I'm absolutely loving it. I've done a fresh install with every new version of Ubuntu so far (I have OCD and like the feel of a new, squeaky-clean system) and this is the first time everything's just worked. No piddling about with drivers for one thing and figuring out how to get another to work. It just rebooted after installing and bam - there everything was. Ten out of ten this time, Canonical!

Ghostlove

@sapireli: Real office suite? um you know if you like the ms virus suite you can install it with WINE.

Juggrnott

@qbix: FakeRAID is garbage anyway. Software RAID has been built in for many years and it works great. You have to use the alternate install disk, but it is pretty easy beyond that. I've been using it for years and it is very reliable and saved me a couple times now.

crashmaxx

I haven't tried it yet, but I've been seeding Ubuntu and Kubuntu. I'll probably put it on my Thinkpad later tonight when I get everything else out of the way today. Looks very nice though, I haven't used Ubuntu since 7.04.

Adam

Kevin Purdy:
Very very nice job at this article. I have dual booted, re-installed, dual booted so many different times I swear I don't know why. It seems when I have a small minor problem, I seem to want to unistall and mess with it again later. After reading this big article, It makes me remember how productive I was when using Ubuntu and all the nice things it offers. I think I'm going to re give Ubuntu a go, and this time stick it out. You did a very nice job outlining some neat applications & things and I give you an A+ on this post.

ma5t3rw1tt

I can't recommend Hardy enough, it's the first distro where everything on my 4 year old Dell laptop worked basically out of the box, no tweaking drivers, no building from random scripts, just a few check boxes on first boot and everything worked perfectly. I really recommend you give this a try if you left linux or haven't ever tried it before, It's WELL worth it.

AnthoMacP

@LH:

Good article, you guys are edging me steadily closer to trying Linux again.

@sapireli:

I 100% agree. Without a strong suite of office apps, it's going to be hard for most mainstream users to consider a change.

rscotta

wow, impressive list - esp w/ the quasi-quicksilver and the fact that I no longer have to deal with dualboot setup. that hosed me last time and I had to reinstall windows. not a fun way to spend your time.

qrius

I upgraded last night, but am finding that gnome is unusably slow. I'm tweaking display settings and looking at the forums to find out what else I can do (other than disabling compiz). I'm not too interested in troubleshooting it too deeply, since I'm leaving this job and turning the laptop back in early next week. Still, it's disappointing.

jquinby

Hardy really does mark a big step for Linux. This is the second longterm support release for Ubuntu, which means 3 years of updates for desktop, and 5 years for server edition. I think it may be time to switch my parents over.

Commenting on the post above, it's noted that the default screenlets package distributed in Hardy will *not* convert Google Gadgets for your desktop. To get the more current version, you need to add a 3rd-party source to your repositories list-- perhaps not the best idea for new users, as it could introduce bugs.

But, I've been very happy with everything else. I love using Gnome-Do, and I think I'm even seeing more advanced power-saving controls on my laptop-- did the screen used to dim when idle?

--Scott

Scott Wegner

Definitely better than gutsy. Too bad that after 3 days of enjoying it I can no longer see it...'Out of Range' is all I can get on my monitor. I have tried the text based install to lower the refresh as well as every other proposed solution I have found in 20+ hours of googling. I would love to be able to recommend Ubuntu, but I cannot even get a stable install on a stock Dell 1.8GHz machine. I can run it in live mode, but not a full install. Sad...

kjrmcclain

Thanks Kevin, this is swell. I'm upgrading and migrating my old server from XP this weekend, and all these tips make it that much sweeter :)

monster79

Installing it in a fakeRAID setup is still a huge hassle. I can't believe they haven't implemented native support for this. Oh well, I guess SP3 is all I got for now.

qbix

Until someones comes up with a real office suite or integrates zoho/gdocs for off line access Linux will be unusable for many many users.

Openoffice doesn't even come near to cutting it.

sapireli

Er, does it have better friggin' WIRELESS NIC SUPPORT?!?!?!

macorange

Wow. What an improvement over the last release.

I'll definetley check it out. Great article.

Andy

Just upgraded my box to Heron, installed Firefox 3.0b5 and lost a lot of Add-Ons including, and most painfully, Better Gmail :-(

Hoping for another Better Gmail update soon (hint hint Gina)

Shocm

Still need to upgrade my 7.10 machines but I cant wait.

Digital_Pirate

@sapireli: Oh, and Google Gears works just fine on Linux, so I don't know why you're bitching about offline access to GDocs.

HeartBurnKid

I'd like to use this on a home server. Can anyone point me to a good "How to" for setting up network drives that can read/write from XP and Vista machines?

usbrit

@sapireli: OK, so if OpenOffice won't cut it, what will? And why won't OpenOffice? I always hear this, but nobody can seem to quite pin down just why OpenOffice isn't a "real" office suite. It always seems to come down to "It doesn't look and feel quite like MS Word".

Still, if you really need MS Office that desperately, Wine runs Office 2k3 just fine, or so I hear. 2k7, not so much.

HeartBurnKid

@sapireli: slightly OT, but explain how these online suites are superior to OO? I find I have more flexibility with it than any online offering when it comes to editing and formatting documents, specifically with footnotes, precise placement of images, pagination, etc. I don't use it as much for spreadsheets, so not sure there.

Plus, I recall seeing somewhere that gDocs uses OO on the backend to produce the final downloadable files that you can save for offline use, indicating that it (gDocs) is a slimmed down version of OO, not a superior alternative.

of course, I still love gdocs for its simplicity and convenience!

mtaylor924

I'm considering putting this on my laptop and running XP SP3 inside the virtual box thing for school work.

Daniel-Bham

@jtimberman: Hey, I've got no problem with that. Use the tools that work for you, definitely; if you prefer Windows and Office, go right ahead and use it. If you prefer OSX and iWork, go for it. Hell, if you'd rather use DR-DOS and WordPerfect 2.0, I'm not gonna complain. But at least admit that you'd rather use MS Office because you like it, instead of going around griping about how OpenOffice isn't a real office suite and Ubuntu will never be a good desktop OS because of it, because OO supports everything that 90% of users could ever possibly want or need, even if it does require a little re-learning to use it all.

HeartBurnKid

I think Ubuntu and Hardy Heron are great. But they very much feel like a crap shoot - for many users, the install is seamless and just works (as it should). For others, there's always something missing that just ruining the experience. On my Dell box, Gutsy would sleep no problem, not so on Hardy. On Feisty, I could network without any configuration, not so on Gutsy. Have still never had a configuration on which I could run Compiz... :-(

That being said, I'm using an old POS that would be hard pressed to run XP, but runs the latest version of Ubuntu quickly and with few problems. So, you know - your mileage may vary...

Indiana Derek

@HeartBurnKid: Not looking and feeling like MS Word is EXACTLY why OpenOffice doesn't work for many people. This is also why Linux itself doesn't work for many people. "They" don't want to use Linux at home because they don't use Linux at work. And from a life hacking productivity standpoint, why should they? If someone genuinely wants to learn how to use Linux, good for them, and I for one encourage that. But thinking that everyone needs to switch over is ludicrous.

@usbrit: You'll want to look into Samba, which can be used to access shared Windows drives, or share out filesystems on Linux to Windows systems. For what is worth, that would be a fantastic way for you to learn more about Linux.

jtimberman

In a Windows world, many folks find Linux to be a hobby or a rescue system more than an alternative operating system. As much as I like Linux OS systems, I find all of them to have "problems" just like Windows. In short, if a person is drooling/hoping to move to Linux to avoid computer hassles, think twice--limitations abound and the time commitment is astronomical.

rainbowsky

I've got Ubuntu 8.04 on my deksktop now and just finished loading XFCE based Xubuntu on my parent's jukebox computer (PIII 533mhz) it's great!

Confuzius

I will get excited when I can finally play Blu-ray discs without having to go through a huge hassle.

dahlberg123

How does the virtual XP install work with gaming?

geekfather

very nice article Kevin, you convinced to upgrade my v7 ubuntu!

Crescent

Yeahhhh... So I downloaded the ISO and burned it to CD, popped the CD into "MachineA" and it menu's up, but won't let me start the live CD.

No big deal, "MachineA" is an ANCIENT (circa 1998) Gateway that I use as the lowest common denominator for testing. So I pop it in "MachineB" which is a 4 year old Gateway "E" series and hmmm, same thing.

I must say I was not impressed by the 4 hours it took to download the ISO yesterday, and am even less impressed that it doesn't seem to work.

I would think that if the ISO were bad it just wouldn't do anything, but you never know.

I had Gutsy dual booting with my laptop at my last job, I just haven't gotten around to setting up a Linux distro on my new laptop yet, and figured Hardy would be a good place to start.

I'll try pulling down another ISO, but if it does the same thing, I guess I'll be going back to Gentoo (not to mention being furious about the 4+ hours spent waiting for downloads that don't work lol).

jglessner

As a recent convert to the world of ubuntu I can say it's totally worth installing. Right now I have Hardy Heron on my 5 year old laptop and it works like a dream. In fact, in terms of responsiveness it's on par with my 3 year old laptop with XP and 4 times the RAM and when you factor in the compiz effects it may even surpass the xp box. As soon as I'm done with law school exams (which prohibit dual boot systems) I'm definately putting ubuntu onto this computer as well. There isn't that much of a need to drop into a terminal if you aren't comfortable with that (but hey I grew up with DOS so it's a little nostalgic for me). OpenOffice is great regardless of what OS you're using. Free Software may not be like Free Beer but I like both!!!

GizmoBub

I often find that I prefer OO to MS crap. It's not a compromise.
And on the note of whether 'everyone should switch' I would posit that embracing F/OS software may well lead to increased interoperability, stifle the evil proprietors of drm and restrictive crapware, and grow the much needed enlightened community.

It is everyones morally righteous duty to do things like refuse using .doc as an exchange format, refuse DRM laden technologies, promote free and open alternative forms of data exchange. Use slidy, and webstandards, and rtf, and ssh, and and etc. etc. Screw the cathedral, the Bazaar!

By adopting this as an ideology I have not had any problem working across multiple platforms, and exchanging data with others.

(only caveat is GIMP and Scribus got nothing on the adobe suite... damn)

zro

@jglessner: You may have to push some keys at startup to ensure that it boots off the cd rather than the hd. You should be fine if you mash the F1-12 keys when you first boot up...(can never remember which one exactly)

GizmoBub

@usbrit: jtimberman's suggestion re: Samba is spot on. In fact, this is the exact setup we use at our office, and administration is a breeze. The Linux computers and the one or two-odd Windows machines play well togather in this configuration.

tech10171968

@geekfather: As far as gaming in a virtual machine, XP doesn't seem to do very badly at all. You may have an issue with anything using DirectX, however (FWIW I use XP in a VirtualBox VM on Debian Testing so your mileage may vary, even though Ubuntu is a direct descendant of Debian Unstable).

tech10171968

I wanted so badly to try this out, but can't get it to work on my old Thinkpad T20. I actually tried installing the Xubuntu version, since it's supposed to be lighter-weight, but it still takes forever to load, and freezes the first time I try to click on anything.

EstherM

Any improvements on the wireless front? Every time I install Ubuntu it takes a lot of brainstorming to figure out how to ger wi-fi up and working. Is there something like wi-fi manager in this version?

bnosach

@Indiana Derek: Seems to be true with any change of OS, even WindowsV1 to WindowsV2. Always find some apps and drivers that don't work with a new version.

I had Gutsy Gibbon working great in dual boot with Win2000 on my IBM Stinkpad, then it suddenly stopped working. I couldn't remove the partition with either gparted or Norton's thingy, so I tried to reformat the disk with a Win XP Pro install. After about 30 unsuccessful tries, it finally installed itself. Hurrah! I thought. But then XP would only run in Safe Mode. I disabled lots of stuff in the BIOS and device manager and turned them back on one by one, and it seems the modem or its driver was wreaking all that havoc. About the last thing I would have expected, but that's what happens: enable modem and XP only runs in Safe Mode. The point being that sometimes it doesn't take much to make an OS look bad. If most computers came pre-installed with Ubuntu, likely most of the kinks would be already worked out by the manufacturers. Or contrarywise if one were to take the latest version of Windows and try to install it in old computers that had been configured for Linux, the reputation of Windows might suffer.

Capone

@jglessner: it could be that the 4 hour download was because everyone on the planet was downloading at the same time.... I got Hardy i386 and amd64 in about 40 min each with bit torrent. if it's available to you and you still want to try I'd go that route.

And as for the not working, it could very easily be a bad ISO I had a bad iso that would freeze only when I typed the letter Q (cap) use md5sum to verify you have a good download.

CyberCowboy

I am using linux, and I love it. I love the flexability that it gives me, as well as the plethora of free apps available for it.
I'm not to fond of all the pseudo bubbles, but it doesn't take much effort to turn off the eye candy effects.

AvgJoe

@EstherM I'm running a full Gnome version of Hardy on my T20 (128 mb of ram) with little/no problems. E-mail me off list (Cowboy7704 at googles webmail domain) if you want and I'll try to help you.

CyberCowboy

My 2 biggest beefs from Gutsy were no luck RAID support (both on my external PATA in RAID 5 and my chipset-nvidia nforce4 in RAID 1)...then the other biggie of course...wireless NIC setup, i my case a D-link which apparently is notorious rough already. I will definitely give Hardy a go though, see if there's any progress in those 2 areas. Without those 2 issues, i'd be into ubuntu 100%...well, maybe a little wine stuff for my work apps.

getsome831

i'm a native windows user that was ready for a change so i tried the beta version of heron but could never get my broadcom wireless card to work so i abandoned it. Ubuntu needs 'just works' wireless

kevins213

I installed ubuntu on my vista laptop. It worked perfectly, my x3100 graphic card worked out of the box and so did the sound. Great improvement since the last release.

Falt

I'd like to add that wireless support was already working when i installed Heron, I have a Broadcom 43xx.

noneck

I have Heron/XP on an compaq nx9600. Everything is working great just as explained, I would also like to add that I have successfully added an Exchange Account to Evolution Mail as well, though no Public Folder Support. Looks like it parses info from OWA. Pretty sweet stuff. I have been a slackware user for years because of the simplicity, but am seeing some progress here in the new Heron, and haven't used XP since the install!!! HEH

noneck

Firefox 3 BETA should not be included in a production release no matter how cool someone thinks it is. I had to completely remove firefox and reinstall it from scratch to repair the damage.

I also can no longer get the advanced graphics features working with my video card. :P

Lastly, they don't install a device manager by default any more. I couldn't remember what video card my laptop had in it and I didn't know which arcane text file to look in to find the info. I ended up installing the new gnome device manager.

A suggestion to their release team in teh future ... ensure that people don't lose capabilities when upgrading and don't include BETA software in a release.

I'm almost ready to chuck Linux for another few years again.

Dillenger69

@noneck: My Broadcom 4311 (Rev 2) didn't, but I got it working in relatively little time (3 hours). Turned out to be an issue with the B43 (BCM43xx replacement) module not being compatible with my specific chipset (there's a patch but it breaks another chipset, which is why it's not enabled by default). Had to get it working with ndiswrapper, and to give ndiswrapper priority grabbing my wireless adapter before the SSB module did.

Getting this working too me much less time than getting everything running with Vista on my HP laptop that CAME with Vista.

Guizzy

Ubuntu is a pretty good distro and the article points out how easy Ubuntu is making it for users to try and switch from another OS. Like with any OS there are quirks and you have to deal with it. How you deal with them and how easy it is will make you end up choosing the OS. I've used Linux and Windows side by side and they both have their pluses/minuses.

For the folks that's saying MS is crap/etc, you need to give it a rest already. Try Linux, try XP, try MAC, etc, and whatever works best for what you need, USE IT. :) Simple. If you like the one that you have to pay $$ for by all means do it. Nothing is stopping you.

For me I haven't made a full switch to Linux because of some of the quirky stuff that still exists (I deal with XP quirks better :)). I do like the use of CLI tools and for that I am using andLinux concurrently with Windows. This offers me best of both worlds. I don't need all the fancy effects and GUI apps from Linux.

You have a choice, choose one that works best for you and go with it. What works for you may not work for someone else, even if it's just a "feel".

With that said, if you are thinking of Linux, give Hardy Heron a try. It's pretty nice. On my laptop everything worked out of the box (Dell Latitude D630) and that's pretty amazing for Linux. Gutsy also worked out of the box. I was able to get all the fancy/advance GUI effects working with just a few clicks. Nice at first but gets boring after a while. :)

ecltech

dell d600 docked or undocked compiz doesnt work anymore... the best release for me was 7.04 after that i could never get it to play nice with me external monitor and compiz enabled

forgotthename

@jglessner: The 4-hour download and the non-working install might actually have the same cause -- namely, the Ubuntu servers are being hammered like a mofo right now. Try using Bittorrent to nab it -- thousands of seeders + built-in error checking = win.

HeartBurnKid

@sapireli:

What does MS Office do that OO.o doesn't? I'm not implying there isn't anything, but it's always good to talk about these hurdles so that they may be addressed in the future.

What would make OO.o good enough?

nutbastard

I've ordered a install disc from shipit, and waiting with anticipation, seeing how my dialup prohibits me from downloading much. I've never had problems with the windows versions of the included apps (the ones with windows versions, OpenOffice.org, Firefox, ...) and (as a side note) with a few addons to these programs it is possible to change the display of it (such as making Ooo look like Excel). Can't wait!

Ryan The Roamer

@nutbastard: I'd love to be able to use OO at work but I've run into a couple of problems that have made that impossible right now:

1. Documents don't physically look the same between Excel and Calc. For example, this would be a major problem when sending a spreadsheet back and forth with a client. In finance spreadsheets are frequently used as presentation tools, so I need to know that everyone is looking at the exact same thing.

2. The other deal breaker for me (and this could be user error) is that VBA macros created within Excel don't work in Calc. I'm sure it's possible, but it wasn't immediately obvious the last time I looked tried.

So while OO does work great for home use, it's still not quite there for many 'professional' users.

2-7offsuit

If you have the computer experience to get it running, or you're willing to spend some time to learn, linux has far fewer annoyances than windows does.

Most of the people who complain about linux are doing so from a perspective of little technical ability. They're usually graphic designers for some reason. Many are project manager types. They want to feel like hackers, but they aren't willing to actually put in the work.

If you aren't willing to spend the time it'll take to learn-- and that's a reasonable concern, by the way-- you're better off with a mac. Not a windows box though. I just can't recommend windows at all anymore, to anyone ever, because of the intractable security flaws that Microsoft seem to have no interest in fixing.

A Mac laptop has the same underlying functionality as linux, and you will have the added benefit of feeling like you're part of an exclusive club while you eat biscotti with your vanilla latte in your see-and-be-seen coffeeshop.

Jason

@Dillenger69:

I note that your story (as well as others') pretty much mimics my experience with Linux from 1998-2002 (first with Red Hat, later with Gentoo).

Never again will I install Linux.

I have no problems with Linux running on something (e.g., a TiVo DVR), but I'm not using Linux as a replacement for another desktop operating system.

I'm fine giving Steve Jobs $129 every 18-24 months for a new version of the OS. Frankly, my timely investment in AAPL many years ago covers that handily.

Deprong Mori

For all those asking about wireless cards working with this release, I just installed Ubuntu 8.04 on an old IBM p4 laptop, which is using a Microsoft (lol yeah Microsoft) wireless card w/o any issues. So far so good. Don't know if this will be my primary OS, but figured I would play with it.

skadoo323

No one's said "battery time" yet.

Has the battery time for laptops improved?

If I can do the same things in Ubuntu as in XP but only for half the time, I'll stick with XP.

onemoreday

@Deprong Mori: "my experience with Linux from 1998-2002 (first with Red Hat, later with Gentoo). Never again will I install Linux."

Seriously? You've going to write off Linux because of something that happened 6 years ago? That's like writing off XP because you had a bad time with Windows 95!

aphexbr

@nutbastard: I agree it would be nice if people would actually give some details. Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to jump into these conversations saying vague things about something being "not good enough", then never return to either clarify their message or answer the hints offered (e.g. above, using WINE to install MS Office has good reports of success). When they do this, it turns into FUD and pro-MS propoganda, even if that wasn't the original intention.

For me, OOo is definitely "good enough" - I just finished a couple of university assignments using it on Mandriva with no problems. The same goes for Ubuntu as a whole. Though it's not my preferred distro, I challenge anyone to come up with a solid reason it's not "good enough" for 90% of the population other than vague look and feel or "I want Photoshop/Dreamweaver and I don't want to use WINE" type arguments.

aphexbr

Oh, just one more thing. Windows XP is far better than Windows 95. (I use XP at work and it's quick capable as a desktop OS.)

If everybody who was unhappy with Win95 switched to Linux, Microsoft would be out of business! LOL

Deprong Mori

hardy heron is beautyful... yet, i still can give it my heart, for i still use indesign, photoshop and illustrator (and with huge time constrains), so its not yet time for me to make the move.

i use gimp and inkscape, but the difference is still just too big, not that much as it was 5 years ago, but still makes a big dent in my schedule.

jtraveller

Yes, I am serious.

Note: there was no one specific experience that pushed me to Macs. (My first Mac was acquired in 1993.)

Mac OS X is better than Linux for my purposes. I can run Quicken, Photoshop and it has great free multimedia apps (iLife). I'm doing some HD video stuff for fun, so a copy of Final Cut Express is probably in my future. Plus, I can run many of my old UNIX scripts on my Macbook.

There is nothing compelling about Linux on the desktop. It's a great platform for servers, embedded gadgets (like TiVo), and shows promise in the handheld device world.

And Apple technical support is very good. I don't have to play sysadmin anymore. If necessary, I just go down to the Genius Bar. I'm done being sysadmin and if I go back to Linux, I have to go back to being a sysadmin. And that would suck.

Deprong Mori

I'm in the process of downloading Kubuntu (I prefer KDE over Gnome) and the Edubuntu add on CD. I'm going to do a fresh install and use the machine at work with a few of my classes. But for day to day use, I love Fedora. I never really got into the whole *buntu thing.

KSMarksPsych

@sapirelli: OpenOffice is capable at the two most common work tasks: word processing and creating spreadsheets. You can also emulate a certain Windoze office suite if you have WINE installed. Normally when you say that something "doesn't cut it," you provide evidence, lest you be deemed a flamer.

elgilicious

I've done a clean install of kubuntu on a spare drive and it's very nice with 1 exception: It only detects my sata drives. I have 2 sata and one ide, and the ide is my storage drive, so guess where all my documents and media are. And when I say it doesn't detect it, I mean as far as hardy is concerned, it doesn't exist. For now I'm sticking with gutsy while hoping someone responds to my posts on kubuntuforums.org with some suggestions.

It is the first distro to detect and autoconfigure my intel hda onboard sound, so when I do get the disk issue fixed I'll be able to free up a pci slot by removing the sound card I've been using.

cac67

Onemoreday : I can't help you too much with that as I don't even remember how battery life used to be on my old laptop with XP, but honestly for a 4 year old laptop that gets at least an hour out of the battery is fine with me. Plus I am using a wireless card too, so that prob adds some drain. Sometimes I have XP running in VirtualBox too.

skadoo323

@kevins213: I have a broadcom card and just had to tinker with the restricted drivers. It didn't install the firmware for it by default because it was proprietary, so I just had to agree to that. I've been using ubuntu since 6.10 and the wireless support is getting better every time :)

thisisnotkathy

@Dillenger69: Firefox Beta3 is used because this is an LTS release, and Firefox 2 will be going the path of the dinosaurs. It wasn't included because it was 'cool', even though it is a lot better than it's predecessor.

To burn your image to disk, see [help.ubuntu.com]
Which also has links to ensure that your downloaded ISO image is 100% perfect.

If your image was perfect, you followed the proper burning procedures, and it still won't boot for you, check [help.ubuntu.com]

Will

Ahh, Ubuntu. It would be great if I knew what the hell I was doing and could make the few small changes (like activating my wireless card). Even though I apparently have the necessary tools that others have successfully used, I always manage to bork the system. Even if I'm following a tutorial, step-by-step, anally checking every detail, I always manage to bork the system.

I consider myself an advanced computer user and can overcome most problems in Windows / OSX, but Linux has always baffled me. It's always worked fine out-of-the-box, but the few small changes I need and the constant fear of rending the system unusable is more than enough of a reason for me to stay the hell away.

At least it's easier to start over with the new "install like a windows program" option, but the speed increase that I *did* notice on my 6 year old Dell was impressive enough to make me wish it was less bork-able.

Are there ANY guides online that are written in plain English without assumption that the reader is already intimately familiar with Linux distros? The only thing I really need to work is the wireless card, but the instructions are too damn vague.

DogHead

I decided to try a Wubi install of Hardy Heron yesterday and could not get the keyboard to work, PS/2, USB, legacy support, never worked.

I also couldn't get the OS to boot consistently. It would often hang on boot due to the bluetooth service, which is bizarre, because I don't have a bluetooth device installed. Long searches for a situation matching my problems did not turn up. I tried running the 8.04 live cd and even that started hanging on the "bluetooth service". Forums suggested a keystroke to skip the hung process, but my keyboards don't work.

Argh. I just want something that works.

tcolberg

Installed HH via Wubi this morning, was up and running in 45 minutes tops. Ubuntu is very nice, if I had games I would be sold...

DarKobra

My experience as someone who ran Ubuntu full time for a few months in 2006, and then gave up on it. I'm trying it again on a small partition, dual-booting with XP.

Problems I noticed:

* Fonts still look terrible by default. I had to install MS core fonts, clear the font cache (or login/logout), and then change the anti-aliasing method to get them to look as good as in Windows.
* The idea of shipping with Firefox beta was questionable. I notice things that are broken in it compared to FF 2.x, like the Set Image as Background feature
* Sound volume seems extremely loud by default for me, which is bad because of the startup sound
* There should be a list of Compiz keyboard shortcuts. Clicking the Help button on the visual effects page in the system prefs does nothing
* There should be more advice on partition resizing. I found that if I didn't defrag my NTFS partition before resizing, it took a heck of a long time.
* A minor thing, but the maximized button icon in GNOME seems "odd" to me, it isn't easy to recognize that the window is maximized for some reason.

That said, it does feel faster than XP, and it's certainly a lot prettier (except for the fonts issue).

wastelands

I definitely agree with all the positive comments so far. I have two phyiscal Ubuntu 7.10 machines (HP and Gateway) and two virtual (Virtualbox and VMware Server) and they all upgraded flawlessly.

I can't wait to dive into more detail on Heron.

OnlineITPro

@rainbowsky: My wife, our 6 year old, and our 3 year old would disagree with you about how difficult and horrible Ubuntu are to operate.

LeFou

@nutbastard: OO.o does not play well with the office 2007 formats. Unless you're using Novell's version. I don't want to play with converters, and don't have the time to waste searching for obscure files or CLI hacks. I want OO.o to r/w directly the MS formats with no fuss. When it does, I'm a complete fan. I'm already 98% there.

john.mull

Thank you, Kevin, for the informative overview. I have tried previous releases of Ubuntu -- and focused originally on Kubuntu and Xubuntu, because in six years of using Linux I have not developed any affinity for Gnome (but Linux is all about freedom, including freedom in choosing a desktop environment -- or one of the many windows managers with many options for file, desktop, and session managers -- or in choosing a distribution and the overwhelming software options). Of course, XFce uses the same GTK+ libraries and I am running into the same limitations with XFce that I encounter with Gnome.

(I started out with KDE, but it seems bloated; even though my fastest computer can handle it with no problems, I hate to waste computer resources -- possibly a psychological throwback to when I first started using UNIX -- VAX and SunOS/Solaris -- in 1989 and had to telnet to those systems for years via an analog modem, and I did not realize that any *NIX OS had a GUI!) ;-) Of course, then I saw CDE running on Solaris and I was thankful for those years of ignorance. :-)

Hardy Heron sounds like a major step forward in Ubuntu, which is arguably the world's most popular Linux distribution. After trying Ubuntu, however, I always end up returning to Debian/GNU Linux, which makes Ubuntu and many other Debian-based distributions possible. I prefer the stability and security "out of the box" that Debian/GNU Linux offers -- although I do NOT mean to imply that Ubuntu is un-secure by any means -- and I know that security is a priority with Ubuntu.

I believe in the Debian social policy and stance on free, open-source software, but in cases such as video cards and other hardware, a non-free, proprietary "binary blob" is the only way to make full use of much hardware.

Of course, with such binary drivers security and stability issues arise -- because of possible (and unseen) bugs, compatibility issues, and/or security vulnerabilities -- when installing non-open-source software...and the Debian team cannot provide assistance with a kernel that has been changed with such proprietary, binary files, but users of Windows and Mac OS X typically do not get to see the source code for most software and drivers, and certainly not for the entire kernel.

Ubuntu provides the advantages of Debian to Linux users, new and experienced, plus more current software and simpler hardware support. (I prefer not to mix stable, testing, and "sid" packages in Debian, and I do have the occasional "I want it now" urge when the current version of a favorite utility is not part of Debian stable.

Ubuntu offers a great, stable option -- and I would not recommend Debian as one's first Linux distribution -- as much as I love it -- and I know of many people who have switched from Windows or Mac OS X to Ubuntu and NEVER looked back. :-)

I definitely will give Hardy Heron a try, although I don't know if it will allow me to install a base system and then add my GUI components and software selectively.

I am also happy about the long-term-support (LTS) for Hardy Heron. I had read that LTS was possibly not going to be offered for Hardy Heron.

The "Linux desktop" debate continues and I don't believe in bashing a proprietary OS or Linux distributions I have tried and not preferred. Such "bashing" accomplishes nothing but make the Internet even less civilized and encourages more rude behavior (and the Internet used to be a more courteous "space").

Thanks, again, Kevin! :-)

Finally, if you don't want to wait weeks for a free installation disc from Ubuntu, and you do not want to download or burn ISOs, many Linux disc vendors around the world sell Linux distributions on CD (or DVD, if needed) for little more than the cost of creating the discs and shipping. I will not mention the vendors I use and trust, but you can check out advertisements on popular Linux sites, including Distrowatch.com.

Cordially,

David

DavidMD

Long live Linux It works for me. I can't go back to Microsoft Vista. It is over priced and Over bloated, Too controlling for my tastes.I like freedom and that is what is most important to me. Again just my opinion, but for the home user there is no need to use Microsoft. Use Ubuntu it works great!!!

Scott_d85

I don't know... The inclusion of Firefox 3 Beta is intended to make this LTS release a bit more "future proof", but it sucks for all the FF plugins that depend on. Just have to be patient I guess.

The other thing is, the name of the release sounds a bit too much like "Hairy Hardon". I feel confident in my masculinity, but have to plead ignorance and just go with the 8.04 reference when waxing evangelistic about it to Windows-lurvin' colleagues.

anders.simone

BEWARE OF WUBI! Wubi hosed the boot record on my Vista box to such an extent that it will not boot to Vista. Strangely, none of the Vista fix CDs will boot either. Since I don't have time to fool with the damn thing, and I was getting sick and tired of Vista anyway, I just booted to livecd, backed up my files and installed Heron.

But still, hosing the MBR might be a barnburner for some people.

Jason

@Shocm: yeah better gmail just came out this morning working w/ firefox 3

eagledrc

hardy heron is much better than thought it would be. ive been using ubuntu for almost two years now ever since i dumped windows and it works fantastic. i would recommend ubuntu to anybody who isnt a complete moron when it comes to computers. i think its funny that there are so many people that cant get their wireless to work. ive ran ubuntu on all the computer systems i own and the wireless works on them all. people need to just be patient and learn to figure it out! schiesse!

sullymon

haha I love looking through the comments every time there's a Ubuntu post. @Dillenger69: "I'm almost ready to chuck Linux for another few years again."
Your post should have read "I am going to ditch a totally free OS for another 3 years!! I want to pay for software that has a whole different set of bugs"

Bittermormon

Driver Support for Wireless Network Adapters (or Lack Of) was a big reason I stopped using Ubuntu last year.

If there has been improvements in this important area I would consider going back to Ubuntu.

gmurtagh

I tried updating to 8.04 from 7.10... Ubuntu won't boot now. =/

HarrisonHopkins

@onemoreday Try running powertop and following some of its suggestions, then go to www.lesswatts.org. You can tune Ubuntu to get quite a bit more battery life than Windows.

JorgeBurgos

@ all the people with add-on and Firefox 3 problems.

You can "force" add-ons to work with any version of Firefox. Download the .xpi file, open with File Roller (default Ubuntu archive manager), find the install.rdf file, open with gedit, find the line:

2.0b1

Change 2.0b1 (or whatever it says) to look like this:

4.0

Close the file, update the archive, then open the .xpi with Firefox and your add-on works. Usually. I can't guarantee with all add-ons, but the three or four I use all work fine with this.

@ the guy with the slow download and back .iso. Use the .torrent file to download the .iso rather than a direct http download. Took me about 17 minutes to get and burn the .iso

rdavis