First Look at Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Beta

[pokerfan]

All platforms: You want change? Ubuntu 10.04, the next long-term release of the free operating system, is full of change. Window buttons are on the left, default apps are replaced, the theme is new, and many more upgrades are worth exploring.

http://lifehacker.com/5498799/first-look-at-ubuntu-1004-lucid-lynx-beta

[madokie]

1. I say that this new version of ubuntu

and mint when it follows suit, will put a big dent in the bottom line of microshaft. I've been using ubuntu 10.04 since it came out in alpha and I simply love it. My boot time this morning was a solid 12 seconds. I mean that is ready to go booted up not just a splash screen like winblows does while it loads who knows what in the background taking up a few more precious seconds :-)

Looks like you and I are the only ones trying this new version. Come on progressives try something new for a change you may just find something new you like.

[pokerfan]

2. I have no problem with some folk waiting for the official release

But I will say that I'm looking forward to giving this release to family and friends I currently have on Karmic (9.10) for the simple reason that this will be an LTS (Long Term Support) release supported with automatic updates for the next three years.

Upcoming dates:

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

3. I've been using 64bit Ubuntu 9. 10 for some time. Some reason I can't get the Beta to work

I downloaded "64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop CD and burn it to CD"... won't get past the purple screen. Then I tried 64-bit PC (AMD64) alternate install CD...

Installed on spare harddrive. Still stalls on the purple screen!

I'm downloading "PC (Intel x86) alternate install CD" now, If it doesn't work then I guess I'll have to wait for final release.



FYI: I don't know why I skipped "PC (Intel x86) desktop CD", but I'm not gonna cancel " PC (Intel x86) alternate install CD" because I've already got two hours downloading into it.





AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800 with 4 gigs of ram.

[Mojambo]

4. I tried Ubuntu back in the day

I really liked it, but I could never find a way to deal with all my iPod stuff.

Is it easier to do now?

[pokerfan]

5. So easy my nephew can do it

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PortableDevices/iPod

[Mojambo]

6. Thanks, but I'm not prepared to "jailbreak" my iPhone.

I guess I'll just have to keep a small Windows partition to do all my iPod stuff if I want to do the linux thing.

[pokerfan]

7. Jailbreaking?

No jailbreaking necessary.

http://www.webupd8.org/2010/02/confirmed-ubuntu-1004-supports-iphone.html">Ubuntu 10.04 Supports iPhone / iPod Touch Out Of The Box

[Mojambo]

8. Ah excellent.

That first link you posted didn't have anything other than the jailbreaking method, that I could see.

Thank you.

[madokie]

9. Just downloaded and installed beta 2

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/lucid/beta2

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-10-04-LTS-Beta-2-Has-GNOME-2-30-and-Revamped-Installer-139372.shtml

[RoyGBiv]

10. This is nice ...

This is turning out to be a kick-ass release.

Ubuntu continues to impress me. It's such a far cry from my SuSE days during which I installed betas rarely, release candidates cautiously, and the gold master release only after the system had been in the wild a month or so.

One could actually use this beta without too many problems.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the final release. I skipped 9.10 because I didn't want to experiment with ext4 and grub2 on a non-long term support release. I thought it was a bit odd they included such major changes in that release, but then I guess that's what the .10 versions are about: bleeding edge.

[Warpy]

20. I'm having fun playing with 9.1

which I went ahead and loaded after I was unable to load drivers onto a dead box from the rescue disc. I figured it couldn't get any worse and it was high time I learned how to deal with Linux.

I was pleasantly surprised. I had tried another version about five years ago and BeOs about eight years ago and was supremely unimpressed with both. However, the 9.1 Ubuntu is a breeze to use, everything in the puter seems to work, and I wish I'd done it a few weeks ago.

I'll upgrade when the final build is out.

[charlie]

11. Odd move

Moving the window buttons, that is. I wonder why they think it's important? Moving the close button inland is also weird.

And doing it after I'd gotten the Amiga worked out of my muscle memory... :)

[RoyGBiv]

12. Good question ...

I wonder if this is the gnome people or the Ubuntu people. Since I don't keep up with gnome development much, I have no clue.

Interestingly, several of the compiz emerald themes are modeled after OSX and do this very thing.

I opt for using KDE still and will likely remain there. You can switch the buttons around fairly easily with the windows decoration themes, and I've seen all sorts of implementations there.

[charlie]

13. I don't think it's the Gnome guys

If this is correct, the buttons have moved because they're being deprecated:

http://www.webupd8.org/2010/03/esfera-new-ui-element-proposal-for.html

Canonical is going to train everybody to use a gesture doodad in the old space. Drag it right, it docks right; drag it down, it minimizes; paint an X with it, it closes, etc. I dunno, sounds clunky. But, so is the standard icon set. Does anybody use the min/max buttons instead of the taskbar?

Still, moving the close button rightward is a bad move. There used to be applications that confined the hot space strictly to the icon on maximized windows, and they were a distraction, causing you to hunt around for it half the time. The ones that extended clickability beyond the icon were better and are now the norm, allowing you to just throw the pointer to the upper edge of the screen. They're taking us back to hunt-the-button again.

[RoyGBiv]

14. Oh hell ...

I see now. It's the crowd of people obsessed with UI tinkering.

Basically all this is not just for decluttering the window but mostly for usability. Just because people are used with the minimize / maximize / close buttons doesn't mean they were a great way to control a window, but that's how people got used to it.

Really? There are reasons things became standard, and they might want to look into them before changing things too dramatically. KDE developers got their asses handed to them for doing this kind of thing and ended up re-implementing old features because real-world user experience found so many of these changes not only distracting due to their scale of the change but detrimental to productivity even when they'd gotten accustomed to it.

I admit I don't use the max button, mostly because I rarely maximize a window anymore. The bountiful screen real estate available with modern displays allows one to have several usable windows on the desktop at one time, and maximizing them defeats the purpose. In fact I get annoyed with apps that effectively disable the custom size of windows I set. I have groups of applications I use a lot at the same time, and I have their window sizes set so that they can all be open at once on the same screen. Occasionally an app will come along that reverts to its default size, which is invariable too big. The max button could go away, and I wouldn't notice.

Whether I use the min button depends on where my pointer is at the time I decide to minimize.

I would have trouble dealing with a close button that wasn't either on the far left or far right that could simply be clicked. A gesture for this is dumb and seems to come from the mind of those who kept trying to insist that clicking on the file menu and the close option there was somehow "better" than using the X. I even saw some apps back in Win 3.1 that intentionally added a little shutdown procedure to their application to force this or risk losing data. I never understood it. Seemed like a massive degree of hubris on the part of those who insisted they knew what was best about a UI experience.

And I think a lot of developers are this way. Most of them work for Microsoft, but this seems to be a pattern of behavior that's leaking into the OpenSource world as well. The things I see some developers doing with touch screens, just because they can not because it is efficient or user friendly, are truly annoying. I can hardly wait for the first app to come along that *requires* using all ten fingers on a touch screen just to move a window where you want it to go ... and listen to some designer dweeb tell me how this is better than click-drag.

[charlie]

15. You said it!

Everybody thinks usability is a piffle. Everybody who tries it learns it's HARD. Usually from a million emails telling him he's an idiot.

I jumped the gun on this one. The buttons weren't moved for the Esfera thing, Shuttleworth wanted them out of there to free space for something yet unannounced.

I've been trying to find out who this Quirós guy is and why Shuttleworth is paying him any mind. As far as I can tell, he's an amateur, just a forum/list regular. It's a funny situation. Just a few weeks ago, Quirós was opposed to the button relocation, and crying about being ignored and the loss of "community." That got him a personal reply from Shuttleworth which stung him (ironically, he was guessing Canonical didn't have a usability expert).

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/light-themes/+bug/532633/comments/119
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/light-themes/+bug/532633/comments/167
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/light-themes/+bug/532633/comments/195
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/light-themes/+bug/532633/comments/204
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/light-themes/+bug/532633/comments/279

A little while later, Shuttleworth forwards Quirós' idea to the list. Now they're all stoked, dreaming up endless enhancements and features for the thing.

It looks like a sop to mollify the masses. I hope it is, because a big bloopy button to skritch and scrape isn't such a hot idea.

I also hope Shuttleworth's got someone like Tognazzini on the payroll, because as he says in the exchanges above, he's going to do something risky and "innovative" with the space one way or another. If he's trying to fly on intuition and charisma like Jobs, then I hope the possibility he'll be told he's a shithead a few thousand times doesn't cool his commitment to Ubuntu.

[pokerfan]

22. Innovation for the sake of innovating

I have no need for gestures. The buttons were fine the way they were and it will be the first thing I switch back even though I usually close a window by typing Alt F4. I hate junk and clutter and I especially hate gizmos, gadgets, doodads, buttons and switches that just sit there.

My current desktop reflects this thinking:



Just a clock. No docky. No conky. No files and folders scattered all over the desktop. No system monitors. The (one) panel is hidden. Just a screenlet clock in the corner. To launch an app I either open it by opening the file (thus launching it by context) or I open the main menu with Alt-F1.

[pokerfan]

17. It's easy enough to fix, I guess

But I have problems with making this change at this time in order to free up space for something that doesn't exist yet along with introducing this on an LTS release. It seems to me that it would have made more sense to wait until the gadget is available and introduce it in one of the regular releases first.

[charlie]

18. I agree

Relocating the buttons before an alternate is in place seems like a gratuitous move, especially for a distro made to be household-friendly. And debuting the change on a flagship release, I don't get that either.

[madokie]

16. I like the buttons to the left just fine

it did take a few days to get used to but it just comes naturally now. This change btw was made a couple months back best I remember. I have mine set where it is close, minimize then maximize.

With whatever faults 10.04 has it is one kick ass release even in this beta form. From start to up and running in 10 seconds now, ready to go. I will go so far as to say this release is going to cause a lot of headaches in Redmond. My only regret is I waited as long as I did before I seriously gave linux a try. Its almost like I have a new computer as ubuntu uses my resources so well.

if it wasn't for the good people here at DU I probably never would have given linux a try and for that I will forever be grateful. So customizable that it puts the fun back in complaying again.

When I finally tried and was able to run autocad using wine I knew I'd never go back to micro$haft as it just seems so clunky now when I have to help one of my friends with their windblows machine. Linux just works.

Once I finally started using firefox I can't believe how I resisted doing that long ago too.

My computer is a dell dimension 4700 with a 3 gig processor with mmx, whatever that is, and with 2 gig of ram and I see no reason to upgrade at the moment and won't until I can buy a full featured linux machine, more than likely I'll have to build my own when I do upgrade

[charlie]

19. Hah

I always thought it'd be a breeze for you, if you ever got past the initial annoyances. I mean, you're a guy who builds moonbuses for fun, fer cripessakes :D

[charlie]

21. Commies love KDE

Speaking of first looks, we're finally getting a peek at North Korea's Linux distro, Red Star Linux. Fittingly, its debut was a matter of hand-smuggling a copy across the border.

Initial release was in 2002. According to the Russian who snuck it out, the current 2.0 version isn't quite stable yet.

It's based on Debian, natch.

It's fitted with controls to monitor and filter user activities, of course. An ordinary North Korean would flatline from shock if he learned the world left the DPRK in the Jurassic, and not the other way around.

It comes with the Cult of Kim baked in. Year Zero on the calendar is Kim Il Sung's birthday. Current year is 99.

That idle amusement of capitalist running dogs everywhere, Minesweeper, has penetrated the last Communist black hole. Take that, Tetris!








PIRATES AHOY!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

More pics

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8604912.stm