KnowUbuntu

I took a little stroll with karmic today and I’m not talking about karma either. Karmic Koala (Ubuntu 9.10 release) is scheduled to be released next week so I thought I would download the release candidate live CD and take it for a little spin. In short, I was pleased though not surprised with the changes that were made (that I could see).

Following is a list of the features and changes (as well as my thoughts and opinions) that I noticed and have heard about so far.

• Ubuntu One – This feature looks very promising. If you know anything about Dropbox and like it, then you will most likely like Ubuntu One (man, that was a lot of likes). Coming pre-installed, Ubuntu One will allow registered (nothing too dangerous) users to automatically backup and store up to 2 GB of stuff in the cloud. Like Dropbox, Ubuntu One creates a folder in your home directory and everything that you put in it is automatically taken to the cloud and stored for you. If you have another Ubuntu system (I assume with Karmic) those files are accessible from there too. I don’t know all of the details about this, but rest assured, I will know all about this feature in the future because I have a feeling it will be one that I use a lot.
• Empathy not Pidgin for the default instant messaging client. To be honest at first this infuriated me. I have been using Pidgin for years and have had no problems with it. There are some nice plugins and other features that it has that I like in an instant messaging client. However, after playing around with the version of Empathy that is installed by default in Karmic, I have to say that it might be a good switch. Empathy is light weight, but has actually more capabilities than Pidgin. With video and audio support in Empathy, I have a feeling we will see GoogleTalk integration real soon.
• Firefox 3.5.3 is the default web browser. I tried several times in my Jaunty installations to get Firefox 3.5 installed and running without incident to little avail. I am just pleased that the new and improved Firefox made it in.
• Ubuntu Software Center - This is a new one for me. I hadn’t read or heard anything about this change before playing with it myself. The “Add/Remove” program that aids you in installing and removing software on your system in Jaunty has a new name, and has been severly made over. As a programmer I will probably still use the command line installation proceedures, but for the casual everyday user, this new software center will provide a nice interface for finding and easily installing new software. The interface was easy to use for exploring the repos.
• Overall Feeling I’m excited. In less then a week I will be installing the newly released Koala on my home system and begin again to customize it, which should provide for some more fresh material on this site! There are a few things that I hope will be in this release that I haven’t heard heads nor tails about. Will I be able to customize the notification theme that was introduced in Jaunty? I guess we will see. Stay tuned.