Ubuntu Hardy Heron Announced

Jono Bacon, Community Manager for Ubuntu, has announced development on the next version of the popular Linux distribution name "Hardy Heron". "Not only will the Ubuntu community continue to do what it does best, produce an easy-to-use, reliable, free software platform, but this release will proudly wear the badge of Long Term Support (LTS) and be supported with security updates for five years on the server and three years on the desktop. We look forward to releasing the Hardy Heron in April 2008."

Hope they get it right this time

[goldspider]

Yeah, I already know this is going to -1 hell. I don't care. I'll keep it short at least.

I tried to install the AMD 64-bit version of Feisty, and the CD wouldn't even boot. None of my hardware is exotic by any stretch of the imagination, yet the GUI installer wouldn't even load. A few inquiries on the Ubuntu forums got a few suggestions to try the non-GUI install. I don't feel I should have to slog through a text install in the year 2007, so I didn't give Feisty a second thought.

I'll try Hardy, but it better work out of the box. It's hard to promote a distribution to friends when the damn thing couldn't even boot as a live CD.

Re:Hope they get it right this time

[ericrost]

What were you trying to install on? There are several problems on laptops that can be solved with a bootline option or two (I had to do this on an amd64 HP lappy).

When you say AMD64 and not exotic in the same sentence, you're kidding yourself btw. Nothing has shaken out as standard in the chipsets or BIOS's yet. That's why you have a little tweaky tweaky (esp since there are some MANY damned broken BIOS's out there).

Re:Silly

[hhlost]

It's confusing because I'm retarded. Wait, no I'm not. It's confusing because I expect version numbers to go up one at a time. Windows XP is actually Windows NT 5.1, which came after Windows NT 5.0 (Windows 2000).

Re:And hurts Ubuntu

[nuzak]

> Sure you can use the 7.10 number

They do. On the front page of ubuntu.com. The only place I know of where they show up programmatically is in sources.list.

Anyway, corporate only cares when they're reselling. You saying it's hurting Ubuntu doesn't present any actual evidence that it is, and the bald assertion is hardly new or insightful.

Re:Good Test Case

[JeremyGNJ]

One major difference. Redhad has money and corporate customers behind it. They can pay for employees to continue support it 5-7 years out. Even Microsoft says after 5 years its not worth spending the money...and if they wanted to plenty of businesses would PAY to have the support extended.

Ubuntu 6.06 is only ~1.5 years old. Only halfway there. Kind of remains to be seen if they can pull it off....especially with MULTIPLE LTS products in cycle. Under their plan to release a new LTS every 2 years, they will have three products in support cycle at a time.

Re:And hurts Ubuntu

[owlstead]

They've got their uses. If I look for a problem specific to a version of Ubuntu, the Google searches are much more precise than when I just use the version number.

Re:Xorg rewrite?

[lbbros]

X.Org 7.3 should be released around today. Although I don't know if it will eliminate the config file (probably not), I know it makes a step in the right direction by implementing input device hotplugging.

Re:And hurts Ubuntu

[LingNoi]

Redhat, co are Grandpa's old distros. We use Ubuntu at work and it is much easier to manage because I already run it on the desktop.

Re:what's really in Gibbon and Hippo?

[jimicus]

CUPS and printing suck to high heaven. This is the single biggest problem I'm facing now. It's not as much of a disaster as it was in earlier versions like Breezy, but it's still a disaster. I have pages and pages of notes on how to get my printer working with Feisty, and it still doesn't work very well -- the printer freezes unpredictably and needs to be power cycled. No, this is not a case where the problem is just that the manufacturer won't release specs; it's a Brother laser printer, and Brother actually hired the CUPS developers to write GPL'd drivers.

Printing in Linux has sucked for years, and will probably continue to do so. It's not actually the fault of CUPS which basically provides a framework for drivers to sit in and communicate with the printer - more the manufacturers.

If you're buying a laser printer with a view to Linux compatability in the future, look for one which supports Postscript. All this talk of "Drivers this... drivers that...." - it's cobblers. Postscript has been a perfectly good language for printers for something like 20 years, and postscript printers don't command anything like the same premium that they did 10 years ago.

I don't care if the manufacturer provides a Linux driver. If it's binary only - then installation is distribution-dependent and may not be possible in a typical Linux distribution a few years from now. This could also happen in Windows, so those who have winprinters and aren't planning to use Linux can wipe that smug grin off their face.

If a driver in source code and specs for the language the printer speaks do exist - it won't do a great deal of good if you're the only person wanting to use it in Linux and you don't have the expertise to write your own driver.

No, linux is not ready for the desktop.

[AbRASiON]

I've been experimenting with Ubuntu for about 2 years now on and off, I try it each new release.

I've tried every release from 5.04 onwards, each time I've had difficulty getting things working.
Initially intel 2200 wireless cards, then after purchasing a new card, getting WPA to work.
Now, finally WPA is out of the box on atheros cards however my rt2500, not so much.

Sure in Windows sometimes stuff doesn't work too but in order to get things like this fixed under linux is very very difficult.
(I've been using PC's for 16 years this year mind you)
I read forums I post on forums, I try my best to figure it out but it just doesn't seem that simple at ALL.

Sure it's free and yes the guys over at the ubuntuforums certainly defy the stereotypical 'rtfm noob!' responses of yesteryear in # ultimately though it's still just crazy hard and I really don't want much (promise)

The latest edition of Ubuntu (7.04 iirc) doesn't work properly on Dell 8600 displays, the driver is dead and glitchy weird scanlines appear on the display (mind you this has never been a problem before)
Sure you'll tell me it's a proprietary driver issue or ATI's fault and you'd be right but I'm typing this post from the perspective of a Windows user, I don't care, sorry but I don't - I just want it to work, I'd love to replace Windows.

I want to emphasize I'd be happy to persevere if say my graphics, sound and networking were fine, as long as I can sit on the couch and browse that's a great start, further issues like downloading things, burning dvd's, re-encoding media, manipulating images that is less important than the core functionality (although damned important too)

I do not want to use Windows Vista (don't get me started, terrible stuff)
I'm an end user and I'm a gamer but I'm happy to dual boot XP and Ubuntu or if I get sick of my Desktop PC and PC gaming, go entirely 360 / PS3 and Ubuntu on the laptop but... at this rate Ubuntu isn't happening for me, been trying so long with so little luck :/

I've no doubt some will mod this overrated others troll but this is how it is from 'our' perspective over in the Windows / end user camp, we just need it to work, I'll keep on trying eventually it will work, I hope.
(note: I am not saying it's all bad, synaptic is a fantastic concept, works well, free is awesome, overall UI doesn't seem too bad either)