I always enjoy it when a new version of an operating system hits the streets. I like moving through all the new features, finding out what was included and what was left out and generally enjoying myself for a few hours just looking around. But then, I’m a geek. I know not a ton of other people share this passion.
Even if you’re not as passionate about new operating systems as I am, if you’re at all a Linux fan you should be excited about the latest Ubuntu release. Why? Because it’s going to fix one of the four major issues keeping Linux off desktops.
In short, here’s my major beefs with my favorite operating system.
- No way to configure X.org without hacking a text configuration file.
- Lack of modern games developed for Linux.
- Lack of minty, fresh off the shelf drivers for all the latest video cards.
- Inability to purchase bare metal machines without paying the Microsoft Tax. (Starting with Dell however, this may be going away fast).
Notice that three of them are interrelated? Graphics, graphics, graphics. This is the major blockade that’s keeping Linux from moving more swiftly on to the desktop. Thankfully with the new X.org (7.3) which will begin to make appearances in Gutsy (7.10) will go a long way towards fixing this issue.
Not only does X.org 7.3 have much better monitor autodetection, come with a new Intel driver and have RandR support (think output hotplug – or fast switching of monitors or output devices) but it will also jive with BulletProofX and DisplayConfigGTK.
So what the heck are those things? BulletProofX is an attempt to have Ubuntu always boot into a graphical environment, even if the xorg.conf file is bad. Think of it as a failsafe mode. From this 800×600 or 600×400 screen you can use DisplayConfigGTK to configure a new xorg.conf file.
And what’s so special about DisplayConfigGTK? It’s a graphical way to adjust your display! Not only does that rhyme, but it’s bringing Linux in line with every other major operating system out there. You can now adjust your display settings, set up a dual-monitor system or have several display profiles and you can do it all graphically. Finally!
All of this is new stuff, and it may not all make it into Ubuntu 7.10, as many aspects are fairly modular but it’s a damned good start.
Hats off to all the folks who are working on these projects, from the X.org folks to the Ubuntu developers to the Janes and Joes like you and I who test the Alpha and Beta releases and provide bug reports. This is a huge step forward and we should all be proud.
Technorati Tags: ubuntu, 7.10, gutsy gibbon, xorg, x.org, dual monitors, Linux, bulletproof X
June 28th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Games are the only thing keeping me from Linux. And don’t say ‘Cenega!’ or ‘Wine!’. I want native games, without a subscription to make them (maybe) work.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Frozen Bubble!
er…
June 28th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Actually, Cedega is pretty good and it is completely optional to pay for subscription. Pay $5 for one month, download the current version and stop paying. That’s that. You only need to pay for updates. This is not very good for the TransGaming, but still. And the native argument is a little skewered. You ARE running natively on linux. Wine (and Cedega) is a just a bunch of libraries and API redirectors. So, running a windows program under Wine is fairly close to running a Gnome program under GTK
Wine doesn’t emulate anything all it does is provide win32 API calls.
June 28th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Well, come on! is Ubuntu alone so capable??. Please don’t mix things.
Ubuntu won’t be the first to include some way to configure X.org without having to hack the file by hand. Let’s say that has been out for a loooong time ago: think of Yast in opensuse with which you can modify practically everything without having to hack anything by hand (and this includes from X.org to window manager preferencies)
Gaming thanks to Ubuntu?. Well, is that Ubuntu or the whole Linux community?.
oh, finally!. Thank to God the Ubuntu guys have done it! modify a resolution display graphically!, wow, for Ubuntu users that’s all an advance but not for other Linux users. Every time I tried Ubuntu I had to hack the X.org file to change the resolution, and I have a Philips monitor, which are very common) and this sucks. Ubuntu has a long way to walk to achive the quality of system configuration tools that distros like Fedora and Opensuse, even Mandriva have.
Anyway, good for you, Ubuntu boyz!.
June 28th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
“Ubuntu won’t be the first to include some way to configure X.org without having to hack the file by hand. Let’s say that has been out for a loooong time ago: think of Yast in opensuse with which you can modify practically everything without having to hack anything by hand (and this includes from X.org to window manager preferencies)”
Suse/Red Hat should have contributed their changes upstream. Because ubuntu is, that way all distros benefit.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Dmitry
True, i could pay once, and use Cedega. But the problem is, not all games are supported, and it’s hit or miss if one will work or not.
I want to be able to goto amazon or a brick and mortar store, purchase a game, and bring it home and play it on Linux. No Cedega, no DirectX emulation, nothing. Native Linux game.
I’ll take a bold developer to do this, but I think the market is just too small.
And Im waaay to lazy to dual-boot
June 29th, 2007 at 6:37 am
Just look at games coming out. Since Quake THREE many of the killer titles are developed with linux in mind.
Microsoft know this, and force developers in two ways to make Vista only (directx 10 only) games:
1) grab a slice of the console market, use as leverage (dead xboxes anyone?)
2) line the palms of companies willing to sell their soul to be ‘vista only’.
Don’t upgrade to vista, don’t by xbox, don’t sponsor Microsoft’s intent on keeping gaming under their control.
Linux gaming will flourish.
Today, not a games player anymore, but the odd time I do play it is a quirky flash game online… ergo, for most things, Linux is a nobrainer.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:18 am
1. “No way to configure X.org without hacking a text configuration file.”
Actually in Ubuntu 7.04 (maybe earlier too), there is a Screen Resolution tool, which allows you to graphically change the screen resolution.
2. “No way to configure X.org without hacking a text configuration file.”
Partly yes. But there is Doom 3, Quake 4, etc for Linux.
3. “Lack of minty, fresh off the shelf drivers for all the latest video cards.”
I believe NVIDIA has pretty decent device drivers? (Unfortunately, they’re closed source though)
4. That is why I built my own machine, cheaper and more options to configure the specs and choice of components.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Now if they can only fix all of those wireless driver issues that were introduced with feisty (yes, introduced. They were working fine in the previous version.). I use ubuntu over fedora solely for the apt packaging system. If Fedora didn’t use the bulky and slow yum system I’d switch back in a heartbeat. But I digress, when you upgrade an OS it should be an improvement not a step backwards as ubuntu 7.04 was. It will be interesting to see if the next version breaks even more mobile functionality or not.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:45 am
I use Envy for easy video card configuration. It autodetects my nVidia (or ATI) card and keeps it updated. Automatically. It’s very slick, and ought to be the first thing you install on Ubuntu.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Minimum Cedega subscription is 3 months, so the cheapest you can get out is $15. It works, but never for enough of the games I want, though the latest isn’t half bad.
ID Software, Epic Games, Croteam, and a few others publish their games on linux. The big ones like the Microsoft owned studios, EA Games, etc don’t.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:18 am
you can download cedega off any major torrent site, i’ve tried it out thinking if it worked well I might buy it…. but cedega is far from mature and if you’re a serious gamer it’s really not for you. In DOD:S i get about 120fps on windows and 60fps w\ cedega, as well being forced to use directx8. Which one would you pick? It’s a pretty obvious and it’s the reason I still have a nasty 10gb windows gaming partition.
As for the topic though. I’m glad to see ubuntu is continuing to mature I’ve been a long time ubuntu supporter and I’m very impressed with what ubuntu has done in the last year.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Games aren’t the issue - there are many other ways to deal with that jones. The real issue is iTunes. There are lots of non-gamers who could get along fine with Ubuntu if they could just run that one killer app.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:41 am
I agree with cavtroop.
The lack of mainstream game support is the ONLY thing keeping me away from Linux.
Come on game companies, give Linux a chance.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Ubuntu still has a far way to go and with this development, they should be more than a few steps closer to where they want this OS to be.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
It’s still my opinion that gaming (and everything that has to do with gaming) will be the be all end all of desktop adoption.
The ability to go to Best Buy, purchase a new game, go home and play it is what drives the majority of home use PC sales.
Other apps (like iTunes mentioned above) certainly may have an effect as well, but it won’t be as great as gaming.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
All respect to your opinion:
“The ability to go to Best Buy, purchase a new game, go home and play it is what drives the majority of home use PC sales.”
But gaming is far from the greatest driver of PC purchases. Did you buy your last computer at Best Buy? I built my own with gaming in mind. Those of us who are hardcore gamers are a minority (despite our seeming prevalence on this thread). The vast majority of COMPUTERS that roll out of Best Buy and its competitors go to moms and dads who could care less about games, but they AND their kids all have their own iPods. These sorts of people buy consoles for their kids to play games on, not PCs.
I’m not denying that the expansion of capabilities associated with gaming will benefit the entire linux platform, but it isn’t gaming that keeps those millions of crappy Compaqs rolling out of Best Buy. Until people can get ALL their important apps on the desktop (and you try to tell any iPod owner iTunes isn’t important), mom and dad won’t be buying an Ubuntu box from anyone.
June 29th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Hi Barbeerian,
And all respect to you - discussions like this are great, IMHO.
I didn’t buy my last computer from Best Buy, but I did buy my last computer game, which is what I was talking about.
My neighbors are not hardcore gamers. Mom’s a nurse, and Dad works for a WiFi company. They will only, ever buy Windows PCs. Why? Because they have an 11 year old son who enjoys gaming, and it’s rubbed off on Mom and Dad as well.
I agree that the more apps adopted, the more likely an Ubuntu box purchase is - but I think if tomorrow, if 75% of the games available on Windows suddenly rain natively on Ubuntu (and I was a billionaire with a better body while we’re wishing) you’d see sales shoot up. Why pay the Windows tax, or pay for OSX when you could game on a free system?
I’m not basing my opinion on me or my geeky friends, but on the large number of folks I know through family or friends, whom I end up doing consulting work for. They’ve all go Windows machines (with a scattering of Macs) and anyone even remotely into gaming wouldn’t consider a platform that doesn’t have the ability to run their favorites.
Having said that, I’d put iTunes 2nd on my list, right after “All Games”.
AG
June 29th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Linux is the best operating system ever. I like Ubuntu best
June 29th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
except iTunes isnt a “killer app”.
what about Rhythmbox? what about AmaroK? IMO they are much more functional and i _do not_ like advertisements for the iTunes store underneath my library!!
June 29th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I would also like to point out that choosing any of the major distros is a win-win situation. I encourage people to try several. With virtualization and live versions freely available there’s no reason not to. I switched to kubuntu because of its excellent packaging system and extensive repositories. Yum, urpmi and others are getting better, but apt is uber smooth.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
So tell what is so excited about Ubuntu. I see nothing what another distros not have, or can’t.
I am using Arch Linux.
Arch has a simpler foundation than Ubuntu. If you like to compile your own kernels, try out bleeding edge CVS-only projects, or build a program from source every once in a while, Arch is better suited. If you want to get up and running quickly and not fiddle around with the guts of the system, Ubuntu is better suited. In general, developers and tinkerers will probably like Arch better than Ubuntu.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I not sure what the big deal about iTunes is. If you have an iPod then I guess it’s OK, but there are loads of things that work with iPods now (like Rythmbox for one). If it’s the shinyness that you want then check out Songbird, from the Firefox and Thunderbird house. OK, so Songbird doesn’t have the iTunes store, but it’s better than that. Imagine iTunes without the store, but with the rest of the internet instead.
On the actual subject of the debate, I’ve tried a whole bunch of Linuxes on a range of platforms and I like Ubuntu best. I can’t wait for 7.10
June 29th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I,m happy to see ubuntu moving forward at such a fast pace! Hopefully all of this will be pushed upstream so linux as a whole can benefit from it instead of just one distribution,which seems to have been the case in the past.
best wishes to ubuntu, Simply Mepis & all others not listed!
Together we stand divided we fall!
June 29th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
My husband and I love Simply Mepis ,Ubuntu@SuSe not to mention a few others ,we are both happy about Ubuntu’s breakthrough -Go UBUNTU!-GO-LINUX!
Please check this out http.www. askreamaor.com/linux-and-unix/things-were-tired -of-hearing-from-linux-users and the follow up things we are tired of hearing from windows users!He tried very hard to defend linux but 6 to 1 odds suck,not to the fact that he is teaching himself ,its not like we have the money to go to school
we are farmers !
June 29th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi.
Oh yeah… WIFI !!!
I’ve seen lots of my Windows savvy friends just give up when they are faced with the ndiswrapper game.
Wifi should be at the top of your list with video cards.
Im sorry but lack of games is NOT a Linux problem.
It is a problem for Linux users but not a problem with the OS.
WiFi IS A HUGE problem.
WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi, WiFi.
June 30th, 2007 at 12:28 am
I concur with those who say that none of this is Ubuntu specific and much of it is old news for other distros.
For #5, Mandriva’s configuration tools - including XFdrake, the X.org configuration tool - have _always_ been GPL and available for anyone else who wanted to use them. SUSE’s config tools have been GPL for a while now too, at least a year IIRC.
The modesetting Intel driver is available as an experimental option in Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring, released back in April. Details on installing and enabling it are at http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Releases/Mandriva/2007.1/Experimental_Intel_driver . So, welcome to the party Ubuntu, but you sure ain’t the host. =)
–
Adam Williamson, Mandriva
July 1st, 2007 at 9:50 am
The things the blogger said about seems good to me and will bring on some help, but there is more we need in the bag
July 2nd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I think all distros are great but some are greater than others…my favorite at the moment is BLAG…OH ! and I have Ubuntu 6.06 in my collection fully updated and in use…
July 5th, 2007 at 10:12 am
The only thing keeping my wife from switching to Linux is iTunes, as someone else stated. The iPod compatibility is marginal at best, but it’s impossible to run iTunes. As far as gaming goes, though, THAT is definitely the major roadblock for most people.
July 7th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I’ve seen iTunes mentioned on here several times. First, having used iTunes before, I’ve concluded that it’s a piece of crap. Apple keeps changing the terms *AFTER* you’ve signed up and paid your money for your music. Not cool.
You want lots of cool music? Without those problems? No prob, just head on over to The Pirate Bay with your BitTorrent client and get busy. All the music there is in either MP3 or Ogg Vorbis format. Yeah, yeah, I know, but you break the speed limit, too, don’t you? 5-10 miles over (or more of you’re in Cali)?
So, since you don’t need iTunes to get good music, what do you need Apple’s (iTunes-only) iPod for? I sold my iPod on eBay a while back and got a *real* media player, one that can handle both MP3 and Ogg Vorbis. Works great, goes w/ me wherever I go jogging or cycling. And works great w/ Linux, too (I use Ubuntu). I just plug it into my USB port, drag ‘n’ drop whatever tunes I want over to it, and boom, done. No fuss, no muss.
Linux rocks so much. It lets me do whatever I want and doesn’t get in my way. I can’t imagine ever going back.
July 9th, 2007 at 12:04 am
1. No way to configure X.org without hacking a text configuration file.
2. Lack of modern games developed for Linux.
3. Lack of minty, fresh off the shelf drivers for all the latest video cards.
4. Inability to purchase bare metal machines without paying the Microsoft Tax. (Starting with Dell however, this may be going away fast).
1. Well, duh, it’d be a huge waste to write a gui for something that takes about 10 seconds to edit. And how often do you have to edit xorg?
2. So learn C/C++ and write some games.
3. So learn C/C++ and write some drivers.
4. Do you live under a rock? If there isn’t a computer store near you that sells bare bones PC’s., I know there are online stores that do.
Linux is open source, if you don’t like something, simply change it. You have access to the entire world via the internet. Learn a programming language, grab the sources and start fixing the things you’re complaining about.
My biggest complaint is people like you who sit around and complain instead of solving problems.
jS
July 9th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Ubuntu does have a 9.37 (and comes second after Zenwalk?!?) on ITerating so it must be one of the most popular distro now
July 16th, 2007 at 7:09 am
What’s all this rubbish about iPod and Ubuntu?
I have the latest generation iPod, and guess what? Works perfectly.
My music comes from CDs, the occasional download and it all sits in Ubuntu’s default Music Player ‘Rhythmbox’ brilliantly.
iTunes only iPod? No such thing. Even this new iPod works out of the box on Ubuntu - I can transfer music, playlists, even videos through drag and drop.
My iPod can do photos too. So I clicked Applications->Add/Remove and searched. Up comes GPixPod, two more clicks and a password later it’s installed and I can manage my iPod’s photos. This little app still needs some improvement with UI, but its works just fine.
I play games on an old xbox.. not much of a gamer, so not much of an issue. Ubuntu’s been installed for about 2 years, Windows hasnt been loaded since sometime February 07 (to play Counter Strike Source!) so games are an issue.
When there are more Linux users, there will be a greater demand, and then games will come.
Btw, games developers aren’t too happy with DirectX 10.. so go look up OpenAL. If they start using this library, games could run native on Windows or Linux (or more!)