What went wrong in Natty Narwhal Ubuntu 11.04

It was 29th of April, 2011 and I just completed my exams. I was so excited to try the new release of Ubuntu as I knew that Ubuntu is going to concentrate much on the User Interface part of the Operating System this time. I really thought it would be a success compared to the earlier versions and new users would definitely try it. But after trying it, I was hugely disappointed.

We understand that user interface is important. But it is not a crucial element in an operating System. Many other things such as the performance, the hardware utilization, memory management determine the success of an operating system. In addition to this, it would be a basic thing to provide software without bugs. The earlier versions of Ubuntu also had some issues. But we cannot expect everything to be perfect, especially for an open source software. On the other hand, if the bugs occur every now and then when we use it; it would be irritating for any kind of a user. Remember its not an alpha or a beta release, its the final release.

There are many issues with this release, which are listed below:

• Not responding state: The users able to control the system under this state is one area where Windows is way ahead of Linux. The Windows Task Manager does a very good job, allowing the user to control the System.
• We have an applet namely Force Quit that ends any application forcibly. This applet in the previous releases used to be a decent application, which responded quickly and took control of the system immediately, when invoked. However, the new release of Ubuntu has not got any such applet and the system often goes into the not-responding state. 
• In addition to this, this release does not respond well to the Hot Keys. Even if we use Ctrl-Alt-Backspace, which is used to kill the X server and log out of the system; we are logged out of the system, which does not display the login screen, thus posing problem to most of the beginners. In this scenario, we are left with using the system in command-line through Ctrl-Alt-(F1 to F6). Thus, the not-responding state eventually makes us to use the Power Button for restarting the system, rather than the conventional way of shutting the machine down. 
• Banshee Music Player is good when compared to Rhythm box Music player regarding the ease of use. It is selected as a default music player this time instead of Rhythm box Music Player. This crashes every now and then irritating us to the maximum. To some extent, Rhythm box Music Player was better and can be used.

• Customization reduced: One main reason, I use Ubuntu is the customizations in it. However, this release left me with dissatisfaction giving absolutely no customization to the panel.
• The earlier releases had given control to the user as far as the panel is concerned, through which I was able to add the applets to the panel, which I found to be useful. But now, the panel at the top has got minimum customizations and gives zero control to the user. 
• The menu bar is another disappointing change made in the interface. The menu bar appears on the top panel according to the active window or the active application. 
• The Launcher is a new idea and it is good when it comes to look and feel. But a huge deal of it still has to be improved. Many parameters of the Launcher are pre-defined and cannot be changed by the user and the drag and drop option for the launcher is not complete. However, after using it, one makes a statement that literally everything has to be done through the launcher only, allowing minimum customization. 
• The interface sometimes crashes out, especially in the case of drag and drop. When I tried to move the files from one folder to another by using the drag and drop in the Nautilus File manager, I experienced it to be an absolute prison with the not-responding state again. Interesting point to make a note of is that the previous releases all remained stable with the same kind of mouse drag-and-drop action on the file manager. 
• The old Compiz settings are far better than the changed ones.

• Untested Software: I got a feel of using an alpha or beta release when I was using the final release of Natty Narwhal.
• The mouse and keyboard listeners are not well programmed and have to be looked into once again. Sometimes, the Close, Maximize and Minimize buttons for a window disappear suddenly. We do not know what to do under these circumstances and use the System Monitor to kill that specific application. 
• The themes sometimes get changed by themselves. These new themes are out of control of user, as they do not get changed the way we want. In such cases, the previous theme is restored only after the system is restarted and there are situations where even  the system restart does not help. 
• The dialogs or the wizards for the settings in applications especially is cumbersome as the wizard is found to be defective if it is un-maximized. 
• Under some circumstances, I came across a situation where the items in the panel are not listed. This makes us difficult to control the system, as the menu for any application appears in the panel. 
• There is another situation where everything was going well with my modem and a bug appeared in the Network Manager applet while trying to connect to the Internet. But the Network Manager applet says it does not identify network devices in-spite of everything being fine with the devices.

This release has got many attractive features as well. The interface has been the focus of the development team this time. But there are some other encouraging features as well.

• Ubuntu Software Center: With every release, the Ubuntu Software Center is getting better and better. The encouraging feature this time is the reviews and ratings added to the softwares. The reviews put in by various users and their ratings are given.
• Easy access to items in Launcher: The launcher may not be good at the customization but it certainly gives easy access to the items in the Launcher through the simple shortcuts.
• Unity Applications Menu Support: This is a welcome development. Unity now lists the installed applications under a section "Installed". Though it looks good, it is not very user friendly yet. There are no categories as we saw in GNOME Shell before and it is not very stable as well. This still requires a lot of work. 
• Improved Search Options in the Unity: The Search options certainly have been very good compared to the previous versions. The categories such as Frequently used, Installed applications are included which makes it much more easy for the users. However the auto-completion option has not been added yet. With that option, the Search functionality would become a true class application.
• Improved Window movements: Like in Windows 7, the windows can be thrown to the corners and edges on the environment resulting in maximization, minimization of the windows.

The strategy of the Ubuntu developers must certainly change now. Anything overdone is dangerous. All the operating system concepts must be kept in mind while development and bug-free software is essential in the increase of popularity of a software and Ubuntu is no exception to that. It has been good and sticking to the right areas till Maverick Meerkat. But this time, the interface frequently leads to Force Restarts, which is not a good sign. However, there are many positives that can be made out of this release. What everyone needs is a bug-free software and good user-friendliness; both have to be taken care of. I just think that the next release is going to be a success as the testing will become important this time and will lead to error-free system.

10 Beginner Mistakes to be avoided by Linux newbies

Ever increasingly, Linux is becoming more and more popular. Along the way, there are several common mistakes that users new to Linux tend to make. In fact, from time to time, you can even find some seasoned Linux users making some of these same mistakes. If you can avoid these mistakes, the transition to Linux will be a lot easier.

1. Installing from outside the official repositories:

This mistake is generally done by those who have used mostly Windows before. They try to programs and software from outside the official repositories just as  in Windows. Almost all Linux distributions have official repositories and the software packages need to be installed from them. For example, in Ubuntu, install the software from the Ubuntu Software Center. This Center contains a list of all the softwares available officially. If you have installed the software outside the official repositories, there is a little chance to get assistance.

2. Doing selective updates:

This undoubtedly will make your system unstable mostly by broken links. It's considered a good practice to install all the updates periodically. To install all the updates, goto System > Administration > Update Manager. Not only this, but delaying these updates would be costly for you. So, it is always suggested to do complete update periodically.

3. Linux is not Windows:

There may be a lot of similarities in between Linux and Windows. But, don't expect Linux to be exactly like Windows. The similarities help in making an easy transition towards Linux.

4. Avoid learning command line:

The computer world has been changing continuously in the field of user interfaces. Its getting easier and easier for the users to use many operating systems and applications now-a-days. But, the whole process started with the command line user interface. And Linux is an operating system which expects you to learn a bit of command-list. Command line way of doing things is a lot quicker than the GUI. Besides all this, some things can be done only through the command line. So, if you have decided to work with Linux, then learn commands.

5. Misusing the help forums:

Even though Linux is free, help for getting started is close at hand, and available from multiple sources. There are help files, user manuals, and even the "man pages" that are easily accessed through either the command line or the other graphical way. For each Linux distribution, there is a separate user forum for getting help regarding all the operating system issues. By searching, you are likely to learn other important things. So, get the most of these user help forums.

6. Avoid running as root (when needed):

Running the operating system with root privileges will surely inflict some damage to your system. So, avoid running as root as far as possible.

7. Avoid relying too much on WINE:

WINE is a utility to run Windows executable programs on Linux. Find Linux software counterparts and try using that instead of installing all the softwares through WINE.

8. Ignoring the system messages and errors.

9. Its not Ctrl-Alt-Delete:

In Windows, this shortcut gives you the Task Manager. However, Linux restarts when these buttons are toggled. There is an applet named "Force quit" which can be used for force quitting unresponsive programs.

10. Giving up too early:

This happens mostly as far as Linux is concerned. Everyone must realise that they are not born knowing Windows. So, put some efforts to learn Linux and you will get rich dividends.

Sources: PC Linux OS Magazine

Ubuntu -- Analysis of the versions 8, 9 and 10

Ubuntu, a variant of Linux is continuously making its mark in the race among the operating systems as advancements are being made continuously with respect to many operating system aspects. I found huge advancements in regions such as GUI, CPU Utilisation, Networking, booting time etc. though some features were getting down. The Ubuntu Operating system versions will be released in the April and October months of every year with advancements made in some operating system aspects.

The versions and the code names of Ubuntu are given below:

8.04          HARDY HERON
8.10          INTREPID IBEX
9.04          JAUNTY JACKALOPE
9.10          KARMIC KOALA
10.04        LUCID LYNX
10.10        MAVERICK MEERKAT

The Ubuntu versions 8.04 and 8.10 had nothing to talk much about them. The software packages were not efficiently run besides the high CPU utilisation. The security settings were also not that strong. Networking was not good and connection to Internet through DSL was not present in Ubuntu 8.04. The look and feel was not appealing and the dependencies had to be looked after every now and then while installing the software packages. The Web Browser consumed much of the CPU resources when it was running, making it uncomfortable to use.

The Ubuntu versions 9.04 and 9.10 started using ext4 file system which made them to reduce the boot times three times than that of the 8.10 version. These versions boot in 25 seconds much better than the 65 seconds taken by the previous version (8.10). With the same, it managed to efficiently improve the system performance. These versions also made the look and feel better by introducing an absolute candy for notification purposes. The Empathy Instant messenger came into play with the version 9.10. The wireless network support was included in the 9.04 version. However, the network applet had some bugs, which made the connection to Internet (Wired using DSL) difficult. Besides all this, the Jaunty Jackalope newly had Tablet and Netbook support.

I should say that Ubuntu 10.04 and Ubuntu 10.10 are the best which we are having at present. These versions take only 10 seconds for the booting purpose, much better than the previous releases (25 seconds in the previous releases). In addition to the booting time, the software seemed to start quickly. The GUI has changed suddenly and the default theme settings are appealing to the eyes. The Internet got very much slowed down in Ubuntu 10.04 but all those major issues in Ubuntu 10.04 have been rectified now. The security settings are improving version after version in Ubuntu. I can find a lot of difference in the security in Ubuntu 8.10. The Ubuntu Software Center has undoubtedly become charming and more handy than ever, especially in the categorisation of the software. I should say, users had to face a bit of problem with the dependencies, broken links earlier; but now everything is managed so well by the Ubuntu software center, making it more user-friendly. Apart from this, the Instant messaging has added the new features of audio and voice chatting using Empathy Instant Messenger. I found that when the system files are being accessed, the system was taking so much time and was consuming large amount of CPU (almost 90% of CPU utilisation). This is the case when we open it in the GUI. The situation is however different when accessed through the Linux terminal. The authentication is a bit slow in Ubuntu 10.10 even though it was alright in Ubuntu 10.04.

Text mode Web Browsers in Ubuntu

Ubuntu Linux has Mozilla Firefox as its default web browser. But, I feel among the modern web-broswers, Chromium Web Browser (Google Chrome) works better than Firefox as far as Ubuntu is concerned. Mozilla Firefox gives slow Internet on Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04). However, this problem seems to be solved as Maverick Meerkat (Ubuntu 10.10) has come up with a nice fast Internet. Now, coming to the actual discussion, Ubuntu has two types of web-browsers predominantly which are listed below:

1. Graphical-based Web Browsers
2. Text-based Web Browsers

There are two text based web browsers that I mainly used:

1. ELinks Web Browser
2. Links Web Browser 

ELinks Web Browser:

The ELinks Web Browser supports only text based browsing and pictures are not displayed. ELinks is a feature-rich program for browsing the web in text mode.  It is like enhanced Lynx and Links. The navigation of the web pages is done through space (Page Down) and b (Page Up); Up and down arrows predominantly. Remember that this browser accommodates the contents of a website much like the "more" in UNIX. The URL of the currently viewed web page is not seen anywhere in the browser. When you click on the upper part of the Browser you get the menu bar.

Links Web Browser:

Links is a graphics and text mode WWW browser, similar to Lynx. It displays tables, frames, downloads on background, uses HTTP/1.1 keepalive connections. In graphics mode it displays PNG, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, and XBM pictures, runs external bindings on other types, and features anti-aliased font, smooth image zooming, 48-bit dithering, and gamma and aspect ratio correction. But the content is not well-organized a handicap when compared to the contemporary Web Browsers. The navigation is similar to the way as it is in other web browsers. The URL is shown at the top-right of the window. Take a look at the Yahoo home page viewed in the Links Web Browser.

Making Internet faster in Ubuntu 10.04

Many Ubuntu users have complained that the Internet is slow in 10.04 Lucid Lynx. If this is the case with you too, then follow the steps given below:

1. Try another browser preferably Chromium Web Browser (Google chrome) from the Ubuntu Software Center. Slow Internet is a problem especially in Mozilla firefox and not in other Web Browsers.
2. If you want to stick to Mozilla Firefox only, then type in the address bar: "about:config" and then make some changes in the configurations:

• First disable IPv6 in Firefox. Disabling IPv6 allows you fast Internet. Type the text in the filter as "network.dns.disableIPv6" and set the value to TRUE.
• Similarly, type in the Filter, "network.http.pipelining" and set its value to TRUE. Now type "network.http.proxy.pipelining" in the Filter and set its value to TRUE.
• Now the last thing to modify in the configurations is to search for "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" and change the maximum requests to 8 or 10.

     You are done with it. Now enjoy fast Internet.

Time mismatch could be expensive in Ubuntu 10.04.

Set your system time correctly and give necessary details including your location so that you would not get worried with this particular issue. Ubuntu 10.04 has got something very irritating as it is robust with the match between the system time and the actual time.

When I got my Ubuntu 10.04 reinstalled, this particular aspect just made me worry a bit. I ignored the system time and wanted to install some essential softwares. So, far so good, but now started the actual trouble. There was no "Install" button/option available for the softwares in the "Ubuntu software center". The softwares can be installed from archive files after downloading the files from the respective websites. But that just is not easy as many installations in Ubuntu are difficult unless they are the debian packages. Going with the software center reduces both your time and effort. I was cornered with "Install" button not provided as I couldn't find the reason for this. Upto some half an hour or so, I could not install anything onto my Ubuntu system. I then left it aside and changed my system time to the actual time. Then, when I restarted Software center I was able to download the softwares without any problem as "Install" option reappeared.

There are some other disadvantages if you don't set the time correctly.

1. Slow Internet --- I must say dead slow. It took about one and a half minute to open "google.com".
2. Full System utilization even though the system is idle not doing any job. The system monitor showing the processor status to be 100% in use even though it is not used.

So, beware with this very disadvantage of Ubuntu. Double-check your system time.