Ubuntu Next 8.10

Interesting Improvements in GNOME 2.24 and Ubuntu 8.10

I have finished writing my review of GNOME 2.24 and Ubuntu 8.10. Direct link:

http://bizarrelinux.blogspot.com/2008/11/improvements-in-gnome-224-and-ubuntu_05.html

Warning

This blog is dead and it's been several weeks since any of these posts have been updated. I will post a review of Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex on my other blog--I have written it already, just need to upload the images.

http://bizarrelinux.blogspot.com/

News for 8.10 and News From Me

Here are some news I'd like to share with you today.

http://ubuntunextnews.blogspot.com/ gone. It was gay. I'll post news here.

With the 23th rapidly approaching, the all of Ubuntu repos are now officially frozen. Messages can be found here and here (follow-up of the first). All packages must go through special acceptance test by the release team and must be critical bug-fixes. Well that ends it for OpenOffice.org 3.0. :)

I don't think I will have the time to create and maintain this same type of a blog for 9.04 Jaunty. I am sorry. That was the summer, when everyone had nothing to do. Not anymore.

To satisfy my Linux interests, I have created yet another blog. Here is the link: http://bizarrelinux.blogspot.com/ You can tell by the name. It's not a feature compilation blog. It's, well, just another Linux blog. Bigger readable fonts, and more interesting stories I'm about to add.

I was asked why I haven't updated my blog with "Last successful boot" (which by the way is disabled in the latest Ubuntu because it was causing problems and didn't work at all) or about Catalyst, and most importantly, X.Org 7.4. I do not include these because they are too complicated for the average end user to understand. You might say, well they are important and significantly enhance the user experience. But I focus on what changes in the UI and the look and feel of 8.10 Intrepid Ibex.

Yes.

Blog Submitted onto Digg

I am sorry my fellow friends. I have failed in trying to get this Dugg, and the majority of Ubuntu fans will be left out in the dark and will miss this ultimate site.

Well I don't normally do this, because I don't want to be embarrassed if I submit a Digg and it doesn't make it.

But with all the useless articles about Intrepid getting in, I thought, why not my comprehensive articles?

http://digg.com/linux_unix/New_Features_in_Ubuntu_8_10_2

Hardware Drivers

Jockey is the default drivers manager for Ubuntu. (Some computer hardware cannot work properly without drivers; drivers take advantage of the hardware and optimize performance.) In 7.10 Gutsy, Ubuntu used an old program called "restricted-drivers-manager" but with 8.04, it has suddenly moved to "jockey." One can assume by the interface that it was based off of Restricted Drivers Manager, but intended to be better. Well it sucked. The one stuck with 8.04 just sucks. I had trouble for a few days trying to enable my Broadcom wireless card and I had to constantly refresh the first page of the Ubuntu Forums -> Networking & Wireless to see if anybody responded to my help request. But with 8.10, a whole new era has begun.

The devs have really done something, the new Jockey looks twice as better than the one in Hardy! There's a more profound "Activate" button, a description of each hardware, and the source for the driver! And of course, the support for automatic driver download for printers, when necessary (though I don't have a printer and can't demonstrate that now.) There's also a "Tested by the Ubuntu developers" for reliability and a "License" for all those curious. Nonetheless, it's still bad at offline managing. (Not saying that manual DEB installs won't work. But from my experiences, after I installed the package b43-fwcutter (a driver for my Broadcom wireless card), Jockey tried over and over to download it from the Internet, but wouldn't let me manually extract the wl_apasta.o file locally.)

For those who would like to try out the new Jockey in 8.04, run these commands in the Terminal:

sudo aptitude remove jockey-gtk jockey-qt
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/x/x-kit/python-xkit_0.3.6_all.deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/j/jockey/jockey-common_0.5~beta3-0ubuntu4_all.deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/j/jockey/jockey-gtk_0.5~beta3-0ubuntu4_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i python-xkit_0.3.6_all.deb jockey-common_05~beta3-0ubuntu4_all.deb jockey-gtk_05~beta3-0ubuntu4_all.deb
If you run KDE (after running above instructions): wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/j/jockey/jockey-kde_0.5~beta3-0ubuntu4_all.deb && sudo dpkg -i jockey-kde_0.5~beta3-0ubuntu4_all.deb

Now go to System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers and check it out!

Changelog

10/03/08: Added new version of Jockey to the install instructions for Hardy; it has lots and lots of changes.
10/06/08: Another update for Jockey. And also fixed the error in the DEB install step. Updated screenshot with correct default theme and the new version that comes with new icons. But seriously, the new icons suck. They should have just stuck to drawing the theme from the default system icon theme. It looks so unintegrated now.
10/13/08: Another and another release. Updated install instructions for 8.04.
10/14/08: Wow, one more. I keep messing up the install instructions. Fixed now.
10/16/08: Will it ever stop? Beta 3 got in.
10/17/08: I'm literally on the verge of tearing my hair out. After weeks of indevelopment, Jockey is suddenly sprinting up and releasing new versions every two days. Beta 3 Ubuntu 2.
10/18/08: No comment. Beta 3 Ubuntu 3.
10/24/08: Progress slowing. Beta 3 Ubuntu 4.

New Wallpapers

intrepid-changes Announcement 1 | intrepid-changes Announcement 2 | intrepid-changes Announcement 3

With the latest update of the package ubuntu-wallpapers, the developers have finally moved on from the Hardy Heron wallpaper. Although not as innovative and elegant, it still means something, particularly the Ubuntu circles going in circles, signifying the Ibex's horns.

Here it is!: (At first it just looks like a brown square. Click on it to enlarge, and you will see!)

With GNOME 2.24 also, the wallpapers have also gotten a refresh. To keep the ISO image below 700 MB image, Ubuntu doesn't include this package by default.

Just run "sudo aptitude install gnome-backgrounds" in the Terminal, then to view the images, run "nautilus /usr/share/backgrounds" or right-click on the Desktop and click Change Desktop Background.

UPDATE: The Intrepid wallpaper has been updated to something more hot. Not the best, but better. This is getting good: (Got from Launchpad PPA testing for Intrepid artwork, not official yet)

UPDATE 2: Wow, right after I update my other post regarding the theme redesign, version 0.28.1 of the ubuntu-wallpapers package gets in. Yes, the above wallpaper is confirmed as default. But the image is changed into JPEG format. ~~I will re-upload the image when the package is available.~~ It's available. I don't notice any changes, but I'll post the official one here: (the above one is from a testing Launchpad PPA of Intrepid artwork)

Archive Managing

Archive Manager (or File Roller, the real name) has gotten a huge lift with GNOME 2.24. Though, for some reason, the GNOME 2.24 release notes mentions nothing of it, it should be mentioned here.

File Roller supports four new file types! Guess what they are? They're ALZ, RZIP, CAB, and TAR.7Z! How did it achieve this? By getting the help of p7zip, of course! Finally, no more "sudo aptitude install unalz && cd /home/exsecrabilus/Desktop && unalz file.alz"!!!

But there is another thing that has been reworked, that no one would have noticed if it hadn't been for the Alpha 6 screenshot tour.

First of all, Nautilus has a new part of it that can manage archives by itself. I don't know why this happened, and the developers of File Roller must be pissed at Nautilus for taking its job and now becoming an ultimate bloated application that also, has tabs. But basically, this is how it works: You locate to the archive, right click on it, and press "Open with "Archive Mounter""; Nautilus file browser will pop up, pretending the archive is a folder. From there, you can just copy and paste the contents, like you've extracted it. This is particularly useful when you have a 1000 GB archive and want to extract one image from it.

Secondly, File Roller has now fully become a true archive manager. You can slap on a password, and if you don't feel secure even with that, you can encrypt it right there on that spot. Don't know what the option "Split in volumes of....." is, but I think it's neat. :) After reading a comment, I found out that this is for splitting the archive into separate pieces.

Finally. After you have chosen to extract an archive, you can choose to open the archived folder directly; this saves about two seconds of your precious life. This is lovely.

File Browsing

GNOME 2.24 Release Notes

With Nautilus 2.24, file browsing for GNOME has been taken a step further. Now comes, file browsing, eject buttons in the Places sidebar, and a new Compact view! *Wait to take it all in*

New Compact view screenshot: (followed by a window of List view, and that followed by Icon view)

Tab browsing in effect, along with the new Eject button for ejectable items in the sidebar:

But not very impressive. KDE 4 with Dolphin already achieved this, but I never noticed it for some reason, even when I installed KDE 4.1. The KDE team needs to emphasize more on new features with cool screenshots instead of just saying it with one sentence in the changelog and have nobody notice it. But everyone uses Nautilus, so this is good.

Late Again: Alpha 6

http://ubuntunextnews.blogspot.com/2008/09/late-again-alpha-6.html

Thank you.

LiveUSB Creator

Ubuntu, deciding that 8.10 would run on all types of computers, which includes subnotebooks without CD/DVD drives, has taken on a project to convert CD ISO images into USB-compatible images that will provide a full Live CD desktop right from the USB.

Strangely, nobody has heard anything of this project since the blueprint got accepted, and everybody assumed it was dead, probably proposed by a developer who dreams of possibilities, but is too lazy to work for that dream.

But a few days ago, intrepid-changes made an announcement with a package named usb-creator, version 0.1, commented "initial release." Weird it appears so suddenly a week after Intrepid's feature freeze.

However, a member of Ubuntu Forums noticed that there was another similar project, and was curious if that project was the one in Intrepid. Nobody knew the answer, until another member posted an IRC chat he had had with an Ubuntu developer.

The explanation is here. No, the poster says, they are not the same projects, and with good reason too. The Ubuntu team is aware of that application already, but they have found it more conveniant, more easy, and more quick to just start from scratch rather than modify the already-built code to meet Ubuntu's requirements.

Then, some might say, why doesn't Ubuntu just use Fedora's already-built and more mature program that does the same thing? The answer again lies in the above link. Fedora's LiveUSB application is written in PyQT, and Ubuntu wants a pure breed, not mixed front-ends and back-ends that are different.

The initial release, version 0.1, was made public to testers of Intrepid roughly three days ago, but we have yet to hear of how fully it does its job.

UPDATE: Apparently this project is fully alive and is receiving a great amount of attention from developers. You could see that, by noticing at the top of this post, I have added more links from announcements by intrepid-changes. Refer to those if you're wanting to get technical and want to see all changes.

UPDATE 2: Added two more intrepid-changes links. (The last two.)

UPDATE 3: Screenshot.

System Cleaner

Ubuntu Blueprint | intrepid-changes Announcement 1 | intrepid-changes Announcement 2 | intrepid-changes Announcement 3

Hear this: If you don't update with Update Manager, 100% of packages, configuration files, and well, cruft, are left behind after you upgrade whatever packages you upgrade. Update Manager removes 50 to 75 percent of that leftover kernel, that library file, and everything else, while apt, or Synaptic just don't. So whenever you hear somebody say "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade" etc. don't listen to them. Just run "sudo apt-get update" and upgrade the packages you want using Update Manager.

But back to this blog. A blueprint has been proposed for Intrepid to help "cleanup cruft" that will remove 99% (or so said) leftover files after updating. It sounds really exciting, but I don't mind it. I have a lot of disk space, and I like manually finding out useless files and deleting them. One thing I am concerned about this is the bloat this will cause. Why create a separate application? Why not just implement this into Update Manager that will run silently in the background while Update Manager does its usual job? We'll have to wait and see.

However, if you checked its entry on http://packages.ubuntu.com/ , you will notice that it is in the Universe repository, not in the Main repository. It also has a GTK front-end, meaning it's a command-line program otherwise. Obviously Ubuntu's waiting for this to become necessary, bug-less, fully-functional and mature.

UPDATE: Last paragraph updated, and intrepid-changes link added.

Guest Session

Ubuntu Blueprint

This part from the release notes pretty much summarizes what this feature is:

The User Switcher panel applet (package fast-user-switch-applet) now provides an extra entry for starting a Guest session. This creates a temporary password-less user account with restricted privileges: the account cannot access any users' home directories, nor permanently store data. This is sufficiently safe to lend your laptop to someone else for a quick email check, or to use it as a surf station for guests in your house.

It is a nice implementation, and a nice security idea to not show it at login, but they are thinking about it, if the Ubuntu dvelopers can contact the GDM developers.

Use cases? Well, one user on Brainstorm explained his opinion on this issue clearly and directly:

Its good because sometimes my sis or mom nag on me to use the computer.

And I don't want them to find my porno, or accidentally delete my files.

And having the guest account get purged on logout, make me so I don't have to have their crap on my system when they logout.

Looking forward to everything in 8.10. :D

UPDATE: There is another way to make a guest account. This is better, in my opinion, in case you want the guest account for your family and you want them to be able to save their work, and you want to place some icons on the desktop for easy navigation. (Thanks to Nathan, in the comments!)

Go Applications → Accessories → Terminal, and type in:

sudo adduser NAMEOFUSER

And type in any password. Confirm. Ignore when it asks you to fill in personal information. Now to remove the password:

sudo passwd -d

And to let GDM allow password-less logins:

sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/gdm

Right above @include common-auth, write:

auth sufficient pam_listfile.so sense=allow file=/etc/passwordless item=user

Second part of letting GDM allow passwordlesses:

sudo gedit /etc/passwordless

And add the exact username of the guest.

UPDATE 2: I have finally found a screenshot of the guest option in the User Switcher applet. Thank you, "Admin"!

PackageKit

Ubuntu Blueprint 1 | Ubuntu Blueprint 2 | Website | Screenshots

PackageKit is available in Intrepid's Universe repository.

I see that as a disappointment, because I thought it was going to be pre-installed and help make better updating, as one of Intrepid's blueprints said. Just providing it in Universe will not do anything, I assume, because users won't know what to do with PackageKit or what it is. (In fact, the specs say work hasn't even started on it. #$?@*!.....)

I hope Ubuntu will pre-install it, and then maybe I can rejoice and update this post to include more details.

UPDATE: Work has started! Please help test in Hardy and Intrepid by seeing here.

Ubiquity Refresh

Ubuntu Blueprint | intrepid-changes Announcement 1 | intrepid-changes Announcement 2 | intrepid-changes Announcement 3 | intrepid-changes Announcement 4 | intrepid-changes Announcement 5 | intrepid-changes Announcement 6 | intrepid-changes Announcement 7 | intrepid-changes Announcement 8 | intrepid-changes Announcement 9 | intrepid-changes Announcement 10 | intrepid-changes Announcement 11 | intrepid-changes Announcement 12 intrepid-changes Announcement 13 | intrepid-changes Announcement 14 | intrepid-changes Announcement 15 | intrepid-changes Announcement 16

Mostly everyone who's interested in the theme overhaul would also be interested in the Ubiquity theme overhaul. (Ubiquity is the Ubuntu Installer; it's what installs an Ubuntu system from the Live CD.)

This has been accepted for Intrepid, but so far, all I've seen is an "~~Automatically sign in~~" checkbox option added at the fifth step "Who are you?" By checking intrepid-changes, I have learned that it is now "Sign in automatically" for better integration with the rest of the system. I wouldn't call that a "refresh," and after reading the blueprint page, I'm still expecting:

A slideshow that presents what Ubuntu is while Ubiquity installs Ubuntu.
A meter that shows you how strong your password is while you type it in.
A new world map for better usability at the step where you set the time and date.

The Ubiquity reform has begun. The partitioning step has been redesigned, so said on the blueprint. Also said, was that, Banshee's equalizer graphics will be used in Ubiquity. So it was true.

UPDATE: intrepid-changes links, and the new Alpha 6 refresh also.

Theme Overhaul

Yes, it is the thing everybody has expected in 8.10 ever since Ubuntu announced "We're pushing back the theme redesign to Intrepid. We have too much things on our hands for 8.04 Hardy right now." and everyone groaned "NOOOOO! We're stuck with that lame Human theme again! @$&*#!!!!!"

However, Ubuntu is not going to disappoint its fans again, because this time, it did change the theme: to NewHuman, a dark variant of Human. Apparently this was again met with flames from everyone who's tested Alpha 1 to 3 to everyone who's seen screenshots of it, calling it names and throwing sticks at it.

Here is a screenshot of the plain Live CD desktop Alpha 1-3, provided by Softpedia:

I disagree. If one has ever actually tried the NewHuman, he/she would find that its colors are smooth and easy on the eyes. If he/she has ever themed, (or heard the tale of somebody theme,) he/she'll know that it's very hard to come up with a pleasing, dark theme that's easy on the eyes. It really is.

I'm not sure if Ubuntu heard the public outcry that came with Alphas 1 to 3, or if it was just a bug that forced users to do so, but if you got your hands on Alpha 4 and tried booting from it, you got a horribly messed up theme and a notification popped up saying "The Human theme is not installed." But if you checked System → Preferences → Appearance, you would see that NewHuman, Human, Human-Clearlooks, Human-Murrine, etc. were all there. It's just that if you tried selecting Human, it wouldn't work, but all other themes would. Either this was a mistake and developers switched back to Human, or it was switched back to Human-Murrine and something went wrong.

Here is another Live CD desktop screenshot Alpha 4-Alpha 6, again provided by Softpedia:

Alpha 6 has passed, and the Beta has come and gone. But no theme redesign. I am curious as to what's going on in the Ministry of Ubuntu Artwork (miniubuart in Newspeak) that this is happening. Normally, if Ubuntu can't do something it promises, it lets its fans know beforehand. But no news whatsoever with the artwork has come out. What I'm thinking is Mr.Shuttleworth is planning a theme redesign so grand that not even the developers know of it. That's why the crappy wallpaper got in. The day before the release, Mr.Shuttleworth will bring to the devs a whole new theme, and the devs will be pissed that they had tried to make a new theme when there already had been one, made by professional designers that Mr.Shuttleworth hired. Then people will praise Ubuntu and so again until 9.04. But so are my hopes.

Finally, the 8.10 Beta Live CD desktop, again provided by Softpedia:

After Beta, there is still more news. First, a new wallpaper. Next, Human theme gone. Human-Murrine renamed to Human. Goodbye Human! Then, gtk2-engines-ubuntulooks no longer supported. NewHuman theme (see first screenshot in this post) renamed to DarkRoom. Gay. Then, a new panel picture custom-made by a developer. That's it for now.

The above-mentioned custom-made panel image makes its appearance in the release candidate of Ubuntu 8.10. An empty LiveCD desktop is below, courtesy of Softpedia:

The new panel images are kind of weird. Not 3D, yet not flat. The background is nice though, now that it's finally wide and not square-ish.

Changelog
Unknown: Well, we are into Alpha 5 and theme is still unchanged. I had my doubts.
Unknown: Didn't update this for a long time. See last few paragraphs.
10/24/08: New panel transparency, RC screenshot.

Quit Menu Redesign

Ubuntu Blueprint

GNOME has finally redesigned their Quit... menu. You can see from the screenshot that now, it looks very similar to Mac OS Leopard's. Nevertheless, copying Leopard is better than copying XP. One step away from Windows is one further step away from sudden failures.

But back on topic. I have got to say, this looks beautiful. The Quit... menu now looks like a plain window that functions like everything other application and better integrates with.....well, everything. Perhaps maybe soon, they'd switch that gksudo that dims your whole screen and you can't do anything else but type in your password or press "Cancel" with the new PolicyKit's "Unlock." button.

There is a bug though, if you click Shut Down, you get taken to your login menu, and you have to shutdown from there. "Investigation of this issue is ongoing" and it's on the list of bugs to be fixed for Alpha 5.

Another neat thing I've been informed of is when you try to shut down, log off, etc. with (an) application(s) open, a notification will pop up stating you must close all applications first. I have no opinion over this. And no screenshot.

UPDATE: A very nice user, Swatinem, has given me a picture of the comparisons between Hardy and Intrepid of the "quit menu redesign." Here it is: (Thanks, Swatinem!)

UPDATE 2: It seems with the latest version of GNOME, this was updated again. Users complained that, in the previous menu, hover-over will bring up a help sentence of each option, but in the new menu, no help was available for any of the options. Not to worry. It has been re-layouted, better mimicking an actual window and having a Help button at the bottom-left of it just like every other application!

Adobe Flash 10

Ubuntu Blueprint | Release Notes | intrepid-changes Announcement 1 | intrepid-changes Announcement 2 | intrepid-changes Announcement 3

Ubuntu has upgraded its flashplugin-nonfree package in its Multiverse repository to Adobe Flash 10.

Flash 10 is a significant release for the Linux community, which suffers heavily from not being able to view Flash files to having to deal with tremendously annoying bugs. The Ubuntu team thought they would do something about that, and upgrade to the (even though beta) 10th release of Adobe Flash.

However, with Intrepid's feature freeze taken into being yesterday, it is a bit saddening; because there is a giant bug in Flash 10 beta 2 (which is in Intrepid's repo) that makes Firefox crash when playing Flash files. Flash 10 RC addresses this issue, but there are no signs of updating for Ubuntu. You can try filing a bug [needs-packaging] but you must provide a really good reason for the developers to upgrade that package. Apparently, there is a good reason, and somebody should report that on Launchpad. (Not me, I'm too lazy.) :P

Wow. A great time has passed, and a significant move in Linux Flash support has come and gone. Flash 10 is out, and I can't believe I have heard nothing about it--that is, until I received a note from intrepid-changes that, Flash 10 final got into Intrepid! I quickly went over to the download page of Adobe, and sure enough, they have replaced Flash 9, and has its own official DEBs for Ubuntu! Well this fixes the above mentioned bug, and, wow, just wow, this is so great!

Changelog

10/16/08: Added all the intrepid-changes links. And updated whole post.

Compiz (Fusion) 0.7.8

Well, um.....that's all.....um, well, that's all that I noticed, ahem, about *cough* Compiz 0.7.7.....does anyone have, you know, a link or know anything more about, ahem, Compiz (Fusion) 0.7.7?

UPDATE: Added thousands of links from intrepid-changes. :)

UPDATE 2: I can't believe I forgot the new Cube Deformation.

UPDATE 3: Compiz 0.7.8 stable finally got in. Added announcement link, removed Stackswitch (as it's not part of default Compiz) and added the latest intrepid-changes links. Seems like there's a new plugin called "Mousepolls."

Failsafe BulletProofX

Ubuntu Proposal | Article

BulletProofX, the failsafe login session mode which you should use when you, for some reason, can't log in normally, is causing problems more than it's rescuing computers. It was implemented in Ubuntu 7.10 as a back-up for when your graphic card and X.Org got screwed up and nothing would work; but now, without proper support for Xrandr, Ubuntu's thinking of dropping it. As "Bryce" says (from the proposal link):

Pending that, I'm wondering if we should just switch off bulletproof-x mode for now? The 'xfix' option (which essentially just does a "dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg") will cover the case of an invalid xorg.conf; Jockey and Envy-NG are covering the proprietary module installation/configuration better; other BPX use cases are largely obsolete with current "config-less" X.org.

I'm pretty much convinced they should drop BulletProofX. Besides, it frees more space on the ISO for other thing we need right? Like "Bryce" said, Jockey and EnvyNG are actually getting better at managing drivers.

UPDATE: Looks like it's going to live after all. I can't get technical, since I don't know fully about BulletProofX, but be certain to check here., then here. (The second link is a follow-up of the first link by the same author.)

Encrypted ~/Private Directory

Ubuntu Blueprint

A cool feature gets introduced in Intrepid, and it's called "Encrypted Private Directory." As of now, you need to install it manually and run some commands, but it will get sorted out by the final release.

What this does is it makes a secret folder in your Home Folder (/home/your_username) and if you try to view the contents without knowing the passphrase, whatever you try to view becomes random blocks and letters. Pretty neat, huh?

Here is how you can test this and also, use it, if you want (of course, you have to have 8.10 running.) Open up GNOME Terminal (Terminal) by going Applications → Accessories → Terminal. (Type in one line, and press Enter, then another, and Enter, etc.):

sudo aptitude install ecryptfs-utils
sudo auth-client-config -p ecryptfs_standard -t pam-auth,pam-session,pam-password
ecryptfs-setup-private

That's it, just follow the on-screen instructions. I didn't test this myself, so I may be leaving some things out. Tell me in a comment!

P.S. By the way, ~ stands for /home/your_username. (Ex. ~/Private would be a folder whose location is /home/your_username/Private.)

UPDATE: No need to mention auto-client-config. Edited it.