Ubuntu 9.04 RC Released

Mohamed Zaian writes "The Ubuntu team has released the release candidate for Ubuntu 9.04; 'The Ubuntu team is happy to bring you the latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. This is their latest result, the Ubuntu 9.04 release candidate, which brings a host of excellent new features.' The various other Ubuntu-derived distributions, like Kubuntu, have also had their RCs released."

Comments

Re:Anyone have a list?

[Dreadneck]

Ubuntu 9.04 Technical Overview

upgraded yesterday

[wizardforce]

So far so good, bootime looks good, speed seems reasonable. No problems with stability to speak of yet.

Re:Gotta upgrade to 8.10 first

[seizurebattlerobot]

You are just being silly, right? Ubuntu 8.10 has had 5 kernel security updates in the 6 months since its release. Each one requires a reboot to be activated. Keeping a Linux installation secure requires frequent reboots.

I prefer running Linux instead of other operating systems, but I find it disheartening to read silly statements like this. Let Linux stand on its own merits; there is no need to lie on its behalf.

Here's that list in case you're curious:
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-751-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-715-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-679-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-662-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-661-1

The pluses and the minuses from two weeks' usage

[Pausanias]

I've been running 9.04 on my Dell laptop for a few weeks now. Like every new release, it's a mixed bag.
Pluses:

• Really, super, extra fast boot (10 seconds on my newish Dell)
• Fixes a lot of bugs (in GNOME mainly) from the previous release, Intrepid, which was their worst ever
• Includes the ext4 file system---having upgraded to ext4, I'm really noticing the performance upgrade.

Minuses:

• Evolution suckage continues. This version of the mail client crashed on me on startup, plus the "remove duplicate email" plugin no longer works with it. I've had it with Evolution. I've migrated to Thunderbird, and am vastly more happy. I continue to use Evolution's calendaring system, but only as a way to get my google calendar onto the GNOME panel.
• Broken NVIDIA binary blob drivers. Yet again. The intrepid drivers were OK, but now there's something toxic about the combination of either 173 or 180 and the Jaunty kernel. On 173 twinview locks up on me, and on 180 I get random hard lockups once a week. I have really had it with this nvidia binary blob garbage---I am anxiously awaiting some kind of dual monitor support in Nouveau, so I can ditch this piece of rubbish---a goblin that keeps on breaking Linux for many more people than just me, and always will, as long as the binary blob keeps on going.

Re:The pluses and the minuses from two weeks' usag

[spasm]

The 'Lightning' add-on for Thunderbird lets you subscribe to multiple Google calendars & shows them as a sidebar to Thunderbird's mail window. Not quite the same as having it in Gnome panel, but I thought you might be curious to check it out if you weren't already aware of it.

Re:Anyone have a list?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've noticed a large improvement in boot times with ext4 on my thinkpad x21 and compaq ev0 n610. The compaq has gone from 2+ minutes to approximately 1 minute, so smiles all round for jaunty from me.

Intel video drivers suck!

[MindlessAutomata]

Woe to anyone using an intel video card! Right now we're experiencing random lockups, and performance has generally been subpar for a lot of people. I'm not sure how stable UXA is yet, earlier it was causing a lot of lockups.

Seems pretty rough

[Radhruin]

I just upgraded, and I gotta say, it's been pretty painful.

• Had to reinstall sound drivers and get them working again (involves choosing a few settings here and there) and figure I need to restart to see any changes. Not the end of the world, but quite annoying, but then the fun began.
• My System menu lacks a "Quit" option (no kidding).
• During shutdown, my system speaker blared very quick (and LOUD) beeps during the entire shutdown process. When the final screen showed up, it changed to a constant tone for a couple seconds before dying away.
• Booting up is very slow as it pauses at one place for 10 or more seconds, then the load screen bails. It says something about an IO error. Eventually it boots normally.
• The monitor will not go to sleep. Instead the entire screen turns pure white. Thankfully the login box is there, you just can't see it, so it's possible to log in and clear the issue.

There's also been a million smaller gripes here and there, and this is only after an hour or so. Basically, the user experience could use a major amount of work in my estimation :(

Re:Seems pretty rough

[andy.ruddock]

The missing quit option is by design - look in the user-switcher menu. (I think it's stupid too.)

Re:The pluses and the minuses from two weeks' usag

[iammani]

Includes the ext4 file system---having upgraded to ext4, I'm really noticing the performance upgrade.

Be warned that the ext4 implementation in the RC is buggy. See Known Issues. It is expected to be fixed in the final release. So, stay will ext3, and upgrade to ext4 once the final release comes out.

ATI restricted drivers no longer support X600

[zoward]

I'm running the Jaunty beta right now, and will probably regress to 8.10 soon because of the ATI drivers. The problem, AFAIK, is that the version of X.org 9.04 is shipping with will only support Catalyst 9.4 (currently in beta for linux). Catalyst 9.4 dropped support for a large number of older chipsets, basically anything earlier than R600, deferring to the always-improving open source ati drivers to support these. The open source driver is wonderful for 2D acceleration. It seems to handle all of the desktop effects with ease. The problem is that it's miles behind the fglrx (proprietary/Catalyst) drivers for 3D support. The reports I was able to scrounge online seem to indicate that open source ati 3D support is a good year away from general availability.