It’s official: Ubuntu 8.04 has gone gold. This is one of the most highly anticipated releases of Ubuntu to date, but does it hold up to the hype? We take a look at what’s new, what’s stable, what’s good and what’s not in our latest review.
Ubuntu 8.04 is a LTS release. This means that this release will receive security updates and support for three years for desktop users and five years for server users. Being an LTS, the major focus is clearly stability and building up the strength of existing features. That doesn’t mean however that it is without its share of new features….
Features
To start, 8.04 ships with GNOME 2.22. This, to the user, may not look entirely new, but the bulk of new features are hidden below the surface. GVFS replaces the old GNOME-VFS system with an entirely new backend, allowing for applications to use any resource, such as SSH or a Samba share, in a uniform manner. GVFS provides a FUSE hook that allows applications that don’t even support GVFS to use the services provided by it. While GNOME-VFS took criticism for being somewhat slow and tedious, GVFS stands to fix that image.
GNOME 2.22 also introduces other features, such as the Cheese webcam viewer, Metacity compositing, Google Calendar support in Evolution, and a new remote desktop viewer. Personally, I think that the inclusion of Cheese, while nice to GNOME, could have been replaced on the default Ubuntu setup with something else, as a webcam viewer seems a little extraneous.
A new addition to the default Ubuntu setup is the Brasero disc burning utility, which allows users to make a CD or DVD with very little effort.
Also new is Transmission, a newly popular BitTorrent client. This replaces the old standard BitTorrent utility, allowing for better torrent management with an interface similar to µTorrent.
Introduced in 7.10, PulseAudio provides a sound system for applications to hook into. It allows the volume of individual applications to be controlled, mixed into other sound devices, and with a little work, even played out of Bluetooth headphones. 8.04 improves upon this by enabling the sound server for most, if not all, applications. There are a few gripes here and there, such as minor bugs with Flash audio, but 95% of it works very well.
Firefox 3 is included in the package, even in its beta form. It has apparently been proven to be stable enough to be included, though updates to the final release are likely to follow in June.
Security and Stability
As stated above, 8.04 is focused on improving the ground laid out, and not radically changing things. Security enhancements galore ensure this release will indeed have a long life. One major security feature of GNOME 2.22 and 8.04 is the introduction of PolicyKit. PolicyKit allows fine-grained access control, and helps you allow or deny users access to specific parts of applications. This allows for a system to be locked down completely except to a group of trusted users.
Another addition in the security field is ufw, or “Uncomplicated Firewall.” The firewall is an extension of iptables, and while it does not currently have a GUI, the command-line interface is dead simple:
ufw deny 80
ufw allow from 192.168.1.1 port 80
Other security additions include more strict memory protection and application rules, along with the addition of SELinux support.
Many applications have gone through the usual slew of bug fixes with any release, and the update to X.Org 7.3 is no different. 7.3 provides support for newer compositing mechanisms, though the implementation is somewhat unfinished. The end result may be a slightly slower Compiz and 3D acceleration for some, but lays yet more groundwork for a more stable display system.
Theme
The beta release of 8.04 saw yet another new theme, however the older one was reverted as the default. The theme that almost made the release is still available in Appearance properties, but it didn’t make the final cut for default status. For now, users will be greeted by the tried-and-true Human theme, with 8.10 to have a major theme overhaul.
Below is a preview of the proposed default theme for 8.04, still available on the CD:
Overall
Ubuntu 8.04 is a great release that definitely lives up to the attention it received. It adds several new features and applications, while improving on a solid security base. It’s not without problems: the speed of some 3D applications may be an issue for some folks, and the use of beta software could be a potential problem, but the good features far outnumber the problems.
Hardy Heron, a big release for both the home user and enterprise, is yet another milestone in the Linux cycle. Of course, more Ubuntu releases will come every six months, and we’ll be following the developments of the next version: the Intrepid Ibex. For its time though, 8.04 is a winner.
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Max wrote:
Hi, I was wondering what experience you had with hardy and bluetooth headphones? If I can get this to work properly, it’d be awesome! Thanks.
# Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 6:02 am
Edi wrote:
Hi!
I tried the beta ubuntu, about two weeks ago. But it proved to be much slower then the 7.10, so I got back to the late one.
Any idea why it is much slower? The 7.10 is very very fast on that computer (half an year old laptop, core duo, 1gb memory). Thanks
# Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 9:13 am
Torontokev wrote:
Hey Edi…
just curious… did you do a fresh install or an update?
# Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 1:50 pm
Nuno Zmas wrote:
Funny. Strap off the Ubuntu brand and it looks like a review of any GNU/Linux bundle released in the past months. As usual, i am kept wondering what the dev team has been doing to make yet such a banal release…
“(…)allowing for applications to use any resource, such as SSH or a Samba share, in a uniform manner”.
Wow! Breathtaking!…
But, hold on! KDE/Konqueror has been providing this feature ever since i use it, around early 2003. This is starting to resemble the “Simpsons Did It” South Park episode
# Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 4:20 pm
Gregg Segel wrote:
Thanks for the review. I’m wondering if 8.04 will work better with Apple’s MacBook (Santa Rosa) as 7.10 is a bitch (if not impossible) to get running.
Any Mac users out there?
# Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 5:34 pm
Devolio wrote:
Ubuntu 8.04 / Hardy Heron Released…
Ubuntu has released their latest long term support (LTS) release, Hardy Heron. You can grab a copy for yourself here, or read FOSSwire’s review of the latest version….
# Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 6:52 pm
Super Mike wrote:
I have a Blackberry and it doesn’t have the extra memory chip in it to mount it like a hard drive, yet has the internal chip in it. It would be great if this release of Ubuntu, or the next release, lets me not only charge the Blackberry, but mount it like a hard drive even with the internal chip in it, not the extra chip.
# Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 7:45 pm
Troy wrote:
Excellent release, the installation could not be easier, the look and feel is amazing, love ufw (it’s the most interesting firewall tool I’ve worked with:)
# Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 8:23 pm
enc wrote:
Yes, yes sudo ufw enable; wait don’t forget to set the default deny. Incredibly interesting, what happened to Gnome 3; is anyone working on it anymore?
# Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 8:40 pm
JDS wrote:
@enc
Gnome3 is not ever going to be a release. Gnome developers have opted for a rolling, incremental style of release.
http://live.gnome.org/ThreePointZero
@Gregg Segel
Um, hello? Why would you even want to run anything other than OS X on a macbook? If you really need Linux on a Mac, stick it in VMWare Fusion. That’s what I did. I just don’t see the point of paying all those extra dollars (euros?) for a mac and running Linux on it.
@Edi
Wow, slowness? My machine seems *much* faster with Ubuntu 8.04 than with 7.10. MUCH. Maybe it is just that FF3 is so much faster (not to mention just plain better) than FF2. And I use a web browser a LOT.
Personally, I have so far found Hardy Heron to be, by far, the best Ubuntu distro, nay, the best Linux desktop I have ever installed and used. And I have been using exclusively Linux (i.e. no Windows) since 2001, when I switched everything I had to Red Hat 8. But I digress.
Anyway, I posted my own (sorta) review, here:
http://www.newtnotes.com/item/2008/04/ubuntu-804-on-a-thinkpad-r61-2
Now how do I get that listed on Distrowatch???
# Posted on 25-Apr-08 at 2:04 am
quiz wrote:
Edi: Not sure why, but your better off checking the ubuntu forums. Also, you were using the BETA, maybe try using the official release that just came out and see if that works better.
Super Mike: Ehhh, ok. Was that supposed to be a question or a comment? Sounds more like an issue with the blackberry than ubuntu; besides, why even bother asking/commenting about that? The external memory chips for those are cheap as it is.
# Posted on 25-Apr-08 at 6:24 am
Boycott Novell » Links 25/04/2008: Windows Sales Down 24%, Yahoo Bid Wobbly wrote:
[…] Ubuntu 8.04: Hardy Heron Review […]
# Posted on 25-Apr-08 at 1:34 pm
davemc wrote:
Decent review. Good highlights. Users should bear in mind that this is an LTS release, ergo - BORING!! LTS = stability, and therefore, not very many new shiny features to take your breath away. However, many of us very much appreciate stability over the often very buggy, yet bleeding edge like Gutsy was for a while after its release. Hardy looks like its an all round solid release that can truly fit the “enterprise” mold, while still adding in some very important security aspects like ufw and SELinux.
# Posted on 25-Apr-08 at 1:47 pm
Ed wrote:
They called it ‘Gutsy’ because boy, did you have to have guts to try it!
# Posted on 25-Apr-08 at 4:18 pm
Shantanu Goel wrote:
I wouldn’t call that a review at all. The things you mentioned are more like a very very concise but yet not proper summary of Hardy release notes.
# Posted on 25-Apr-08 at 9:20 pm
matt wrote:
I am running Ubuntu 8.04 happily on a Mac Mini box. I tried OS X for a while but hated it so much that I converted myself back to Linux.
Then my question; after upgrading from 7.10 to 8.04 I seem to have lost access to my NAS-box (a simple d-link NAS). I have tinkered with UFW trying to open the 8.04 for it (uwf allow 192.168.1.10x) but no success so far. SSH and FTP access work fine but I just cannot mount the NAS like I used to with the 7.10.
What am I doing wrong?
# Posted on 26-Apr-08 at 11:40 am
John wrote:
In my opinion, Ubuntu 8.04 is a disaster, especially taking into account that it’s supposed to be LTS.
I’ve been using ubuntu since its first release. On its second release I decided to use it as the base OS of my business, combined with a virtualized version of Windows XP.
Yesterday I made a clean 8.04 hardy heron install and found out that:
1. The great KVM does not seem to work (there’s a registered bug showing that virt-manager cannot install XP as it cannot read CD-ROM - which it asks for during the installation even if started from a HD iso file -). Many people complaining about that one too.
2. Virtualbox - which I used in the latest releases of Ubuntu - doesn’t work either as it doesn’t capture the mouse (quite a few complaining about the same throughout the forums)
3. The great UFW firewall is only shell-based, no GUI, and in addition Hardy poses problems for configuring Firestarter. A lot of complaints on forums and reviews about this.
4. Hardy is slower than previous versions and doesn’t seem to be as stable as they were.
In other words, Ubuntu is becoming closer and closer to Windows…..It is full of bugs and incomplete (i.e, UFW lacks a GUI), which is not compatible with the LTS approach.
It seems that the Ubuntu development team are concentrating on meeting release deadlines rather than on matching quality and performance targets.
Just in case, I’ll be moving back to 7.10 as everything worked fine there, despite it was not an LTS.
# Posted on 27-Apr-08 at 12:28 am
MaF wrote:
Gregg, I have a Santa Rosa with 7.10 working perfectly. A little bit of adjustements in configuration files and a quick guide like this:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook_Santa_Rosa
Is al you need.
You can read the 8.04 Santa Rosa HOWTO too (in Spanish):
http://draxus.org/weblog/2008/03/26/ubuntu-hardy-heron-en-macbook/
# Posted on 27-Apr-08 at 8:34 am
Ubuntu 8.04 Brings Power and Polish to the Linux Desktop | World Class Article wrote:
[…] for Ubuntu 8.04 had been pushed back until the next release. But while that’s true, as FOSSwire points out in their review, the new theme is included, it just isn’t the default. If you head into the Appearance panel you […]
# Posted on 27-Apr-08 at 8:42 am
jin choung wrote:
i have an abit ip35 machine and i downloaded the 64bit and burned the iso.
i can’t even install.
i can boot and select my language but any action after that drops me into initramfs.
no matter what the issue is, because it is not even robust enough to let me install, hardy heron for me gets a review rating of:
EPIC FAIL
jin
# Posted on 28-Apr-08 at 7:00 am
back to 6.10 wrote:
well fancy that,..
another Ubuntu distro after 6 months of work,..and what do you get? GRAY and Brown
An updated Slow version,..that runs like its stuck in treacle,..
with added BROWN shades of Brown poop
sorry, mister Shuttleworth but it is not worth the effort
well hyped though!!!!
# Posted on 28-Apr-08 at 9:35 am
JDS wrote:
Wow. Whats with all the haters out there?
@Matt
Maybe try posting to an actualy support forum instead of someone’s blog? Hello?
As far as the last coupla people’s difficulties, my experience so far has been the polar opposite. Flawless execution. Everythign works better than before.
For me, on my particular laptop.
I guess that’s the key, eh? YMMV and all that? But that bit is true with Windows, also. It is NOT true with Macs because of the tightly controlled hardware-software integration at Apple.
So, looks like everyone is probably better off using a Mac.
Another thing, and this is possibly a smidge of a tangent, but why does anyone every include the *installation* phase in a Linux distro review? I mean, people talk about installtion, and then compare the distro to Windows. Who ever installs Windows anymore? I say, dump the installation part out of the review. Apples and oranges and all that.
Okay, later…
# Posted on 28-Apr-08 at 5:07 pm
JDS wrote:
@mike
Here is probably your problem:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gvfs/+bug/209520
Solution? Well, go back to 7.10, unfortunately.
# Posted on 28-Apr-08 at 5:11 pm
jin choung wrote:
@JDS
actually, since hardy heron actually FAILS TO INSTALL on a good many modern computers, i would say that maybe more than ever, a review of JUST the installation process is in order.
seriously, if you ever wanted to turn away prospective users, you could do no better than to make the very first step into the OS non-functional.
jin
# Posted on 28-Apr-08 at 5:42 pm
Peter wrote:
I agree with Jin, I have tried to install Hardy both 64 bit and 32 bit versions through Windows XP Pro on my AMD Athlon 64 CPU in a Gigabyte K8VNXP MBD with SATA HDDs machine, to no avail. Very disappointing.
After the second installation re-boot Grub, it cannot connect with it’s files and neither does Windows. I can reconnect with Windows when I do a re-boot, but no Ubuntu.
# Posted on 28-Apr-08 at 6:41 pm
ken jameson wrote:
What a disappointment …
I had really hoped that Hardy would be the
one that brought it all together …
What a disappointment …
Won’t even load on several of my machines …
when it does load … it’s slow as cold molasses …
totally unusable … who in the world built this
… much, much worse than the worse case of MS$ WIN$
Sorry …
KJ
# Posted on 29-Apr-08 at 3:20 am
calvin wrote:
Sigh. after nearly a day of downloading, it installed without problem . But… the fonts in epiphany are HUUUUGE and makes it unreadable. On top of that, my bluetooth mouse no longer works like it used to in Gutsy. Wireless is sorta okay but seems to fail enough to annoy me. Also i had some problenms getting flash sound to work. Otherwise it seems ok but i havent played too much with it. I really wish they would have polished it before making such a lame release. At least there’s 3 years to get it right!
# Posted on 29-Apr-08 at 5:20 am
rhombus wrote:
I have to say that Hardy is MUCH faster on my laptop than Gutsy was. I can hardly believe it. The only problem I had was that I had an old Mono 1.9 installation on my /home folder which was preventing Gnome from loading (gave bonobo error), but I booted into failsafe and uninstalled it. After that, everything was great. I’ve heard that old Mono installations can cause stability issues too, so you people with problems might want to just double-check that.
# Posted on 29-Apr-08 at 7:04 am
Mateo wrote:
I want to try Hardy on my new macbook - I’ve read conflicting info. Some say it works great out of the box and others say it’s a mess to get up and running. I’m fairly new to Linux - am I in for a mess with Hardy and my macbook? Oh - the macbook is brand new - I got it especially to put Linux on - silly me!
# Posted on 29-Apr-08 at 7:07 am
Claudio wrote:
I have two computers, both where running perfectly with 7.10.
I had the BRILLIANT idea of installing 8.04 in both
I see some nice stuff in 8.04, but i get two great problems…
1. I use a wireless net in my home, and both computers are with wireless cards based on Ralink 2500… and there is a bug in the new ubuntu with this cards, so you see virtually no connection, or almost none. One of the computers, is an old laptop that I use only for download purposes… It has 7.10 back already.
2. It seems to be a bug with emerald and the nvidia 8 drivers… so, I can’t see the configuration that I made in 7.10… i think this computers is also going back to 7.10. until the bugs are fixed..
# Posted on 29-Apr-08 at 6:24 pm
Peter wrote:
As I do not like to give up on something lightly, I have today attempted to install Ubuntu 8.04 by using the Wubi download method, instead of using the CDs.
I have had exactly the same experience as yesterday.
On the second re-boot during set-up, I got the following:-
Root(HD1,1)/Ubuntu/disks
Error 17:cannot mount selected partition
Press any key to continue.
When pressing a key and tried the Ubuntu options, it returned to press any ket to continue.
If I selected loading Windows, it said the the NTLDR was missing.
As before, a complete re-boot was needed to re-load Windows.
Fortunately, Wubi is very good at removing the Ubuntu addition to the MBR.
So far, so disappointed. Can anyone help on this one please?
Thanks and kind regards,
Peter.
# Posted on 29-Apr-08 at 6:50 pm
Sylvain wrote:
My experience with Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron…: it is a SITTING DUCK. It suck period. The Nvidia driver installation is a joke. As always, GRUB is not able to be install correctly. At the end,I’ve switch to Fedora 8. I am an Ubuntu fan. This version is a Vista bomb. The job has been screwed. Like I said in a review on Quebeos.com: Hardy Heron does not deserve the CD on which we burned it.
# Posted on 30-Apr-08 at 12:32 pm
Godzilla wrote:
I have a P4 HP laptop.
Ubuntu 7.10 was stable and running Wifi,Compiz and Emerald perfectly.
What a mistake to install 8.04
1. Installation from CD was way slower than 7.10
2. There is an issue with the CPU Scaling with my P4, it runs really hot and fans don’t stop spinning, blowing really hot air through the fans. Touchpad burns fingers.
3. Restricted Hardware use to show soft modem, not anymore.
4. Random abrupt crashes (not related to CPU Heat). I manage to control CPU throttling using command line settings with powernowd. But for no reason it just crashes the machine unexpectedly.
Can’t complain, it was beautiful, a smooth installation and at the same time a big disappointment .
Went back to Gutsy, all problems are gone.
# Posted on 01-May-08 at 12:46 pm
JDS wrote:
@jin
Taking time to describe the installation process in a review of a Linux distro is fine.
Including the installation phase in any comparison of Linux to Windows is not, however.
Next to nobody installs Windows. It’s just there. So my beef is in the comparison of Linux to Windows — which seems to happen all the time in Linux distro reviews — that mention the installation phase of Linux as part of the comparison.
# Posted on 01-May-08 at 3:05 pm
jin choung wrote:
@JDS, see i don’t get that statement at all. enthusiasts who are likely to try installing linux in the first place wipe and install their systems fairly routinely! if you build a system, it’s not just there. and as for me, i am speaking as such an enthusiast. someone who has installed and re-installed xp on a regular basis, someone who is not a complete neophyte. and yet - hh just wouldn’t install! i am no m$ cheerleader but hey, guess what - the INSTALLATION WORKS! far more than can be said with hardy heron.
# Posted on 01-May-08 at 5:48 pm
mateo wrote:
Hey guys - still no reply about hardy on the Macbook. Do you suggest a different version of Linux? Fedora? Linux mint? I am really new to Linux. I tried posting on a Ubuntu forum - HUH, talk about rejection. If Linux is going to make headway over M$ than we neophytes need some help. SO - back to “is hardy going to work on the macbook without major problems?” I tried booting it up and ran into several problems with the master boot loader. SO - I’m reinstalling OS X and going to try again. Suggestions?
# Posted on 02-May-08 at 12:40 am
pligg.com wrote:
FOSSwire » Ubuntu 8.04: Hardy Heron Review…
It’s official: Ubuntu 8.04 has gone gold. This is one of the most highly anticipated releases of Ubuntu to date, but does it hold up to the hype? We take a look at what’s new, what’s stable, what’s good and what’s not in our latest review….
# Posted on 02-May-08 at 2:51 am
GET wrote:
2jin: Well, I ‘ve got a suggestion: try checking CD you for consistency (I found that its a really great feature).
I’ve run into problems updating my 7.10 installation using CD; nothing helped before I tried to check CD and it’s failed! I was really disappointed and surprised - I’ve got ISO from torrent, - but then tried to reburn it to another disk and, alas!, everythink worked like magic.
The only problem I’ve run in afterward was that with default proprietary fgrlx driver, the gdm screen had wrong resolution (7.10 had the same issue, but then it was 800×600, which was OK, and now it was larger than screen, so that login form was hidden). I changed to open driver (never need acceleration) and the problem was gone.
# Posted on 02-May-08 at 12:30 pm
cwmaxson wrote:
I have to agree with the “haters”. I have found Hardy to be the least stable version yet. So far I have run into 6 bugs in one day with a fresh install. It really shouldn’t be considered an LTS in my opinion.
# Posted on 03-May-08 at 11:17 pm
Roy wrote:
Upgrading to Hardy has broken my sound so no audio and also dvds are not playing. 7.10 was perfect. Can anybody please let me know how I can roll back to Gutsy? I hope it’s not a full reinstall.
# Posted on 04-May-08 at 12:03 am
FistaDoom II wrote:
Installed HH 8.04 x64 final on my laptop … as dual-boot with the existing XP.32.SP3 partition
Dell Inspiron 640m / E1405 (BIOS A10)
Intel C2D T7400 @ 2166 MHz (EM64T)
Intel 945GM Graphics
Samsung 14.1 inch WXGA+ 1440×900 Truelife
Samsung 2GB DDR2-SDRAM 333 MHz
Samsung HM160JI 160GB 5400rpm SATA-1 HM160JI
TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-L632D
Dell 1500 Draft 802.11n (BCM4328)
Dell 355 Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
RJ-11 Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem
RJ-45 Broadcom 440x 10/100
Sigmatel STAC 92XX C-Major HD Audio
VGA + S-Video DB-15 female
FireWire 1394
ExpressCard 54mm
Ricoh 5-in-1 MMC
Synaptic PS/2 TouchPad
I originally had 3 partitons
1.Dell_DIAG_Test = 49MB
2.C:\XP.Pro.32.SP3_SYST = 12GB
3.D:\DATA = 137GB
After backing up with Acronis TrueImage, I used Paragon Partition Manager 8.5 to resize D:\ to 100GB, leaving 37GB freespace
Next, booted from the HH_8.04×64 CD, select install + manually make 3 new partitions
4./swap = 2GB
5./ (Root) = 12GB
6./Home = 23GB
Overall, a suprisingly painless install, GRUB automatically arranged the dual-boot so 8.04 by default and XP easily reached, NTFS partitions automatically appear/mount with RW permissions on Gnome Desktop, screen-resolution, sleep/hibernate, ethernet, BT, touchpad, sound, MMC, media-buttons + hotkeys ALL worked OOTB, WLAN @ 34MB/s sorted in 10min by NDISwrapper + googled BASH-scripts. Modem, Firewire still to test but reports say will work. Fantastic stuff!
In use, it is much faster + more flexible than XP
Of course there are still some rough edges to file down, but, with the amazing variety and high quality of FOSS now available, I forsee with delight my days in hoc to M$ are shortly numbered - and sincerely hope Fista Ultimate Engorged Edition sinks the M$hft Titanic under DRM Deadweight.
All Hail Stallman + Never look back! “;0))
# Posted on 04-May-08 at 1:25 am
Gerald Branson wrote:
I used 8.04 for about a week and found it ok, but many problems did arise. For some unknown reason my computer would not shut down, Firefox 3 would not allow copy and paste. Also many times when I was requested to enter password computer would freeze. There were other small problems. So I dropped back to 7.10 and everthing works with no problem. I am sure Hardy is a fine product, but I am not ready for it at this point.
# Posted on 05-May-08 at 10:58 pm
Wiz wrote:
Well, other than totally fouling up my laptop and slowing it down to almost non-functionality, this is a great freaking release.
To get the thing to work properly, i have to load the old kernel, otherwise the network card no longer exists, the sound card is not there and so on… never mind it works if I boot with the older one.
I find that it completely sucks that it installs a Beta of Firefox w/out giving me a chance to say no. Nothing works, flash, java, whatever… it just doesn’t.
After giving Ubuntu a good try for some time, I’m reevaluating if this is really worth it. I was actually happier with RH, Debian and Suze and my machine never did anything I didn’t want it to…
I’d love to go back to my previous version, and actually got here while looking for instructions.
as for those that got an increase in performance… bless you, but i don’t buy it for a second.
(@JDS, yah, that’s you (that YMMV thing, uh?))
I’m running in an IBM T40 with 1Gig, and to my surprise and dismay, Ubuntu managed to perform worse and be more unstable than windows.
What a disappointment.
@JDS
Save your pithy comments, as I don’t think I will thread this site ever again.
# Posted on 06-May-08 at 1:08 am
aL wrote:
salutations
i m running ubuntu 8.04 LTS on my hp pavillon t3000 and the headphone’s front jack is not working at all.
My sound card is a realtek hd audio and have alsa “installed”.
any solution?
thanx
# Posted on 06-May-08 at 8:52 am
Graham wrote:
I had heaps of problems installing 8.04, there appeared to be a package (human interface) that was broken. I eventually found a work around, and the system seems OK generally. FF3 is grossly slow though, every time you click a link it takes 10 secs to respond as the disk is very busy for that long (almost every time). I have removed it and re-added it but no fix. I will remove it and install FF2 and check that. It is difficult to use with FF3 actually. Everything else seems fine however. I had to use the cd update for the system upgrade.
# Posted on 07-May-08 at 4:38 am
Jon Trott wrote:
I also had a few problems with install, notably a strange error message right near the end about virtualbox not being loadable, followed by a message that the install itself had failed. It seemed to hint darkly that I was being reverted to 7.10. However, it did not fail, as when I rebooted I got 8.04. But… the update manager kept trying to install virtualbox, and would hang. I couldn’t shut it down, so would log out. I logged out, logged back in, and — aha! — used Symantec package manager under “System” to manually remove and reinstall virtualbox-ose. Things seem to have cleared up.
As for speed, I must say there seems to be an *increase* in speed.
I am running a Compaq Presario 2545US (in the generic 2500 model class) laptop.
Hope that helps someone. I use Ubuntu about 90 percent of the time at home — still Winduhs at work, though. Bleah.
# Posted on 08-May-08 at 12:40 am
JDS wrote:
Okay, so, my experience the second go round was less impressive. Trying to install Hardy on a brand-spankin-new Toshiba laptop was just plain unsuccessful. In fact, it wouldn’t even boot to the live CD and dumped out to “initramfs” with an error.
Suck.
But on my Thinkpad R61, I really had the best experience possible. The thing really is faster than 7.10 on the same hardware. Everything really does work flawlessly. (Well, okay, *nearly* flawlessly)
So, probably, yes, unevenness is not the best thing to have in a so-called “LTS” release.
Incidentally, Ubuntu 7.10 installed just fine on the same Toshiba laptop.
@mateo
I don’t get why anyone would buy a Macbook specifically to run Linux on. Good luck with that!
# Posted on 08-May-08 at 2:22 am
cwaraksa wrote:
Ubuntu installed fine on my core2duo machine from within XP, which was really cool. However, sadly discovered no way to access my Pixma 1500 printer despite a lot of effort. Finally found some geekish discussions suggesting how to work around it. Looks like I need a programmer to print. Sound doesn’t work right either. These things work right out of the box with Windows. I’m starting to rethink my criticisms of XP. At least it works.
# Posted on 09-May-08 at 4:57 am
David wrote:
I’ve been trying to convince myself that the upgrade from gutsy to hardy was an improvement. Reading all the comments here has just confirmed my fears! Just about to revert back to gutsy as hardy doesn’t appear to like my IBM thinkpad a great deal. Sob
# Posted on 09-May-08 at 10:56 am
Craig wrote:
8.04 is my first Ubuntu experience. It’s the first Linux desktop I’ve seen that comes near being pratical for everyday use (i.e. contains at least the bare minimums: good browser, email client with shared calendar (thanks to google), msn compatible client, decent text editor, automatic updates, samba share access, good hardware detection).
It worked fine and detected all hardware on 2 very different PC’s of mine.
gvfs is a very nice and useful feature for editing files over samba shares, BUT unfortunatly it is completely useless since the gvfs-fuse-daemon keeps croaking about every few minutes making my files unsaveable in gedit. So for now I’ll have to keep working on Windows until that serious bug is fixed in order to stay productive instead of jumping through hoops in order to get my files saved.
# Posted on 09-May-08 at 11:41 am
Ripfox wrote:
@John
Um…VirtualBox captures my mouse just fine dude.
# Posted on 09-May-08 at 11:44 pm
jin choung wrote:
just wanted to spare people some angst pain and hate -
1. if you get dumped to initramfs, try F6 editing the boot line and just add the words ‘irqpoll’ without the quotes
2. GRLDR is the EASIEST WAY TO DUAL BOOT. no possibility of fing up your xp or MBR (has nothing to do with the MBR in the first place). just edit boot.ini and edit menu.lst, copy 2 files into C: and you’re done. using winxp’s native boot loader to switch. this should be included in fing ubuntu installs. stupid easy when other methods can be stupid hard and potentially lethal.
3. if you have wifi, you’re fd. uninstall network manager. use Wicd (google it). you’ll be a step closer but i’m still not running and it might’ve f’d up my connection in winxp (don’t ask, i don’t know how).
wubi might be the only way for ubuntu to be accessible to the masses but you incur a performance hit.
they don’t understand that they’ve got to make it STUPID EASY or it just won’t fly.
jin
# Posted on 10-May-08 at 1:12 am
jin choung wrote:
btw, booting your winxp, hitting ‘R’ to recovery console and FIXMBR will bring back your windows MBR if grub messed up your ability to boot to windows.. but you kill grub but GRLDR is better anyway as i said.
do NOT use fixboot… it might eradicate your partition tables essentially rendering your drive useless.
if that happens google TEST DISK… it’s a free, gnu tool to get your partition table back. pray you’ll never need it but it’s good that it’s there if you ever do. equivalent recovery of PARTITION TABLE DOCTOR but it’s free.
# Posted on 10-May-08 at 1:15 am
mateo wrote:
I just install hardy in an IBM Thinkpad T-60. Most went well. However, advanced screen effects does not work. Compiz problem. Anyone have a link to a reported bug or a fix for this.
# Posted on 11-May-08 at 6:12 am