Ubuntu 9.10: the net's opinion

Ubuntu on eee 701 - working with flying colours!!!!

semajnitram - November 4, 2009 @ 11:53am

Got the iso image as soon as it came out as im always interested in trying new Linux distros out. I hooked up my USB cd-rom drive to the EE pc, after battling to load the GUI installer i gave up and did the text one.

The install went smoothly and was pretty quick. Once completed i liked the new eye candy boot screen and was impressed that all the function keys "just worked".

What blew me away was that firefox, after loading youtube and identifying that i didn't have flash and then installing it... also actually worked. On all other distros i've tried the 701 hasn't had the processing power to handle flash videos.. it would judder along until i gave in and stopped watching them. This new Ubuntu has given my little machine a new lease of life on that front. Thank you canonical !!!

The only odd things that have arisen, which may be down to the machine rather than a fault, is that the battery claims its capacity is only 2% and is broken. And the 4gb hard drive is reporting problems through smart...

No WiFi fix

Steve J (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 12:15pm

@chgonzalez

I had the same issue as it doesn't work out of the box. I found that you need to connect to the repositories via another means (wired ethernet) and refresh the packages before running the hardware drivers admin menu option
The proprietary driver + the free options should appear.

This coupled with a few crashes (I think linked to switching between compiz and normal desktops as I switch users) leave me unimpressed.

Karmic feels more polished but there are still a few niggles for a clean install on my hardware (bug reports to submit)

Koalas Like EEE Boxes too

Oldie (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 12:19pm

Used unetbootin to create a boot-able USB stick and installed 9.10 on an EEEBox B202 without fuss.

Biggest problem was getting the BIOS to boot from the USB stick (even though USB is a boot option, it thinks the USB stick is a hard drive, and listed it there so I had to select hard disk boot and then select the USB stick in the boot order over the internal 160G drive).

Only problem I have found is trying to get Apache on it. On release day it wasn't in the repositories and get software, synaptic and apt-get all couldn't find it - haven't tried since though.

Is it better than 8.10? A bit.
Will it displace Win7? It already has on my machines......

No Problems

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 1:36pm

I started using Linux with Ubuntu 8.10, both Intrepid and Jaunty I had problems with either sound or X.org or both.

With a clean install of Karmic on an AMD 3500 processor, 2GB RAM & ATI graphics card there were no problems at all for me. It worked just fine and was done in less than 20 mins with also formatting the harddrive as well.

I am happy that it worked for me with no problems this time compared to the previous 2 releases, it is quicker to boot, maybe a little sluggish running flash in Firefox compared to 9.04, but overall happy with Koala thus far.

For a new Linux user I think it is nice that it works like most typical windows users would like their system to do at being stable(no blue screens) & very customizable for personal taste.

I think they would be happy to try Ubuntu and see that majority of what they do web browsing, email, chat, word processing, etc. They can do quite easily with no real challenges or having to add more software after installing the operating system, except having to load the restricted packages to allow MP3's, Flash and be able to play DVDs.

This is what I blogged yesterday

John Dignum (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 1:50pm

I thought this might be useful to someone. No tips, no tricks, just some observations of what happened to me.

I had two machines to upgrade, one a desktop running "ordinary" Jaunty (Gnome) and the other an AspireOne running UNR. The netbook was the priority, so I downloaded the Karmic UNR iso file. This is not an upgrade option, it will only carry out a fresh install. So, although I'd made a full backup, I remembered how much time and grief it took me to get MS Office 2007 running under Wine and CrossOver, and decided against it. Back to the desktop.

The Ubuntu website talks a lot about an upgrade path from 9.04, using the "alternate" iso file. This is fantastically well hidden given how popular it is likely to be, but eventually I found it and got a-downloading. Sure enough, mounting the iso from hd0 as a cdrom drive, it upgraded nicely, with one small problem: for some reason, it stopped recognising the keyboard and mouse during the upgrade process, leaving a power-off as the only option to continue. However, powering back on saw everything in order. Machine 1 - tick.

So, following the same logic, I then mounted the alternate iso as a cdrom on the AspireOne. Smooth as you like, it whizzed through the upgrade faster than the desktop (same processor in both), and was ready to reboot. At this point, the snazzy new UNR interface was not installed, but a simple launch of Update Manager sent us into a Partial Upgrade (network based), which brought everything into line. The only curiosity is that I have lost my Quit icon, meaning a ctrl-alt-del is required when I want to shut down. The good old days! Machine 2 - tick.

Worth it? Very much so. Minimal difficulty in the upgrade process itself, resulting in two machines running much faster than before, and in the case of the AspireOne, looking much better too. I am also tempted to suggest that battery life is better too, although to be honest it is too early to say.

So how do I get my Quit button back?

(footnote - Quit button now safely restored!)

Fresh Install much better than upgrade

steve_ (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 2:20pm

I upgraded from 9.04 which I was happy with from day one, why did I upgrade? Oh never mind that, the upgrade was not so great the boot time was no better or worse just ugly. With the actual upgrade there were just little wonky things. So on the release date I did a full upgrade to 9.10 the wow factor has been really the little stuff, it seems snappier. I like that in Nautilus the back button works no need for xbindkeys. The stock desktop image looked plain but cool the human theme is better than ever. This is the first time evolution has been a good replacement for t-bird for my needs. Seems like a lot of my likes are due to Gnome development, hmmm. Not really sure about the "software center" the whole "app-store" model kinda turns me off. I never used add/remove much either so... generally prefer aptitude or synaptic to install packages. Ubuntu One is better in 9.10 that is does not keep creating odd bugs in nautilus not for me not yet(fingers crossed). I was skeptical before the release and I was looking at moving to another distro on my Desktop, a lot had to do with the "software center" than being called "the software store" and Ubuntu-One. Now that I have used 9.10 I am happy with it and would recommend people to give the Live-cd a spin they might just be impressed. (boot time is still not amazing)

not as good as expected

carlicuslinux (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 3:22pm

After using various 9.04 distros as well as Linux Mint and Ultimate Edition, my wireless worked perfectly on my Gateway NV 52. I had read much about 9.10 and was eagerly waiting for the release. I downloded the iso for the 64-bit Gateway and performed a clean install. I connected my network cable and ran updates from the package manager.

No matter what I tried I could not connect to my wireless router...jusk kept asking for my password again and again. After 3-hours of messing around with this, I made a fresh install of Linux Mint 7 and the wireless works perfectly! Guess I am going to have to wait for the next version of Ubuntu to upgrade.

upgraded Dell mini 1011

sean (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 4:45pm

upgraded Dell mini 1011 using update manager over wifi took ages downloading 1300 odd upgrated parts, none of the other means seem to work for me.4 hours later still sat with upgrading page turned it off, next day started again finshed in 10mins works beautifully now and BBCiplayer works better than xp it came with, so on the whole job well done

meh

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 5:17pm

my big deal is that is seems kubuntu does not get as many changes as ubuntu does. i perfer kde over gnome because I like a little more flash and the plasmoids are a godsend. but enough with the side track. kubuntu did get the new version of kde and firefox but it still has the same loading screen. I would change distros but was put off from fedora back when 10 would not work with ease on my machine and debian is not up-to-date enough, and gentoo is a little to old school for me but i might give it a try on vm. so i think it is a meh update at least they give you the latest firefox for gods sake.

Fine... not excellent but fine

Pablo (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 5:45pm

In my case, i've upgraded to the 9.10 and runs quite good I must say, with minor problems on some programs like TWINKLE.

The ambience is great, and the refreshed icon set is cool.

Regarding the wi-fi problem, it doesn't surprises me because when 8.04 was on, i had the same problems with my broadcom wireless card. I installed the NDISWrapper soft and I did some extra stuff and it was running great.

Nevertheless, i hope that with the updates this distro will get better because for me is just a good distro, not excellent but good enough.

A step ahead

solax (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 6:17pm

I'm using the 64bit version and I'm impressed, as for every new Ubuntu version, on how much good work has been done from the past.

It is still not perfect, a bit buggy, but a really good step ahead! Good job Ubuntu team!

Is it any good?

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 7:07pm

I've been experiencing the same problems as towy71.

I've downloaded and burnt 2 cd's from 2 mirrors. It gets so far into the install and then goes into an endlessly rolling busy signal.

I'm trying to install onto my laptop, 1.73GHz, 2gig ram. Hardly vintage. Looks like I will be sticking with 9.04 for a while yet, not that is a bad thing.

I can imagine newbies trying the distro for the first time and running back to windows. Not a great introduction to Linux.

ok

Jens (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 8:01pm

Dell d630 nvidia nv135 videocard broadcom wless

Ok and quite snappy

Nvidia driver made ubuntu to report crash after suspend.
Solution get vrs 190 driver from nvidia and install it

Wired access nescessary to install broadcom wless including bwcutter etc

Better than 904 :-)

disappointed

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 9:56pm

Disappointed because many 3G-modems are not working (Huawei E169, Nokia cs-15 etc.), so I cant upgrade from jaunty.

Like it, wish I could love it

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 10:54pm

I really like it. Makes good first impression. Sound works without problems (finally!), default icon theme is nice and Software Center is a step in the right direction. Overall speed is much better. Installs without any problems with hardware, easy and without pain.

Still needs a few workarounds to work perfectly, so "out of the box" experience is not perfect. I had to install Parcellite to overcome the ancient "source closed - no clipboard" bug. I had to install libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio for games like OpenArena to have normal sound (why it isn't installed by default?). As usual, Ubuntu ignores some "out of the box" additions like the ability to create/unpack 7z and rar archives. Come on, 7z is open source, why it isn't installed by default?

I still tweak the default look (like changing the font to Droid Sans, and making it gray instead of brown), but this is nothing comparing to what I did to previous releases to like the looks.

But boot experience? Come on,it's not good! It's probably faster, though I don't notice the difference with Jaunty, but what is shown? It's more like a show, a movie, which is not the appropriate place for that. You see Grub text (why?), then black-and-white logo, then something blinks with text, then a new loading screen. Then the new login screen, which is definitely better than anything before, but is 2 screens itself. Then again the new loading screen and then, the desktop. Let's not forget that the startup sound plays in the wrong place. So here's where the good first impression fades slightly. It's not a critical place, I know, but this is not production quality.

Minor niggles

Lakesideloafer (not verified) - November 4, 2009 @ 11:19pm

Upgraded UNR to 9.10 on my Aspire One. Unfortunately, had to switch back to classic desktop because of overlapping icons otherwise. Initially there was no icon to quit or log out but a quick internet search solved this.

Bit of a problem with the Notifier Area applet. It has a tendency to show two battery icons and no network icon. Usually have to remove then add the applet. A bit annoying really.

Generally quite impressed, but no so much so that I am going to rush to upgrade to 9.10 on my desktop.

Grub 2

DaveS (not verified) - November 5, 2009 @ 6:26am

Running very successfully from a USB with persistent storage. Overall a very fine distro, but I have not installed it as I have a multi-boot system, and Grub 2 scares me :)

whoohoo it works!

towy71 - November 5, 2009 @ 8:56am

I downloaded via torrent and it works on all machines now, go figure :?

So Far so Good

Tony1212 (not verified) - November 5, 2009 @ 10:10am

I've installed 9.10 to an Aspire One (standard desktop not UNBR) absolutely no problems in fact everything works perfectly and I'm getting better battery life. I have done a fresh install onto my P4(D)3.4gig 2Gig DDR Ram Desktop rig and it also works fine, my only gripes are that the boot time is way off the 40 seconds I have seen reported (but it's still fast enough for my needs) and isn't it about time that Canonical released a version with the restricted codec’s for those of us in parts of the world where they are legal to use, to save having to access and download the Medibuntu repositories and install the extra packages after every fresh install.

On the whole though I'm a happy and chilled out Karmic user.

Just Works

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 5, 2009 @ 1:28pm

I have had it installed for about 2 weeks now . Upgraded from 9.04 to 9.10. No major problems at all. Very nicely done.

Still no quit button

Daniel Prieto (not verified) - November 5, 2009 @ 2:20pm

John Dignum wrote above about how his Quit button was magically restored. ¿Did you do any particular magic?

Thanks

Icons for the nostalgic

Morten Juhl-Johansen Zölde-Fejér (not verified) - November 6, 2009 @ 6:58am

Those icons on top, which are supposed to be a *cleaner* look, look like fscking MacOS 8. Immensely unimpressive.

A please to use on my PS3

Mattallyc (not verified) - November 6, 2009 @ 9:22am

Just replaced YDL6.2 with Karmic on my PS3 - much better now! Install took ages (about 2 hours!) but that's a fault with the PS3 not Ubuntu. Wireless worked once installed (didn't work during set up but that's not an issue). I like the fresh look, very impressed so far!
Installation guide at http://psubuntu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2082&start=80

Frustrating experience but sticking with it.

Fr. Denis (not verified) - November 6, 2009 @ 10:49am

I was running MINT 7 on a Compaq CQ60 without problems and wanted to try out a dual boot with Ubuntu 9.4. Partition went well and very quick install but no WIFi on Ubuntu after updating and an upgrade to 9.10 lost wifi on Mint also. Decided to do a clean install on Ubuntu 9.10 using the whole HD. Which went well until reboot and could only see flashing text and nothing worked. reinstalled with new CD iso and everything worked except shut down which powers off sometimes and often needs to be switched off manually.
But all said and done I still like Ubuntu and will stick with it.

@Nubie since the "I" series:

DaVince - November 6, 2009 @ 3:10pm

@Nubie since the "I" series: why are you trying to use a Windows text editor to edit your important Linux configuration files? Use nano, or vi, or ne, or medit, or mousepad... Not Wine Notepad.

I just installed Koala 64bit

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 8, 2009 @ 5:54am

I just installed Koala 64bit on my Dell Vostro 1400 laptop a few hours ago and I'm impressed. It's very snappy, and the new art (although I know I'll customize the heck out of it anyway) was a very nice touch. Everything worked, wifi (I have Intel wireless), nvidia proprietary driver, sound (w/ PulseAudio), Sun Java JRE to name a few.

I still have a lot of time to spend and a lot of stuff to install but so far so good. The only minus to me would have to be the new Grub but it's not a deal breaker. as for UbuntuOne, couldn't care less since I have DropBox.
All in all, Two thumbs up!

Disappointing

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 8, 2009 @ 7:59pm

Just before the release I had to buy a new laptop, the old one died. I bought an Acer Aspire 8735G. The install went well, dual booting with Windows 7, but after activating desktop effects I began to get random freezes. This was solved by disabling the desktop cube. I then tried to transfer my backed up files from a usb hard drive. After a few megabytes the system locked up, there was a similar problem with usb sticks. I have now returned to Jaunty which is fine. Looking at the forums this seems to be a problem with a number of Acer laptops. This kind of experience would put off any newcomer.

Ubuntu 9.10 Experience

Rohan Golwalkar (not verified) - November 10, 2009 @ 2:09pm

The only issue with Ubuntu series was with my on-board graphics detection.
But this time not only it detected it right it also went ahead and got the right resolution.
Also the restricted driver (Jockey is the name i think) works well.

I have been using it since the day it was released and i am just so happy with it.
Looks,performance,boot times everything seems to have improved.

Note:- Just waiting for Mint 8 - i want to check out what improvements they do over 9.10.
Using Mint also has been a pleasant experience always - literally no issues at all.

don't like it

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 11, 2009 @ 11:40pm

It takes longer to boot than 9.04, I have a feeling it is trying to compete with microsoft but it will become the same beast that way. I am loyal to an os that boots quickly and lets me check my email quickly and stumble without involving me in tedious stuff that I am simply not interested in. If I am interested in tinkering, I will but otherwise will someone please point me to an OS that does not hassle me with updates virus checkers or anything that interferes with the whole point of why I am using my computer.

Or am I being naive and should I sit patiently while some pre-configured task is executed on the decision of some man sitting somewhere in another time zone 'cos they know better?

I like it

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 13, 2009 @ 2:32pm

(I'm a Linux newbie). I like it a lot. In my experience Ubuntu 9.10 is a lot better than Fedora 11, the first distro I tried. Ubuntu looks really nice too.

8.10 works better

Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - November 15, 2009 @ 4:29pm

will not open more than one home folder
keeps freezing up
iplayer ok for live transmissions no good for listen again

Disappointed

mc (not verified) - November 24, 2009 @ 7:31am

Haatty! I'm a new from-Windows convert to Ubuntu. I've been using Ubuntu Jaunty for about six months and I've been able to figure out how my way around it -desktop, Grub, etc. I haven't on Karmic. My general impression is that it (Karmic) detours from the general straight line of "ease of use". Somebody is forgetting the most important thing about an desktop OS is the user. That's why Windows (as lame as it may be called) is still alive. Geek programmers: quit showing off. Linux is not Windows, I get that; but people are people!

My exp. with 9.10

New to Linux dk (not verified) - November 29, 2009 @ 12:25am

I am totally new to Linux and Ubuntu but am quite comfortable with pc's so was excited to discover "Live CD's and Live USB"
I installed 9.10 via live usb on my Inspiron 1501. Duel boot with XP Pro first and then triple boot with Kubuntu 9.10, XP Pro and Ubuntu 9.10. Ubuntu was the clear winner. Fast to install and update. With a bit of coaxing, everything worked well. Only 2 major incidences. 1/ Unrecoverable crash related to compiz Fusion. (Had to reinstall) 2/ Could not reboot after battery died before I could shut down. (lost all my data on reinstall) I am committed to Ubuntu 9.10 now and am comfortable with the idea that you get what you pay for.
Windows***** are gone from my machines. dk

Linux distros not recomendable for new hardware , but

Jorgen Larsen (not verified) - December 7, 2009 @ 11:30am

I try Linux distro's from time to to time , but several times it didn't work out too well . My new motherboards were not Ubuntus best friends. Now two years after its working fine and I'm quite impressed with the improvement of the user friendly version , which is out now. I think the
old generation of Linux programmers with their fingers way up in their rear , are a on pension now . A lot off software
is now easy to install now and I found new to take over from the software i have bought during the years for my Windows XP. The software or missing drivers are quite often the reasons why many people return to Windows again.
Also too much command promt for simple things could scare you , but that is almost solved now.

Ubuntu 9.10 install

Rk (not verified) - January 4, 2010 @ 12:46am

Installed U 9.10 on a older Toshiba A205 S4577(original os vista) as single os, result: got a new notebook, this unit is sweet and fast again. U found all hardware correctly everything worked right away.
Installed it also on a Dell 530 desktop as dual-boot. here the same as my Toshiba no hardware issues, everything worked out of the box. need to mentioned i did a full, new install of U 9.10, i am certain i have saved me a lot of headache compared to upgrading a lower U version.
I am a very happy U user, unfortunately, my business PC is a Windows notebook, going to work everyday and use this unit is like going back in time, LOL.

I use it...

seriouslyNow (not verified) - March 10, 2010 @ 7:23am

If you're interested in audio production, you need JACK. Pulse hates JACK, but Karmic loves Pulse. I must be a glutton for punishment, because I love Karmic. And I'm sure it'll be even sweeter when my production machine is running properly again, because really everything BUT real-time audio works better than ever.

Do a clean install! Upgrade from 9.04 and you will repeat many of the complaints listed above. After you are all set up make a new user and use that, as the new user default settings are a bit more refined than the generic defaults.

For production: 4/10. For home use: 9/10

Pulse is about as useful as Compiz. If Canonical comes to their senses, we may have something better soon.