Thread: Ubuntu 9.04

The latest version of the free Linux operating system boasts a number of welcome additions.

The most popular of the free Linux distros, the 10th and latest release of Ubuntu Linux (9.04, also known as Jaunty Jackalope) is available for both servers and desktops.

You can install the software to disk with a graphical and very easy to follow setup program. Little has changed here from the previous version.

We took the option to use the whole of the hard disk for our setup, leaving Ubuntu to work out the partitioning and decide what packages to install. As with Windows, regular updates are issued both for Ubuntu and the various packages that come with it.



First impressions were extremely favourable. The default desktop manager is Gnome (2.26), which is very Windows-like with enhanced multi-monitor support in this release. The usual tools to customise desktop colours, wallpaper and screens aver are all there.The default browser is Firefox 3.0, but you can always upgrade to a later version or download an alternative if preferred. Among a clutch of welcome changes in Ubuntu 9.04, we particularly liked the new CD burning software (Brasero), better support for netbooks and faster boot times. Our test notebook, for example, took just45 seconds to get to the logon screen.

Of course there were things we did not like such as having to hunt around for Linux printer drivers and revert to the command line when installing and configuring some add-on programs. Plus the Ubuntu software starts to look a little dated when compared to the forthcoming Windows 7 release, although a further Ubuntu update (Karmic Koala) is due to be out about the same time, which could well change that.