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Ubuntu 6.06 Reviewed

Mark writes "This year has been a huge step forward for Desktop Linux users. First, Fedora Core 5 was released and featured the new Gnome 2.14. Then SUSE 10.1 showed us how well applications could be integrated to make a desktop look great. Now it was time for Ubuntu to release their latest version: 'Dapper Drake.'" Oh yeah, the inital review is good, too. Worth checking out for desktop Linux users.

4 of 351 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. by bwd · · Score: 0, Troll
    Grandama doesn't exist? The hypothetical "grandma" is the vast majority of people who use computers: the relatively computer illiterate and non-tech savvy. Your points are absurd.

    Also, she is completely able to download and install an updated executable from the correct website when she is in Windows.

    Of course she is able to: Because Microsoft offers an automatic update feature. Grandma doesn't have to do anything but click "OK" to get her updates. And these updates from Microsoft include binary hardware drivers (unlike Ubuntu - due to ideological reasons)! Ubuntu's update service does not unless poor old grandma updates "Universe repository" (yea, I'm sure she'll understand what that is!).

    hat you are trying to say, is that not everyone can setup and manage a computer, and maintain a healthy, powerful and updated operating system on it.

    No, what I'm saying is that some operating systems have a long way to go before they equal the usability of XP or OSX. I think I said that quite bluntly. And when grandma, or any other non-tech savvy person, can't play MP3s or family videos on Ubuntu because of "licensing restrictions," they aren't going to know what to do. Oh, they're supposed to google "ubuntu mp3 support" and execute apt-get install gstreamer-whatever gstreamer-mpeg-whatever to get the support they need. Do you really think these "simple" commands are understandable to grandma? Or do you think she is even going to know what a repository is? Why would she fool around with this when she can just use XP?

    Then compare installing any other application on Dapper vs. Windows.

    Ok. In windows, grandma just double clicks a setup.exe which does all the work for her. If a similar application doesn't exist in the default Ubuntu repositories as a .deb package, then she's out of luck unless she knows how to ./configure ; make install.

    Windows is more difficult on this much more common task for a newbie than installing custom, 4%-extra-performance-gaining graphic drivers.

    That's an uninformed comment. Double clicking setup.exe every single time is not harder than having to compile some obscure application that doesn't exist in the repositories. And nvidia doesn't exist on merely 4% of computers. I'd wager that it's closer to 30% or 50%. And video acceleration is needed for a lot more than just video games. That is why microsoft provides these binary drivers in their Windows Update mechanism.

  2. Re:Good for desktops, bad for certain laptops. by goofyheadedpunk · · Score: -1, Troll

    Dear Troll,

    The most trollish of trolls are often clever, subtle and biting. You, dear sir, a simply a twit with no insight, poorly developed independant thought and a knack for being blindingly uninsulting. I said nothing about losing data, in fact it's all quite safe as it's versioned and distributed not only throughout my home but also throughout my geographically diverse friend's homes. In addition, I'm quite well aware that apt will allow me to downgrade. How do you think I've been quite active in bitching about this bug? However, having a stable laptop isn't the point. Fixing a _serious_ bug in the first 'stable' release of Ubuntu's flagship is. A stable laptop would be merely a lovely side-effect.

    In short, and to be quite blunt about it, you are the worst troll I have ever read. I hope that sometime very soon you find yourself cornered in a dark alley way by a man named Bitsy who intends to sodomize you with a rake. I hope that rake is rusty. I hope that rake has also been used far too many times for this purpose, infecting you with all sorts of vicious diseases.

    After the sodomy it is my sincere hope that you'll look back on your life, gape in terror at the shortness of your future and realize that your time here on earth could have been much better spent.

    Grow the fuck up and learn how to structure an insult.

    Hoping you get ass-raped with a rake,
    goofyheadedpunk

    --

    What if the entire Universe were a chrooted environment with everything symlinked from the host?
  3. Re:But there are so many bugs...! by jrockway · · Score: 0, Troll

    > Not that I do not epect any bugs at all, but their number is so great.

    So quit whining and start fixing them.

    --
    My other car is first.
  4. Re:Dapper is good, but it's not there yet. by DrXym · · Score: 0, Troll
    Their hardware isn't crippled. It works just fine on XP and Linux and is my card maker of choice. And if you bothered to read what I said, you would see that I'm not complaining that the driver doesn't ship with Ubuntu at all. I'm perfectly happy if it doesn't ship on the CD. But that's no reason that Ubuntu shouldn't detect and offer to install the driver for me afterwards. No reason at all.

    As for why Nvidia should contain trade secrets and Intels should not. Perhaps it's because Intel produces a mediocre integrated graphics chip for laptops and cheap PCs and certainly not something which is competing with Nvidia & ATI at the bleeding edge of graphics performance. If you don't want to buy a decent card then that's your business, but don't think for a second that your choice or your own lack of pragmatism should dictate what other people expect or want from their own systems.