Ubuntu 8.10 released

wolfman

It's out today folks. Been out since about 2pm.

There are a few new features. For me the main ones are:

- Network Manager 0.7 - which means being able to set a static ip address for your pc.
- Encrypted directory in your "home" folder. Handy for placing anything sensitive.
- Tabbed nautilus windows.

Annoyingly they didn't include OpenOffice 3.0.

mikegahan

Hi- I tried the previous version on my old lappie but could not get it to work. So I tried Linux mint instead and it worked great!

nephilim

ubuntu 8.10 works great, provided you do not have an ATI or NVidia card as they didnt include all the drivers in the update or the install package. So you have to wait until a patch comes out to use it if you have those cards.

Conor_3

If you need to browse network shares on a Windows computer, do not install this. It has been seriously broken since 8.04.
If you have a laptop, do not install this as there is a bug in the power management which kills laptop hard drives. Google laptop hard drive load cycle bug.

Vomityspice

I'm not sure what you are talking about?

Network sharing works (or at least it does in my configuration!). Most peope forget to include their Windows password so Samba won't work.

The bug in the power management has been fixed already (about a month ago!). See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5930536

fwor

Network shares also worked for me under 8.04, but it does behave a bit strangely... For example, I always have to reload the network file browser several times before I see anything. At first I thought it was just the network auto-discovery taking time to work, but it happens irrespective of how long all of the PCs have been on the network...

I have a suspicion it may be linked to the fact that the default samba configuration seems to contain the config data for a PC in an office block in Sweden, IIRC. So there may be a default timeout somewhere in there that's set wrong.

Whatever, I'm hoping that the Samba admin tools such as GSAMBAD are a bit more user friendly in 8.10 - I'll find out later today...

wolfman

mikegahan wrote: »

Hi- I tried the previous version on my old lappie but could not get it to work. So I tried Linux mint instead and it worked great!

Yep I use Mint too. It's Ubuntu, but changed to suit certain users. I just like it because most things come pre-installed such as codecs etc... Mint 6 is being worked on now, should be out soon.

nephilim wrote: »

ubuntu 8.10 works great, provided you do not have an ATI or NVidia card as they didnt include all the drivers in the update or the install package. So you have to wait until a patch comes out to use it if you have those cards.

??? The ATI and nvidia proprietry drivers aren't included by default. You have to download/install them. It can be done easily via the restricted drivers manager. This has always been the case.

The open source of both are included in a standard build. Different cards react in different ways to them. Newer cards are generally not supported.

I'll be installing it over the weekend so will be able to confirm.

Conor wrote: »

If you need to browse network shares on a Windows computer, do not install this. It has been seriously broken since 8.04.
If you have a laptop, do not install this as there is a bug in the power management which kills laptop hard drives. Google laptop hard drive load cycle bug.

I've never had any problems. At home, and also on our domain at work. That's with 8.04. I'm sure 8.10 will work too. It'll most likely be wrongly configured shares causing the problem.

The hard drive problem is still around I think. I don't know enough about it to comment though. I don't think it affects all laptops.

fwor

wolfman wrote: »

??? The ATI and nvidia proprietry drivers aren't included by default. You have to download/install them. It can be done easily via the restricted drivers manager. This has always been the case.

I'm glad to hear that! I've always used the restricted drivers manager for previous releases. As you say it's not a bug that needs patching. AFAIK it's because those manufacturers won't release drivers under GPL, so they can't be shipped within the standard package.

proxima_2

nephilim wrote: »

ubuntu 8.10 works great, provided you do not have an ATI or NVidia card as they didnt include all the drivers in the update or the install package. So you have to wait until a patch comes out to use it if you have those cards.

Well that rules out about 90% of the population then...

fwor

proxima wrote: »

Well that rules out about 90% of the population then...

Well it would do if it were correct. But according to wolfman it isn't correct.

In the past, the release has always been shipped with a generic driver - which typically works perfectly well unless you want to use fancy desktop effects such as wobbly windows or whatever. If you need the non-GPL driver, it's no big deal, and takes a few clicks and maybe a minute or so to do.

IIRC this only applies to a fresh install. If you do a distribution-upgrade you don't even need to do this - it sees that you already have the non-GPL drivers and simply installs an updated version.

Bob63

I am using 8.10 on my Macbook Pro under VirtualBox, a free virtualisation package that allows you to run multiple operating systems in a virtual environment on your computer. It is free and works on Windows, Linux & Mac. Superb software! I have Windows XP, Linux and Solaris all running as guest operating systems on my Mac.