I've
been a long time user of Ubuntu. I used to flit like a butterfly from
one Linux operating system to another, never lasting more than two
weeks with any one distribution before I wanted to try something else.
On my own laptop, I spent countless hours tweaking, configuring, and
generally just messing around with each distribution until I got bored
and moved on. I learned a lot, but I wasn't very productive.
Then....along came Ubuntu. A colleague of mine pointed me toward
Ubuntu during the Warty Warthog days...(I love the cool code
names)....Ubuntu 4.10. The naming scheme is actually quite easy to
follow...the first number is the year and the second is the
month....hence 4.10 was released in October of 2004. The newest
version to come down the pipe is 9.10 (get it? October, 2009)
codenamed Karmic Koala. Ubuntu releases like clockwork every six
months. Each release features some new stuff and some improvements,
but every 5th release is an LTS or a long-term support release. Extra
care is taken at these junctures to insure stability and reliability so
that IT folks can count on an LTS release to be supported for 3 years
on the desktop and 5 years for servers. The regular releases are
supported for 18 months. Unless you're a corporate environment or
afraid of making many changes...the regular releases will be just fine
for you....and you'll get all the cutting edge new features. Karmic
Koala is no exception. Since the release of Jaunty Jackalope (9.04) in
April, netbooks have taken the tech world by storm. Once a fun novelty
item, netbooks are now making their way into schools and classrooms all
over the world. Ubuntu takes the netbook experience to the next level
with Ubuntu Netbook Remix, an interface specifically designed for the
small screen of a netbook, UNR provides all the same functionality of
a regular version, but in a manner that works best for the end user on
a netbook. Let's look at some screenshots...click to see larger
versions of the images. |