Ubuntu 10.04 – Week Two

Apr 19

wstearnsTechnology , 1 Comment

Week two is going well with Ubuntu 10.04.  It appears for the most part to be a finished product.  The whole “close, min, max” buttons on the left feel proper now, so much for that debate going on over the theme changes.  I’m going to list out my likes and dislikes in this post, so stick with me.

Likes:

  • Boot up time – It’s incredibly fast to get to the login screen and then to the desktop.  Makes Windows and Mac feel painfully slow.  Can’t imagine how fast it would be on an SSD.
  • Stability – Even with so many packages changing leading up to release, it really amazes me how stable the overall platform is.
  • Drivers – Wow, everything works.  I’ve always had good luck with my hardware being supported, but this time everything works like a dream.  This includes one that I thought would not work at all, my Microsoft VX-5000 webcam/microphone.
    Webcam Snapshot of Moi

    Webcam Snapshot of Moi

  • Skype – With the previously mentioned driver goodness, Skype works excellently with proper echo handling.
  • Scanner Support – Something that I lost with Windows 7, the ability to use my old HP ScanJet 3300C for expense reports and other scanning needs.  Again, it just works.
  • Software – Endless supply of software, plus new stuff that I haven’t been able to get to work in Windows due to term issues…bpython!
    bpython

    bpython

Dislikes:

  • Chrome 5.0.342.9 beta – Ok, I love Chrome and still use it even though it’s in my dislikes.  Only reason why I mention it is that I can’t sync my bookmarks with my other Chrome.  Very annoying, and a known bug unfixed as far as the package repository shows.
  • Flash – Love it or hate it, a lot of good content is only delivered with it.  I mention my issues before with it, and for the most part it works.  Maybe I should just hate the poor implementations on the remote sites (i.e. Hulu, Netflix, etc.)?
  • DVD Playback – Maybe I haven’t gotten the right set of drivers or the right version of VLC, but I had “Up in the Air” at home from Netflix and I couldn’t get it to play no matter what.  So, that’s something for me to figure out, but it should just work.

So, there isn’t much to dislike as far as I’m concerned.  Next post I’ll try to touch on some tweaks, if any, that I’ve done to my setup.

Ubuntu 10.04 second impressions

Apr 13

wstearnsTechnology , 1 Comment

I would have posted first impressions, but this is my second installations and I’m too lazy at times to post anything longer than 140 characters.

I have Ubuntu 10.04 beta 64bit installed on my Core 2 Duo desktop machine that duals as a Windows 7 64bit machine.  The installation process works as any of the previous Ubuntu installations, so I won’t bore this post with that.  Things that I have noticed with this release is that the boot time appears to be extremely quick, probably a hair faster than Windows 7 getting to the login prompt.  However, it does take more time once you login to get to the desktop than my Windows 7 installation.

The new theme is pretty nice, I’ve always preferred the dark themes anyways.  My personal favorite was from default UbuntuStudio installation.  Here’s a snapshot of my desktop, click to see full size.

My Ubuntu Desktop

My Ubuntu Desktop

Gwibber social client is pretty neat.  I’ve been a big fan of Tweetdeck for sometime, but I think this one may win me over.  Will have to get my hacking hat on and get a build for Windows going, so I can have the same client on all the machine installations.  Google Chrome works well.  ActiveState Komodo Edit works well.  Adobe Flash 10.0 r45 works ok, although I see some issues at times with videos playing while advertisements are on the same page and Hulu doesn’t want to work.  HBOGO works fine with this 64bit flash and Chrome, so looks like Hulu might be doing something odd with this flash video player.

As for the real reason for my second impressions, I did have some issues the first time I installed the OS.  For some reason it was taken an extraordinarily long time for my USB keyboard and mouse to become active, however I discovered it was the motherboard causing it.  I did notice, at times, a lag in Windows 7 for the same issue.  But, a reinstall didn’t take anytime.

Time to get some more coffee and prepare to begin the work that pays the bills.