Myquestions

Ubuntu 9.04, the Jaunty Jackalope was officially released on April 23rd 2009, and had much to live up to. For starters, the impending release of Microsoft Windows 7 has users bashing Ubuntu’s stale default interface. But the complaints and requests have not fallen on deaf ears, as the Ubuntu developers have promised the best release yet. Will they live up to their word?

There just aren’t any good reviews for the final release of Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope. Most of the reviews turned up by Google are for the Alpha, Beta and release-candidate versions. Sure, the final release has only been available for just over 2 weeks. But, having had just over 2 weeks to test, I feel I’ve gathered enough information to provide an opinion, albeit somewhat subjective.

To begin with, there are a few visual differences in the new release. The first thing you’d notice is the new USplash theme; basically the Ubuntu logo and progress bar shown while the operating system loads. I happen to think it looks great. But some people have reported that the wrong resolution was used by default on their computers. Pity, but still something new that we can appreciate. At least the distribution isn’t stagnating.

The next thing you’ll notice on a fresh install is the new GDM login theme. It looks nice and sleek, borrowing from some of the older Debian GDM themes.

Once you’ve logged in, you’re presented with the familiar Gnome desktop presented in the orange Human theme. While the desktop widgets look good, I’ve never been keen on the orange, and it has never been possible to modify the default theme colours. I’ve always been slightly miffed that I had to load a third-party theme to get the look that I wanted. No more! The default Human theme now allows you to customise the colours (an option that was greyed out in previous versions). Great!

The notifications system has been changed system-wide. They are much less intrusive and far more cohesive. They don’t distract from important work, but succeed at drawing attention to newly received IMs, dropped or connected networks, low battery charge, or volume changes. And the darker colours fit well with the subtle changes that have been made to the distribution.

Aesthetics aside, the system has been rock solid. On my Acer Aspire One (AAO), it performs admirably. The slow write speeds of the 8GB Solid-State Drive don’t cause any significant irritation. And optimising the performance of the drive makes a massive difference!

On my AAO, with modest specs, even with Compiz Fusion (Linux desktop effects, similar to the Windows Aero Glass interface, but much more impressive) turned on, the system doesn’t stutter or lag. It’s smooth sailing.

The best part about all of this, of course, is that Ubuntu Linux is free to download, install and use. If you don’t have strange hardware, then the chances are good that Ubuntu will automatically detect all your devices. And with Linux’s power to customise anything and everything, you could even run it on a humble Pentium 1 – I did.