Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 4 - Hardy Heron

Dr. Z · 17-02-2008, 19:32

Sooo, I have given Ubuntu another chance to impress me after the disasters that were 7.04 and 7.10.

Downloaded and booted the LiveCD (veery slow mirrors for the download, it would seem). First impressions? They have the decent fonts installed by default - this means that there is no longer the frankly awful default pointer (the 8.04 one looks nice and crisp just like a windows pointer) and the fonts are VASTLY improved.

It is BLISTERINGLY fast - anyone who remembers the difference between 6.04 and 6.10 will liken the new boot time difference to that. Its staggeringly fast to boot, it boots faster than anything I have ever seen, ever - including my K800i, T-Mobile Compact II, iAudio X5 etc etc. We are talking less than 20s from me pressing my power button to the Gnome login screen. Seriously impressive.

I dont have an nVidia card (actually an Intel card, which has caused me problems in the past) but still my 1680x1050 resolution was discovered automatically, which is a big jump from the nonsense of previous versions I have had to endure.

Nautilus is horribly broken, but this isn't a surprise given the changes that have been made to the underlying systems.

I will report back some more on things I find that are good or bad, but so far I am reasonably impressed.

If you have a spare PC or the time for setting up a virtual machine, I would do it

Daz · 17-02-2008, 19:42

The graphics out of the box niceness is down to the fact they're (as far as they can) stripping out all their auto-detect stuff and letting X do it itself. Indeed they want to run without an xorg.conf entirely unless something needs overriding - and I believe that's almost done.

As for Nautilus, they're using GVFS in Hardy so I imagine it's something to do with that. The next alpha is due next week iirc, I've got it flagged at work to do some testing

It's looking good though. The blueprints list some neat stuff (one step domain joining and authentication for example, which is absolutely necessary if it's to tempt Windows admins). Just gotta hope they tick most of them off

[edit]Alpha 5 on the 21st

Dr. Z · 17-02-2008, 19:46

Well you'll be pleased to know that the update manager is fully working in 8.04 as it points at the dev repositories for Hardy and has told me that I have 297 updates waiting

One of my mates (who has a ridiculous connection and works for Sun anyway) has installed it and installed all of the updates and it has all worked so hopefully it will eventually roll to the full release without KOing my system

Daz · 17-02-2008, 19:48

Guy I work with stuck with Edgy from alpha and it was fine so I'd hope so - so long as they dont do anything drastic with X now. Iirc, he had to manually apply so Gnome things as they were pushed out (theme, and some new defaults), but nothing dramatic

LeperousDust · 17-02-2008, 20:51

Sounds good, i may end up giving this a go when i get my partitions sorted out right. I don't really use my computer for much (web, coding, music, the usual) so it makes sense to get working on a linux install...

Dr. Z · 17-02-2008, 21:08

Are you sure you are prepared to get an Alpha install on the go? Things are likely not to work and with the new GVFS etc, data loss is distinctly possible...

Daz · 17-02-2008, 21:32

I wouldn't say data loss, but certainly a bumpy ride with a couple of things!

Pretty sure partner isnt setup for Hardy yet, so you wouldn't have Opera unless you compiled it yourself either

LeperousDust · 17-02-2008, 21:44

Data loss i wouldn't be worried about, i have little data i care about, that of which i do is backup up in other places...
I wouldn't be relying on it at all, since i'd still have Vista running side by side. But if its going to be endless hassle which it sounds like it may be, i probably dont have the time for it, nor the knowledge. I'm just use to alphas that obviously should be called alphas! The linux world is very different

.

//Edit: i meant shouldn't be called alphas

Daz · 17-02-2008, 22:06

I think that's a little harsh

During the Alpha stage the focus is on everyone getting their own stuff sorted, so they're not talking as much. Things often dont work together as they will in the gold release but you'd certainly be able to install and use it for basic functionality.

But if you're not comfortable under the hood in Linux then I'd say it's worth waiting until at least beta.

Dr. Z · 17-02-2008, 22:20

I'd say that was a fair statement from Daz there

Data loss speculation was purely down to the advisory on the Alpha release page about Nautilus causing potential data loss scenarios at the moment, thats all

17-02-2008, 19:32	#1
Dr. Z I'm going for a scuttle... Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,021	Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 4 - Hardy Heron Sooo, I have given Ubuntu another chance to impress me after the disasters that were 7.04 and 7.10. Downloaded and booted the LiveCD (veery slow mirrors for the download, it would seem). First impressions? They have the decent fonts installed by default - this means that there is no longer the frankly awful default pointer (the 8.04 one looks nice and crisp just like a windows pointer) and the fonts are VASTLY improved. It is BLISTERINGLY fast - anyone who remembers the difference between 6.04 and 6.10 will liken the new boot time difference to that. Its staggeringly fast to boot, it boots faster than anything I have ever seen, ever - including my K800i, T-Mobile Compact II, iAudio X5 etc etc. We are talking less than 20s from me pressing my power button to the Gnome login screen. Seriously impressive. I dont have an nVidia card (actually an Intel card, which has caused me problems in the past) but still my 1680x1050 resolution was discovered automatically, which is a big jump from the nonsense of previous versions I have had to endure. Nautilus is horribly broken, but this isn't a surprise given the changes that have been made to the underlying systems. I will report back some more on things I find that are good or bad, but so far I am reasonably impressed. If you have a spare PC or the time for setting up a virtual machine, I would do it __________________

17-02-2008, 19:42	#2
Daz The Stig Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Swad! Posts: 10,713	The graphics out of the box niceness is down to the fact they're (as far as they can) stripping out all their auto-detect stuff and letting X do it itself. Indeed they want to run without an xorg.conf entirely unless something needs overriding - and I believe that's almost done. As for Nautilus, they're using GVFS in Hardy so I imagine it's something to do with that. The next alpha is due next week iirc, I've got it flagged at work to do some testing It's looking good though. The blueprints list some neat stuff (one step domain joining and authentication for example, which is absolutely necessary if it's to tempt Windows admins). Just gotta hope they tick most of them off [edit]Alpha 5 on the 21st __________________ apt-get moo

17-02-2008, 19:46	#3
Dr. Z I'm going for a scuttle... Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,021	Well you'll be pleased to know that the update manager is fully working in 8.04 as it points at the dev repositories for Hardy and has told me that I have 297 updates waiting One of my mates (who has a ridiculous connection and works for Sun anyway) has installed it and installed all of the updates and it has all worked so hopefully it will eventually roll to the full release without KOing my system __________________

17-02-2008, 19:48	#4
Daz The Stig Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Swad! Posts: 10,713	Guy I work with stuck with Edgy from alpha and it was fine so I'd hope so - so long as they dont do anything drastic with X now. Iirc, he had to manually apply so Gnome things as they were pushed out (theme, and some new defaults), but nothing dramatic __________________ apt-get moo

17-02-2008, 20:51	#5
LeperousDust Bananaman Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Liverpool/Edinburgh Posts: 4,817	Sounds good, i may end up giving this a go when i get my partitions sorted out right. I don't really use my computer for much (web, coding, music, the usual) so it makes sense to get working on a linux install... __________________

17-02-2008, 21:08	#6
Dr. Z I'm going for a scuttle... Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,021	Are you sure you are prepared to get an Alpha install on the go? Things are likely not to work and with the new GVFS etc, data loss is distinctly possible... __________________

17-02-2008, 21:32	#7
Daz The Stig Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Swad! Posts: 10,713	I wouldn't say data loss, but certainly a bumpy ride with a couple of things! Pretty sure partner isnt setup for Hardy yet, so you wouldn't have Opera unless you compiled it yourself either __________________ apt-get moo

17-02-2008, 21:44	#8
LeperousDust Bananaman Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Liverpool/Edinburgh Posts: 4,817	Data loss i wouldn't be worried about, i have little data i care about, that of which i do is backup up in other places... I wouldn't be relying on it at all, since i'd still have Vista running side by side. But if its going to be endless hassle which it sounds like it may be, i probably dont have the time for it, nor the knowledge. I'm just use to alphas that obviously should be called alphas! The linux world is very different . //Edit: i meant shouldn't be called alphas __________________ Last edited by LeperousDust; 17-02-2008 at 22:22.

17-02-2008, 22:06	#9
Daz The Stig Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Swad! Posts: 10,713	I think that's a little harsh During the Alpha stage the focus is on everyone getting their own stuff sorted, so they're not talking as much. Things often dont work together as they will in the gold release but you'd certainly be able to install and use it for basic functionality. But if you're not comfortable under the hood in Linux then I'd say it's worth waiting until at least beta. __________________ apt-get moo

17-02-2008, 22:20	#10
Dr. Z I'm going for a scuttle... Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,021	I'd say that was a fair statement from Daz there Data loss speculation was purely down to the advisory on the Alpha release page about Nautilus causing potential data loss scenarios at the moment, thats all __________________