I did a fresh install of the release candidate last week and all I could say was WOW. It's a great release and you wrote a very nice review. I agree with all your points. Well stated.

I believe this release will spread like wildfire throughout the world.

I updated my system with the usual anticipation only to be confronted with a display that flickers on and off every few seconds. After digging around I found the release note that states that most nvidia cards are not supported by a proprietary driver forcing such machines to use the free 'nv' driver.

Which doesn't work.

Or, one can revert to 800x600.

Sigh. Deal broken, at least for now.

If you upgrade from the previous version you'll have no such issue.

install Envy/EnvyNG, it will detect your video card and install the correct driver

proprietary drivers are not supported in ubuntu neither for nvidia or ati. You can download them on official sites.
After Downloading, it works just fine

No legacy Nvidia Drivers!!

the only thing i disagree with you on is, "Ubuntu 8.10 does not feel as polished as the previous version."
i feel it is actually more polished than when 8.04 was released. hardy shipped with a beta browser, flash problems, and many other niggles. it seems there are less initial complaints about ibex. but time will tell.

Thanks for the nice article. But as far as 8.10 is concerned, I am very disappointed. 800 x 600 is even for my weak eyes a litte over the top. So I better keep Hardy on my desktop.

I've been using Ubuntu for the last 2 years, and about 1 1/2 with it installed side-by-side with Windows XP, in my Acer Aspire 3003WLCi laptop. I have to admit that every version get's better, but Ibex is the first one to give me the adequate resolution to my laptop, without working it out with X.org setings. Ubuntu keeps getting better, and even though I still have to use WinXP for some stuff, I find myself using Ubuntu 60% of the time, specially for net surfing and work. There are a few things that still need some work, like maybe taking on the Mint Linux menu for Gnome, and getting better support for printer/scanner/fax machines (also called multis). On the minus side, 8.10 should have brought Open Office 3.0 packaged, but I don't mind since I already fixed it up.
If you are wondering how long I've worked with computers, think 1989 with my first computer, a Macintosh SE. Keep it up UBUNTU!!!

I also have Acer Aspire 3003WLCi but the wireless does not work when i first install the latest Ubuntu. I had it working a long time ago but I forgot how and was wondering if there is a quick fix?

My wireless didn't work straight off, but after the first update everything was perfect. Try connecting via ethernet cable and just let it update the first time. Restart and see what happens. Should fix you right up.

Try a wired update. My wireless didn't work right off the bat, but after I let it update itself with a hardwired connection everything ran smoothly.

This review should get picked up by Geek or CPU.

Go Jesse Kline!!

I am disappointed with this Release.
They hyped us up for 1 whole year, talking about how they are going to make ubuntu take on a whole new look/theme, and they give us Poo.
Even the "Dark Room' theme is a Disgrace! what are they thinking?? that is the worst Dark theme I have EVER seen! its just an ugly smudgey dark grey makeover, its horrible.

Now I'm hearing the REAL ubuntu makeover will be in the next release 'jaunty'
But with the taste that Canoncial have... i can see it being another promise undelivered.

openSuse and Gentoo for me... bah to Ubuntu for now....

This 8.10 actually has a better feel on my computer than did the release of 8.04. Have been very happy with Ubuntu the last 2 years, but I am dissappointed that 8.10 worked out for some people and not for others. Sometimes Linux is a step forward yet a step back for people. Fortunately for me, with every release of Ubuntu it has been a step forward. Good review and Ubuntu 8.10 is a nice release.

i have been tryin ubuntu 8.10 since alpha 5 release. i installed the beta on production machines, it worked surprisingly well. Now, with the full released version i am disappointed with a few things. First the lack of available themes. in the artworks there are so many beautiful desktop themes and gdm themes, none of them were implemented. secondly, there was a talk of including the last successful boot up which was there in the beta but has been taken off.
thirdly, non inclusion of empathy IM. it is a good way of calling google talk users. although it is there in the repos but newbies wont even look for it. and pulse audio is still a problem.
skype fails to give any sound unless pulseaudio is fixed or killed (sudo killall -9 pulseaudio). and there is a small bug which i;ve noticed in the microphone section. even if the mute is taken off and the volume is put to maximum, the mute sign stays on the next time you open the speaker/ mic settings. these things really need to be addressed, i feel.
other than that i agree with all the plus points u have mentioned. its a good step forward in the right direction .

being new with open source, I find Ubuntu very nice, but like what you said, its like riding a big horse. My kids demanded to re-install windowsxp because we can't install their favorite games . The internet surfing is great, really fast. Maybe with further study, asking questions a lot and finding reviews like this. I would deicide totally to switch to Ubuntu.

I don't really see how you can be unhappy that Canonical didn't happen to bundle your favorite pieces of software or themes? I mean, just go to the package manager and download them yourself? At some point they have to make a call as to what's worth putting on the DVD and what isn't, and more than a couple of themes or multiple programs that do essentially the same thing is usually considered a low priority.

First congratulations on the great review. It is very well written and argued. You've managed to cover all the important points showing neutral point of view.

But were are the 2 usb images??? I could only find a MID image with lots of difficulty at http://releases.ubuntu.com/intrepid/

This new ver of UBUNTU is very stable ,very easy to install ,i have it running with xp on 500gb hd .the partition editor is so easy to work ,just slide the bar to make the partiton ,so easy.setting up my two 22inch dual monitors was a breeze to.
If anyone has installed PARTY POKER on ubuntu let me know ,and i would use linux all the time

It looks like they took down the second image with the final release. Thanks for pointing that out. The article has been updated.

Here's a page describing how to make your own USB image:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/ FromUSBStick

Ubuntu is so much more than wonderful! Believe me. Try it!

For those of you who are disappointed with 8.10... you just don't know how to poke around to get things done. You only know how to complain and whine. You can drive but can't fix the car. I suggest you learn how to use Linux and understand better how computer works....how hardware and software come along together and bring up what you see on your monitor.

Canonical has been exerting huge effort to promote Linux for years and many many people are using and benefiting from Ubuntu.

For those who say that 8.10 is not as polished as 8.04, what makes you say that? Are you programmer from Ubuntu who has worked with both 8.04 and 8.10? 8.10 has just been release yet you already pre-judged it. You don't have enough data or experience to say the least.

-me and my 2 cents.

I really impressed by your nice review.
Thanks!

...nervous Windows users who are thinking of switching over need to hear.

Your arrogance and the arrogance of other CS dweebs like you is one of the major elements holding Linux back on the desktop.

The average user does not wish to learn how to poke around to get things done. The see the PC as a tool, not as the other half of a growing relationship.

I've been writing software in C, Java and C# for almost 15 years now and I know that a dev's job is to make PCs easy, transparent and frustration-free to use...for everybody.

We don't always succeed but those of us who are responsible adults try nonetheless. People like you make my teeth ache. Fortunately there are fewer and fewer of you in our industry as times goes on.

Oh and tonight I'm going to download and install Ubuntu 8.10 on my PC (it'll share the space with XP). I'm rather looking forward to it!

Thank you for being a voice for reason. You sound like a programmer who "gets it" that people are more important than code.

I attend a Linux group off and on and it looks to me that most folks there LOVE futssing under the hood. I am wayyyyy too impatient for that. I have been working at making my laptops wi-fi enabled using Linux. No one in the group, so far, has been able to make it work on either of my laptops. The laptops are wi-fi enabled under Windows. I have heard that Ubuntu 8.10 has greatly improvemed wi-fi capabilities.

Thank you for addressing the Linux hubris and thank you again for wanting to help others with your skill set and understanding that average PC users just want stuff to work.

Nice to read an honest review for a change. I was always a windows user until i came across Ubuntu, version 6.something. I use 8.4, and it's a godsend to use now compared to the early versions. I enjoyed learning a new OS, it was like learning to use a pc all over again in some ways, but I wouldn't be without it now. I'm not a gamer, so i was never involved in the WINE scene, although I was tempted for photoshop, but then when i sat down and used Gimp for a while, It did everything photoshop did what i need. I don't think i'll bother installing this version 8.10 even though my Ubuntu 8.10 was through my door the other day. Think i'll wait until 9.04 when there'll be a bit more on and LTS.

canot change resolutio more than 800x600
Anyone can help?

trying to unsubscribe

Very nice review.

I have been working in the IS/IT field for quite some time and have found that the average "street user" was too easily frustrated and simply not interested in learning a new way to compute. I think that this release is a good cross-over experience.

I have been refurbishing used PC's and donating them to disadvantaged families and have started installing 8.10 onto these machines. It may not run their favorite PC games but I suppose that's not all bad...

There is 1 thing I damned hate about Ubuntu:

It would install the whole damned thing, taking 1 whole hour. How PAINFUL!

"The install completed in just under 13 minutes of machine time." How did Jesse W Kline achieve that?

Ubuntu means 'Humanity to others'. Why is there a feature so inhuman in Ubuntu?

I gave up Ubuntu!

I ran Fedora for a few years now and I have been using Linux for the last 9-10 years or so. Being an IT professional I run several systems, from OSX, XP, Vista, Server 2003, 2008, etc. I do not have a preference for a particular O/S, I only appreciate well optimized and efficient code. In this regard Ubuntu has impressed me. I installed it yesterday on a 6 year old Athlon XP running at 2ghz with 768mb Ram, and a 320gb SATA drive and a NVIDIA MX4000 AGP video card with 128mb. To my surprise, XINE had no problems playing 1080p high def H264 videos (I did turn off all desktop effects) with no stuttering, simply Awesome! (I did also install the native Nvidia driver). Further to this, I encoded some videos yesterday with AVIDEMUX and I was very impressed with the performance of this old system in encoding to XVID compared to my modern C2D system with 4gb of ram and XP.

The point of this is, there is no doubt in my mind that Ubuntu and Linux in general has achieved a major milestone, the overall experience is so seamless and refined that it actually exceeds windows in my opinion at this point in time. Vista is an absolute horror show in how resource intensive and demanding it is on system resources, linux is so elegant in that it can run like a modern system with vista but with 6 year old hardware and less than a quarter of RAM...BRILLIANT!!!

That's not precisely true. While Ubuntu doesn't ship with proprietary drivers, they are in the repositories. Upon detecting an Nvidia or ATI card, the restricted drivers manager should walk you through the process of installing them.

That's how it worked for me. Much easier than XP was using the same card. Now if Nvidia would just make the driver open source I might just have all the text menus showing with compiz fusion up and running instead of just most of them.

They made it free. Is that not enough??

I Tried Ubuntu 8.10 on my Acer Aspire 5735-4774 and every thing Works Exellent
Firefox works even faster than internet explorer and the best thing is that its freee!

go ubuntu

WAY TO GO UBUNTU

Well i've been using Ubuntu 9.04 for a few weeks now, and i can honestly say that it gets better with every release. As i've said before, i'm not a gamer, my laptop is a modest 4 years old now, so you can imagine mid range specs on it then, compared to now! And the only thing i use it for is photo editing, artwork, banner writing and general internet use, so high specs with bells and whistles don't do it for me yet, unless this laptop falls to bits! Ubuntu does these jobs brilliantly for me, and i use an HP printer, which was a doddle to install in this version, along with my wifi adaptor. However, it seems there is only one downside to 9.04, when i'm looking at a video online,full size view is "jumpy" now. Probably just something to do with needing a bit more memory with this version, and with only 256mb...

overall, best yet.

This guy here plagiarizes your work

http://linuxmalaysia.net/the-news/205-review--u buntu-810

And he is from http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1108964