Posted by Calixte Pictet | 0 comments
Ubuntu 10.04 “Lucid Lynx” Review
In April 2004, Mark Shuttleworth began to round up a small but dedicated team to create a revolutionary Linux distribution. His goal for what was to be named Ubuntu was a full open-source operating system with cyclic releases based on the stable and powerful Debian foundation and the GNOME desktop environment, while still being easy to install and to use. Ubuntu’s success was almost instantaneous in the free software world and it is now the most popular Linux OS.
Every six months, Canonical (Ubuntu’s mother company) releases the new version of Ubuntu. Today we witness the release of version 10.04 (stands for April 2010). They call it Lucid Lynx.
Look and Feel: a complete redesign?
Ubuntu (and the GNOME desktop environment) has been criticized for its ugly looks for as long as I can remember. Ubuntu’s default theme (Human) was a strange mix of brown and orange. I’ve always found the choice of brown as the main color witty—it departs from what we are used to and creates a different atmosphere compared to the generic blues we always see—but I’ve never supported Canonical’s choice.
The design team decided to go in a different direction for Lucid. From the boot screen to the default desktop image, you’ll be greeted by a colorful but nonetheless serious-looking dark purple. It’s a change I welcome, and I’m sure most users will feel that way too.
The window theme has also moved on. This time, the brown has been replaced by something neutral.The panels and the window title-bars are black and give the feeling that they have some volume. The black theme is long overdue: colorful window themes look awkward when you change you background to something more personal, like your loved one or those pink flowers in your garden for example.
Overall, the new Ubuntu theme looks neat. My favorite part of it is the top panel. the white-on black theme looks clean and neat, and is very readable thanks to the contrast.
I’m not 100% happy with the color theme though. For one, it’s not consistent. Selected items are highlighted in some sort of light beige and check-boxes look reddish-orange. This is of a minor importance as the color theme is easily configured, but I’d like them to get it right from the start.
Some more controversial changes that have been made however. One controversial change was the new placement of the window buttons. These buttons are most often placed on the right by default in Linux distributions, as in Windows’ interface.The design team decided to act against this tendency in 10.04. The buttons will now be placed on the top-left, in the same order as in Mac OS X.
The decision has had too much attention in my opinion—this is still Linux, which means that you can simply change the theme if you want the buttons to be placed in a different order or location—but I still believe that it was a bad idea in political terms. It is a minor change, but a lot of non-tech-savvy users will perceive this as an imitation of the Mac look. The change may still be good news: it has been hinted that the now-empty top-right corner may be used. I’m hoping for more control over my windows (with “always on top” and “stick to desktop” buttons for example).
The Indicator Applets
One of Ubuntu’s main goals is to bring a simple operating system to the free-software world. Each time I try a new Ubuntu release I ask myself how it fares. The answer? Rather well.
The default GNOME desktop is frankly very simple to use. I have always found it much easier to get around in GNOME than on Windows’ user interfaces. The greatest problem is, in my opinion, consistency. Lucid Lynx has progressed overall, especially graphically, and I must admit that I’m quite pleased. What surprises me the most is the two “indicator applets”.
The first indicator applet is what you will see on the top-right of your screen. It lets you control the computer’s user session (shutting down, logging out and that sort of stuff) as well as your chat accounts’ statuses. The second indicator applet, placed on the left of the calendar applet, lets you access “chat” and “broadcast” and “mail” applications, sound preferences and bluetooth. Mark Shuttleworth said the Lucid was to be “social from the start”, and that is certainly true. Chat is very well integrated in the indicator applet, which is the only thing that convinced me to switch to Empathy (the default chat client in Ubuntu Lucid) as opposed to the web-based solutions I normally use. What Ubuntu calls “Broadcast” is the social-networking sites. 
Ubuntu uses Gwibbler by default, which lets you control Twitter, Facebook, Identi.ca, Digg, Flickr and more right from the same application, and in the same news-stream too!
All in all, I believe that the “social” integration right in Ubuntu’s core chrome1 is great. Though the whole experience is far from complete, Lucid Lynx gives it a head-start on competing operating systems.
Ubuntu One Music Store
The Ubuntu music store is now available. You can access it through your Ubuntu One account and the Rythmbox music player. Here’s how (instructions taken from the official website):
- Go to one.ubuntu.com, choose a subscription from the available plans, and setup your account. If you already have an Ubuntu SSO (or Launchpad) account, you can use the same login credentials.
- Link your computer to your Ubuntu One account by launching the Ubuntu One Preferences application from your desktop. A web browser will guide you through the setup process. This will make all of your purchased music download to your computer as well as to your personal cloud.
- Launch Rhythmbox, the music player that comes will all copies of Ubuntu. Click on “Ubuntu One” under the list of Stores. You can now select from the top pics and new releases, browse by genre or search for your favorite artist, album or song. All songs are available in high quality 256 kbps or higher MP3 audio encoding and are DRM-free. Banshee users can also use the music store by installing a custom extension.
Of course, Ubuntu is for idealists, so not only are all the songs DRM-free, but 50% of Canonical’s revenues on the songs sold will go to SOS Lynx, a charity whose aim is to save the critically endangered Iberian Lynx of another charity of your choice.
Installing software
The Ubuntu software center was a new addition in the previous release. Basically, the software center was a new and supposedly simpler interface for the Synaptic package manager. At it’s release with Karmic Koala, the Ubuntu Software Center got rather positive reviews, but it remained very limited. Lucid Lynx tunes it up.
First of all, the additions are linked to a new, more developped UI. But the change goes deeper than that. New categories reorganize the apps and add some features. It is now extremely easy to install fonts: all you need to do is enter the Software Center, click the “Fonts” category and select the font you want to install. Canonical has also added a “Canonical Partners” section next to the “Provided by Ubuntu” section. The list is not densely populated, but it’s a start. I only hope that they will be able to add some of the more popular software, such as Skype. Also, it would be a big victory for Linux if commercial applications and games could be added as well. That would give them more visibility, and make writing apps for Linux more profitable in the long-term. I’m thinking of X-Plane particularly, a flight simulator that deserves a lot more visibility on the Linux platform.
Booting
Another promise they’ve made is a whoopingly short 10-second-boot time. There has been great anticipation for this feature, and people have been timeing and commenting the bootup experience since the first alpha. Did Ubuntu achieve it?
The answer to this question is always debatable, because it depends on the hardware. The ultimate test is to boot the full Operating System with an Intel Atom processor. I’ve tested Ubuntu Lucid on my Asus EeePC 1005HA netbook and I was impressed. Though the boot time didn’t quite reach those 10 seconds, it was certainly close. Any average computer should enjoy that 10-second boot time.
Pre-installed applications
Ubuntu, as many other Linux distributions, comes with the most necessary applications pre-installed. Although the apps are easy to install or to uninstall thanks to the apt package manager, they are often a good indicator of the operating system’s target audience. With this in mind, it’s interesting to note two changes in Ubuntu.
The first is the inclusion of Gbrainy. I don’t believe much can be concluded about it, except that the team decided to have more “educative” and mind-training games pre-installed. The more important change is that of the removal of the GIMP. The GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, is an image-editing application aimed at semi-professional designers. As a free alternative for the famed Photoshop by Adobe, it’s a handy application although not really aimed at the average user. Ubuntu 10.04 will be the first ever release not to include it, and it may be a sign that Ubuntu is starting to mature enough to truly aim the general computer user and not only free software enthusiasts.
In it’s place, Ubuntu now comes with PiTiVi, a very basic video editor aimed at people who want a simple, quick and worry-free way of making vacation movies. If you’re more into technical video-editing, you might want to switch to other programs like Kdenlive of OpenShot. PiTiVi shows Ubuntu’s target audience: the non-technical average PC user.
Ubuntu has come a long way, and it’s still undoubtedly evolving. Ubuntu 10.04 is a LTS (Long Term Support) release, which means that it focuses more on stability than new features. The next version, Maverick Meerkat, is set to bring even more change to the OS. But 10.04 is a confirmation that Ubuntu is set in the right direction.
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1 Chrome is the interface elements of the Desktop Environment. In this case it means the top and bottom panels and the window title-bars.
