Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx Explained
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases and has every other package (software) you can imagine of. Ubuntu is updated every 6 months and the latest release will be Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx. You can Check about the previous and upcoming releases on Wikipedia.
LTS Release
Lucid Lynx is the third Long Term Support Release by Ubuntu, with security updates – 5 years for server edition and 3 years for desktop edition. Lucid is a stable release so don’t expect some new fancy features because most of the attention will be on Stability and Performance.
Artwork
Logo : Ubuntu has also got themselves a new logo with some new fonts which looks far better than the old one.
Theme : Lucid Lynx will feature a new light theme (Radiance) & a dark theme (Ambiance) at last, i was really bored with that brown human theme. The decision of branding Ubuntu as “Light” comes from the idea of “warmth and clarity.” Light has changed some button placements and looks much cleaner, lighter and aesthetically appealing. Now the window controls are on the top left instead of the top right and did you notice there is no bottom task bar.
Doesn’t this one look like a Mac Os X ? We’ll discuss about it later.
Interface
If your waiting for Gnome 3 in Lucid, don’t hold your breath – at least not as default. Ubuntu 10.04 will come with Gnome 2.28 as its desktop environment, with ability to shift to Gnome 3.x thereafter. This means user interface wont look much different from the previous releases.
Gnome 3.x will look something like this
These are just concept photos. I m sure the real thing will look much better.
Faster
Boot speed has been a hot topic for a long time and Ubuntu has come a very long way in the last few releases. Ubuntu 10.04’s target boot time is 10 seconds. The reference platform is Dell Mini 9 Net book which is a average machine. So this means some people’s machine will be slower and some faster. Imagine booting lucid on a Quad Core.
Boot Screen : Now when ever you login to your ubuntu you will a boot screen like this one.
Ubuntu 10.4 will install a bit differently than its previous releases. In earlier versions the installer used to download the updates first but now downloads and installation will happen in parallel, resulting shortening of installation time.
Installation Ubiquity Slideshow : You remember when you last time saw the Installation slide show, well Lucid will be having a new slide show which looks much more 21st century. You can read the whole story Here.
Social Aspect
Ubuntu 10.04 bring social networking to your desktop with new applications like MeMenu, Gwibber and Facebook chat. These are a part of canonical’s ‘Social by Default’ initiative for Lucid Lynx.
Gwibber allows you to connect to multiple social networking sites and interact with them in a single unified window. Gwibber currently supports Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Digg, Status.net, Identi.ca, Qaiku, and FriendFeed.The MeMenu takes the experience even further, giving you an overview of all your social networks and chat accounts, even allowing you to set your status and post to your social networks very easily, right from the top panel on your desktop.
It’s been two weeks since Facebook announced support for the XMPP/Jabber protocol. Empathy IM now also supports Facebook chat. With support for Facebook chat in Empathy and Facebook updates in Gwibber, you can now keep in touch with your Facebook friends without ever visiting the site.
iPhone & iPod Touch Support
Rhythmbox now allows you to drag and drop music to and from your iPhone or iPod Touch. Now, the only time you would need iTunes is to do a firmware upgrade on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You can get Rhythmbox by : sudo apt-get install rhythmbox
Release Schedule for Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx
March 21st : Beta 1
April 1st : Beta 2
April 22nd : Release Candidate
April 29th : Final Release
Minor Changes
1) Yahoo will be the default search engine now (you can change it anytime).
2) Ubuntu has included Chromium Web browser as a package in its repositories.
3) GIMP will not be a default software in Ubuntu Lucid but can be installed separately with :
sudo apt-get install gimp
4) With Simple Scan – Scanning documents can not be easier.
Conclusion
Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx will be another better Ubuntu which will look, smell and taste better from its older version. With support for iPod, iTouch and iPhone (iPad coming soon :P) will be useful for Apple users. Social networking has come to the desktop and you can now use this one for 3 years without any need to upgrade.
You can check the Development Releases on ubuntu.com
Comments
About Author
James March 15th
Thnx for the nice article and dont you guys cover Fedora. I m more of a Fedora lover.
Sid March 15th
Fedora 13 Alpha is Out and i think i will be able to write a about it. Stay Tuned ;) .
Sid
Amar March 15th
A well written tutorial, i m not much of a linux user but Ubuntu surely looks great and i m sure it work great 2. Ubuntu m Coming.
Guest March 15th
Nice TFS ……!!
Sid March 15th
I m sure you will love it .
Scopion April 10th
You have really great taste on catch article titles, even when you are not interested in this topic you push to read it
admin April 10th
Well Thank You .. We need to do a lot of things to get attention these days :)
test May 9th
the sudo from “sudo apt-get install gimp” needs to be on the command line, too.
Sid May 12th
@ Test : Thnx for rectifying my mistake ..
Emily N. June 8th
Hi, I’m very interested in Linux but Im a Super Newbie and I’m having trouble deciding on the right distribution for me (Havent you heard this a million times?) anyway here is my problem, I need a distribution that can switch between reading and writing in English and Japanese (Japanese Language Support) with out restarting the operating system.
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