Ubuntu 9.04 as slick as Windows 7, Mac OS X

CNET ^ | April 24, 2009 6:22 AM PDT | by Renai LeMay

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Here's what the official press release won't tell you about Ubuntu 9.04, which formally hit the streets overnight: its designers have polished the hell out of its user interface since the last release in October.

So much so, in fact, that I am starting to prefer using my Ubuntu "Jaunty Jackalope" desktop over the similarly slick Windows 7 beta (which I am currently running full-time on one desktop) and Mac OS X Leopard operating systems, which I also use regularly.

I left

Windows Vista, XP, and even Debian lying bruised and battered by the roadside some time ago.

You won't be able to notice the vast improvement in Ubuntu's desktop experience over the past six months by browsing screenshot galleries of 9.04 or looking at new feature lists. What I'm talking about is that elusive slick-and-speedy feel you get from applications launching fast, windows moving around without jerkiness, and everything simply being where it should be in the user interface.

Launching and using Firefox on Ubuntu 8.10 on my 2GHz Core 2 Duo-based machine with 2GB of RAM, a 7200rpm hard disk, and an Nvidia GeForce 8800GTS always seemed to feel like I was going back a few years, to a time when Web browsers were not considered something you always had open to service Web applications like Gmail and Bloglines.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[thecabal]

On the surface, the upgrade from 8.10 to 9.04 seems pretty good. The “fit and finish” of the OS has improved quite a bit. And subjectively, it seems to be a bit snappier.

[rockrr]

I have a test box for Ubuntu and this will be the fourth upgrade on it. The sticking point for me has been support for G3 and G2 wireless.it just been “ready for primetime” yet.
Maybe this time!

[Bryanw92]

Does it run WoW??

[thecabal]

Doubt it. When I want to game, I use my Xbox 360.

[Paradox]

As much fun as I had building various Linux systems/distro’s, I was happy to leave that all behind me for simple to install systems (XP, VIsta). Ubuntu brought me back. It was the first distro that I thought really approached the ease of use of Windows, OSX, etc.. Up till now I didn’t think it was _quite_ up to par, but I am going to check out the latest version.

[neb52]

You have to have WINE to run it.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WorldofWarcraft

[Harold Shea]

I did a clean install to 9.04,it seems pretty nice,
watch out Gates,the little kid on the block has grown up

Tried xbunto for about 10 minutes,zapped that and
went back to unbunto

[Bryanw92]

I play WoW. That’s not a game, its an addiction. :)

[Bryanw92]

Thanks. I might give it a try.

[neb52]

There are still multimedia applications that are not supported that keep me going back to Linux full time. I know iTunes is quasi-supported under Cross Over now, but still looks spotty. The other is Netflix’s Watch Instantly that installs a piece of software into Windows Media Player and uses WMP to display the streaming video. Of course I having bigger problem with Netflix using WMP then Linux’s lack of support for WMP (obvious reasons). Netflix needs to be like HULU that require a certain OS and media player.

[neb52]

“Netflix needs to be like HULU that require a certain OS and media player.”

That’s “Netflix needs to be like hulu that is not OS or media player specific.”

[SlapHappyPappy]

Don’t they come out with this story with every new upgrade?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well, don’t bother with it then.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

For Netbook users watch out for this:

Intel Linux Driver Kills The Netbook Experience

*************************EXCERPT*************************

Posted by Michael Larabel on April 22, 2009

Using this Intel Atom netbook with Ubuntu 9.04 RC with X Server 1.6 and xf86-video-intel 2.6.3, I would have rather just brought a bulky notebook with ATI or NVIDIA graphics than to put up with this graphics mess (or just downgraded to Ubuntu 8.10). I generally just use Firefox, Thunderbird, and Pidgin while away on business, but with Ubuntu 9.04 RC the Intel netbook experience is ridiculous. Among the issues are the system becoming unresponsive when opening up a large email or web-page and when typing there is quite the delay at times before the text appears on the screen. Sadly, there is no proper fix in time for Ubuntu 9.04. Enabling greedy migration heuristics and some other driver options can help alleviate the situation for some, but the default experience is far from pleasant and telling a novice Linux user to edit their xorg.conf is not friendly either.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

(continued)

This Intel Linux graphics driver situation should be settled in time for Ubuntu 9.10, but for now this really will hamper the "out of the box" experience with those installing a brand new Linux distribution to their Intel-powered netbooks.

[JoeProBono]

Just downloaded. Will check it out. Thx!

ubuntu

[martin_fierro]

I’ve installed it on two machines, but it’s having trouble recognizing the PCMCIA network card on one of them. :(

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

As a long time linux user I find it just a little bit hard to understand when Ubuntu x.x.x is somehow compared to Vista, or Windows 7 as saying it’s finally spiffy, or fast or whatever.

A distro to my way of thinking is just that - a distro.

It’s not really a new “program” - it’s just a new bundle of programs. You could run the same linux kernel or same nvidia driver (or whatever) with 100’s of other linux distros or variants.

So what is the basis for saying that Ubuntu y.y.y (or Red Hat or Suse or whatever) is “sluggish” but Unbuntu x.x.x is “great”? It seems (to me anyway) that all this a) incremental and b) academic since you could upgrade your drivers from other distros all day long.