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Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Now In Beta 180

Posted by kdawson from the your-netbook-will-thank-you dept.
An anonymous reader writes "To little fanfare and not much news coverage, Canonical released the beta of Ubuntu 9.04 'Jaunty Jackalope.' I tried it on a Dell Mini 9 using the Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) and it's fabulous! Much better than the sad 'Dell Desktop' that it shipped with. Finally, someone has broken the 25+ year old too-many-open-windows-and-chaos desktop paradigm with UNR's task oriented layout, which is perfect for small netbook screen sizes."
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Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Now In Beta More

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Now In Beta

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  • It's a beta.. (Score:4, Informative)

    by 3.5 stripes ( 578410 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @12:26PM (#27358925)

    That's why there's not much fanfare.

    It's for people willing to experience a few issues, or a few bugs, to make the product which comes out with lots of fanfare more solid.

  • Let me be the first to ask.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ControversialMatt ( 1070718 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @12:27PM (#27358953)
    What the heck is a Jackalope?

  • Netbook Remix Interface (Score:3, Informative)

    by CFBMoo1 ( 157453 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @12:28PM (#27358979) Homepage

    I've been running it on my two EEE's for a long time. That interface is the bees knees for those things. That was distributed on the UbuntuEEE fork that later turned in to EasyPeasy. I'm really interested in trying out 9.04 though.

    • Bees knees are far to easy to break. ;)

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by chill ( 34294 )

      Have you been bitten by the bug where netbook-launcher sits at 100% CPU utilization? I had to remove it because it was making my EEE unusable.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Abreu ( 173023 )

        Ah, so that's why my Acer suddenly became so slow?

        • Re:Netbook Remix Interface (Score:4, Informative)

          by chill ( 34294 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @05:18PM (#27363647) Journal

          Yeah, open a terminal and run "top" or use the System Monitor and check processes. Then kill netbook-launcher and watch your machine spring back to life.

          I've just uninstalled it for now and installed gnome-menu and am using a normal, but slim, desktop/menu and it works fine. If they fix the launcher, great. If not, so be it.

  • Screenshots (Score:4, Informative)

    by Thelasko ( 1196535 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @12:30PM (#27359007) Journal
    Here are some screenshots for Alpha 6, [softpedia.com] but does anybody have screenshots of Beta?

    Not that they will be all that different.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by AvitarX ( 172628 )

      You can see the new wallpaper anyway.
      http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-9-04-Beta-Screenshot-Tour-107809.shtml [softpedia.com]

      • +1 good job!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by muszek ( 882567 )

        I've "burned" the beta on a pendrive - the wallpaper is different than @ these screenshots. The new one is kinda ugly, AFAIR even the GTK theme is different (back to human).

        BTW, it's funny how they always release those super hot screenshots some time (1 or 2 days) before a new release is made. And it always gets to the front page of digg, linked from lifehacker and so on. I could never understand the point of doing this, apart from an obvious reason, which is getting visitors cheaply. They show a few d

    • I thought they "fixed" the brown desktop theme? There are blue desktop screenshots but that's for KDE or some such.

      • Re:Wrong color desktop? Re:Screenshots (Score:4, Informative)

        by WebCowboy ( 196209 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @01:18PM (#27359885)

        I thought they "fixed" the brown desktop theme?

        These are screenshots of the Alpha version. From my past experience Alpha releases do not change the default theme from that of the previous release. When I set up an Intrepid Alpha system it just used Hardy's desktop. When it upgraded itself to Beta the theme changed to some sort of generic polkadot wallpaper with everything else kept the same. When it went into full release the theme changed to the real Intrepid one.

        Wait another month, and by then you'll certainly have your new colour scheme.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by gbarules2999 ( 1440265 )
        The default theme is still the same (I know; I'm looking at it) but it comes with some pretty nice alternatives in the Themes window.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Abreu ( 173023 )

        I thought they "fixed" the brown desktop theme? There are blue desktop screenshots but that's for KDE or some such.

        WORKSFORME

      • You sure you're not looking at screenshots of Kubuntu?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Hadlock ( 143607 )

          There was a slashdot article two months ago about how ubuntu was moving away from the brown theme as standard to something a little more inviting. I pointed out that the blue theme was KDE: either I wasn't very clear or your reading comprehension is very low.

          • Strange, I always thought the brown theme was really cool.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Hadlock ( 143607 )

              It's very functional, but something blue or green would have been a better choice IMO.

              • Thing is, those are too common. Brown, on the other hand, makes Ubuntu unique. It also gives it a certain "ethnic" image; as I recall, african art traditionally uses a lot of brown and orange.

                I know, to some new users it may be scary to see those colors and realize: 'This is not Windows. It does not even tries to look similar. It's a completely different thing.' For the same reason, I find it very comforting.

  • I love 8.10 on my Dell Mini 9 w/ Ubuntu Netbook Remix. The only thing I need still is to be able to use my Windows Mobile Phone as a modem over bluetooth (currently USB only).

    • I was able to follow some FAQs that had me use PPP to forward ports over bluetooth, though it was used to get my palm mobile phone to load the internet over bluetooth. I imagine you could do the same but in reverse though its certainly no easy task.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jd ( 1658 )

      I have problems with 8.10 on my somewhat ancient Dell Dimension 2100 - lots of problems with latency and task switching - and I've yet to get the kernel to build from source for it. (Given I've built Linux kernels since the 0.9 days, it's not from lack of experience.)

      (The latest Fedora won't install on it at all. Hard lock-up when booting the GUI installer.)

      Sure, you expect support to decay for older machines, but this is hardly a Viglen 386SX we're talking about (Pentium IV is still in-vogue), I've upgrade

  • Intel regressions not yet solved (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 27, 2009 @12:44PM (#27359287)

    Users of Intel video chipsets have reported performance regressions in Ubuntu 8.10 compared with previous releases. (252094) Although these performance issues have not been resolved by default in Ubuntu 9.04, a new experimental acceleration architecture option, DRI2/UXA, is available for Intel graphics users. Our testing has found this provides significant performance improvements for many users, but has also shown risk of severe stability problems, thus we are not yet providing to the general public. You can opt-in to enable this by running "sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf", and adding Option "AccelMethod" "UXA" to the Device section of your xorg.conf. Users wishing to maximize stability should stay with the standard default acceleration method, "EXA".

    • Heh... I'm running Ubuntu on an old computer with a VIA chipset. For this Unichrome Pro IGP, EXA [wikipedia.org] is unstable and I have to use XAA.

      Looks like I need a new IGP. :D I'm two generations out of date.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Jerry ( 6400 )

      Since I bought my Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E/H last August I have been using Mandriva 2009 PWP, featuring KDE 4.1.3. It did not support the G45 video chip, so I had to settle for a VESA video setting at 1440X900 and was one of many who posted a bug report at the xorg bugzilla site. The fix for the grey screen was found in February so I expected the fix to trickle down to Mandriva in the late summer.

      I heard that Jaunty Jackalope was sporting KDE 4.2, so I booted the LiveCD to check it out. I was STUNNED to see

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by pavon ( 30274 )

      Thanks. I guess I'll be sticking with 8.04 again.

  • Have they solved the problems of wired networking on the AAO? Since they broke it with a patched up Intrepid (though the original unpatched Intrepid works).

  • I got a Wind a month ago and the first thing I did, and I seriously mean first thing, was install Ubuntu (8.04) on it as a second boot. Last week I clobbered the restore partition and Windows entirely and now it's all Ubuntu.

    I got the version without bluetooth. Last week I managed to take the adapter I got for it, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833242001 [newegg.com] and put it inside where the stock adapter would go. There was even a harness for it taped inside of the unit, so I just cut down the

  • Webcam (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Niris ( 1443675 )
    Now if only they'd get Pidgin or something to work with webcams for IMing. Still can't get it to work on aMSN or Mercury :/

    • Re:Webcam (Score:5, Informative)

      by ianare ( 1132971 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @02:42PM (#27361329)

      Pidgin will be replaced by Empathy in future releases. It's still needs some work, but looks promising - it's very modular and integrates nicely with the rest of GNOME. It has video chat support.

      • Sadly, Empathy has Jabber video chat support. Their MSN and ICQ chat is still handled by libpurple, which is pidgin.

  • Netbook remix? For Intel Atoms, it would seem (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bearhouse ( 1034238 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @01:32PM (#27360115)

    Find out more here:

    http://www.canonical.com/projects/ubuntu/unr [canonical.com]

    Selected quotes:

    "Ubuntu Netbook Remix is optimised to run on a new category of affordable Internet-centric devices called netbooks. It includes a new consumer-friendly interface that allows users to quickly and easily get on-line and use their favourite applications. This interface is optimised for a retail sales environment."

    Wonder what that last bit means? It flashes 'buy me now!!!! 50% discount!!!' on the screen?

    "A remix is a 'respun' version of Ubuntu built for a specific purpose. Although Canonical has encouraged community projects to use this terminology for some time, this is the first time that Canonical has used it. We are using it to differentiate from an 'Edition' which we consider a complete version with daily builds suitable for the average user with no additional work beyond installing the CD."

    "All of the initial Ubuntu Netbook remixes combine optimisations from the Moblin project for Intel® Atomâ processors and it is specially designed for netbooks. Intel and Canonical are working to create a new computing experience across a rapidly expanding category of portable devices."

    Wintel is dead, long live Buntel?

    • The Atom CPU is listed as a minimum system requirement, it should run just fine on a 'normal' Intel CPU (and I'd wager it's fine on AMDs as well).

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by migla ( 1099771 )

      "Ubuntu Netbook Remix is optimised to run on a new category of affordable Internet-centric devices called netbooks."

      Not so much optimised, that the installer would allow me to see any buttons (such as "next", "back", "cancel" or whatever they may be, I can't see them!) on the 800x480 screen of the eeepc 701...

      I managed to install it by pressing tab and enter blindly at appropriate times, though.

  • lpia? (Score:2)

    by radish ( 98371 )

    Does this version come with the lpia kernel? I recently got a Dell Mini and am still using the lpia-enabled 8.04 distro it comes with. I'd like to give Netbook Remix a go but I'm concerned that the stock x86 kernel will reduce battery life (which is already not quite as great as I'd hoped for).

    Anyone know the status of the lpia stuff?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Enry ( 630 )

      Does this version come with the lpia kernel? I recently got a Dell Mini and am still using the lpia-enabled 8.04 distro it comes with. I'd like to give Netbook Remix a go but I'm concerned that the stock x86 kernel will reduce battery life (which is already not quite as great as I'd hoped for).

      Anyone know the status of the lpia stuff?

      I have 8.10 running the lpia port on my mini 9. I found some site online that showed how to install and configure the UNR components so that it looks like the 8.04 version.

      8.04 had a few serious issues (like using ssh over wireless) that made me drop it pretty quickly. The 8.10 kernel doesn't like one of the WPA modes and will hang hard if you try to connect, so I'm looking forward to 9.04 and upgrading to that.

      On a side note, I wanted to compile some software for my mini without wasting its SSD with gcc

  • Anyone know of a remote desktop solution for Ubuntu that can connect to a Windows 2k or newer box? I've been thinking about making the jump, all of the other tool I need to do my standard work at home I know where to get. But I need to be able to remote into work over a VPN to Windows servers.

    -Rick

    • Not the best solution, but I run VirtualBox inside Ubuntu to get access to my legacy apps.

    • rDesktop is the equivalent to Windows Terminal Services Client, never had any trouble with it.

      Ubuntu on my mini-9 had this this, and 'tsclient' a graphical frontend, pre-installed.

    • Re:Random Ubuntu/Linux question (Score:4, Informative)

      by mweather ( 1089505 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @02:06PM (#27360725)
      Ubuntu ships with an RDP client.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ardle ( 523599 )
      VirtualBox (deb available via package manager) to create a Windows VM.
      Install Windows in that VM.
      Download and install your VPN client to your virtual Windows.
      Worked for me :-)
      Useful link: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualBox [ubuntu.com]. The VirtualBox configuration bit is useful here: as I said, VirtualBox (Open Source Edition) is available in Ubuntu Package Manager, so you don't have to do the apt-get stuff...

    • Re:Random Ubuntu/Linux question (Score:5, Informative)

      by Xtifr ( 1323 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @02:29PM (#27361133) Homepage

      Anyone know of a remote desktop solution for Ubuntu that can connect to a Windows 2k or newer box?

      Yes. Ubuntu. RDP works out of the box--I use it nearly daily. Applications->Internet->Terminal Server Client. There's also an panel applet front end if you'd prefer that--very handy if you have several Winboxes you need to connect to on a regular basis.

    • I connected to work via the VPN and used KRDC to connect to my desktop XP machine running the Remote Desktop dealie for about a year. Finally I traded my desktop at work for a laptop so now I just use the laptop to VPN to work directly. It always worked fine for me, although I could never get the PTPP VPN to work with Linux. However, I was able to use the Java-based Juniper VPN with Linux... sometimes. Getting Java stuff to work on Kubuntu has always been hit or miss for me, but I blame Java and its "wr

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Darkk ( 1296127 )

        I'm using Ubuntu 8.10 and PTPP VPN works fine with the VPN at work which is running Windows 2003 Server.

        There is a bug in the network manager that handles the VPN connections in Ubuntu. They fixed that in 9.4.

        So give it another try. Google it!

  • Kubuntu with KDE 4.2.1 (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 27, 2009 @01:54PM (#27360527)

    Kubuntu with KDE 4.2.1 looks fabulous too! Just installed Kubuntu Beta and KDE is totally sweet in this release. There is even a native KDE4 Network Manager that looks great and works well.

    The Plasma widgets remain a bit crashy and buggy - Comic Strip won't take the configure button off even after Strips are added, Moving widgets crashes Plasma etc.

    But yeah, getting there. By KDE 4.3 release things ought to be totally rocking.

    Try it out people - you won't be disappointed.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by indi0144 ( 1264518 )

      Sure I will try it this time. I tried Ubuntu 9.04 Alpha AMD64 the good thing it's that the new kernel supports all my hardware and it's a lot faster but I have problems with the nVidia 180 drivers on an integrated GeForce 8200. Not even editing the xorg by hand can get the stuff to display properly.

      Err, theres only DVD download option via torrent but since you can update to stable release from beta I think it's worth it.

      http://torrent.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/jaunty/beta/dvd/ [ubuntu.com]

      I hope it works fine with une

  • Finally, someone has broken the 25+ year old too-many-open-windows-and-chaos desktop paradigm

    Palm? DOS?

  • I've been using this for a month with ext4 (Score:3, Informative)

    by revjtanton ( 1179893 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @03:12PM (#27361891) Homepage Journal

    I installed this a month ago almost by painstakingly finding the i386 iso of Jaunty and installing the netbook remix stuff independently.

    I've got a eee 900 with the 16GB SSDHD and let me tell you: this thing boots and runs quick! I've tried XP and the UNR Ibex version and the Jaunty build using ext4 filing system blows everything else out of the water with all variations of start-up times. There are problems, however, with certain aspects of the remix.

    There is significant lag issues with the interface itself. I believe this may have something to do with the size of my swap partition, but thus far I've been too lazy to format or change anything since the partial upgrade a few days ago.

    Its only the remix that reacts slow, everything else is fast, fast, fast! ext4 certainly adds something to boot times and it looks like this Ubuntu build will really be one, coupled with netbooks, that can somewhat pierce the Microsoft stronghold on the general public....eh, probably not.

    • What can you possibly need swap for on a Netbook?

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by meringuoid ( 568297 )
        What can you possibly need swap for on a Netbook?

        I've been running my Eee 901 without swap ever since I installed Ubuntu over the godawful Asus distribution that came with it. I don't notice any performance issues; however, without swap, hibernate doesn't work. I understand it needs a swap partition large enough to dump its entire RAM state when it hibernates, so that it can switch off completely and pick up again where it left off; without that it can only suspend, which saves a lot of power but still ha

  • Finally??? (Score:4, Informative)

    by karbonKid ( 902236 ) on Friday March 27, 2009 @06:41PM (#27364797)
    "Finally, someone has broken the 25+ year old too-many-open-windows-and-chaos desktop paradigm with UNR's task oriented layout."

    Umm... tiling window managers have been around longer than non-tiling ones. You can blame apple for making windows overlappable. The 'task-oriented layout' is nothing new or innovative - see wmii, awesome, xmonad, dwm, etc. etc. (even fluxbox, with its 'tabs', actually) for examples of modern X11 window managers that offer similar functionality, plus much more...

    Personally, I started using wmii a few months back and haven't looked back since.

  • I'm running the AMD64 version since Alpha 2 and I love the bastard. I've been using Ubuntu since 8.04 and it's the best since that.

    Fast boot, fast operation, Java works, Flash works, Wine works, tho I still use WinXP to have the occasional left 4 dead funfest. :-)

    I wonder what Ubuntu Zesty Zebra will be like if they keep this pace up. Very exciting.

  • I downloaded the alpha 6 netbook remix, put it on a USB stick, booted it on a Dell Optiplex 755, installed it, patched it, and am running it right now.

    I think the "netboox remix" interface actually suits a lot of what people use computers for today... a glorified web browser... while not distracting the user with all the other windows, window decorations, virtual desktops, etc.

    I'm a power user who loves those things, but I'm surprised how I feel somewhat freed up by not having to worry about them.

  • "Finally, someone has broken the 25+ year old too-many-open-windows-and-chaos desktop paradigm with UNR's task oriented layout, which is perfect for small netbook screen sizes."

    Yes, Nokia did [wikipedia.org], 4 years ago.
     

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