Alison Young

First impressions

The upgrade took place the evening Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 was released. The upgrade took a long time primarily as the result of a slow internet connection. Total download size came to 830Mb of packages. Majority of the installation occurred while I slept, stopping only to ask me about modified configuration files and completed pretty quickly after. Following a  reboot, I found in the tradition of Ubuntu upgrades all my settings had been remembered; such as what applications were open, tabs open in FireFox and desktop effects.

Below are my very first impressions from the hours immediately following the upgrade, symbols indicating what I didn’t like, was uncertain about and liked.
- much, much longer boot time
- weak stability, crashed twice in a matter of hours after upgrade.
- current graphics card insufficient for advanced desktop effects.
~ FireFox 3 beta – url bar bulky, some beloved extensions aren’t supported,
+ better management of system resources, CPU less busy.
+ power management when using battery seems better – need to do more testing.
+ normal desktop effects more stable.

A month later

After a few minor updates the system has stablised considerably and I haven’t experienced any further crashes akin to the first few immediately following upgrade. I’ve discovered some very useful browser extensions which have somewhat replaced ones not yet supported by FF3.

Discovered that there are difficulties getting sound to work everywhere; I must choose whether to use sound in a browser or everywhere else. This is an ongoing annoyance which is somewhat circumvented by using Miro to watch youtube videos and downloading pod and vodcasts instead of streaming from websites. While not dissimilar to how I’d usually deal with such media, the limitations have changed my behaviour somewhat. I’m also required to restart X when I have to watch or listen to something in my broswer in order to be able to have sound in VLC, Miro or Rhythmbox after. Need to seek assistance with getting the sound problems fixed. I suspect if I change my audio server settings I can recify this problem. PulseAudio installation and configuration may demand a separate blog post.

Overall I’d have to say I’m reasonably content with Hardy, some of the limitations I’m experiencing are a result of my mildly dated hardware and not the operating system. I’ve also discovered applications that are equivalent to those enjoyed by my fellow Windows and Mac user friends. Expect a joyous update when I solve the current audio frustrations.

I upgraded my Ubuntu install this morning. It sounds like a feat but in fact it was so easy that literally anybody can do it. Closing applications, making sure you had an internet connection and then hitting ‘Upgrade’ in the package manager. Walk away for a little under an hour and that’s it. My input was required once – to tell the installer what to do with a customised file.

Upgrade complete and system restarted to find that my settings were just about all intact, including transferring settings between a major application upgrade and the smaller subtleties such as remembering my Firefox session. Overall I have to say that from the onset I am very impressed. Tweaking for the next few days is to be expected to get everything just how I like it, but the new Ubuntu is quite able to used with little problem straight out of the box. Whether you’re upgrading from 7.04 or creating a fresh install using a CD, Ubuntu has never been easier or more accessible to those interested in wishing to use linux for everyday computing.

Here’s my list of interesting links of the week. Enjoy!

• for those wishing to know more about my new OS here’s a non-geek friendly review of Ubuntu’s new release, 7.10 aka ‘Gutsy Gibbon’ (I love the release names)
• B.Stevens has created a cheap and easy way of creating lightrings for photography. Article here and Flickr photoset here. The amateur photographer in me would love to try this out.
• after decades of searching it seems that Carmen Sandiego has been found
• a most interesting article of the Neurology of ‘Alice’(Warning: link is a PDF)
• Chris Gilmour, an Italian artist who creates lifesize everyday objects out of cardboard
• a push button house which unfolds from a shipping container in 90 seconds, the Illy Cafe
• clever and funny clip about how a Triumph is not actually made…

In the most poetic way possible, the topic of my last post about technology being the source of frustration has happened to me personally over the last week. One of my most frequently used applications has been throwing error messages at me at random for the last week, usually not a huge dilemma but it has been getting on my nerves a little.

So like any logical person would, I went out to seek a solution. Turns out my operating system is outdated again, such as is the way with Open Source applications. I can solve my problem with Gaim and upgrade my operating system at the same time. I have a new project for this week

I’ve also been finding lots of interesting items in my RSS feeds of which I’ll publish in another post.

I have a shiny new Ubuntu install and blinged up XGL. The latest upgrade to Ubuntu 7.04 aka Feisty Fawn.

I still need to have an experiement with settings to work out what I want where and doing what. However I’m pretty impressed with it all so far though. The help provided was very much appreciated as though I’m becoming quite competent and comfortable with using Ubuntu, I am still slightly hesitant to do a major upgrade by myself.

I’m having a serious case of wanting this upgrade that I think will run on Nostariel with little problem. Check out the flashyness in the vid below….

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD7QraljRfM]