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Ubuntu Linux Preview Released

Posted by timothy on from the now-has-a-name dept.

psykelus writes "Ubuntu Linux, a Debian-based distro (formerly flying the flag of 'no-name-yet.com') annouced a preview of their first release (Warty Warthog) earlier today. Ubuntu is the most shiny Debian-based distrobution ever, sporting Gnome 2.8 and an extremely streamlined, mostly automatic installation & configuration process." For a limited time, they're also sending out free disks on request.

29 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Hakuna Matada by grunt107 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I want the 'Merry Muircat' edition. It would be faster and lighter than the warthog.

  2. Re:How many CDs by markshuttle · · Score: 5, Informative

    Single install CD with a full desktop and core server packages, anything else is available off the online archive.

  3. Sounds awesome. by mcc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But there's been ... like ... nine Debian derivative distributions to come out in the last year.

    How do I know which of these will follow through, which of them will continue to be active in a year, and which ones will have maybe two more minor releases then just sort of peter out? How do I know what will happen to this one, in the long run? How do I justify not just taking the safe route and installing vanilla Debian?

    I'd love to have a "user friendly" Debian distro to recommend to people so that they aren't stuck using Mandrake, but when three projects aspiring to that title crop up a year... can I consider them safe to recommend? I just don't know what to do.

    --
    Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
    1. Re:Sounds awesome. by ricotest · · Score: 4, Informative

      Unfortunately the server was slashdotted with 0 comments. Try the Coral link but that is also very slow.

    2. Re:Sounds awesome. by damiam · · Score: 5, Informative

      If the distro vanishes, you can always switch to mainline Debian, the packages should be fairly compatible.

      --
      It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
    3. Re:Sounds awesome. by ThogScully · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, you can install it, and should they stop development on it, you can put the APT sources for Debian in your sources.list and magically, you'll be running Debian.

      The improvements most of these distros make on Debian it seems is that they make it easier to install and configure. But once that's done, one Debian system is just like any other for the most part. It just runs, or at least it should.
      -N

      --
      I've nothing to say here...
    4. Re:Sounds awesome. by Beatbyte · · Score: 4, Interesting

      your "BEST of everything" != my "BEST of everything"

      that's the problem. it's a flaw (if you see it as a flaw) that's fundamental to the system.

      --
      Get paid to code OSS
    5. Re:Sounds awesome. by sp0rk173 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I honestly don't think there is a good reason. Probably the main difference is that debian might be a bit more difficult to tweak to use the latest packages, whereas Gentoo stays pretty up to date, even when you don't have it keyworded (read: stable). For example, I'm expecting Gnome 2.8 to be in portage within a couple days. Infact, packages are getting merged in slowly. The downside to that, of course, is that an early adopter (again, a keyworded, "unstable" portage) might have an unstable system. I've always used keywords and have noticed very little, if any, instability. With gentoo, you just learn more. That's the reason i use it. I like things to play with to expand my knowledge on a subject. Gentoo does that. Gentoo also has a very intelligent system for handling rc scripts, that seems to just work. rc-update is just awesome. The downside to Gentoo (and it's a highly over exagerated downside), is it's compile time. To put things into perspective, I emerge sync (update the portage tree) daily. For the past week i've had maybe one or two small programs that needed to be updated, and the total compilation time was less than 10 minutes each time. Even with the compile time, the system is perfectly usable while the compile is taking place. Now, if you wait a month between each emerge sync && emerge -u world, you're going to be compiling for a LONNGG time. Your key to using Gentoo successfully is keeping it up to date.

      What it comes down to isn't whether or not Gentoo or Debian is intrinsically better than the other, rather which of the two suits you better. I've used debian, and I didn't like it. I come from a mainly BSD background, so i appreciated portage, i appreciated a more simplistic rc script setup, and i appreciated the merits of a source-based distro. Gentoo just fits me. I suggest you try both, and come to a conclusion on your own. Otherwise, you'll be tainted by dogmatic views from both sides, trolls, and flames.

    6. Re:Sounds awesome. by AvantLegion · · Score: 4, Informative
      Reasons I use Gentoo:

      1) Gentoo's documentation and forums are second to none. I often look up answers to questions at the Gentoo forums even when using a non-Gentoo Linux distro. Gentoo's install is very involved, but detailed documentation accompanies every step-by-step part of the process.

      2) USE flags give me a ton of control on what support is compiled into each package. If I want Freetype to use the patented bytecode that makes AA so purty (to my eyes), I just add a flag to my USE flags and it shall be compiled as so.

      3) I've had less dependency problems with Gentoo/Portage than Debian/APT. The last time I used Debian, I had a dependency issue that I could not find help for quickly on Google or mailing lists. I've yet to have an ebuild problem in Gentoo that wasn't quickly explained/fixed by searching the Gentoo forums.

      4) Debian makes me feel guilty if I want to use any reasonably up-to-date software. :) I have to use SUPER-UNSTABLE-OMFG-ITS-GONNA-BREAK distro. So many posts around insist "don't use Sid, it'll break! OMFG!!11 use Sarge!". I have to admit that it makes me a bit gun-shy. With Gentoo, if I get a funky "too new" package that's breakable, I can just roll that one back to an older version. Gentoo stable is very up-to-date but not exceedingly so.

    7. Re:Sounds awesome. by True+Grit · · Score: 4, Insightful
      And ignore the trolls who don't understand what it's all about.

      This is a story about a Debian variant, so why have you shown up trying to change the subject? Who is really the troll here? For Pete's sake, this distro isn't even trying to court the same user group that might be interested in Gentoo, so why are you here? Seriously.
  4. I was talking about this just the other day by JudgeFurious · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was telling my wife that the real problem with Linux is that there just aren't enough distributions out there. If some of these people, these so-called "open source programmers" would get off their asses and crank out a few more distributions THEN this stuff would really take off.

    --
    Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
    1. Re:I was talking about this just the other day by 0racle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Then only use slackware, debian, gentoo, fedora, suse or mandrake its not like you have to actually have to run every single one that exists. People make another distro because they want to, and they probably either learned a lot in the process, or enjoyed themselves. Like any open source project people have worked on, they were even kind enough to let others benefit from their hard work if they wanted to. They did it because they wanted to, or they felt that they had something to contribute so I doubt that they feel they wasted their time, and since it was there time to begin with what are you complaining about.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    2. Re:I was talking about this just the other day by MikeMacK · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, we need all the distributions we can get, more choice means more people are inspired to create software. True, some distros come and go, but that's also the way the free market works. Shaving Linux distros down to only a few would be like saying OK, we only need WAL-MART, K-Mart and Target - all those other stores are just a waste. If some people like shopping at those little stores, let them.

    3. Re:I was talking about this just the other day by bman08 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Who are we and how are we going to stop these sons of bitches from creating distros. The first step, I think, is to form a comittee. We'll call it the Distro Police. We'll flame every slashdot post about new distros. How dare people be allowed to take software that they're allowed to do whatever they want with and do whatever they want with it.

      I don't think the Ubuntu guys and gals are doing this because they think they're going to put redhat and suse out of business. They're doing it because they want to. If you get an itch, I promise I won't complain if you scratch it.

      Also, maybe this Ubunto thing is it. Gentoo was nothing just a couple of years ago. Same with Lycoris and Linspire.

  5. Ouch, spelling! by kavau · · Score: 4, Informative
    Ubuntu is the most shiny Debian-based distrobution ever

    This is getting painful. Would someone please teach the slashdot editors how to use a spellchecker? (Don't get me started on grammar...) Maybe I should write a HOWTO...?

  6. Re:BitTorrent Link by AhabTheArab · · Score: 4, Informative

    From the site: http://ftp.cs.umn.edu/pub/ubuntu-cdimage/releases/ warty/preview/warty-i386.iso.torrent

  7. Re:BitTorrent Link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    amd64
    http://ftp3.linux.it/pub/mirrors/warty/wart y-amd64 .iso.torrent
    i386
    http://ftp3.linux.it/pub/mirro rs/warty/warty-i386. iso.torrent
    powerpc
    http://ftp3.linux.it/pub/mir rors/warty/warty-power pc.iso.torrent

  8. Out of Business by josefcub · · Score: 4, Funny

    You know, if we end up slashdotting their free CD order system and they try to even partially fulfill the free CD offer to us, we might end up putting the distro out of business before they can even go out of preview release mode. ;)

    --
    Bleakness... Desolation... Plastic Forks...
  9. Torrents by makohill · · Score: 5, Informative

    We've got torrents online. They are here:

  10. distro:user-ratio restored by Harald+Paulsen · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's good to see that the ratio between number of linux-distributions and linux-users are once more restored as the total number of distributions now passed the total number of linux users. :-)

    --
    Harald
  11. Re:Out of Nowhere? by psykelus · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's not out of nowhere, in fact I think slashdot reported on this project already.

    This is Canonical software, far as I can tell, and there has already been discussion about it on the Debian lists -- since Canonical employed a swath of regular Debian developers.

    http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2004/07/msg 01 659.html

  12. Free CD Link by makohill · · Score: 5, Informative

    To get those free CDs shipped to you, you can go directly to this link:

    http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org

  13. What's "Ubuntu"? by StrawberryFrog · · Score: 5, Informative

    In short, "humanity towards others".

    Two defintions:
    Ubuntu on Wikipedia
    And a shameless plug for my writeup on E2

    --

    My Karma: ran over your Dogma
    StrawberryFrog

  14. hmmmm by cswiii · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear Sir,

    My name is Ikembe Otobamo. Until recently I was employed by the large software firm Microsoft. During this time, I earned many stock options and sold them at a great profit. During my time at Microsoft, I also began developing a linux distribution called 'Ubuntu'.

    When Microsoft discovered I was using Linux, I was quickly dismissed from the firm. Unfortunately, that also meant I had no work authorisation and had to flee the United States.

    Meanwhile, I have accumulated over $16 million USD due to stock sales, and I thus need s bank account in the United States to hold this money for safekeeping. If you would be so willing to help me, I offer you 10% of this money and interest incurred. I will also supply you with unlimited copies of my "Ubuntu Linux" distribution for your own perusal. This distribution also contains our specialised "Mozilatobe" browser suite and our "Gnombolo" X11 interface.

    Please consider my offer; your assistance will be most appreciated.

    Sincerely,
    Ikembe Otobamo (Nigeria)

  15. Re:So what's their angle? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've been testing for a while, here's the skinny:

    * Even sleeker installer than Sarge. Still curses, but it doesn't ask you nearly as many questions, and sarge doesn't ask that many to begin with

    * Project Utopia out of the box

    * GNOME 2.8

    * A good percentages of packages available that are available in sid.

    * Time based releases every 6 months coinciding with GNOME releases.

    * Check the list, it's a who's who of debian and gnome guys working together on a desktop distro.

    * Matching live CD (Not this release though)

  16. Re:x.org by makohill · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's XFree86 at the moment but the packages will be going into our development branch as soon as it opens. :)

  17. Re:Why is this necessary? by makohill · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think you're oversimplifying each of the projects out there. I know from my work with Debian that Debian itself means a lot to many people. Debian has a lot of things people like -- tons of packages and a great package management system for example -- but that's not enough for everyone (or even anyone).

    For many, Ubuntu may be little more than Debian with frequent time-based releases and a more polished desktop -- which alone is a benefit over other distros and even windows

    For others, it will be the emphasis on translation and internationalization that seals the deal.

    Since many of the developers on Ubuntu are Debian developers, we're going to start by making a distro that has all of the things we like about Debian and puts them in a easier, more managable package that fixes some of the most frequently heard problems and annoyances with Debian that are tough to fix within Debian for a variety of reasons.

  18. Finally linux taken seriously by jaysones · · Score: 4, Funny

    I bet this is the release that will push linux on the desktop to the forefront. I can hear the CEO of a fortune 500 company saying in a financial conference call, "we're going with the proven stability of Warty Warthog from no-name-yet.com."
    Seriously, what's with these names?

  19. Why you should care by steveha · · Score: 5, Informative

    Who cares about Yet Another Distro? What's different about this one?

    It's Debian, in a friendly wrapper, free and for free.

    You can get Debian in a friendly wrapper by buying Xandros, or Linspire. They include nonfree software, and Linspire hooks you in to a software distribution scheme that costs a minimum of $50 per year.

    You can get Debian free if you are a Linux expert. Get a Debian installer and have fun. However, Debian has 10,000 packages, and you need to know enough to pick and choose which ones you want. Ubuntu has 1,000 packages, and they have made default choices for you. (Want something Ubuntu doesn't offer? Grab it from the main Debian distribution; it will work.)

    Also, Debian comes in three major branches: stable, unstable, and testing. Stable is really stable, but only updates every two years or so. Unstable updates daily but can be unstable. Testing updates automatically from unstable when the packages appear stable (a week goes by without major bugs posted against the unstable package, IIRC). Ubuntu on the other hand is promising a six-month release cycle; if you use Ubuntu, you should have a nice stable system, but you will get new packages much more often than if you use Debian Stable.

    Ubuntu will occupy a similar niche to Fedora, but Red Hat makes all the decisions for Fedora while Ubuntu will have a community process.

    The closest distro to Ubuntu is probably Bruce Perens's UserLinux project. But UserLinux is focused squarely upon business, whilst Ubuntu seems to be more focused on individual users.

    Ubuntu should preserve all the things I like best about Debian, while being more friendly to newbies and offering a much fresher stable release. There isn't another distro quite like it.

    I'm downloading it now and I look forward to trying it out.

    steveha

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely