Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope released into the wild

Version 9.04 of the Ubuntu Linux distribution was made available for download on Thursday.

The latest iteration of the operating system, code-named Jaunty Jackalope, comes in three versions: desktop, server, and Netbook. Jaunty Jackalope is the first version of Ubuntu to come in a Netbook-friendly version from its initial release.

The previous version of Ubuntu, Intrepid Ibex or version 8.10, was released by sponsor company Canonical in October last year. The new version improves upon its predecessor by updating the Gnome interface, the Linux kernel, and the X.Org server, as well as starting faster and supporting ext4, an improved file system.

Jackalope also includes other enhancements, such as intelligent switching between Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, and an integrated notification system that can be used by various applications. A large selection of productivity software, such as Skype, OpenOffice 3.0, and Adobe Flash, is also included.

Jackalope's server version also includes a technology preview of the Elastic Utility Computing Architecture for Linking Your Programs To Useful Systems (Eucalyptus), which is an infrastructure for deploying applications into the cloud.

The next version of Ubuntu, Karmic Koala, or version 9.10, will include more comprehensive cloud-computing functionality, enabling users to deploy applications into clouds built on companies' internal infrastructure. Jackalope's more limited cloud functionality is intended as a way to test such deployments, ahead of Koala's release in October.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.

[pentest]

Oh great, another buggy and incomplete release from one of the worst Linux distros.

[protagonistic--2008]

Have you actually tried it yet? Or did you mistakenly install Vista...

[Seaspray0]

@pentest. Based on what? It was just released. You are as qualified to comment on the functionality of this new release as the three stooges.

[gsekse]

Oh look, a Linux troll! oooh they're rare!

[Angmarr]

YA i gotta agree

(as much as i like Vista)

[He_And_Him_Studios]

Hmm, I may try it out later at home.

Hmm, we could do of study of the rare, and dying species, gsekse.

[enoch861]

I'll download it if time permits.
They don't quite seem to be getting better, just more stable, but they still can't compete.
I don't hate, and I don't love it. But Who uses Ubuntu?

[icebea777]

at last estimate 4 million of us

[CTO_Dude]

If everyone and their mother didnt have a distro of Linux they wanted to promote, perhaps we could get some real competition going with Windows and OSX. However, given that each of these variations continually chops into the market share of the others, you will never see traction. Suse... Ubuntu, RedHat, Debian... what consumer could possibly keep track of them all?

[mike-from-montana]

We have Intrepid on one laptop, Jaunty RC on another, and they are stable and predictable. We like it, my 8th grade son is having a blast with it, and unbeknownst to him, he is learning a lot along the way.

[Warhaven]

Unfortunately, you'll probably still face the inevitable:

"Hey dad, where's WoW?"
And then, "Where's Steam? I wanna' play L4D with my friends."
And of course, something along the lines of, "Why's the monitor stuck at 800x600, and why aren't there any options for anything else? What do I do?"

[shootthecops]

@Warhaven: I installed three operating systems on my computer yesterday, ubuntu 9.04, XP and Vista. Guess which ones have problems with screen resolutions and AR even after tweaking? guess which OS had no problems after install without tweaking?

@mike-from-montana: hopefully you are raising your children to be physically active, rather than a microsoft troll like Warhaven, who no doubt plays WoW and L4D in his mother's basement all day. let him be the example of how not to raise your children.

[pithenumber]

@Warhaven
WINE
haven't tried L4D yet and I don't play WoW, but a good number of games run on Linux using WINE

[RompStar_420]

Ubuntu 9.04 is the BEST Linux Distribution out there.

[Seaspray0]

Can you comment on the wifi functionality? It was supposed to be improved in this release.

[RompStar_420]

I have used LINUX since 2000, starting with the SLACKWARE distribution, I have since tried REDHAT (hate that name, their communist colors and that stupid Hat).

I then discovered Ubuntu and I fell in love, I try to look up it's skirt as much as I can.

[Seaspray0]

By reading the headline for the story, "... released into the wild", makes it sound like a virus. Catchy, but in bad taste. It sends the wrong impression to me. David Meyer, the article is fine, but please try to put more thought into your headlines.

[dragonbite]

I've heard a lot of good things about 9.04 and am looking forward to trying it out and installing it.

I don't have to worry about WoW at home but I don't know what you're talking about with the monitor stuck at 800 x 600. Even my 12" laptop isn't that low of a resolution and it's easy to change..

System > Preferences > Screen Resolution

So far I've heard the hardware detection to be pretty good with Jaunty, better than previous versions.

[sythara]

Has anyone been able to verify that it has a reliable CPU scaling for laptops?

The last two distros of 9.04 I couldnt get them to work.

[carrige]

I'm using Jaunty right now on my Samsung NC10, the Atom scales between 800MHz, 1.07GHz, 1.33GHz and 1.6GHz with no problems at all.

[icebea777]

works fine on my new HP laptop

[monkeyfun14]

Jaunty Jackass

Lol just had to say it.

[pithenumber]

the cnet moderator dudes fell asleep again

[Throgged]

Well I downloaded 9.04 Xubuntu RC yesterday and loaded on a laptop at home. No Wireless Device. Bizarre as 8.01 picked up the wireless card no problems. Well downloading final 9.04 right now so we'll see once i get home tonight. i like ubuntu but i also prefer the point N click in windows. Biggest pet peeve i had with 8.01 was the fact that there was no clear way of customizing screen saver settings. or no graphical way of doing it, i should say, without getting some app from the net. Simple funcionality like that should just be built into the OS.

[icebea777]

and before long it's no better than Vista. No thanks

[maverick_nick]

Well I'm still running Intrepid Ibex and I can't really complain. I think that I'll skip Jaunty Jackalope for Karmic Koala. I've got Vista on another partition and I can't quite remember the last time I started it up. What most Windows users don't realize is how amazing Ubuntu really is. In fact I still remember when I installed it for the first time just to play around with it. I had no idea that I'd become a Linux convert. Everything from my SD card reader to my WiFi works perfectly and it didn't require that I search for drivers. Seriously, Linux just works! Why are you using Windows?

[mssoot]

because my office makes me

[DevinB999]

I noticed one big improvement in particular. In 8.10 whenever I tried to access my school's secure network Ubuntu would lock up completely and I would have to do a hard restart. ONLY time Ubuntu has ever locked up on me. Well, this problem was completely fixed by the time Ubuntu 9.04 ALPHA 6 was released. Ubuntu 9.04 is the most solid OS I've ever used before. I still like Windows for WMC though.

[dandesigns]

people having problems with screen resolution on Ubuntu? come on guys, you aren't even trying. First time i used ubuntu was 7.04 (Feisty) and i had greater than 800px setting.

Now, if only commercial apps could run natively on Ubuntu, then I have no reason to use windows. I've tried gimp-inkscape-scribus but still prefer the Adobe CS softwares.