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Monday, October 4, 2010

New Ubuntu, First Impressions and Ramblings

Just a quick update – I've upgraded to Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. I am using the release client, as the official build is not out yet. If you have been keeping up, you know that I was on Linux Mint. It was a tough decision but after playing with the live cd I was convinced to go back to Ubuntu.

With the upgraded installer it was a very quick and painless process. I enjoyed Jolicloud 1.0 for what it was but I honestly just got tired of playing around with it. I will definitely reinstall it when they have another upgrade but for now I am putting that hard drive space to good use. The new installer allows you to connect to the internet and download your updates and packages during the install process. I saw the little wifi icon come up during the process and it was a nice surprise. Its a pretty nice touch, very handy.

The difference between Mint and Stock Ubuntu is all in the included packages and some creature comforts. It did take me about forty-five minutes to get everything the way I like it but its well worth the effort. (dvd playback, flash, java, ubuntu-tweak, play-on and of course setting up gwibber, browser tweaking, screensavers and power consumption options... fun stuff) The upgrade from Lynx to Meerkat definitely shows they took at lot of that setup process into consideration. The better featured Ubuntu Software Center is a lot easier to use. When downloading .deb packaged from the web Maverick will automatically open the center for your install. Another thought - I have gone full into chrome/chromium and have found that the Google Sync option is great. After tweaking out the system specs its good to know that all the browser settings and bookmarks are saved on the web and are easily synced up once connected to the net.

Overall I am very impressed with the newest Ubuntu, and I think it is a pretty nice alternative to Linux Mint in its current state. With all of these upgrades I am curious to see what the next build of Mint will do to improve. I can say that going back to stock Ubuntu from Mint I do miss the Mint Menu. I can see everything in one area and not have to scroll all over the screen for one app; I had all my favorites within reach as well. The panel is nice and customizable, but not the same. I know I can install it in Ubuntu but I like the top and bottom panel view that is classic Ubuntu.

In other news, my wife is quite happy with her Isadora install, she hasn't used her Windows 7 for the time that she has had it installed. The only hiccup so far is that the Netflix compatibility issue. That remains my hangup as well – if I could easily update my Zune and play Netflix on my Linux builds I would have zero use for windows. Oh well, it wont be long for those features to come. I am contemplating replacing it with Ubuntu 10.10 regular or netbook remix but Mint's update scheduler is awesome for noobs... set it and forget it, it does all the important updates in the background – no muss no fuss.


I am still a bit distracted by the newest Halo game but this time I do have a couple links:

Follow me on twitter @bigrob029 http://twitter.com/bigrob029

Check out these guys here http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/

Consume some news here http://lxer.com/


Enjoy.