Ubuntu ver 8? Prime time?

[Odyssey]

This may be directed at Gina as I know that she has already installed 8, but would welcome any current input. What are your experiences with Ver 8?

From my viewpoint, ver 6 was a borderline. It brought enough user friendliness to make it possible for non-geeks like me to begin to use Linux for some of my needs. BTW, I have utmost respect for geeks and wish I shared their computer skills, so the term is not pejorative with me.

Ver 7 extends that user friendliness to, using the GUI, being able to do almost everything that I use a computer for.

So at some point I will move to ver 8, but since my 7.04 is so stable and already configured for most of my needs, I am in no hurry to do so. But your comments could change that.

N.B. When I use the term "Ver. X" it applies to all of the versions beginning with X. Each higher extension number represents an "upgrade", but only certain specific numerical versions (e.g., 6.06) have extended (5 year) support whereas the others have 18 months support ( if I remember these correctly).

robert

[Oldun]

I too would welcome Gina`s comments I tried Version 6.06 for quite some time before giving up because it lacked a lot I wanted . I have hankering to try it again .Even got to downloading version 8 and putting on a disc ,but cannot quite get myself to install it .

[Gina]

The latest Ubuntu is definitely an improvement on previous versions IMO. The user interface is much smoother and less geeky. Hardware support has been much improved - particularly wireless networking and graphics cards. The improvement over v6.06 is vast - going through my various OSs I checked 6.06 and was rather surprised at how crude it looked compared with what I've been using. Lots of scrolling text as the OS loads is not what I'd call professional looking - Hardy (8.04) avoids that and the loading is much like Windows - starting with a brief back and forth bar followed by the usual progress bar. Loading and general operating speed has been improved too.

If you have a previous version of Ubuntu which is working well I suggest creating a new partition and installing Hardy into that. If you install from the LIve CD you get the option to import your user data like My Documents in Windows from any (and all) operating systems installed on your computer (including Windows). Personally, I use a separate /home partition which I share with the various Ubuntu versions and gives me all my data and settings when installing a new version. But this is a refinement you don't need to bother with.

Hardy now comes with a facility to install Ubuntu as an exe in Windows (called Wubi) so that you can try out a virtual OS installation without having to create new partitions. I haven't tried it myself but many people have. Of course, being another layer on top of Windows, it's not as fast as it is when installed directly but all settings are preserved between bootups unlike running the Live CD where it's installed in memory only (not touching the HD) and therefore loses the settings and any extra installed software when shut down. From what I've read, this arrangement is not quite as solid as a standard installation but as this is the first time this has been included as standard I guess one can expect the odd problem. Worth trying though if you're unhappy with messing with partitions on your HD.

I haven't got round to updating my Ubuntu website for Hardy but the changes in actual use are relatively small and generally pretty obvious. I don't think there's any change in the installation as I recall but I shall be checking this out in detail shortly and adjusting the website accordingly. Installation is straightforward anyway and mainly is a case of answering a series of simple questions. The worst part is to do with partitioning and I have already covered this.

As always, if anyone has any questions or requires any help with Ubuntu I'm very happy to help.

Edit... To answer one specific question... Yes, most versions carry 18 months support with LTS (Long Term Support) versions much longer (I forget the exact figure but will check). The new 8.04 is an LTS version like the 6.06.

[Oldun]

Having tried to install I am up against the same problem the partitioning lets it down .If I let install automatically it wants to resize my Windows partition .If I try a manual install it still does not do it how I want .I already have a partition to place it in but to no avail.

[Gina]

As a minimum you need 2 partitions - a partition to install into and another to use as SWAP. The SWAP partition can be quite small - twice the size of your RAM is generally considered a good size.

What is the problem you're getting? In what way does it not do it how you want? How big is the partition you've created? Generally I'd recommend something like 5-10 GB depending on how much data you'll generate and extra software. 5GB is quite a good start if you haven't got oodles of space. Ubuntu needs about 2-3GB for itself for a standard installation. I suggest the simplest setup to start with - a partition for the system of 5GB (say) set as ext3 format and mount point of / and a partition of 1GB for the SWAP, formatted as swap with no mount point.

[Oldun]

Gina I have an empty partition of 97GB when I originally installed Ubuntu 6.06
as far as I recall it did everything automatically in a similar empty partition .This latest Ubuntu keeps wanting to resize my XP partition and I dont want it to .It seems as before when I tried to install Ubuntu 7 it does not recognise my partitions .I have tried using a stand alone copy of GParted but to no avail .

[Gina]

Ah yes, I remember now, you have partitions that Linux won't recognise :( I forget what I suggested you try now... so we'll start again. Have you tried the Linux SystemRescueCD (http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page)? That includes TestDisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk) which will examine your HD(s) and partitions and test/repair/restore them. I found it useul to fix things after I had a mess up due to a Windows app. There are several other useful utilities too - including GParted.

If the partition is recognised by Windows/DOS you could try fdisk to reformat it. This will destroy any data in that partition (but you say it's empty anyway otherwise save any wanted data first). The SystemRescueCD will not delete data unless you want it to.

Although Ubuntu will create and resize partitions in the installation, I find the stand alone GParted is more versatile and would recommend sorting out partitions before running the install process.

BTW... When I first installed Ubuntu on my laptop I resized my Windows partition to gain the required space - the HD was totally used by the 3 partitions the manufacturer had created. To resize a Windows partition it is important to defrag it first in Windows (and with Windows Swap and Hibernate turned off so there aren't unmovable files in the way). I found I had to defrag several times to get the files at the beginning of the partition. I used GParted on the Live CD to resize the Windows partition and create new ones in the freed space. Because there were already 3 primary partitions I have to create an Extended Partition and then create Logical partitions within that. The PC BIOS system only allows 4 main partitions max - up to 3 Primary and one Extended (or 4 Primary) - very silly IMO and makes things more difficult than necessary but there you are!

[Oldun]

Cheers Gina I will give the Linux system Rescue CD a try and see what happens .I have changed my empty partition from NFTS to Ext 3 to see if that helped ,but no difference .

[Gina]

Good luck :)

[Odyssey]

Have been reading various reviews and comments on ver 8 and it looks very promising.

One thing that I had neglected to mention regarding 7.04 is the quick start-up (haven't timed it, but approximately one minute) and shut-down (10-15 seconds). Because of the stability of Ubuntu, I don't start up and shut down that much but when you are doing upgrades, installs, hardware changes, it is much appreciated.

Also for those who aren't yet using Ubuntu, the multiple desktops are absolutely wonderful for segregating your work. Huge feature compared to Windoze! Not to mention that when you hit "enter" in Linux, you can expect it to happen, almost instantly, the way you expect it to. Very much more predictable than Win$

I am in process of building a new computer and it will be Windoze free. Maybe finally there for almost all of my computing.

[Gina]

Very good point! :) I think the multiple desktop feature comes top of my list of advantages - and the ability to install software with a couple of clicks certainly comes well up the list together with the much faster operation. I booted into Windoze the other day to check out some hardware problems and thought I'd gone back to the ARK!

I have two Windoze free computers - retaining Win XP on just the one - mainly so that I can check things when friends have problems with XP.

[Odyssey]

Timed it. Less than one minute to crank up (and this was somewhat delayed by U having to deal with a second hdd having been added) and 20 seconds to shut down.

Open Office comes up in a few seconds, compared to what seems like an eternity under XP.