron 600m notebook. -Belkin Wireless G USB Network Adapter with the Zydas firmware. -D-Link USB wlan adapter model DWL-G122 with RaLink rt73 chipset. -RaLink RT2500 PCI wlan adapter on my production desktop PC. -Netgear WG511T pcmcia wlan adapter with the Atheros chipset -3COM OfficeConnect Wireless XJACK PC Card with Atheros chipset. -Prolink Wireless 802.11g USB2.0 wlan adapter with rt73 chipset.
I have a D-Link PCMCIA wlan adapter with RaLink RT2561/RT61 chipset which did not work in Feisty Fawn and continues to be of the same status in Ubuntu 7.10. Another thing that I am happy with is the new version of the network-admin tool of Ubuntu 7.10. There is now WPA support on the network-admin tool. In Ubuntu 7.04, the network-admin tool only supported WEP. The thing that surprises me the most is that the very important , Ndiswrapper, is not installed by default. The version of Ndiswrapper in the Desktop CD and the Live DVD is only at version 1.43. The latest version of Ndiswrapper is already at 1.49, as shown by the Latest Packages of Distrowatch. com. In case you need to extract the Windows wlan driver and firmware from an .exe file, you have to download the Cabextract from the Universe repository.
Less Power Consumption Leads To Less Heat!
Although Ubuntu is not my cup of tea, the main reason why I did not use Ubuntu Edgy Eft or Ubuntu Feisty Fawn as my production desktop was because of the very frequent overheating of the CPU of my 3-year-old desktop PC with Athlon64 processor. As a matter of fact, I only have a 50-50 percent chance of getting an Edgy Eft or Feisty Fawn CD to successfully install Ubuntu to the hard disk of my production desktop PC. Usually the CPU will overheat midway during the installation process. Well, this phenomenon, which I did not attribute to Ubuntu 6.10 or 7.04, also happens on Ubuntu-based Linux distribution like Linux Mint. With the latest Ubuntu 7.10, blessed with the dynticks patch, I haven't experienced any overheating of the CPU of my production desktop, during installation or while using Ubuntu 7.10 in live mode. The PC is surprisingly very much quieter now with Ubuntu 7.10. The same goes to the beta version of Linux Mint 4 which is based on Ubuntu 7.10. This is what I call: "I got more than what I bargained for". However, I am not sure if I have a burn-free lap with Ubuntu 7.10 on all of my three notebooks. I usually put them on the table though.
Easy printer setup.
In order to test the new user-friendly printer configuration tool, I plugged in my USB printer, the Canon i255 printer which is supposed to be not compatible with Linux and also not compatible with Macintosh. Once plugged in, the auto-configuration tool offered me a text-only driver for my Canon printer, and I was happy for a moment. At least the tool was quite intelligent. In the end, that printer remained incompatibly stubborn. However, my HP Officejet 4355 All-in-One USB printer was easily handled by this tool.
New printer configuration tool.
Better Suspend And Hibernation.
Sleeping and hibernating are still a hit-and-miss issue with Linux. However, I am glad that there were no problem in suspend to RAM and suspend to disk, on both of my notebooks, the Dell Inspiron 640M and the Dell Inspiron 600M, when using Ubuntu 7.10. Waking up is also not a problem, of course. Unfortunately, Ubuntu 7.10 could not get my Compaq Presario V3222AU notebook to sleep (suspend to RAM) but hibernating was not a problem. In Ubuntu 7.04 aka Feisty Fawn, I had problem on the Dell Inspiron 640M. Feisty Fawn could not get it to sleep. The same thing happened on my Compaq Presario V3222AU notebook. By the way, I had no power management problem on my 3- year-old Dell Inspiron 600M while using Feisty Fawn.
I Got More Than What I Bargained For.
I am very happy that I can use Ubuntu 7.10 on my desktop PC with the Athlon64 processor. I plan to triple boot Gutsy Gibbon with the resident Fedora 7 and Sabayon Linux 3.4f. I am also happy that the Canonical developers are giving more emphasis to security on Ubuntu by enabling the AppArmor security framework by default. With Ubuntu 7.10, you can now encrypt your hard disk partition when by using the Alternate CD. What should I complain about? The WiFi support is excellent! I had no sound problems on all of the notebooks and desktop which I tested on. Plugin Finder Service is parti- cularly excellent. The fonts look better. What more? Try Ubuntu 7.10 and you'll not regret. The Feisty Fawn on my wife's Shuttle PC has been upgraded to Gutsy Gibbon, a few days ago. It only took 5 hours for the upgrade process, via the very reliable Update Manage, and the Belkin wireless USB adapter is alive and still kicking. I hope my wife will go back to her Windows XP less frequently. Anyway, she only needs Gimp and Firefox and Ubuntu fits in very well. Her only complain was that of the Totem Movie Player which crashes quite frequently.
Thank you for reading my review. Kindly Email me comments/suggestion at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
By Michael Shee Choon Beng.
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