ATRIX is a high end android-based smartphone that leverages power of Nvidia Tegra2 Dual core processor and 1GB of RAM. If it can run a custom Linux, sure it can Run Ubuntu Linux too.

XDA developer Sogarth has figured out how to install Ubuntu on Atrix. The installation isn’t perfect, but it’s close enough to be used by public.

Important/ Warning:
You can easily brick your ATRIX or get it into an infinite reboot loop. We are not responsible for any damages, do it at your own risk.

Pre-Requisites:

• Root your Atrix with SuperOneClick
• Terminal access to device. LXTerminal on webtop does fine.

Few Troubles:

• A lack of disk space to do anything (only having ~80 MB free really hurts).
• An unwillingness to create a third Linux-based environment.
• A non-functional apt/aptitude (easy to fix).

You can start by downloading this Ubuntu Package that has automated scripts (.bat files) that you can run on your windows PC while having ATRIX connected via USB.

The process is automated, you don’t have to interfere much. Once the script is run successfully and completed, move onto running the aptitude:

1.     Aptitude

There will be chances of the aptitude complaining about some of the files being broken. Well, you can’t do much about it since Motorola built it that way, anyways, keep hitting the “next” button until you hit the solution that uninstalls nothing and then executes on that.

You can now go on playing and tinkering with aptitude to install packages you want as per your needs and likes.

Here are some of the packages that have been known to have an issue with being installed, so avoid them:

Known package issues:

Be careful upgrading any of the -mot/~mot packages, as that can break functionality. I’m still compiling a list of which packages can be upgraded versus which can be left alone.

Can be upgraded with loss of functionality:

• libnautilus-extension1-1:2.26.2-0ubuntu1-mot1
• nautilus-1:2.26.2-0ubuntu1-mot1
• nautilus-data-1:2.26.2-0ubuntu1-mot1
  • Upgrading these packages plus at least one additional package I’ve not yet fully identified breaks viewing mountable storage and the ability to unmount it.
• xserver-xorg-core-2:1.6.0-0ubuntu14
  • Using the stock xserver-xorg-core 2:1.6.0-0ubuntu14 that’s already installed without recovering /usr/bin/Xorg appears to lead to a loss of the status bar at the top. However, upgrading to the stock 2:1.6.0-0ubuntu14.2 appears to fix that.

You can checkout the complete guide at the source including troubleshooting.

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Ubuntu Unity is a cool feature of Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook edition (or Ubuntu 11.04), but it doesn’t do justice with netbooks that are really low on CPU, graphics. Unity 2D is lighter version of the interface that should fix most of the jitters. Unity 2D is still in early phases, but does the job quiet nicely coz the fact it has actually reduced a bit of 3d eye candy, but adds significant boost in return.

Install Unity 2D (Qt) on Ubuntu 10.10, Ubuntu 11.04

Simply run the following commands in Terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:unity-2d-team/unity-2d-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-qt-default-settings

The above commands would point to the right PPA and install Unity 2D. You will have to Logout and select “Unity Qt” instead of the “Ubuntu Desktop” or “Netbook edition” while logging back in.

On a typical 1.5Ghz Atom netbook, a lot of difference was observed. What’s your experience?

Related: Tweak Windows 7 for Netbook

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Ubuntu 10.10 has a great UI, features and its free, the reason why its the most popular Linux distro. So if you love Mac’s UI and still don’t wish to switch its good time to switch the ui using Macbuntu.

Macbuntu will install all the necessary apps, icons, and other resources to make your desktop look just like OS X. So no matter if you are on Lucid Lynx 10.04 or Meerkat 10.10, run the following command and get the mac look on Ubuntu.

Commands for Lucid Lynx:

wget https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/macbuntu/macbuntu-10.04/v2.2/Macbuntu-10.04.tar.gz -O /tmp/Macbuntu-10.04.tar.gz
tar xzvf /tmp/Macbuntu-10.04.tar.gz -C /tmp
cd /tmp/Macbuntu-10.04/
./install.sh

for Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat:

wget https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/macbuntu/macbuntu-10.10/v2.3/Macbuntu-10.10.tar.gz -O /tmp/Macbuntu-10.10.tar.gz
tar xzvf /tmp/Macbuntu-10.10.tar.gz -C /tmp
cd /tmp/Macbuntu-10.10/
./install.sh

The theme is in alpha stages but ddoes the job pretty nicely. The customizations can be made during setup.

Switching back to Ubuntu Gnome:

Retyping the above commands, replacing ./install.sh with ./uninstall.sh.

source: Macbuntu

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Ubuntu 10.10 has brought  Multitouch for Netbooks, Tablets. Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat brings some noteworthy user interface improvements with GNOME 2.31, with new dconf configuration storage system. Meerkat is the successor of Lucid Lynx that would appear with an update to the Software Center allowing you to purchase paid-for Linux programs in an App Store-ish sort of way. However, the most appealing part is the Unity desktop interface, which is now the default for Ubuntu Netbook Edition.

A new software framework called uTouch has been developed intended on simplifying gesture handling. Some of the common grammar of gestures that will be incorporated in Ubuntu 10.10 were demonstrated in an early draft, and now are mature.

The uTouch wont do all this on its own. Unless and until you have a kernel that’s touch aware, user experience will suffer. That’s why Ubuntu’s multitouch relies on some of the recent improvements in the Linux kernel, the Xorg display server, and the Gtk+ toolkit. Multitouch X Input Extension is the heart of all these improvements that would enable multitouch-enhanced user experience on the desktop.

Among other UI improvements, there are some new panel indicators, especially the audio indicator which now has playback controls in addition to a volume management slider, eliminating the need for individual audio applications to have their own notification area icons.

Stream Music to Your Phone

Ubuntu’s music player now includes an integrated store, just like iTunes plus with Ubuntu One’s file-syncing magic you can stream your music to your Android or iPhone.

Faster Boots:

Ubuntu boots faster on all computers, but it’s super-fast on newer multicore machines. Not just the booting is fast, even desktop is ready in few seconds to hit the web.

Integrated Social Networks

Ubuntu’s new Me Menu lets you access your Facebook and Twitter accounts straight from the desktop. Easily connect to all your favourite chat channels and make updates through a single window. Facebook, Twitter, Jabber, Gtalk, any IM are just seconds away.

Download Ubuntu 10.10
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Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat brings some noteworthy user interface improvements with GNOME 2.31, with new dconf configuration storage system.

Update: Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat is available, What’s New

Meerkat is the successor of Lucid Lynx that would appear with an update to the Software Center allowing you to purchase paid-for Linux programs in an App Store-ish sort of way. However, the most appealing part is the Unity desktop interface, which is now the default for Ubuntu Netbook Edition.

Among other UI improvements, there are some new panel indicators, especially the audio indicator which now has playback controls in addition to a volume management slider, eliminating the need for individual audio applications to have their own notification area icons.

If you are looking for an early Beta preview you can download the beta release from the Ubuntu website and checkout release notes for further info.

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Ubuntu has announced that full multitouch gesture-based support will arrive in Ubuntu 10.10, the next major version of the popular Linux distribution. Multitouch will be coree component of Unity UI (the netbook distro).

A new software framework called uTouch has been developed intended on simplifying gesture handling. Some of the common grammar of gestures that will be incorporated in Ubuntu 10.10 has been demonstrated in an early draft.

The uTouch wont do all this on its own. Unless and until you have a kernel that’s touch aware, user experience will suffer. That’s why Ubuntu’s multitouch relies on some of the recent improvements in the Linux kernel, the Xorg display server, and the Gtk+ toolkit. Multitouch X Input Extension is the heart of all these improvements that would enable multitouch-enhanced user experience on the desktop.

However, there is still a lot more work to do before touch will be a first-class input mechanism for the platform. The standard applications that are included in the GNOME desktop environment are not particularly touch-friendly and will need some significant user interface refactoring.

“In Maverick, quite a few Gtk applications will support gesture-based scrolling. We’ll enhance Evince to show some of the richer interactions that developers might want to add to their apps,” Shuttleworth wrote in his blog. “The roadmap beyond 10.10 will flesh out the app developer API and provide system services related to gesture processing and touch. It would be awesome to have touch-aware versions of all the major apps—browser, email, file management, chat, photo management and media playback—for 11.04, but that depends on you!”

Another problem would be to overcome hardware compatibility. Initially, it plans to support convertible notebook/tablet devices such as the Dell XT2 and HP tx2. But the Canonical, founder of Ubuntu assures this would be taken care over time as they plan to cover all touch devices including laptop touchpads and devices like Apple’s Magic Trackpad.

Canonical’s multitouch efforts could make Unity an appealing option for users to lookout for Linux and Open source projects.

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With this guide you can DualBoot Android with Ubuntu on Nexus One.

All you need is a rooted Android Nexus One, but if your phone has similar hardware, you might get lucky on other phones too.

Note from developers at Nexusone hacks: This Ubuntu install will not affect your existing Android system, the Ubuntu terminal will run in the background while the Ubuntu X11 graphical user interface will run as an app under Android VNC app.

How to Install Ubuntu 9.1 on Nexus One

Download : ubuntu.zip [Megaupload] | Mirror: ubuntu.zip [FileFactory]

Note: For people having trouble getting it to work (thanks to people testing it at XDA Developers), try downloading the new bootubuntu file here.

Step 1. On your rooted nexus one, install the latest Busybox.

Step 2. Once you have a “rooted” Android phone, you will be able to run Ubuntu under Chroot.

What is Chroot: Chroot is the ability to run other operating systems under your current system (in this case Android).  So its as good as running apps on VMware or Virtualbox. You can only “chroot” another operating system made for your system’s architecture, in this case its ARM.

In this case, we are lucky because Ubuntu has an ARM-port.   It’s most likely the case that you can also “chroot” other linux devices that support ARM.  I am also working on chrooting other popular distros like Fedora, Gentoo, and more.

Step 3. Copying files for chroot:  image file of Ubuntu ARM, setup script file (ubuntu.sh), chroot boot/launch file (bootubuntu), unionfs, fsrw, and mountonly.

Copy these six files over into your SD card’s root folder under folder name “ubuntu”.

Step 4. Next, “Turn off USB storage” on your phone, connect usb and check if SD card is accessible from ADB Shell (component of Android SDK). (make sure USB debugging is enabled)

Go to your Android SDK Tools directory such as c:\fx\android-sdk\tools and type “adb shell“.

Step 5. Once you are in the ADB shell, you should see a “#”symbol.  Type “su” to enter superuser mode.  Btw, if you get error here, that means you have not rooted your phone!

Step 6. Next, type “cd /sdcard/ubuntu“, which will take you to the directory where you’ve copied the Ubuntu files over to. Type “sh ./ubuntu.sh” to run the setup script.  You only have to run this once or whenever you change the script file bootubuntu.

Step 7. Type “bootubuntu” to “chroot” or boot into your new Ubuntu on your Android!

You should see  “localhost” sign, congratulations!

But, there’s no UI till now, its all command line, proceed to next step if you need the UI.

Step 8.Installing UI elements: We will install some mandatory UI stuff from apt-get. In the terminal type thee commands one by one: “apt-get update” to update your Ubuntu packages followed by : “apt-get install tightvncserver” to install the TightVNCServer and “apt-get install lxde” to install the LXDE.

Step 9. Setting Screen resolution: run the following commands:

export USER=root
vncserver -geometry 1024×800

Here you can also change 1024×800 to the exact resolution of your Android phone’s LCD resolution,  Nexus One has 800×480

Next,  add the following to /root/.vnc/xstartup file using cat command:

cat > /root/.vnc/xstartup
#!/bin/sh
xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
icewm &
lxsession

Then hit Ctrl+D twice and Enter key.

Step 10. Next open up the Android VNC app on your Nexus One/Android phone and enter the password you set earlier in step 13 and set the Port to 5901.

Step 11. Next hit connect and voila, you should get something like this, a cool GNome Ubuntu screen!!!

Step . AutoRun VNCServer: Let’s add some code to the /root/.bashrc file:

cat > front
export USER=root
cd /
rm -r -f tmp
mkdir tmp
cd /
vncserver -geometry 1024×800

Then hit Ctrl+D twice and Enter key.

cat front /root/.bashrc > temp

cp temp /root/.bashrc

To check that it’s working you can exit out of Ubuntu back into Android shell:

exit

bootubuntu

Now everytime you chroot/boot your Ubuntu, the VNCServer is start automatically at start-up.

You can use Terminal Emulator app (freely available on Android market) to start the Ubuntu chroot by entering:

su
bootubuntu

so you don’t need to connect  to ADB shell to launch Ubuntu, giving you the freedom to use Ubuntu along with Android whereever you go.

Now fire up your VNC client from Android (available in market) and configure it to connect to localhost.. Boom, you’ve the Ubuntu running.

via NexusOne Hacks

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That’s it!

After the Android on HTC HD2 was done, it didnt’ take long to have Ubuntu on HTC HD2 aswell. Of course, Ubuntu isn’t such a good operating system for a smartphone – you can’t even make calls but its always fun to have Linux running on various gadgets.

Ubuntu Experience on HD2: Because HD2 has 4.4″ large touchscreen, Ubuntu experience is not that bad. On the performance front, 1Ghz snapdragon does well when it come to running various apps, see it for yourself:

Note: This is not a stable Android or Ubuntu 9.1, because there’s still a lot of work that has to be done before Android will be actually usable for most users. But its installable and pretty much usable for people who are willing to take risks.

Install Ubuntu on HD2 (Karmic Koala)

Needs Storage Card with at least 2GB free space. Recommended is a fast Storage Card (Class 4 is ok)
This is intended to be used as a netbook/desktop type setup with keyboard and mouse connected via USB. Check this site for information on how to do this.

Be sure to read included README.txt for install instructions, features and developer information.
Quick instructions: Put the ubuntu directory into the main/root directory of your Storage Card and tap HaRET executable.
password: ubuntu
use shutdown button to stop the system cleanly

Size: 635M
md5sum: 327a4b2c17e14dd5649964fe18f837e9
Download http://linuxtogo.org/~lgorris/hd2/hd2-ubuntu_0.1.zip
Mirror: http://gamesquare.co.uk/hd2-ubuntu_0.1.zip

Install Android on HTC HD2
Global instructions: Just extract to Storage Card root directory and run HaRET executable. Further details available in readme. If you still need help reach-out @taranfx.

Android build with HTC sense ™ Download: http://gamesquare.co.uk/LEO_SENSE.7z
Different random build: http://media2a.com/android/Android_Boot_Test_TS.zip

via XDA

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Method 1. (Needs Internet) via Update manager

Step 1. Start the Update Manager (System > Administration > Update Manager):

Step 2. The Update Manager should show that a new distribution release (10.04 LTS) is available. Click the Upgrade button to start the distribution upgrade

Method 2. Offline Upgrade (no Internet required)

This method is much faster since it uses offline ISO image to upgrade from HERE.

Step 1. Let’s go ahead and Mount the image

sudo mount -o loop /path-to-iso/ubuntu-10.04-alternate-i386.iso /media/cdrom0

Step 2. When success, a pop up should appear offering you the option to upgrade using that CD / ISO image.

If for some reason the upgrade dialog doesn’t pop-up, press ALT + F2 and type:

Ubuntu:

gksu "sh /cdrom/cdromupgrade"

Kubuntu:

kdesudo "sh /cdrom/cdromupgrade"

[iso credits: ParaIso]

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Basically, Lucid Lynx dropped the human Gnome theme and adopts a new dark “Ambiance” theme thats a lot more smoother on your eyes. Apart from that it updates Gnome to the latest version with bunch of new utilities. The Application manager called “Ubuntu Software Center” gets a significant update giving it a new look, bringing Featured apps to the forefront.

On a side note, Just hours before the release, Phoronix reported that a new critical bug (bug #570765 ): when installing Ubuntu 10.04, if the user had other operating systems installed (it doesn’t matter if that’s Windows or another Linux distribution), GRUB2 will not detect them. In any case, it’s now fixed and the distro is available.

What is Ubuntu 10.04 LTS?

Ubuntu 10.04 is a long-term support (LTS) release, which means that its users will receive package updates for an extended period of time. A Typical Ubuntu versions get 18 months of updates, but LTS releases are supported for 3 years on desktop computers and 5 years on servers. Apart from that expect stability and robust infrastructure from LTS. LTS are low on new Features, rather its more about stability.

Visual Improvements

Apart from what is already said about the new theme, Ubuntu 10.04 introduces several usability improvements and heightened consistency thanks to ongoing efforts like the Ayatana project and the 100 Papercuts initiative. Ubuntu now gets an overhauled panel notification area into a combined grouping of embedded menus, called application indicators, which have more consistent behavior and appearance. Helps reducing the clutter.

Social networking integration

Lucid gets a nice social Networks Integration with “Social From The Start” initiative powered by open source project Gwibber.

Cloud Sync & Ubuntu One

Ubuntu One brings a commercial cloud synchronization service to the Ubuntu desktop. Major parts being mobile synchronization (iPhone, Android, others) and a New Music store (iTunes Alternative) whih wors with popular Ubuntu player: Rythmbox.

Apart from what is said, there are lots of bug fixes and even some nitty-gritty stuff like inbuilt support for iPhone Sync on Ubuntu.

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx is available for Download at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download.

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Basically, Lucid Lynx dropped the human Gnome theme and adopts a new dark “Ambiance” theme thats a lot more smoother on your eyes. Apart from that it updates Gnome to the latest version with bunch of new utilities. The Application manager called “Ubuntu Software Center” gets a significant update giving it a new look, bringing Featured apps to the forefront.

Here’s a video from Linux whizkid walking you through the new UI:

Apart from what is said, there are lots of bug fixes and even some nitty-gritty stuff like inbuilt support for iPhone Sync on Ubuntu.

Try it Today, Download Ubuntu 10.04 Beta

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Just a brief on how this works: (Optional, you can ignore this if you are no geek)

This guide is How to Sync (both jailbroken & non-jailbroken) iPhone, iPod Touch on Ubuntu, and similar packages when installed on other Linux Flavors, works flawlessly.

Let’s get started:

Step 1. Add Repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmcenery/ppa

and Update the Apt source list

sudo apt-get update

Step 2. Next, we install all the required packages:

sudo apt-get install gvfs gvfs-backends gvfs-bin gvfs-fuse libgvfscommon0 ifuse libgpod-dev libgpod-common libiphone-utils libiphone0 python-iphone libplist++1 libplist-utils python-plist libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev libusbmuxd1 usbmuxd

Step 3. Let’s Configure Fuse, our interfacing component.  Edit fuse.conf file

gksudo gedit /etc/fuse.conf

Change

#user_allow_other

to

user_allow_other

Save and exit.

Step 4. Next, We modify your user for Fuse so that it can Auto-mount iPhone/iPod Touch on every boot.

Navigate to “System” -> “Administration” -> “Users and Groups”, click on the little key at bottom to unlock it for making changes. Then, select your username (<fx> for me) and click on “Manage Groups”.

Lookout for “fuse” group, double-click  it. Tick the checkbox next to your name in the new popup window. Click on OK and close all dialogs. You’re now in the “fuse” group.

Step 5. Alright, now log out and in again (Reboot is always better)

When you are back into the session, mount the phone as:

$ ifuse /mnt/ipod/

We can also unmount using the following command

$ fusermount -u /mnt/ipod/

Step 6. Let’s prepare ipod itunes directory:

$ mkdir /mnt/ipod/iTunes_Control/Device/

Fetch your UUID (The first number, 40 characters long)

$ lsusb -v | grep -i iSerial

Then, run:

$ ipod-read-sysinfo-extended

[mountpoint here is /mnt/ipod/]

This should generate a file named iTunes_Control/Device/SysInfoExtended.

Make sure it’s not empty and should be a big plist (XML file) with a bunch of info.

$ fusermount -u /mnt/ipod/

Reboot.

Step 7. Hold your breath and Plug the iPod/iPhone, you should see it appear on the desktop and it should now be

• Mounted as-is in Rhythmbox and you can add music files. (it can be slow)
• Mounted in gtkpod but you’ll have to launch the “ifuse /mnt/ipod”.

*Rhyhmbox is unable to remove music files, use the gtkpod to remove files or add videos to the iPhone.

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Ubuntu and other Linux distros give us multiple Virtual desktops by default. To add to it, there are apps available that leverage it adds some fancy graphics to it. The best such utility is Compiz/Fusion.

Here’s a Preview of what you would get:

But the possibilities are endless, You can play around once you are done. Okay, let’s go over it step by Step for Ubuntu 9.1 and others.

Pre-requisites: Make sure you have your Display/Graphics drivers installed: Nvidia, ATI or Intel. If you are clueless, contact me on Twitter, I`ll help you out.

Step 1. Enable Full Graphics:

Go to System → Preferences → Appearance, click the “Visual Effects” tab, and select “Extra” and “Close.” Then drag any window somewhere on the desktop. If the window edges are “squiggly” then graphics acceleration is working.
Step 2. Installation:

Next thing is to get the Compiz Fusion installed on your Ubuntu.  To do this, open Synaptic Package Manager (System → Administrative menu → Snaptics) . Using the “Quick search” field, enter “compizconfig”

You should see “compizconfig-settings-manager.” If it’s listed under the “Installed Version” column as already installed, you’re good to go and can skip down to the next step.

However, if you need to add it, check the box and click “Apply” in the toolbar and install it with on-screen instructions.

Alternatively you can type this on console:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Step 3. Configuring and Enabling 3D Cube

Start CompizConfig by selecting System → Preferences → CompizConfig Settings Manager.

The first step will be enabling four virtual desktops (in order to have a cube). In the left-hand menu, click on “General” and then click “General Settings” on the right. Click the “Desktop Size” tab and adjust the “Horizontal Virtual Size” slider to four. And then click “Back.”

In the left-hand menu, click “Desktop.” Then select “Desktop Cube” (this will de-select “Desktop Wall”- that’s fine) and “Rotate Cube.”

To start the 3D cube, press Ctrl + Alt + left-mouse and drag the desktop to left or right. You can also use arrow keys to toggle between desktops.

To enable wobbly windows, mark the corresponding check box under “Effects”. To make the menus wobbly as well, click on the “Wobbly Windows” button, select the “General” tab, and change “Map Effect” to “Shiver”.

Note: There’s lot more you can do in Compiz Fusion, just play around in the settings to get dazzling effects.

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Windows 7 vs Ubuntu 9.10

Transform Ubuntu to Windows 7

Now there are N reasons why you would need something like this.
1. If you want to try out Ubuntu in a really simple way, if you are new to Virtualbox, VMWare.
2. If you really need to run some Linux / Ubuntu applications in Windows, full blow app apart from cygwin.
3. As a replacement to Virtualization. This is in fact faster than Virtualized solution.
4. And of course, since it’s portable, you can take it anywhere with you on a Pendrive, etc.

Unfortunately, Portable Ubuntu Remix only works on Windows 32bit.

Download Portable Ubuntu Remix

Note: The credentials are — user: pubuntu password:123456.

As you all know I haven’t  been using Linux for a long, long time. I have installed countless distributions: Some of them have seen long-term use, while some of them have been nothing more than a flash in the pan. Ubuntu is one of those that has come and gone for me. I have used it on many occasions, been generally impressed with its offerings, but ultimately gone back to another distribution for one reason or another.

I have seen, over the last few Ubuntu releases, a serious decline in performance. Starting somewhere around 7.04, each successive release grew progressively more and more sluggish. From boot times to application start up times, Ubuntu seemed to be coming to a slow painful crawl. With 9.04 Ubuntu has made a complete turnaround.

My litmus test for a distribution is an aging, quirky laptop that suffers from the old Via Chrome video chipset. On a rare occasion, a distribution will install, but generally speaking when it finally does, it’s sluggish and seems like any minute it will crap out on me. So when I burned an ISO of the x86 version of Jaunty Jakalope, I assumed it would go the same way all Ubuntu installations have gone on this laptop: I would attempt to boot the live CD only to have it stop on a small, .5″ X 1″ white line squiqqly square in the middle of a black screen and go no further. But Jaunty continued on as if this outcast laptop was a high-end machine ready to crunch serious numbers. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Could this release actually install and run?

It did. And it did it well. And all of the claims Mark Shuttleworth has made about 9.04 are real. It’s faster than any distribution I’ve seen. It’s more stable than any other Ubuntu release to date. Everything is exactly where you would think it SHOULD be. And it all works perfectly, seamlessly, beautifully.

This aging laptop, with its VIA C7-M processor, seems infinitely faster than it did with the last distribution I had installed (Mandriva Spring 2008). It also seems much more stable. GNOME 2.26.1 will seriously impress even the biggest KDE fans.

I could go on and on listing the various bits and pieces of this release. I could go all tech on you and tell you which libraries are installed and which kernel Ubuntu uses. But for Jaunty Jakalope, all of that takes a back seat to the fact that we are looking at quite possibly the first Linux distribution that could, if given the fair shake it deserves, dismount Windows as the king.

Whatever Mark Shuttleworth did to get the 9.04 development team to bring Ubuntu back to the front of the line was a stroke of genius.

Ubuntu, you have officially “wowed” me.

Now, it’s time you wow the general public. Right? You have what could easily stand as the most significant and improved release of any Linux distribution available. It’s time to make the fat lady over at Microsoft sing. Before the official release of Windows 7 is out and overshadows you with glitz, glamour, and shiny shrink-wrapped packaging, you must do something with yourself. Put on a beautiful prom dress and show the crowd that you really deserve to be prom queen. If you don’t, this brilliant release will not see the widespread installation it should.

This was nothing more than a knee-jerk reactionary piece that extolled the values of what the newest release from Mark Shuttleworth and company had to offer. And there is quite a bit of good to take in from the latest-greatest Ubuntu. However, once you get beyond the shiny, glossy exterior you might find a few less-than stellar issues that can raise a flag or two.

Although I have yet to come across a deal breaker in this release, I have managed to find a few chinks in the armor of Ubuntu 9.04. In this review I am going to list the pros/cons (from my experiences) and let you add your own pros/cons list. From the collective whole we can decide if Ubuntu 9.04 has helped to push the Linux envelope farther than any other release to date.

The setup

Before I continue, I should say this review was not done on my old trusty “Litmus Laptop” (which I have finally rid myself of), but on a mid-line desktop machine with the following hardware:

• CPU: Single core AMD Athlon 2800+
• RAM: 1 Gig
• Video: NVdia 8600 GT

Pros

* SPEED. The first, and probably most notable, aspect of Ubuntu 9.04 is how much faster it is than previous releases. That is not to say it is the fastest of any current release. Bootup time (from start to login) is 39 seconds on the test machine, which isn’t bad. When you start running applications, you really notice the difference. Here is a list of statup times for certain applications:

• OpenOffice Writer: 3.18 seconds
• Firefox: 2.14 seconds
• The Gimp: 6.04 seconds

Let’s compare this with startup of these same applications on my primary desktop machine running a Debian-based operating system (Elive) with the following hardware:

• CPU: AMD X2 6000+
• RAM: 2 Gig
• Video: NVidia 7025

Here’s how this machine stacked up:

• OpenOffice: 6.10 seconds
• Firefox: 3.05 seconds
• The Gimp: 8.10 seconds

As you can see, the faster machine had slower boot times.

* DRIVERS. One of the issues Ubuntu is attempting to resolve is that of the use of proprietary drivers. Up until this release, if you wanted to use certain video or wireless chipsets you were out of luck if you wanted to remain completely free (as in freedom). With the release of 9.04 a spark of hope is shining through for those who desire no longer to be fettered to proprietary software.

Along with the NVidia graphics chipset there is a wireless card with a broadcom chipset. This chipset has always been notorious for requiring, at least, the use of fwcutter and proprietary drivers. Worst case scenario with this chipset has been employing ndiswrapper which has always been spotty at best. With 9.04 the only requirement was enabling the proprietary driver for the device.

Video was a bit of a different story. With 9.04 the new Nouveau drivers, which are open sourced drivers for NVidia graphics cards, promise to break the ties users have to proprietary drivers. I will say this is the first time I have been able to use an NVidia card, without having to install proprietary drivers, on an Ubuntu system and get a workable resolution. With the Nouveau drivers I could manage 1600X1200 resolution. The screen looked crisp and bright. There was, however, a downside to this (we’ll chat about this in a moment.)

* MENUS. Finally a distribution has made perfect sense of menu layout. When you open a menu up in GNOME it all follows a logic even Commander Spock would appreciate.

* STABILITY. Even using the experimental ext4 file system, I have found that Ubuntu 9.04 is incredibly stable. GNOME, and all of its constituent parts, feel as solid as they have ever felt. I am actually quite surprised with the ext4 file system. I was expecting erratic behavior and data loss. I have had none of that – even after an intentional hard power down.

CONS

Let’s get to what most a probably really wanting to see: The negative side of 9.04. There really aren’t that many, but for some, they could be deal breakers.

* DRIVERS. I know, I know – how can I have DRIVERS in both? Simple. Although the Nouveau drivers free NVidia users from proprietary software, and they do so admirably, in order to get real performance you have to actually use the proprietary drivers. If you want Compiz running usably, you will have to shy away from the free drivers. You want any composite? Better install the proprietary drivers.

* FLASH. Okay, I have to be careful here. First and foremost getting flash installed for Firefox is really quite simple. Go to a site that requires flash and, when prompted, click the Install Missing Plugins button. Here’s the catch – when you do this for Flash you will be offered three choices: The official Adobe version, Gnash, and Swfdec. The latter two versions will install and, on occasion, will run flash animations. Note the ON OCCASION part. Unsuspecting users might install one of the latter two versions (hoping for more freedom on their desktop) only to find out flash doesn’t work as expected. In order to uninstall those unsuspecting users will have to open up the Add/Remove Software utility, search for their installed flash plugin, uninstall it, and then install the official version. This should be the default behavior until the open source versions do a better job of supporting flash.

* INSTALLED APPLICATIONS. It seems to me that Linux in general has really started paring down the amount of applications in a default installation. I remember the day when you could perform a FULL installation which would amount to around 6 gigs of installed applications. Of course I don’t advocate going back to that (installations took an enormous amount of time back them). But I would suggest adding a few applications that would make the default installation much more complete. With the simple addition of Gnucash and Scribus, the basic desktop would have far more to offer the average user. Sure, you can do a bare minimum of what Scribus offers from within OpenOffice, but think about how many people use Microsoft’s low-end DTP offering and how many of those people would welcome the addition of features Scribus would give them. And the addition of a finance software is a no-brainer!

Conclusion

I could easily draw a conclusion here. I could say 9.04 is an outstanding release for Ubuntu that offers something very positive for every level of user. That is my experience. From the testing I have done, this release is one finest releases Ubuntu has given us yet. It does have some room for improvement, but it does excite me to think that if this is where Linux is heading, the competition better be aware.