I just made a clean install of Ubuntu 9.10 an hour ago...
I downloaded the ISO of Ubuntu 9.10 and Kubuntu 9.10 the first hour that I saw it is available for download. But the lack of time due to work demands, I opted not to install it until now. During the two-week period, I am seeing blogs, news and reviews saying that there are still problems and bugs encountered during installation and hardware failure. I thought that it may be better to delay installation of karmic up to a month.
But after I had a better time now to deal with the installation, I opted to do so. I always do a clean install every time. I had a separate /home directory for my personal files and I always format the ext3 for the root partition. In this way, I do not really have to backup my personal files and I can have a clean operating system.
1. First impressionsThe default mouse cursor, sound and font is still the same. I think this has been the default since Ubuntu's birth. And it really is getting boring to see and hear the same thing even just for the live CD. Is does not have any other option for the mouse cursor and sound theme. I guess nobody cares if this is the same old default setup since they can be easily changed anyway. So I just changed the font to Gothic which looks refreshing for the desktop.
The major change that looks good for me are the new humanity icon theme. It looks more professional and modern than before. The default background actually matches the icons at first look. And the background has exchanged colors with the window manager (now dark brownish).
2. WirelessMy Globe mobile broadband is detected by the network manager applet at first plug unlike my experience with
broadband installation in jaunty. I followed the instruction and edited the settings specific for the broadband. It works! Then, I checked the Hardware Drivers app to get my wireless working. It was not detected on the first try but the third. Good thing I have the broadband modem to download and install the Broadcomm drivers. It is just odd that, if I remember it correctly, it was automatically installed in Ubuntu 9.04.
The internet cafe where I am right now seems to have a fair connection but it looks like I cannot download ubuntu-restricted-extras to get the most of what I need to work. Even updating seems a bit slow. But I can wait. I installed first video and audio codecs for basic multimedia needs.
3. Indicator AppletI want to remove the 60 second timer before shutdown but it is missing in the indicator applet. Does anyone know where it went? Talking about the indicate applet, the new messaging indicator shows Empathy and Evolution. Since I rarely use pidgin, empathy seems not a big change for me. The bluetooth indicator has more options for easier bluetooth device management unlike in Ubuntu 9.04 where is just indicates to setup a new device. And yes, the
volume control is back to its sane vertical position, now slimmer and sound preferences looks better. The network manager applet has really improved to show connected and available networks.
4. 3D effectsThe problem with video and 3D effects that users encountered with jaunty is gone. I just clicked on the Extra button in the Visual Effects tab of the Appearance and instantly got the wobbly windows effect. With jaunty, I have to wait for several seconds to a minute to get it working.
5. UpdatesI reloaded the repository to include the Canonical archive repo and changed the server that I use as repo. I got several packages for update and I updated the system. I guess this are the first several bug fixes after the release. So I think the update important.
6. Ubuntu OneKarmic koala gave birth to the Ubuntu One application and I am trying it. Good thing I already have a Launchpad account to sign in. The 2GB cloud memory is sufficient for my personal use although I cannot think of what to put into the clouds. It will be an advantage when most computers are Ubuntu-ized already. I saw the cloud indicator with an exclamation point and clicking on it makes it connect to the cloud and shows a nice cloud indicator.
7. Ubuntu Software CenterI posted
my view on the name of the software center and I am glad they changed it. It sounds better than a store. Although the internals would be the same. the name can really affect how people perceive it.
Ubuntu 9.10 is UbuntuI guess that is all for my Ubuntu 9.10 review. Nothing much has changed (except of course, under the hood) or I have yet to explore the changes to know it. Overall, this is Ubuntu, which is still easily identified with still the brown and orange theme. Well, if it has changed, maybe it will not be Ubuntu anymore.
I can already see that Ubuntu 10.04 will be the best release if they plan on improving what is already improved in karmic since it will be LTS. After that, I do not have any plan on upgrading Ubuntu when they use Gnome 3. It may be too early to say so, but it seems that the radical changes with Gnome is not yet sinking into my mind. Well, if it proves to be a refreshing change in using a computer, I can still change my mind.
