A couple of days ago, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, codenamed Lucid Lynx, finally hits final release. Seeing it as an LTS (Long Term Support) release, I decided to give it a try. Besides, Lucid looks kinda slick compared to the previous versions, thanks to the new default theme, Ambiance. So I waved my old Jaunty (Ubuntu 9.04) goodbye, and welcomed Lucid. Installation was pretty smooth and quick, things were up and running in less than 30 minutes.
Among the first things I've noticed is the new theme, which has a dark color scheme. It's a welcome change over the old Human theme, which is mundane brown. Another change is the buttons for maximize, minimize, and close are now placed on the left side, similar to Mac OS X. It might be the most controversial change ever in Lucid, but I have no problems with it. I'm pretty much used to both Mac and Windows, so either way it doesn't feel too awkward. Give it some time and pretty much anyone can get used to it.
The old Human theme (Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope)
The new Ambiance theme (Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx)
Add that with Compiz Fusion and it cool enough to put Windows to shame.
Another change is Empathy now replaces Pidgin as it's IM client. I thought I'm going to complain on this at first, but after trying it out, I think it kinda rocks. Its very similar to Pidgin, setting up the accounts were easy, and the buddy list is just as identical to Pidgin. The interface too was simplified yet feels more polished. It even supports Facebook Chat, one up over Pidgin (although Pidgin can connect to Facebook Chat through a plugin or the XMPP protocol).
A not so new addition is the Ubuntu Software Center, introduced in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala. It basically helps users, especially those who were new to Linux OS, to manage and install software for Ubuntu. The Synaptic Package Manager is still there, but is sure to cause headaches to beginners.
Even with all the oh-so-cool improvements, I still find some downsides. First is a bug in Gwibber which doesn't allow me to add my Facebook account. How sad. Otherwise I can just look at my notifications through the desktop. It appears that I'm the only one who is having this problem though. Second is that Lucid still can't play proprietary audio formats out of the box, requiring us to download the necessary plugins. But come to think about that again, even Windows doesn't have all the codecs for common formats out of the box. So in goes VLC media player. Saves a lot of trouble.
And finally, the last complaint is about Linux distros being too reliant to an Internet connection. Without a good Internet connection, it's painful to work on Ubuntu, such as installing softwares. In fact I can hardly imagine having Ubuntu working without the Internet. So yeah, please do make it offline-friendly as well, as the Internet doesn't actually reach every computer in the world.
But alas, Lucid Lynx is a great OS. I've installed a few extra stuffs of my own, such as Flash Player, Adobe Reader, and Google Chrome, and it's working pretty well so far. A few downsides still won't hinder me, and who knows if Ubuntu will really get its place among beginners finally. The Terminal isn't something a beginner would be brave enough to fiddle around, so they would need something more graphical to aid them. I'll be looking forward to see what else will Ubuntu offer in the future :D
that's it, Linux has been too reliant on internet ever since Mr. Torvalds first wrote its codes almost 2 decades ago. But still it doesn't stop people from adopting it, though the adoption rate is way slower than Windows' despite it's mostly free. However, it's not yet a cloud computing OS and internet is only required when updating/upgrading the OS, still not much difference from Windows.
ReplyDeletewell, it's still a problem anyway, for it's still not offline friendly, due to Linux's (or Ubuntu's) business model. Canonical's initial goal is to have an OS release every few months, in opposite of Windows' which only updates every few years (I mean major upgrades here, like Ubuntu's LTS releases). Canonical doesn't make money from their OS release but rather they sell their professional support for their OS. This means we surely can't compare Windows with Ubuntu or any other free Linux distro since both platform are developed in different business model, of which M$ relies on Windows sales for their income.
alright, forget about what I said above, as I'm totally agree with you that Linux has never been offline friendly, as compared with Windows which is friendly in both online and offline terms. When I upgraded from Karmic Koala to Lucid Lynx a coupla weeks ago, I was required to download 842MB of upgrade files, not to mention around 40-50 packages was not supported (but it's OK since I rarely use those software anyway). Very exhaustive for my 3G connection and I spent around 5 hours to get everything done. So much for an upgrade huh?
p/s: I'm typing this using only my left hand as my right hand (wrist) is still recovering from a small surgery yesterday :P
Long time no see, heh :P Looks like I got done in for the semester.
ReplyDeleteIn disregard to your problem with Gwibber/FB, I do find it awesome to use; heh :D. Not to mention I jumped in pretty late into the Twitter bandwagon and this proved convenient.
About the codecs though, if chances you can get a good connection working (and I'm presuming if you're able to get your wireless working) you should try "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted extras" in the terminal. This will get you some codecs to play stuff with (they come in pretty handy you know), along with Flash and some Windows fonts.
One thing about it, though, is that I don't feel it's quite stable - I've ended up today with a few system failures, most common being a graphics driver bug in which Ubuntu was unable to load it while staring up the XServer causing me having to reinstall it again (the only recovery method I know of).
And I find it funny that I find InkScape easier to use than Illustrator. Heheheheh.
... I still have Windows as my main, though.
Ah, correction on the terminal command. It was supposed to be "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras". I missed a hyphen mark there.
ReplyDelete