Ubuntu 10.10 Is Out Now

[Jayce]

I used to like GRUB, but i find it hard to work with being a Windows guy. That is why i like the new EasyBCD. It is so simple now to work with. Basically you add and entry for the Os of choice, use the drop down menu to select the loader that OS uses and it pretty much does the rest. I jsut added a Linux Entry, renamed it to Ubuntu and it configured it for me. Even though i didnt even install GRUB to the same partition as my Windows install, i installed it to the same drive as my Ubuntu install, it still worked flawlessly.

Yeah i know it seems i am promoting EasyBCD. But honestly it does work for those that just like simplistic boot loaders. Where you are given your options and you just select it and go. Even when i viewed GRUB after my install there was far more entries than needed. I saw 2 for Ubuntu and being a Windows guy that was confusing to me. Granted you just click one and go, it still brings up confusion for those that are not used to such loaders. Having that simple one from BCD where you are just given the options and select it makes life that much easier on us that are not hard core Linux people and use it on ocassion.

What's nice about having multiple entries for Linux is the additional kernels that are listed there. If you get a new kernel that backfires with your hardware (rare, but not impossible) you can select a previous kernel and boot like normal again. Does the average user know that? No. BUT that's why it's there.

What I would like to see is a grub boot screen that comes up with two options like Mak said above with the regular 10 second timer. Linux, or Windows. During the 10 second timer, have a hot key (del, or whatever) to bring up additional options = recovery mode, additional (previous) kernels, etc.

Maybe with grub 3, right?

I'm really happy to see how far Ubuntu has come. In a few 6 month intervals their versions have come leaps and bounds beyond what I thought. Granted, Ubuntu isn't the only one out there. Lots of other distros have done fantastic jobs. But since Ubuntu is my poison of choice it's the most relevant to me, and seeing this progression is nice as an end user. I have yet to get 10.10 on my desktop, seeing as though I normally swear by my rule of not upgrading for at least 3 weeks. But the more I read about 10.10, the less I notice anybody having major issues. Normally you expect a few bugs and in 2-3 weeks new patches come down and bingo-bango, fixed. But I haven't heard of any major issues to be "ehh" about installing. Perhaps if this weekend is crappy I might get on that...

 

[lyecdevf]

I my self was surprised to see the new Ubuntu. I have already given up on it and was looking towards more minimal installations. In fact a while ago I was even thinking of making my own linux distro by modifying another one like unity but for now I gave up on this idea. Any way I have noticed that you can encrypt the home folder so I used a particularly strong password for login because I thought that password would be used to encrypt the home folder but that was not the case. I got some randomly generated password but nothing happened. I can go into my home folder after shutdown with out a problem. I am sure they are going to work on this a bit more as did the Fedora and OpenSuse guys where you can encrypt the whole disk. Looking forward to that in Ubuntu.

 

[Kharn]

Hey - me too.

And I got it.

No you, no you didn't. Ubuntu is a dogs dinner of a operating system it's possibly the worst linux distro out their.

 

[MindoverMaster]

What about Puppy Linux?

 

[Jayce]

No you, no you didn't. Ubuntu is a dogs dinner of a operating system it's possibly the worst linux distro out their.

Ya know, Saxon... I like you. But your opinion of Ubuntu is not something I can take seriously in the slightest. As somebody who's used nearly each distro in the top 25 on distrowatch for lengthy periods of time, Ubuntu is just the one that works with the least amount of headache. There were always things I liked about other distros, but nothing else felt as complete, or (do I dare say) felt like a worthy enterprise competitor to Windows and Mac platforms.

Use what works for you. Nobody is forcing you to use it if you don't like it.