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Posts in intrepid ibex
What I Will Be Looking For In Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex
As you know, this Saturday I will be doing a live review of Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex. Today, the day before the review, I wanted to let you know what I will be particularly looking for in this release.
- Artwork. The artwork for this release was a bit of a train wreck up until a few weeks before the release. I will be very interested to see how it comes out in the end. I sharply criticized the original plans, but that was before the last-minute art overhaul. Still, I doubt I will like what I see as much as I like the Heron in the previous release.
- Choice of Software. Last release, Ubuntu included a beta version of Firefox and early versions of other programs in an LTS release. This drew criticisms from many and, although I don’t believe I every wrote about it, certainly annoyed me. Still, without including the beta version of Firefox, Ubuntu would probably not have Firefox 3 yet. This release, particularly since this is not an LTS release, will be interesting. Will early and potentially incomplete software be included, or will this release be more cautious.
- Integration of Private Directory. One of the most talked about features of Intrepid was an encrypted private directory for each user in their home folder. Early reports have suggested that manual configuration is needed to get this working, though. I am going to be interested to see if it is set up out of the box or needs configuration. And, if configuration is requiered, how much.
- Guest Account. This release will bring a special guest account, designed to let someone else check their email or something on your computer. My question is: how is this feature implemented and how useful will this be?
- Overall. The biggest question for me is: do I see a good reason to run out and upgrade my computer to this release. I will most likely be testing it out in a VM for purposes of the review (specificially, so I have the chance to take screenshots if I want) and installing it on my computer later on. Will I see the need to do the upgrade the next day,though, or will I be happy to wait?
These are the main things that I am going to be looking for in this release. If there is anything else you would like me to make a point of covering, please mention it in the comments, or just come and bring up whatever points you want in the live review.
Either way, don’t forget to come! The event will occur on November 1st at 1:00 PM Eastern US time here or at live.linuxloop.com (either works).
Ahh… Much Better: Ubuntu Updates The Intrepid Ibex Wallpaper!
A while ago I complained that the wallpaper for Intrepid Ibex looked like a “pile of crap.” Luckily for all of us Ubuntu users, the latest build of Intrepid Ibex has a new wallpaper.
While I cannot claim to like this new wallpaper quite as much as the one included with Hardy Heron, I like it a lot, lot better than the original wallpaper for Intrepid. Whatever you may think about it, I certainly think that it is at least in the realm of the Hardy Heron wallpaper, which was great.
To whoever created this wallpaper and to whoever got it included in Intrepid, thank you and congratulations!
A while back I wrote about some of the best early pieces of artwork for Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex. Any Ubuntu fans will surely be interested to know what has happened since then, so here is an updated top 5 favorite pieces of artwork proposed for Intrepid.
This theme takes out many of the browns that people complain about while keeping the basic orange-y color that distinguishes Ubuntu. Additionally, it adds black highlights, in the form of panels, and has an attractive placement of the Ubuntu logo.
Wiki Page
While this theme does not appear to fit the Ubuntu color scheme very well as is, with a good orange background, it could fit in quite well. While bits of it (mostly the browser part) look at little bit Mac-ish, those parts are subtle and the overall theme looks great.
Wiki Page
While it changes the standard colors slightly, this background provides a simple gradient across most of it, with an Ibex decoration in the corner. After Hardy Heron, I am a big fan of including the animal the release is named after into the design, which this wall paper does very well.
Wiki Page
While Ubuntu’s startup process is fine right now, adding an artistic touch would really make it stand out. Several ideas have been proposed (see Wiki link), but this is the most creative of them.
Wiki Page
This sort of modern and clean login screen might work well with theme #2 (see above). Although I am not sure that I like the background or that exact color of yellow, this concept shows promise, particularly if it were integrated somehow with some of the developments in the login screen world.
Wiki Page
Top 5 New Features of Ubuntu 8.10 Interpid Ibex
As the Intrepid Ibex (8.10) development gets going, many people will probably be wondering what new end-user features they can expect.
- The new theme – Though it was planned for 8.04, the plan for a new theme was pushed back to 8.10, the upcoming release. While almost every new version has some visual changes and a new background, this release is supposed to have more radical changes to the theme. The basic color scheme will probably stay, but other than that, who knows? You can see some of the proposed art here.
- Encrypted “Private” Directory – While many OSs now offer whole hard-drive encryption, most people probably only have a small set of their files that they want to encrypt. Instead of offering an encrypt everything or nothing option, there will be a folder in each user’s home folder called “Private” that will be encrypted. This would be useful to store confidential documents and that sort of thing without slowing down access to less-confidential stuff, like your music. (Full Blueprint)
- Improved Flash Experience – I thought that being prompted to click next a few times the first time you wanted to see Flash content was a good enough Flash experience, but apparently the Ubuntu developers want it to be even better. I think it is safe to expect absolutely seamless Flash viewing in Intrepid. (Full Blueprint)
- LiveCD Installer Updates – While the current installer is functional, there are a number of improvements that could be made. The ones I am looking forward to most are the visual representation of partitions and the slideshow introducing new users to Ubuntu while they are waiting for it to install, as I proposed in a Brainstorm idea
. (Full Blueprint) - LiveUSB Creator – Like Fedora has already done, it will become possible to use a GUI utility to create a “LiveUSB” disc. Basically, it will be very easy to install Ubuntu to a flash drive and carry it around. The main advantage of a flash drive over a CD is that you can save changes back to the drive. (Full Blueprint)
If you are interested, you can find all the plans for Intrepid Ibex on Launchpad.