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Ubuntu 6.06 'Dapper Drake' Beta Available

Beuno writes "Ubuntu 6.06, aka 'Dapper Drake' has just gone into a stable Beta phase after 5 very successful Alpha versions. There have been a ton of improvements ranging from a new spiffy graphical installation, Gnome 2.14.1, Kernel 2.6.15.6, X.org 7 and a new and improved caramel colored theme. The server version has had kernel tweaks and an easy LAMP installation. A full list of new features and screenshots and be found at the official site. Downloads at the usual place, just try to use torrents please."

11 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Best Bug Report Evar! by Synesthesiatic · · Score: 4, Funny
    Microsoft has a majority market share

    It's nice to see a distro with a sense of humour. I especially like that the severity is set to critical.

  2. Upgrade from Breezy - FTA by QuaintRealist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    gksudo "update-manager -d"

    And the update manager gets the beta for your existing Breezy install. Just tried it on one box, and it worked without a hitch. Each round of upgrades gets a little smoother. I was worried about the 6-month release cycle when Ubuntu first announced it, but the ease of transition lately has made this a non-issue, at least for me.

    --
    Using plain ol' text since 1968
  3. What does Ubuntu have... by baadger · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...that other reasonably polished Gnome distributions don't?

    I'm really curious. All the 'why I use Ubuntu' type opinions i've read seem to be focused at the n00b. What's in it for a the more experienced Linux user (but not a mad bash hacking pro)?

    1. Re:What does Ubuntu have... by B5_geek · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ubuntu is not _just_ for n00bs.

      Does a 'n00b' system admin run Debian?
      not usually.

      Debian is preferred because
      (a) "apt-get" makes life so blindingly simple that you don't need to worry about 90% of the hassels that come with other distros (rpm-hell anyone?)
      (b) It's stable
      (c) "It Just Works!" (tm)

      Ubuntu is: ALL the best of Debain + Quicker updates.
      How long did it take for Debain to support SATA in the stable release? Too damn long!

      Ubuntu is not totally user friendly, ie it wasn't untill Dapper that there was a GUI for setting up a pppoe internet connection. (try telling Mom to: open a terminal, type pppoe-conf, and follow the prompts.)
      Sounds great on paper.

      My mom, Uncle x2, wife, Mother & Father in-laws, and CLIENTS all run Ubuntu because it is easier for me to manage/admin.
      I'm not a n00b. I got desperately tired of waiting for Debian Stable. Now I have all the good of Debian + modern packages.

      --
      "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
    2. Re:What does Ubuntu have... by baryon351 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What's in it for a the more experienced Linux user (but not a mad bash hacking pro)?

      Only speaking for myself and others like me (which may not be much different to yourself judging by your description) ubuntu comes with a lot less fucking-about-with-inanities than other distros.

      I like that I installed dapper and everything worked. I don't mean "it booted to a desktop and I needed minimal fiddling to get my camera working, oh and sometimes sound drops out but I got that fixed in half an hour... and I can't use my music player yet cos it won't mount", I mean I can install it and there's everything working and working well.

      Don't get me wrong, I do like to jump down into the OS and screw about with things from time to time. I figure if I want to do things unique to myself that's what I'm going to have to do, and any linux distro will give me that. It's just the core simple things that I feel any OS should do well out of the box that many other distros have missed. They've come mighty close, but don't QUITE get there fully. Like installing SuSE and not having sound working like it should. Like installing debian and having an endless argument with fonts. Like installing fedora and finding it plays downloaded movies fine, but the ones from my camera are missing audio... even if they play audio fine on linspire but the video skips frames. It's those little core things that are so braindead simple they should always work first go, that when they don't they make me really feel like I'm working for the other distros when I have to screw around to get them working, instead of the distro working for me.

      Recent Ubuntus have been the only ones that are fuss-free for what I consider those core elements of a desktop machine. Other people might have different core wants of course, and different hardware that other distros handle better - but meh, I'm not those other people. Works for me.

    3. Re:What does Ubuntu have... by glarvat · · Score: 3, Informative
      I've been using Linux full time since '97. I'm no crazy kernel hacker, but I've done my share of development. Although Ubuntu is the first Debian based distro I've used, it's by far my favorite. I started with RedHat, then SuSE, was with Mandrake for quite some time, then Gentoo, now Ubuntu. The two main reasons why I love Ubuntu are:
      • Package Management
      • Sudo

      The package management has all the ease of Gentoo's 'emerge,' but without the compiling. Plus, you don't have to worry about something breaking as often. One thing I used to hate about the old RedHat/Mandrake package management was that you'd try to install an rpm, only to be told you don't have its dependencies, you'd get those, and then you'd have new dependencies to track down. I'm told yum has fixed that, but I haven't bothered to look. I know it's much better with up2date on the RHEL4 side, but it still feels less polished than Synaptic.

      Before Ubuntu, I'd never really used sudo, but now I find it difficult to go back. To me, it's just a cleaner way to do system administration, and it certainly helps promote never logging in as root. All of the system administration is sudo oriented, whereas ini RHEL4 you still need to know the root password. On a machine with shared administration, it just seems more clumsy.

      I know distribution choices can be a touchy subject, but I definitely prefer Ubuntu. The whole system just feels cleaner. As a more experienced user, I like it because it stays out of my way and lets me get my work done as quickly and painlessly as possible.

  4. Why Ubuntu wins for me.... by danpsmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One word: community. Anything that you can think of you can find a guide for for the most part, just by Googling. The chat has to be one of the only friendly ones I've seen in the linux community and the boards/wiki are impeccable. They didn't attempt to make me feel like a moron just for not knowing something, and they didn't feel I needed to be pressured into using Linux for every application, just supporting the cause and attempting to learn was enough. I've been waiting for dapper drake to take flight for a while nos so I can get my hands on XGL and get it actually working permanently on a computer. I might have to try out the beta early now that a beta has finally been released.

    --
    Judges and senates have been bought for gold; Esteem and love were never to be sold.
  5. I'd download it... by mypalmike · · Score: 4, Funny

    But I'm still waiting for the last Ubuntu release to finish compiling on my computer!!!

    Oh, wait... Wrong distro joke.

    --
    There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
  6. Eewy GUI by BoredWolf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When did techies decide that the GUI was the most important aspect of an OS? What keeps us from identifying the benefits of the 2.6.15-r6 kernel (such as SATA RAID support)? We need to stop identifying the pecking-order by how slick an interface looks. I'm sure some people are tingling with anticipation that they'll have "caramel colored theme", but it would be more useful to detail the benefits of switching. Even on the Ubuntu site, the seem to be more focused on a Graphical Shutdown for a "more professional and user friendly feel overall". If you're trying to reinvent Windows, go right ahead. If you want a streamlined, efficient, and powerful OS that will appeal to converts and linux zealots alike, start pushing something other than Gnome's 'Windows XP feel'. Those of us that know linux know there are many GUIs out there for our enjoyment, and regurgitating old news about an interface that is independent of your distro doesn't pique my interest. People need something to differentiate Ubuntu from every other distro out there. I can put Gnome on my linux box, but that doesn't make Gentoo into Ubuntu. Let people know why they should opt for Ubuntu instead of RedHat or YellowDog...

    --
    "Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
    1. Re:Eewy GUI by mixmasta · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because it is the only thing left to do on Linux.

      Technically it is mostly finished, but lots of work still needs to be done to improve ease of use. Hence, that's where the excitement is.

      --
      #6495ED - cornflower blue
  7. Re:What does Ubuntu have... n00bs are good stuff by From+A+Far+Away+Land · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The thing that makes Ubuntu the distro to have is that it has a growing "n00b base". This benefits experienced Linux users, because if they are running the same distro as the people they will end up supporting, then the Linux community as a whole becomes stronger and easier for people to get into. Wouldn't it be nice to run the same system as everyone else you know, and still be using Linux?