FREE LOOK

Ubuntu Jaunty Hits Beta

As always the ubuntu developers have worked tirelessly to bring us another Beta release which should be stable enough to test for most people here are some of the features you can look at while downloading the iso or doing a release upgrade:

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 on a desktop system, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release 9.04 is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 on a server system: install the update-manager-core package if it is not already installed; edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=normal; launch the upgrade tool with the command sudo do-release-upgrade; and follow the on-screen instructions.

If you choose to download the iso be sure to backup your home directory to another partition and checkout ext4 filesystem for improved performance.

Here are the new features since intrepid:

• GNOME 2.26 - For a Good review of the gnome changes look here
• Improved handling of multiple monitors with an updated gnome-display-properties by Federico Mena Quintero.
• X.Org server 1.6
• New style for notifications and notification preferences - for an example check out the flash video here
• Boot performance - A number of improvements to the Ubuntu start-up process bring significantly improved boot performance to Ubuntu 9.04 Beta. Please open bugs if you experience any degradation, and tag them with boot-performance.
• Ext4 filesystem support - One of my favorite additions, it improves boot performance and overall filesystem performance
• There is a ton of other bug fixes and misc features added, Its been stable for me since alpha 3.

Get it while its hot. ISOs and torrents are available at:

• http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04/ (Ubuntu Desktop and Server)
  http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/edubuntu/9.04/ (Ubuntu Education Edition)
  http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/kubuntu/9.04/ (Kubuntu)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04/beta/ (Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Ubuntu MID)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/9.04/beta/ (Xubuntu)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/9.04/beta/ (UbuntuStudio)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/9.04/beta/ (Mythbuntu)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/9.04/beta/ (Ubuntu ARM)

download file now

Ubuntu Jaunty No Ctrl Alt BackSpace for You!

So Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty has by default disabled the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace keysequence for restarting the X Server. For some advanced Linux users, this might be completely offensive. But lets remember that Ubuntu us targeting both existing Linux users in addition to newbies.

To Reverse / Fix

KDE 3.5
If you are using KDE 3.5 in Jaunty, you reverse this change to normal behavior by adding this code to your xorg.conf:

Section "ServerFlags"
 Option "DontZap" "off"
EndSection

KDE 4
1) Install the �dontzap� package (hopefully this step can be skipped in the future):

sudo apt-get install dontzap

2) Launch �systemsettings� and select the �Display� module

3) Click on the checkbox labeled �Ctrl+Alt+Backspace restarts the xserver� and press the apply button.
After that, type in your password. You know the drill.

Thoughts
Sometimes I wonder about things like this begin cropping up in future releases. But honestly, as far as I am concerned, so long as I have the power to re-enable whatever feature was taken away, I dont see a problem here. Others may disagree, but overall I feel confident that this will be a non-issue.

download file now