JacobToday Canonical software announced its latest version of the popular Ubuntu operating system: version 7.04, the Feisty Fawn. This release was the first in a year to have a normal six-month schedule: Dapper had an extended eight months, and Edgy only had four.
Other than your standard mix of new applications, Feisty brings some new things in the mix. The first of these is Desktop Effects, or a modified Compiz. If you have a video card that supports AIGLX by default (Intel) or it can be configured (NVIDIA) you can turn it on simply by clicking Desktop Effects and the Enable in the preferences menu. You will instantly have wobbly windows and cube-spinning goodness.
Another addition, and the best in my opinion, is the option to automatically install the required codecs for a video file when you try to play it. You simply click to open the file, and if you do not have the codecs installed, Totem (the movie player) will ask you if you would like them to be installed for you. Click Yes, check a box, and click Install. You now have all of the codecs you need to play movies, including WMV9 (GStreamer only) without the need of the w32codecs package.
Another less popular, but still equally important feature, is extended virtualization support. The new kernel adds in support for processors that have virtualization modes, so you can now run other operating systems inside VMware/Qemu/VirtualBox a lot faster than previously possible.
One more thing I noticed that hardly gets any attention is a revamped help system. It now has much more documentation on common tasks, such as watching commercial DVDs and installing software. It also offers a way to get to the online manual easily.
The new distro also offers much more theme changes, including an updated Tango theme, new desktop wallpapers, and more customization options with certain themes such as Clearlooks.
Aside from the software itself, the forums are seeing a major spike in users and posts, as has the website. Ubuntu.com was offline due to capacity problems this morning, and while it is back on at the time of posting, you may still see some network slowness. If you are downloading Ubuntu, I encourage you to use a torrent if you have high-speed internet. You will be much more pleased waiting three hours or less on a torrent than ten hours or more using HTTP. If you do want to download directly, be sure to pick an off-site mirror to get faster speeds.
To download Ubuntu 7.04, visit this page:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu
If you are running Edgy (6.10), Update Manager should notify you in the next few days of a new release, and offer an upgrade. You do not have to upgrade, although I strongly encourage it. If you want to force an upgrade right now to Feisty, simply press Alt+F2, and in the box that appears, type gksu update-manager -c. You will be notified of a new release, and it will proceed to download anywhere from 600 MB to 800 MB of files, depending on what you already have installed.
Now that Feisty Fawn is out, be prepared for the next: Gutsy Gibbon, to be released six months from now.
