eXpert Zone was the first to announce the release of Ubuntu and Kubuntu Hoary 5.04. “Very fresh from the ubuntu-announce mailinglist: Ubuntu Hoary 5.04 has been released! Ubuntu Hoary 5.04 features Gnome 2.10, X.org 6.8.2, faster boot process, better power management, and much, much more. Read the release notes for the complete list, and download either the live CD or the install cd here, available for various architectures. In conjunction with this release, the Kubuntu team is proud to announce the first official release of Kubuntu Hoary 5.04, featuring KDE 3.4. Download Kubuntu here.”
Ubuntu Hoary 5.04 And Kubuntu Hoary 5.04 Released
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
You get two basic choices with Linux:
You can either download and install a totally free Linux distro, like Ubuntu or Fedora, and have to install and configure proprietary drivers and plug-ins youself (not a difficult task, actually).
Or you can purchase a packaged version of a Linux distro, like Mandrake, SuSE, Xandros, Linspire, or Lycoris, and get all the drivers and plugins installed and pre-configured by default, right out of the box. With this, you would also get lot’s of extra software pre-installed, as well as extra proprietary software (like Codeweavers CrossOver Office, or the Opera browser).
So it’s basically you get something completely for free and do the driver/plug-in installing and tweaking yourself, or you pay for the convenience of having it doen for you already. It’s that simple.
Because it’s finally a Debian based desktop oriented distro done right. Or at least done in the fashion that I’ve always believed a Debian derivative distro should be, which consists of two essential things:
1. It’s not a hybrid testing/unstable. I’ve been running hybrid stable/testing or testing/unstable installs of Debian going back to at least 2000, but I know how manually fix the problems which will inevitably arise. It’s wonderful and extremely useful that Debain allows you to track multiple repositories and mix-and-match packages from different branches, but the resulting system will always be somewhat brittle–unless the Debian policies which ultimately define the nature of each branch are radically changed–and is therefore a poor choice for the base of desktop oriented distro.
Those who don’t believe me can investigate for themselves the years worth of user problems on the mailing lists for Libranet, Knoppix, Mepis, and other hybrid distros. The initial installs can work just great, but users will eventually run into problems, sometimes catastrophic ones, when doing regular updates. This then effectively obviates one the greatest strengths of Debian, it’s extraordinary ease of updating and upgrading.
2. Ubuntu runs it’s own repositories. Debian unstable has been my preferred desktop distro for years, but it has a couple of drawbacks which make it unsuitable for use by general users. Yes, things will occasionally break, but my experience has been that when unstable breaks its usually minor and corrected very quickly. The real problem is the enormous amount of package churn. Unstable is being actively developed and it’s not uncommon for large collections of interrelated packages to recieve two, three, four, or more updates in a single week. If you’re doing a daily apt-get update on sid, it’s not at all unusually to find that you’ll be downloading and installing in excess of Gigabyte or more a week of packages.
Ubuntu solves this problem by freezing the unstable repositories every six months and then offering bug fixes for core packages. Not a perfect arrangement, but more than good enough for most purposes.
I think Ubuntu has a very bright future based solely on the above, which doesn’t even get into the large number of small adjustments it makes to sid in order to make it more appropriate for a general purpose desktop OS. Or even the adjustments made to the desktop environment itself. That’s all gravy.
I made the switch from unstable to Hoary a few eeks back, when Kubuntu issed its preview relase (sorry, but I’m just a KDE kinda guy) and I can’t see myself going back.
You can get eclipse at http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/index.php
Dunno about Kdevelop, sorry.
Is anyone else having problems downloading the dvd images from
http://cdimage.ubuntulinux.org/ or http://releases.ubuntu.com/
I’ve tried several times today using both bittorrent and direct links, but neither seem to be working.
I should probably wait to download the isos until the Ubuntu hype settles down. 😀
kdevelop3 is simply in the Ubuntu ‘main’ repository.
Last time I checked it out, it was in ‘universe’ and wasn’t supported. Like I said previously, the kdevelop assistant was crashing…
So it’s basically you get something completely for free and do the driver/plug-in installing and tweaking yourself, or you pay for the convenience of having it doen for you already. It’s that simple.
What about Arch/Gentoo’s “get something completely for free with some convenience”? To my knowledge, Portage will soon have an Accept Licence option. Of course, you have to type a command but it’s already better than compiling the damn module yourself (ipw2200 + Debian), excluding support for some plugins (mp3) or not even making it available at all (Java + Debian/Ubuntu).
I still prefer Ubuntu over most distros, but the policies are not convenient. Even if they shouldn’t come with the default distribution, they should make it easy to install such addons. For instance, they could add MP3 support as a download-from-the-Internet option during install. That way, they could provide us with the packages we want while covering their asses (since they are not including the packages on their medias).
use torrents instead of direct links.
So I keep hearing that Ubuntu is easy to use. How is it easy? What makes it easy from say Mandrake, Mepis, Linspire and Xandros? Don’t tell me because you can download & update from the repositories.
I’m talking about ease of use and configuring. (And no, command line configs isn’t easy for the average user)
this is where i read how to turn off ubuntus “special” spatial mode:
http://koke.amedias.org/
On the stupidity scale, this ranks with Mandrake’s new name change to Mandriva.
What is up with the new default desktop background for Ubuntu?
Seriously, it looks like diarrhea. Absolutely horrible.
See for yourselves:
http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=305&slide=2…
When I look at it the only thing that comes to mind is diarrhea.
Some Linux distros are absolutely clueless when it comes to marketing and/or packaging.
First Mandrake changes it’s name to something that sounds like a transvestite, the Ubuntu gets a default desktop background that looks like diarrhea.
What are these people thinking?
It is FUG. Funny you mentioned that because when my girlfriend came into the room she said what is that shit? haha
And I agree that in terms of marketing or beautifying something, they don’t do so well. They need to employ people that have a clue.
The thing is, that it just works. It puzzles me that so many people are asking for more GUI tools, when the ideal situation would be, that you don’t even need them!
For me this is the case with Ubuntu and obviously it just works for many other people, too. Hopefully many distributions will be inspired by this in the future. Simplicity can be very enjoyable.
JeffS: What certain names sound like to you and what certain pictures look like to you probably tells more about your own personality than anything.
Just installed the new Ubuntu 5.04 hoary on my machine and the resolution is stuck at 640×480 and 60hz. I did NOT have this problem when trying out the 5.04 RC live cd. Linux for humans? They can’t even get Xorg setup right.
Sony Trinitron Multiscan G400
Nvidia Geforce 3 Ti200
Never had such a problem on the numerous linux distros i’ve tried over the years. A quick look around the forums suggests that this problem has been around for a while.
Back to a linux distro that can actually do basic setup correctly.
I don’t like it either, but it’s not that bad. It looks like I’m staring down into a glass of Coke, staring at the fizz bubble up.
does any one know if the amd64 version works dependably yet?
I’m running Hoary and I’ve never seen that background before I looked at the link. Hurray for System->Preferences->Desktop Background and updates.
Michael
Yep – that is pretty damn fugly. I actually like human though – the autumn colors are very easy on the eyes. I spend all damn day looking at monitors, so I really notice this.
As far as ease of use goes, I’m not sure it’s really there yet. It is a great distro, but there is still a great deal of tinkering to do before it works as a well functioning desktop. I have to do far less fart-assing around with, say, fc3 than I do ubuntu to have things *really* just work. That being said, I think I’ll have at least one ubuntu box for quite a while to come — it is just so damn sweet once it gets tuned.
“JeffS: What certain names sound like to you and what certain pictures look like to you probably tells more about your own personality than anything.
“
I guess my mind’s in the gutter. 😉
Im assuming you didnt try to add more resolutions to your xorg.conf file, the same way you would with any distro? theres alwas dpkg –configure xserver-xorg as well, which works better than any xorg.conf frontend I have used so far.
ubuntu is very new, and still requires you to have basic knowledge on how to set up linux to get around some of its remaining warts.
Joe Sixpack doesn’t care or even know about OGG, so it becomes irrelevent. If people want Linux to enter the mainstream, programers are going to have to loose the whole ‘free speech’ bullshit and tailor distros for the masses.
Also, how the hell is one supposed to know that “gstreamer” = MP3 support?
gstreamer isnt mp3 support, it is similar to directx in windows (similar, but not quite). anyone with the iq above that of a doorknob would google for mp3 support, or at least check the official documentation. someone with the iq above that of a chimp would search for mp3 in the package manager.
and joe sixpack shouldnt be using windows, let alone linux. ive said it before, and ill say it again, to bring linux down to the lowest common denomenator will totally kill the power of the os. if you dont like it, then dont use it. if you cant use it, then dont use it because it wasnt made for you. i dont think a useful metric to judge the value of an operating system, especially one designed for server use, is how well joe sixpack can use it. something far more useful would be to look at what joe guru could do with it.
also, without external plugins which usually require a Internet connection, with Windows you will not be able to:
QuickTime trailers
Flash animations
Visit chats pages, since Java is not included
view VCD’s or DVDs
download torrent files
burn an iso (XP burns audio with Media 9, and Data CD directly, but no iso support)
and if you lost your modem/lan driver disk or do not know you’ll need those above, you are in serious trouble.
So please stop bitching about Linux. Nothing is perfect, even Windows
and we can add:
No acrobat support
No pop up blocker included
IM app limited to just one network… THEIRS
no chat application
As a side note:
XP is so advanced and so GUI oriented that notepad is the tool to edit menu.ini, and the best overall tool for making changes is regedit which is not very GUI oriented BTW.
What have you been smoking? I find that background quite easy one eyes and professional with it’s feel of depth. It’s just the brown color that makes it feel like “shit”. Look how it looks when saturated with blue tones:
http://www.amiroff.com/drafts/28.png
It’s just ten times better than any wallpaper Mandrake, Xandros and Fedora had offered in the past.
Peace…
Who cares if Mp3 support is not included. sure the average joe user…. but teach the average joe user to choose FLAC or the less good option OGG.
I don’t use Ubuntu myself but we really have to put an end to this technology hazzle with Mp3s and media. Use the free stuff which is patent free and make sure you support HW makers who support the free stuff (Such as Rio or Phatbox in this case).
It’s time to really put the hard stuff against the hard stuff in this patent debate and all that crap. VLC just got serious problems because of patents… stop using lousy formats.
change all of the ubuntu gnome theme to something that isn’t brown? I managed to get my background and window theme looking nice, aswell as the login screen, but I can’t seem to get the splash screen to have the same background, and also the splash image itself is still the default brown on. How can i fix this?
And I prefer brown to blue… I cannot see blue wall paper any longer, people here tends to think everythink must be blue …
Nice, that it’s allays possible to change the background:).
(I still don’t understand all the buzz people are doing because of a default background…)
To all you retards saying “I just installed Ubuntu and it wouldn’t do X, Y or Z for me!!!!!” just shut up. Ubuntu IS NOT Mandrake or Fedora, it isn’t meant to hold your hand through everything, Ubuntu is a Desktop for Debian. I like Debian, I want a Desktop, hey, guess what distro I use?
Ubuntu is more of a mid-way, It’s a great Desktop-Distro but it leaves some power of configuration in the hands of the user. This is perfect for me. I don’t want to spend a month setting up a Gentoo box; I don’t want Mandrake setting everything up for me, I want a basic install of the most common things I’ll need, and from there I’ll go my own road and install and setup everything to my liking.
If you’re completely new to Linux, I think you’ll find Mandrake/SuSE/Fedora far more comfortable, with vast, well-established communities with which to gain help & advice.
I don’t want to spend a month setting up a Gentoo box;
A bit exagerated don’t you think?The basic apps Ubuntu gives after an initial install doesn’t take me more than 5 hours on Gentoo.Which is significantly less than the time spent actually using the OS.
“What have you been smoking? I find that background quite easy one eyes and professional with it’s feel of depth. It’s just the brown color that makes it feel like “shit”. Look how it looks when saturated with blue tones:
http://www.amiroff.com/drafts/28.png
It’s just ten times better than any wallpaper Mandrake, Xandros and Fedora had offered in the past.
Peace…”
To each his own, I guess.
I don’t mind brown at all. I have Warty installed on one of my partitions. I already mentioned that I liked the “Human” theme that comes with Ubuntu. It’s just this particular default background with Hoary, which has the bubbles and swirls and different shades of brown, and it causes the inescapable image of …. diarrhea – JMHO.
Also, my posts mentioning this are mostly meant to be silly and get a rise out people. 🙂 But the background still looks like diarrhea to me. 😉
Anyway, I also fully realize it’s brain dead easy to change the background and/or theme. No big deal.
But you know how the saying goes – “You never get second chance at a first impression”.
I’m afraid that people trying this fine distro out for the first time are going to boot into their nice, new Gnome desktop environment, and be greeted with …. diarrhea. Not a good first impression.
I’ve downloaded Kubuntu – dayly current from their site
twice but it did not install . Actually I did download the ISOs in 2 days .I did not succeed to install the ISO I’ve finished downloading yesterday . And it seems to be the final release from the 07.04.2005 . I checked the md5sum and it was different . Is there something wrong if I start download the ISO today and finish downloading it tomorrow ? I assume this was the issue .
Nevertheless I’ll try the next stable release of Kubuntu . For now I’ll stick with Ubuntu and Slackware .
Can’t wait to update Ubuntu .
[i]and joe sixpack shouldnt be using windows, let alone linux. ive said it before, and ill say it again, to bring linux down to the lowest common denomenator will totally kill the power of the os.[i]<p>That explains all the problems I’ve had with Xandros.
In the other release if you use the middle button you close the parent folder, in this release if you click the middle button on a folder, the windows will not be closed, I like the idea!
does any one know if the amd64 version works dependably yet?
Ubuntu no,it’s rather slow and quite a few apps are now and than painting itself or don’t run at all.
I would recomment RHEL 4.0 or the non propietary distro CentOS based on RHEL 4.0. ( If i may say so the windows2003 of Linux distros).
You’re always welcome to buy a linux distro that has it included. Besides, once you learn how to install software under Debian based linux distros, your bitching will be toward Windows and OSX instead.
If you don’t have something, just apt-get it. In a sense, since it is so easy to install just about anything that way, you could say that it is included. You have thousands of programs you will never have time to look at sitting on the mirrors out there. You are going to want to upgrade your software or install new software at some point anyway, might as well start learning. Unless you pay for it, you have no reason to consider a linux distro a product that should or shouldn’t include something. Find out what you need and install it, simple as that. There are tons of programs to choose from.
What does come with (K)Ubuntu for mp3s? Doesn’t xmms, juk, amarok, or noatun come with it? I’m so used to adding software after an install, I forget what is there by default.