Five Quick Thoughts About Ubuntu's 'Hardy Heron'

So I've had a few days to play around with the new Ubuntu release, dubbed "Hardy Heron", since it dropped on Thursday.  If you're not familiar with Ubuntu, it's a distribution of Linux that's growing in popularity due to its focus on user-friendliness and intuitive functionality.  I've been more interested in it the more mature it gets, as it may well be the version of Linux that changes people's minds about what Linux can do for the average person.  Many think Hardy Heron is that version, as it adds even more out-of-the-box compatibility and support for hardware, and more free software that's actually useful.

I drank the Kool-Aid, as they say, and installed it on my Vista machine to compare the two.  These were some off-the-cuff first impressions:

1. The install was completely painless.  The install CD gives you the option to install Ubuntu within an existing Windows setup, install it alongside Windows in a self-creating partition, or replace it entirely.  If you're like me and know just enough about disk partitioning to be dangerous, you'll probably appreciate doing it in a couple of mouse clicks.
2. Ubuntu autodetected my new monitor's resolution flawlessly, starting up for the first time straight into 1680x1050, and the new Screen Resolution menu is easy to use.  However, the open-source driver Xorg doesn't like my ATI Radeon x1950 Pro very much, so I can't enable desktop effects out of the box.  Not good.
3. Except for that, so far all of my hardware has been supported with no configuration needed.  My Wacom tablet works as well as my iPhone (connected as a camera, as in Windows), and I was able to log on to my home network immediately. 
4. I'd hoped the included software selection would be a little more robust, but what's there is strong.  Media like movies and music were turnkey--I didn't have an MP3 codec installed when I tried to play an Alexi Murdoch song, so Totem asked me if I wanted to install one, then did within a few seconds, then started playing the song with visualization effects.  I still think any release that's meant to compete with OSes like Windows and OSX should support all common media types out of the box, but it was as simple as a single mouse-click to fix.
5. Overall I think this is a strong release.  I think it only lacks two things to be truly ready for prime time:  First, it desperately needs better ATI support, as there's no excuse for a competitive OS to not support virtually half the graphics card market.  Second, while the Synaptic Package Manager is a great way to grab and manage new software, there's some really dynamite feature-driven software out there such as Elisa Media Center and Amarok that, if included on install, could do more to sell potential users on both Ubuntu's functionality and 'Wow' factor.

--Aric A.

Comments

[cerement on April 27, 2008 at 01:03 PM]

> First, it desperately needs better ATI support,
> as there's no excuse for a competitive OS to not support
> virtually half the graphics card market.

You're confusing the cart with the horse. This is ATI's fault, not Ubuntu's fault. Ubuntu has done a remarkable for having any ATI support considering ATI's past record for both broken and missing Linux drivers. If you want better ATI support in Ubuntu, go yell at ATI, not Ubuntu.

[Aric A. on April 27, 2008 at 05:01 PM]

You're completely correct, but unfortunately the fact is that a lack of ATI support is going to delay wider adoption of Ubuntu no matter who the onus is on to fix it. I think that more mature Ubuntu gets the more it's possible ATI will be willing to support it--here's hoping ATI comes around sooner rather than later, though.

[Martin on September 29, 2008 at 06:44 PM]

I love how Ubuntu is considered a Vendor product like Apple (OSX) or Microsoft (Windows). Even though it isn't quite. Canonical may pay for developers to get stuff done to solve Bug #1; but the onus is still very much in the user's court when it comes to improving ATI drivers or whateverfeature(tm).

It's _your_ OS, you need to take responsibility for improving it. Either that or just pretend you bought it for $200 and give the money to a developer to do it in your place.

[Aric A. on September 30, 2008 at 09:50 AM]

If Ubuntu is pushing for market share, offering itself as a potential alternative to OS X and Vista, then it will be subject to the same kinds of public perception judgments, regardless of the technical realities. Yes, in Linux's case it's the user's responsibility to manage the setup--freedom and control is what Linux is about--but if you're trying to win users over with the "it just works" argument, telling someone they're going to have to build their own hardware drivers isn't going to gain many converts.

That said, Ubuntu's getting better all the time. I remember trying to get my laptop's Mobility Radeon chipset working under Dapper Drake...no easy task. Now installing fglrx is just a couple of clicks.

[Brady Merriweather on November 18, 2008 at 06:21 AM]

I fixed this DVD issue with 3 steps.

http://ubunite.com/content/view/83/2/

You can use the wow ubuntu forum page, but being outdated with the current release, and the average Joe will panic if they use those suggestions.

So using what is available, I came up with a solution. It works, might not be faster, but less tweaking at the terminal