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deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/experimental/ubuntu jaunty main

Essentially, it shows progress on all itches I had with 4.2 -- the weather applet, kdelirc being ported, the CPU/mem/swap applet being readded. Now only the device notifier needs to be revamped, and konqi should learn that double click means to mark words and not some random part of the line... (Yes, there are some crashes. Sometimes. So? At least it provides the functionality I need.)

Yeah something like this might help:

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-bugs/2007-09/msg02994.html
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/156693

Not easy to implement.

but it seems like I've been getting random freeze-ups since using it. Usually happens when downloading 500mb of gmail into evolution, or when deleting/adding more than 100 or 200 MB of files in one fell swoop.

See https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/327509 for more.

So what is Linux success? Is it dominating Windows?

See Ubuntu bug #1

There's a fairly new project called Cairoplot that creates charts and plots using Python and Cairo. It's not meant to do number-crunching like some of the other tools mentioned, but it creates great-looking charts.

(Disclaimer: I've done a little bit of development on Cairoplot, trying to get it more LaTeX-friendly)

Really? Awesome! Where can I get this "much better Ubuntu" I've been running Jaunty since alpha 3, so that can't be the version you're talking about. If you could kindly point me to a working fix for this bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/59867
I would be a very happy man.

Hell I'm generally a linux fanboi, but really to say that suspend is working takes quite a leap of faith. The OP wasn't trolling this stuff really is broken, I'm glad your system works count yourself lucky. Frankly every laptop I've ever seen has an i8042 controller in it, and every bug report I've ever seen related to the i8042's suspend issue has been closed as "won't fix", so not only is it broken but the devs appear to be playing ostrich on this one.

OK, then, how about the "Brasero didn't work and Nautilus crashed when you put in a CDR because libbrasero replaced Nautilus CD burner" bug that came with Jaunty? Or the "Sound stops working randomly when using Flash in a browser" bug that came with Intrepid? Or how about the "F-Spot (the default photo manager) doesn't even run on AMD64" bug that came with Hardy?

Face it, Ubuntu is a "wait for SP1" distro. Release early and release often evolved to be release on time and fix it later, damn it!

If Canonical do see Android as a beneficial software stack, perhaps they'll focus a bit more energy on the Java-related developer tools too.

Specifically Eclipse. Android's developer plugin requires Eclipse 3.3 or higher, whereas Ubuntu comes with 3.2. I don't know the technical details of why packaging eclipse in .deb archives should be so difficult (Fedora manage to do it for rpm)but this bug entry has been open for almost 2 years! :-( Shuttleworth commented on it 15 months ago, yet still no progress.

Sure, one can download it manually but it kinda defeats the purpose of having a package manager for such scenarios.

If your laptop uses an onboard Intel graphics chip, you may need to stick with 8.04 to get the best performance.

http://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/359578

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1132722.html

If you looked at the code recently, you'd see that they've stubbed out a whole new set of OS-independent classes, and a whole lot of them have been implemented.

That said, chromium is usable right now, for me on Linux.

The easy way, for Ubuntu users

ketilkn@minipus:~$ apt-cache search chromium
chromium - fast paced, arcade-style, scrolling space shooter
chromium-data - data pack for chromium
chromium-browser - Chromium browser
chromium-browser-dbg - chromium-browser debug symbols
chromium-testsuite - Chromium test suite
chromium-testsuite-dbg - chromium-testsuite debug symbols
ketilkn@minipus:~$

Instructions for Ubuntu are here: https://launchpad.net/~chromium-daily/+archive/ppa

You're getting it all wrong. The Chrome strategy isn't "fight IE/fight MS", it's "push browsers to new speed an security levels", so that webtop applications would be more and more acceptable. GMail under Chrome is faster than Outlook or Thunderbird under the same machine.

For this strategy, they *need* Chrome for other platforms, too. And they're clearly working on it. See for example https://launchpad.net/~chromium-daily/+archive/ppa for the daily Ubuntu builds.

I think some other people posted links to prebuilt builds for Ubuntu on launchpad or something. I think the real problem is that Chrome was designed a bit too Windows specific from the start so the Linux versions are a bit buggy. But uh, here's a link to something that might be helpful, although less so if you're on a different distro. https://launchpad.net/~chromium-daily/+archive/ppa

Occasional Linux user here.

3) Why do Linux programs close themselves? I dont' think they are crashing. Like I add a software source then hit close, it updates, gives me an error about my key not working, then terminates! So I have to reopen it.

This shouldn't happen (the program terminating part). I suspect a bug in Synaptic itself or a broken package of Synaptic in Ubuntu.

4) Step 3 gave me an error, so naturally, I copied it to the clipboard. I click on okay and the error dissapears, terminating the program. My error, that WAS in the clipboard is now gone... Awesome.

I'm not familiar with Gnome, but according to Wikipedia, it should retain clipboard contents after the original window has closed. That's of course not very helpful, since from your description, it didn't work for some reason.

I'd suggest installing Glipper from the repository. It sits in the system tray and when you click on it, gives you a list of a bunch of recent clipboard contents, from which you can pick one to put back onto the clipboard. This should at least work as a workaround.

I've used the similar Klipper app in KDE and can say that it's really handy when you have more than one thing you'd like to paste in multiple places.

5) Key signing for software packages is a pain in the ass & comlpicated. Surely there can be an easier way to get this working. How about downloading a file that contains the software source, and the key togeather and then import the file? I still can't get this thing working...

Agreed. Adding third-party repositories can be a pain because of the keys.

The command-line method documented here should work, at the very least. I've used it successfully several times in the past. (The screenshot on that page also sports a promising "Add key file" button in Synaptic, if you happen to have such a file.)

6) Synaptic Software manager's sorting is crappy. I open it up search for xbmc and see packages availalbe for installation. I can click the column headers and sort, but for some reason, when I select a package, the list unsorts! This makes it hard to select packages of similar type (skins in this case).

That sounds like a bug. I suggest filing a bug report (saying what you already told us) to Ubuntu so they can fix it.

A quick Googling gave me these instructions. Basically, this link at Ubuntu's bug tracker is the one you want, but unfortunately you have to create an account to be able to file bugs. Judge for yourself if it's worth the trouble :)

  -AC

Occasional Linux user here.

3) Why do Linux programs close themselves? I dont' think they are crashing. Like I add a software source then hit close, it updates, gives me an error about my key not working, then terminates! So I have to reopen it.

This shouldn't happen (the program terminating part). I suspect a bug in Synaptic itself or a broken package of Synaptic in Ubuntu.

4) Step 3 gave me an error, so naturally, I copied it to the clipboard. I click on okay and the error dissapears, terminating the program. My error, that WAS in the clipboard is now gone... Awesome.

I'm not familiar with Gnome, but according to Wikipedia, it should retain clipboard contents after the original window has closed. That's of course not very helpful, since from your description, it didn't work for some reason.

I'd suggest installing Glipper from the repository. It sits in the system tray and when you click on it, gives you a list of a bunch of recent clipboard contents, from which you can pick one to put back onto the clipboard. This should at least work as a workaround.

I've used the similar Klipper app in KDE and can say that it's really handy when you have more than one thing you'd like to paste in multiple places.

5) Key signing for software packages is a pain in the ass & comlpicated. Surely there can be an easier way to get this working. How about downloading a file that contains the software source, and the key togeather and then import the file? I still can't get this thing working...

Agreed. Adding third-party repositories can be a pain because of the keys.

The command-line method documented here should work, at the very least. I've used it successfully several times in the past. (The screenshot on that page also sports a promising "Add key file" button in Synaptic, if you happen to have such a file.)

6) Synaptic Software manager's sorting is crappy. I open it up search for xbmc and see packages availalbe for installation. I can click the column headers and sort, but for some reason, when I select a package, the list unsorts! This makes it hard to select packages of similar type (skins in this case).

That sounds like a bug. I suggest filing a bug report (saying what you already told us) to Ubuntu so they can fix it.

A quick Googling gave me these instructions. Basically, this link at Ubuntu's bug tracker is the one you want, but unfortunately you have to create an account to be able to file bugs. Judge for yourself if it's worth the trouble :)

  -AC

An experimental (daily snapshot) version for ubuntu is available here: https://launchpad.net/~chromium-daily/+archive/ppa

Which version is "1:4.7p1-8ubuntu1.2" in Ubuntu's nomenclature?

Launchpad page says "Published on 2008-05-14" which doesn't give me warm fuzzies.
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/+source/openssh/1:4.7p1-8ubuntu1.2

I installed Ubuntu 8.10 from within WinXP. I put it in the 'hidden' recovery partition on my Acer laptop. Well, it started off absolutely great with a menu on boot to pick which one I wanted. Loved it.

But after the first round of system updates I got a problem with

I reported a but here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/289718

but there has been no solution. I suspect the filesystem/formatting is the issue. I wonder if I'd have better luck formatting and installing Ubuntu from scratch- but I'm not willing to nuke my XP install.

And THATs why many of us who WANT to use Linux haven't switched yet. It's still got kinks.

Ordinarily I cannot abide Debian users, but because you have mentioned compiling your own packages, you will be allowed to live. ;)

I will respond only with a smug, self-aggrandizing link to my PPA.

But did anyone promise that ubuntu would kill off MS or something? Has it actually failed to deliver?

Hell yeah they did!

Bug #1 reported by Mark Shuttleworth on 2004-08-20 (Activity log)
(critical) Bug #1 (liberation):
This report is public
Microsoft has a majority market share

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1

I agree with almost every point in this article. I have been a dedicated Linux user since RH 4.2

My observations about why Linux is not ready for the desktop:

1) Lack of compatibility between versions.

I can't say enough about how frustrating this is. Every time I upgrade versions, something breaks. Usually audio. In fact, most multimedia functionality breaks every time I upgrade. I generally find that the /dev/cdrom symlink is broken at the very least, but I've frequently found that all of my CD writer scripts have to be modified.

Recently, Ubuntu arbitrarily renamed the "libglib1.2" package, breaking every application that links against the GTK+ library. Why? No answer.

It's as if Linux is actively hostile to the concept of backwards compatibility.

2) Lack of support for hot-plugging. (point 13 in the article)

I plug in a thumb drive or usb hard drive and maybe the OS will notice it and mount it for me, and maybe it won't. Usually it doesn't. Usually, I have to become super-user and perform actions to identify the drive and mount it that would be beyond the knowledge of the average end user. And even if the user does know how to do it, why should they have to? A 10-second task just got turned into a 5-minute task.

USB scanners are the same way. They used to work, now you have to become super-user to use them. Some script that detected scanner plugin events and change the permissions just stopped working.

Multi-card readers: Same thing. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

Windows, Solaris, and MacOS all solved the hot-plugging problem years ago, why can't Linux?

3. Hardware support regression

Mentioned in the article, but worth repeating. I really hate upgrading my OS and discovering that some of my existing hardware is no longer supported. Recent discovery: you can have USB1 or USB2 enabled, but not both at the same time. If you want USB1, remove the ehci_hcd module. If you want USB2, install it. See Bugzilla, Launchpad.net. It seems unlikely this bug will ever be fixed.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1

But did anyone promise that ubuntu would kill off MS or something?

Ubuntu pretty much considers the fact that MS hasn't been killed off, or at least humbled, to be a bug.

Promise? No, but they're trying.

Not as long you'd think, if Shuttleworth gets his way:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/377005

For those on Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

Also add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid/jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid/jaunty main

It crashes quite a bit (it's not ready) but it's nice to follow its development.

For those on Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

Also add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid/jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid/jaunty main

It crashes quite a bit (it's not ready) but it's nice to follow its development.

Not complete, but getting there:
https://launchpad.net/chromium-project
https://launchpad.net/~chromium-daily/+archive/ppa
Not sure if it will run on debian but

Not complete, but getting there:
https://launchpad.net/chromium-project
https://launchpad.net/~chromium-daily/+archive/ppa
Not sure if it will run on debian but

I'd be happy if they just take their time and release proper updates. Last update to Jaunty broke my system so badly I could not run anything xorg related. I did fix it. However, it shouldn't have happened.

Technically, it occurred because an old xorg directory was stored in /usr/local/lib in addition to the newer one in /usr/lib, and the older one was first in the path for root. The solution to delete the older files (from some previous Ubuntu version) shouldn't have been necessary.

To reiterate -- I'd be happy for them to take as much time as is reasonable to polish it so that major known bugs are squashed and the upgrade actually works.

The really short summary: I want to run a 64bit OS on 64 bit hardware, everything to date is choking.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/330866

I haven;t added these comments to the bug:
FreeBSD64 chokes as well at some point.
OpenSolaris CD boots but I couldn't tell if it was running in x64 mode or not. Didn't stay up long enough (Gnome &/or X would bork after about 5 minutes).

Does NetBSD have different (better possibly but at least different) hardware detection and so might boot so i can get usuable diagnostics on x64 type questions that are plaguing the other installs.

I am guessing it is some type of i/o driver (ICH7?) problem but I can't get a useful enough diagnostic to do anything useful.

TIA

From what I understand, many Linux distros use the Go-oo code (or at least some patches) as well...Bug report on Launchpad

Launchpad's Rosetta tool does something different, but workable. Software usually doesn't have complete sentences as much as words or phrases sprinkled about the UI. So what they do is gather up a bunch of pre-existing translation strings and suggest them to a human for approval for a new context.

What you're proposing is basically an intermediate language, similar to how you can compile Java, Ruby, Python, Scala and so on into JVM bytecode, and let the JVM translate into the platform's specific language. So when you say "Instead of having to know two languages, all that the crowd has to know is what the text actually means, which then allows them to disambiguate it for the program," what you really mean is "Instead of having to know two language, all that crowd has to know is some intermediate representation language and the target language." Not exactly a great improvement over just using English as a lingua franca (it must make frenchmen turn in their grave to see English labeled the french language).

I spoke too soon on the Bluetooth. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez/+bug/327284 As I said, I love Ubuntu and part of that love stems from the great community of users/developers. I fully expect the other issues to be resolved at some not-too-distant point in the future. Even if it's 9.10, it's worth sticking with it until then. At least it's only 6 months, right?

Your problem is that you seem to have quoted that out of context.

Except I included the part I was replying to, "You can just download and install it." There much more than simply downloading and install it.

You also make one major error in your argument. You have 4 ways to run it.

What 4 ways are there to run it without installing it? Other than the live disk, those you list still require you install it. There is more than one way to install it though. Do you install a 32 bit or 64 bit version? Do you install the desktop, server, or studio version? Do you install the regular or the alternative way? Maybe you'll do a compleat install by erasing the disk, create partitions and keep the current OS. Or maybe you'll install it in a VM with Wubi in the current OS.

3) Let it install, in which case it will give you the choice of doing everything automatically....
Even an average mom and pop can install it with the third method with very little chance of messing it up, even if they have a dual boot set up.

Not if you have uncommon or unusual hardware. Even if you don't it not quite so simple. I hsve a Mac laptop, which are not that uncommon yet if you want the keyboard to work right you have to download and install additional drivers as well as edit a configuration file. Here's a post from someone who had such a problem, "The keyboard backlight on the MacBook 5.1 is not supported as of Jaunty (Ubuntu 9.04) Alpha 5." Now that may of been fixed, but it might not be.

Fact is is I spent a few hours googling on how to install Jaunty Jackalope on my MBP but haven't found anything yet.

Falcon

Ubuntu is so all a complete replacement for Windows and OSX that Ubuntu's designs are all so made on OSX with Photoshop.

See below:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-wallpapers/+bug/357218

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/Jaunty/Colors%20of%20Ubuntu%20-%20wallpaper

No, I won't virtualize WIN/Outlook. No, I won't run 2 desktops. No, the Exchange server is not going to be replaced with insight or kroupware or any other open source replacement.

Have you tried 9.04's experimental support for Exchange's MAPI protocol in the Evolution email client? It's not perfect yet, but if it works for you, you might be able to ditch Windows.

Having just wiped my drive and installed Jaunty 64-bit, I have to say this release feels to me anything but slick. My alarm clock software (alarm-clock) freezes the GUI (except for the mouse cursor). Remote Desktop (vino) won't send screen updates if you're using closed source nvidia drivers + compiz. Maybe if I reinstall and go 32-bit instead of 64 some of my issues my go away. However, Ubuntu recommends you install the 64-bit version unless you have a good reason not to.

Looks like I might have "good reasons".

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Ubuntu. However, as someone that uses and supports Mac OS X and XP as well as Ubuntu on a daily basis, I can tell you that "slick" is not the word to describe this release. Come on, guys! Some of these bugs have been open for months!

Oh well, I guess I'll never be able to get rid of my XP partition anyways. At least, not until Propellerheads, Ableton, and Native Instruments port their respective audio software packages to linux, which should happen sometime between now and when the private key for signing Xbox 360 games is publicly factored out. :)

Having just wiped my drive and installed Jaunty 64-bit, I have to say this release feels to me anything but slick. My alarm clock software (alarm-clock) freezes the GUI (except for the mouse cursor). Remote Desktop (vino) won't send screen updates if you're using closed source nvidia drivers + compiz. Maybe if I reinstall and go 32-bit instead of 64 some of my issues my go away. However, Ubuntu recommends you install the 64-bit version unless you have a good reason not to.

Looks like I might have "good reasons".

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Ubuntu. However, as someone that uses and supports Mac OS X and XP as well as Ubuntu on a daily basis, I can tell you that "slick" is not the word to describe this release. Come on, guys! Some of these bugs have been open for months!

Oh well, I guess I'll never be able to get rid of my XP partition anyways. At least, not until Propellerheads, Ableton, and Native Instruments port their respective audio software packages to linux, which should happen sometime between now and when the private key for signing Xbox 360 games is publicly factored out. :)

this is where Ubuntu must concentrate in order to convince users to switch from Windows (if that is in fact a goal).

Ubuntu is (from what i know) the only linux distro that in fact has this goal. Look at their number one entry in their bug tracking system.

Not with the 4850X2 or 4870X2 (like me).
The X Server segfaults on startup: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fglrx-installer/+bug/364180/

It's not nearly as nice looking when using VESA or RadeonHD.

The link in my original post was to the LaunchPad ticket for this issue (here it is again, for convenience). It had been created over two years ago. Since then we've had:

Declined for Feisty by Colin Watson
Declined for Gutsy by Henrik Nilsen Omma
Declined for Hardy by StefanPotyra
Declined for Intrepid by Steve Langasek
Declined for Jaunty by Steve Langasek

It is very unfortunate that the Eclipse package has been stuck at 3.2 in Ubuntu repos for several major releases already (the most recent version of Eclipse is currently 3.4.2). Given that Eclipse is one of the best FOSS IDEs out there (with only NetBeans being comparable - better in some things, worse in others), it is surprising that the effectively "#1 desktop Linux" can afford to alienate developers like that.

I tried the RC a week ago and could not get it to boot. It dumps into busybox on the usb detection. My hardware is pretty generic, athlon 64 3000, sis chipset. I never had a problem with ubuntu before, and it seems kernel related. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/362629

Kind of a bummer that I can't even boot. One of these days I'll install linux without a single showstopper.....

So, I'm a die-hard KDE user. I'm all excited about the new release! I can't wait to upgrade to a KDE that's actually useful as opposed to the get-lost-this-is-for-developers-only version. So I check out the release web page, and I see that there are a few known issues here:

1. Connection to non-broadcasting (hidden SSID) wireless networks with the network-manager widget isn't possible Bug 330811
2. Network Manager does not connect to some networks Bug 339313
3. Network Manager is not added to the panel on upgrades Bug 349066
4. KPackageKit (which is now the default package manager for Kubuntu Jaunty) doesn't support installations which require a removal or updates which require additional software. The packages to be removed / installed will be shown as blocked. Bug 342671
5. Kmail sieve functionality is buggy and causes CPU hang. You shouldn't use it at the moment.

WTF?? Wireless doesn't work? Package manager doesn't work!? Kmail doesn't work!??
Okay, you may be saying, "It's not that it doesn't work, it's that certain functions with certain applications in certain circumstances don't work." Umm, but it worked before, and now with the newer version it stops working? Okay, network manager only fails to connect to some networks. I mean, who cares, right? As long as your network is not one of those "some". It only fails if the network is hidden. I mean, what's the infinitesimal chance that you would actually hide your network SSID, right? KPackageKit works some of the time!? I don't care if it's "most" of the time. How would you like it if you bought a product that worked "most" of the time?
It's not as if this is some bleeding edge version. It's KDE 4.2 already. And, sitting right next to it is a perfectly functional KDE 3.5 that people have been using for ages. Why Kubuntu being released with so many issues?
What were those Kubuntu distro managers thinking!? In an effort to find out, I browsed some bug discussion pages.
One person said:
"Maybe we should switch back to knetworkmanager as the default network manager because I don't think this problem will be fixed shortly. knetworkmanager doesn't look as nice as the plasma widget, but can handle hidden aps and works fine with kubuntu."
But another one says,
"This won't be possible for two reasons. First, the final release is only weeks away. It is way to late to make an intrusive change like that. Second, I have heard the developers say that there is no room on the CD left for the KDE3 libraries that would be necessary to run NetworkManager. Hopefully, KNetworkManager4 will have been released and/or the bugs in the plasmoid will have been fixed in time for Karmic."
Umm, so, translation: we have to use software that works "most" of the time instead of a perfectly functioning networking piece of software, whose only disadvantage is that it is not as aesthetically pleasing, because

1. it's too late for us to realize that our aesthetically pleasing software is actually dysfunctional. Gotta release EARLY, release OFTEN, release ANYTHING EVEN IF IT DOESN'T WORK!
2. Our not-so-perfectly working system takes up too much room to fit the system that's been working fine for the past 2 release cycles while we were working on this KDE4 mess.
3. Our solution is to HOPE that MAYBE in the next release, things will be fixed.

This attitude of "yeah, it's buggy --we'll just get it out there, get some users to beta-test it for us (Surprise! YOU'VE been selected to beta-test OUR buggy software!) and just tell people to upgrade" makes me wonder whether the KDE developers are trying to update their resumes for a job hunt at Microsoft. "My software engineering skills include: successfully releasing piece-of-crap software and fo

ext4 had a bug where large files will corrupt the FS. An updated kernel image is available through update. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/348836

Does reverting to 2.4 work around the lockups, that is bug #339091 and bug #359392 ?

Does reverting to 2.4 work around the lockups, that is bug #339091 and bug #359392 ?

There are graphics issues with the eeePC as well. It has to do with how the Intel chips are threading the graphics processing to the onboard GPU. Check it

You're going to have tiling issues and graphics threading issues with the UNR. I'm not sure if eeebuntu uses the UNR by default, but I know Easy Peasy does (that's a dumb name). To prevent the tiling issue you'll have to install the .40 kernel instead of the .41 which ships with the release candidate 9.04. You can get that here.

I put a post on this thread already: I've been using this for a month w/ my eeePC 900 and the only real issue I've had is the tiling issue. I reviewed the options here.

Can it boot persistently from the SD of my Eee PC 900 and will the wifi just work out of the box?

Yes and yes. Have been using NBR since the beta on my 900A and the only complaint I have is with the mouse (which is a bit jerky). A bug report has been filed.