Tyler Brown's Blog The Adventures of a Linux User

My thoughts on Ubuntu 10.04

So, why did I go back to Ubuntu? Why did I not stay on PCLinuxOS? Well, because KDE and GTK apps fought over control of Audio, and it forced me to use mostly GTK apps in a KDE environment. So, I wanted to go back to a GNOME distribution that offered great PulseAudio support, and something I haven't tried yet. So, although I've used previous versions of Ubuntu, I have had yet to give 10.04 a try. Not to mention Ubuntu 10.04 is normally my fall-back distribution where I normally expect everything to work.

So anyway, to start off with, I kind of avoided using Ubuntu 10.04 for the first few weeks after release. Not because it was a new release or anything, but I wanted to give other distributions a try, and I wasn't really agreeing with some of the things Canonical was doing, and the attitude they had towards their users when the users were showing their discontent on the changes that Ubuntu had made to the titlebar, or the fact Ubuntu was trying to look and act like Mac OS X. Also, I tried the Beta out and I wasn't too big of a fan of it, even though I tried it in a VM. With the factors of the last time I tried 10.04 that it was in beta and that I tried it in a VM, and that I was getting a bit ticked off at PCLinuxOS KDE not wanting to properly install PulseAudio, I felt “Why not give Ubuntu 10.04 a try.”

So the first thing you notice thats new with 10.04 is the new theme that it has, and the change of the titlebar buttons being on the left instead of the right. Since the beta they re-arranged the buttons to make sense on the left side, so that is definitely a good thing. This is all part of Canonical changing Ubuntu's branding from “Linux for Human Beings” to “Light.” Some say it gives Ubuntu too much of a Macish look. I do agree, it does remind me a bit of OS X, but, it also has its own unique factors. What does bother me though, is the fact the designers Canonical chose to design this theme used Mac OS X to design it because they were too used to Photoshop. What bothers me about that is the fact I've seen HUNDREDS of great themes for GNOME on gnome-look without requiring the use of Photoshop. So I just saw that as a pretty pathetic excuse on the designers part. Now, I don't mind the buttons being on the left – and I can get used to them very quickly. However, I will say that back in the Alpha or beta, Canonical executed the change pretty badly pissing off quite a few people. I think if Canonical had decided to re-arrange the buttons to make sense on the left BEFORE releasing the Alpha with it, that there would have been much less of a negative response (however, don't underestimate the thousands of people who complain at the slightest change).

So besides a new look, and maybe some obvious software updates (Such as Firefox is now 3.6, OpenOffice.org is now 3.2, etc). One thing that I noticed in 10.04 that I didn't see in 9.10 is in the Ubuntu Software Center, it will now list software listed in repositories that are not in Ubuntu by default, which is pretty cool. Also, I think this could have been in response to the removal of a few apps in 10.04 such as GIMP, Ubuntu added a “Featured Applications” Section to the Ubuntu Software Center. I have to say, with each release of the Ubuntu Software Center (despite only having two releases so far), its looking really good, and definitely better than the old Add/Remove programs. Don't worry, theres still the good ol' Synaptic Package Manager for those who like to have more control.

Ubuntu Software Center 10.04

One of the major new features in Ubuntu 10.04 is the integration of a Social Networking tool called Gwibber. Gwibber allows you to integrate Facebook and Twitter right onto your desktop, and send status updates through the Social Menu on the top right. You can also manager your social media accounts, your Instant Messaging Accounts (through Empathy), and change your IM Status through that menu as well, and pidgin does support that last feature (although that was available in 9.10 as well). I have given it a try – through the menu and through the actual application, and it is very very nice for an integrated tool.

The Gwibber Window

Another major item that people made a big deal about in Ubuntu 10.04 is the Ubuntu One Music Store. This is a feature that I think is going to help Ubuntu out big time, and allows people to get music very easily from one source, and with prices that can compete with iTunes.

Ubuntu One Music Store

One of the other things I would like to talk about is performance. I have yet to run into an issue with it. Even with the default open source drivers, Compiz will run decently and without an issue. Even the proprietary ATI drivers are running Compiz Fusion just fine. And the reason I switched back to Ubuntu, PulseAudio, is working just fine.

I haven't really run into too many issues with Ubuntu 10.04. The first issue I ran into was the fact Ubuntu chose my 80GB to put GRUB on, and to fix that I basically put my 80GB on the first to boot, so that wasn't that much of a problem in the end. Another couple problems were due to the lack of features in GNOME, such as the lack of the ability to set different wallpapers per monitor, or the lack of ease of use in terms of setting up a panel on the second monitor. Again, beyond that, I haven't had all that many issues.

So overall Ubuntu 10.04 is a very nice distribution. I did have a few issues with it here and there, but nothing too much. Some of the issues I did have with it before even using the final version were more to do with Canonical's decisions, and the attitude towards the users that were showing their discontent towards the changes they made. Overall, I would definitely recommend it to somebody who is looking to start out with Linux – that, along with Mint, PCLinuxOS, or Mandriva. I would definitely say give this a try and tell me your thoughts on it in the comments! Thanks for reading, and if you want to, subscribe clicking on the link at the top right of my blog!

- Tyler J. Brown (Condoulo)