Ubuntu 10.04 LTS: Lucid Lynx Benchmarked And Reviewed

[Guest]

i tried it. it is not good. lucid does not work with dual-link dvi (large 30 monitors at 2560x1600 that are used often in professional settings) the KMS is just poor in the 2.6.32 kernels. ick.

the buttons are a real problem. it makes no sense to move them with claims of fun new features for the right side _in a LTS release_. There are not supposed to be any fun new features for the product life cycle. and the mouse scroll bars for just about every app is on the right. so useablity is poor. menus left. window controls right. we have been doing this for ages. yes, the horse is dead.

the sounds themes never changed. i bet this theme issue was indeed a last minute thing. ick. very dead.

no feature that has 30% performance penalty should be enabled by default. canonical is not investing in improving the apps. where are internal benchmarks. where is release QA. it is good to see the whole push toward better experience with the themes, music store, social network components, and new apps. but it should have been virtually bug free.

lauchpad.net is slow. why.

server install with gui should not have any of the extra useability cruft. this is bad news.

no firewall enabled by default.

no way to manage system services.

the fast boot splash is wasted manpower because on very fast computers it shows for a few seconds. but the transitions from bios messages to splash to gdm/kdm are _not_ smooth. so the experience is ruined. barf.

yes i am pissed.

drop the non-LTS release all together. just have a rolling "ubuntu now" product. make the kernel ABI fixed ala redhat. get gnome/gtk kde/qt to fix the api. then make the shell fairly stable. all all use apps to be updated versions independent of OS release. stablity+security+speed should be hallmarks.

then you will get the prized OEMs.

integrate beloved microsoft products ala OSX. then you get enterprise.

use the opensuse style grub menu and bootsplash. use the yast style system config tools. dont every use garbage like pup and pirut. stick to apt.

make something innovative!

 

[Guest]

I upgraded my personal laptop from Karmic to Lucid, found it very smooth, and really liked the new interface. Ran it for a while, was convinced, upgraded my production machine from Hardy.

Discovered that there's been a bug in Ubuntu since Intrepid in the mga driver that disables dual-head support. This is a show stopper for me. I've applied a community patch, but now I have complete system lockups every time it gets confused about where the mouse is.

I'm very annoyed. This bug shouldn't have made it through 3 releases.

 

[Guest]

I agree with Apoq. I too have 10.04 and 7 64 on the same machine and I feel Ubuntu lacks snappiness. I'm cheering for Ubuntu and am overly satisfied with this distro.

 

[ubun2]

To move buttons to the right in the window bar http://www.ubun2.com/question/539/how_move_ubuntu_1004_window_minimize_maximize_close_buttons_right

 

[kristysnet]

I'm loving lucid on my laptop. Here are 2 things that have really polished it up for me: 1) http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Ambiance+%28Right%29?content=125070 is the default theme for lucid only with the buttons to the right of the title bar and 2) http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=125178 is a small python utility that allows you to select a folder full of pictures to make a dynamic wallpaper slideshow.

 

[JimLynch]

Excellent review, very detailed. I gave it a big thumbs up too in the review on my blog.

Ubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx)
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/2010/04/29/ubuntu-linux-10-04-lucid-lynx/

As good as Ubuntu is, I still think Linux Mint goes it one better. Mint takes an already great distro to another level. It's arguably the best distro for Linux newbies, though it does have the potential to spoil them.

Linux Mint 9
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/2010/05/18/linux-mint-9-isadora/

Jim Lynch
Desktop Linux Reviews
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com

 

[user 18]

[citation][nom]beriguu[/nom]My Logitech Wireless Wave keyboard and mouse didn't work with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop x64 on VMWare Workstation 7.01. It works in the beginning with text screen, but once it goes to GUI screen keyboard function is lost. ;_;[/citation]


I have the same problem with my older Dell keyboard - wired, but will not give text input at all. Might have something to do with running this release as a VM.

You can set the minimize, close and maximize buttons to the right again in gconf-editor. Browse to apps/metacity/general and edit button_layout to your likings.

Good to know. I want to keep all of my machines with similar basic features. Sounds minor, but as a new Linux user, I find that it's easier for me to keep things similar and change as I find something easier for me.

 

[Guest]

It is funny that GNOME is slowly adding features (killer features), mostly scavenged off KDE4. Makes me wonder if Canonical switches to KDE4 as the default, won't it make their job so much easier? Why duplicate when the original is free and available as well?
Please don't mention Kubuntu here. We all know what Kubuntu is and why it is *not* a KDE4-distribution worth a second glance.

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]KDE4Ubuntu[/nom]It is funny that GNOME is slowly adding features (killer features), mostly scavenged off KDE4. Makes me wonder if Canonical switches to KDE4 as the default, won't it make their job so much easier? [/citation]

I don't see why. If it is GNOME that is taking features from KDE, then it is GNOME developers who are doing the work.

[citation][nom]KDE4Ubuntu[/nom]We all know what Kubuntu is and why it is *not* a KDE4-distribution worth a second glance.[/citation]
We don't all know. I've never been able to work it out. But I'm not really a KDE fan as it is.

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]maartena[/nom]If you want to add more Linux users, you should not say "Look how much better 10.04 LTS is against 8.04 LTS", but "Look how much better 10.04 is against Windows 7"[/citation]
People who need benchmarks to convince them to take a look at Linux will probably not stay with it very long. These are the people who will wonder how to run a .exe and why they need to enter a password when Windows just lets them do things with no protection.

 

[micky_lund]

These are the reviews we've come to love, where they actually do some benchmarks, and just dont paraphrase someone else's news. Well Done Tom's

 

[Guest]

Uhh there is a huge problem with fakeraid, (onboard raid chips) and Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/parted/+bug/568050?comments=all

 

[jimslaid2]

I like it. If I only want to browse the web I use Ubuntu, Win7 has all the games I want to play, the media server set up, and everyone else I know will see me boot Linux and scratch their heads and say no if I try to get them to use it.

 

[Guest]

Linux Ubuntu is MILLION TIMES faster than Windows $erver.

http://gwan.ch/

 

[kneedragon]

You complain about the location of the window control buttons for a page and a half. It took me as long to read as it took me to fix. Google "ubuntu buttons back to the right" or any similar combination will give at least a dozen explanations of how to fix it. It does involve a few steps.

1. Alt + F2
2. type "gconf-editor" ; enter
3. select "apps" and expand the tree
4. select "metacity" and expand the tree
5. select "general", look to the right side window
6. select "button layout", right-click on it, select "edit key"
7. a new dialogue box opens with the existing contents highlighted, which look something like this
"close,minimize,maximize:" (no quotes)(note the position of the ':')
8. edit the string to look like this ":minimize,maximize,close" (no quotes) Note again the colon is now at the start.
9. click "ok" on the dialogue box to save changes. If you just exit, nothing changes.

Note - as I just discovered, if you change your theme, say to "radiance" as I just did, because you mentioned it, that will break your button fix, and you'll have to fix it again. Like anything, it's a complex pain in the bum the first time, but once you've done it a few times, it takes 20 sec or so.

 

[Guest]

Interesting review


I'd like to read it


But not if I have to


click to a new page


every 500 words

 

[Guest]

Impressive review. However I wish you had reviewed the beta release in the same manner. All the bugs that you had experienced would have been resolved in the final release, and benefit everybody else. That is what I do on my production machines on every beta release so that the final release experience doesn't suck for me.

Could we get a Linux Mint review? It is one of the most popular Linux distros now, and Isadora version 9 is finally out!!

 

[Guest]

nice article!
ubuntu becomes better and better and i can recommend it to anyone!
KDE and kubuntu is for me the best choice and if only you could see the magic of "different behavior in each desktop!"
Linux is so much better than windows!

 

[Guest]

I experienced similar keyboard/mouse issues as beriguu reported above - the root cause seems to be that previous versions (karmic) would automatically pair with any wireless keyboard/mouse combo it found in range. Lynx requires you to click on the bluetooth icon in the top right corner, click on the particular device, then click "connect" before it will accept input. Unfortunately, if you only have a wireless keyboard and mouse, you're painted into a corner. I couldn't work until I connected a wired mouse, used that to pair the keyboard and wireless mouse, and then all worked fine.

As far as the comment about playing back H.264/HD video with GPU acceleration, that's exactly what I use it for. I have multiple set-top boxes throughout the house, some on karmic, some on lynx, all running boxee. As long as you've got the NVidia drivers with VDPAU enabled (v.195 works fine, v.185 is missing the VDPAU binaries), you'll be fine. Mine plays back re-coded blue-ray 1080p video from a NAS via an SMB/CIFS share with no dropped frames or skippy audio and CPU usage is well < 15%. Karmic and Heron both had GPU Acceleration enabled on h264 with the Nvidia (non-libre) drivers, so there isn't any need to wait for that, it's been possible for many moons.

 

[sicofante]

Why on earth do you use a different colour assignment for the bars on the tests? At some, Lucid is the green one, at others it's the blue one. Is this just some typo-like error? It's too stupid otherwise...

 

[cold fire]

[citation][nom]beriguu[/nom]My Logitech Wireless Wave keyboard and mouse didn't work with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop x64 on VMWare Workstation 7.01. It works in the beginning with text screen, but once it goes to GUI screen keyboard function is lost. ;_;[/citation]

Strangely, I have a quite similar problem with my Microsoft wireless keyboard. It's not functional at the log on screen (I have to use the on-screen keyboard to type) but once I get to the desktop the keyboard becomes functional. I'm also using VMWare 7.

 

[someguy7]

There are many very simple and easy ways to put the window options back to the right. One is simply choose a theme with them on the right. Another way as somebody stated is with config editor. The other even simpler way is to install ubuntu tweak and do it from there. You can change it basically any you want in there with a simply GUI if you are not comfy doing it with the editor.

I really see this as a non issue. It is very easy to change. And something that most linux users will do right away. Changing themes/look/panels to ones liking is usually done basically right away on a fresh install.

 

[Guest]

With regard to installation on to a USB disk - I found this to be an incredibly easy, yet rather uninformed, process.

Upon installation, I simply chose the target as a USB thumbdrive (this meant specifying partitions manually) and set it to install GRUB onto the boot sector.

From here, Ubuntu additionally automatically set up a tempfs for the /tmp directory. This was great, because it's an oversight that many miss, but strange that they hadn't notified me in any way that they were configuring the system for USB install.

I also had issues with video cards, especially after I activated the proprietary fglrx driver for my ATI video card - X then refused to start on my laptop (which runs an intel embedded graphics system). This could probably be fixed with some hal configuration, however.

 

[WheelsOfConfusion]

I thought they took HAL out of this release?

 

[Guest]

Just wanted to point out an error in the article. The slideshows do not require images to put in a specific folder. All you need is the XML file pointing to the images (which can be located anywhere) that XML file can be dragged and dropped onto the Background selector. Admittedly this is not the best way to go about it and the process should be made easier, but it's not nearly as hard as you have made it out to be. I was able to write a script to automate this process in a few minutes and I'm sure other people have written better ones if you look for them.