Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and Lovin' It



The Ubuntu promise

* Ubuntu will always be free of charge, including enterprise releases and security updates.
* Ubuntu comes with full commercial support from Canonical and hundreds of companies around the world.
* Ubuntu includes the very best translations and accessibility infrastructure that the free software community has to offer.

* Ubuntu CDs contain only free software applications; we encourage you
to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on.

--

Enough of that touchy-feely stuff. You have to try the new Ubuntu. I have taken a few runs at Linux in the past and I've gotten it running but the clunky feel and driver issues always brought me back to good old Windows. Times have changed. I have just installed the new Ubuntu 9.04 on three machines and every one installed without a hitch. One machine was an old Dell. I did not have a cabled network so plugged in a cheap USB wifi and bingo ... connected. Linux relies on internet for updates and program/driver installs so without internet access your Linux experience is bleak. The other two installs I used Wubi which installs Ubuntu in a folder on the Windows machine in dual boot. Both installs are perfect. The interface is a pleasure (after some tweaking and addons). It still takes a little research to get Ubuntu as slick (in some ways slicker) than Windows but what a pleasue to use. Maybe I have taken enough runs at Linux so as to be more comfortable with it. But it is more than that. The new Ubuntu just works and works well.

If you have ever thought of trying Linux now is the time to jump. This baby is ready for prime time.

(Refer to this "Perfect Desktop" article for quick add on setup.)

Why bother?
  1. Its is free (legitimately free for conscience easing).
  2. Is is fun (if you are on the geeky side).
  3. It works very well.
  4. It is all most people need.

Problems so far?
  1. Real Player files (not all work but who cares).
  2. Can not mount Vista C: drive (this does matter - still working on it)
  3. Network problems on one machine (this could be a killer for me) Internet works fine but even though I have a "windows network" icon, it will not receive server info. I have not found a fix that works. Something broke it because it did work.

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