" Ubuntu " - For those people who think this sounds something like native African tribe dialect. You are right. Ubuntu is an African word meaning ’Humanity to others’, or ’I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.
For those who are fed up with Windows but had hard luck trying out other linux favours. Ubuntu is one thing that you should try once and I bet there is no looking back.
Unlike other reviews which list out all the features available in Ubuntu I would just say one thing, There isn’t anything that a normal user might not find in Ubuntu that already exists in Windows. Yeah there is one exception though you could be sure not to find the annoying security hassles and crash message that you often find in the Microsoft Operating systems. I was just amazed when the ubuntu I loaded had no hiccups recognizing the latest hardwares I attached to it. Be it a wireless router or a Canon DSLR almost all the drivers are already available and its matter of seconds before you can start using your stuff.
One of the interesting things about Ubuntu is the names it has for its releases, Ubuntu releases are also given code names, using an adjective and an animal with the same first letter. With the exception of the first two releases, code names are in alphabetical order, allowing a quick determination of which release is newer.
Commonly, Ubuntu releases are referred to using only the adjective portion of the code name.
Ubuntu 4.10 - Warty Warthog
Ubuntu 5.04 - Hoary Hedgehog
Ubuntu 5.10 - Breezy Badger
Ubuntu 6.06 - Drapper Drake
Ubuntu 6.10 - Edgy Eft
Ubuntu 7.04 - Feisty Fawn
Ubuntu 7.10 - Gutsy Gibbon
Ubuntu 8.04 - Hardy Heron
Ubuntu 8.10 - Interpid Ibex
Ubuntu 9.04 - Jaunty Jackalope
The ubuntu is available for download from its site ubuntu . com which you can burn into a CD and do the installation. Ubuntu also send free CD upon requesting this takes a while to arrive though.
The graphical installer enables you to get up and running quickly and easily. A standard installation should take less than 25 minutes. And Once installed your system is immediately ready-to-use.
I have the Hardy Heron Installed in my Laptop in a partition and am right now upgrading it to Interpid Ibex. Upgrading is as simple as its for installation and the intuitive update manager lets you know of upgrades and new releases as and when they arrive just as in Firefox browser. Upon your consent the upgrade is done, Since all these are for free you never need to worry about the upgrades.
Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), to be released on30th October will be Canonical’s ninth release of Ubuntu. It will be supported until April 2010. Ubuntu 8.10 has several planned new features including a new default theme (which has since been postponed again), improvements to mobile computing and desktop scalability, increased flexibility for Internet connectivity, a GUI driven Live USB creator , a guest account, an encrypted ’private’ directory in each user’s home directory and the inclusion of Dynamic kernel module support, a tool that allows kernel drivers to be automatically rebuilt when new kernels are released.
The desktop installation of Ubuntu 8.10 will include, among other programs, GIMP 2.4, GNOME 2.24, Mozilla Firefox 3.0, OpenOffice.org 2.4, and Pidgin 2.5. The server installation will include MySQL 5.0, PHP 5.2, Python 2.5. Ubuntu 8.10 will use Linux 2.6.27 and X.Org 7.4. Ubuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. Whether you use it at home, at school or at work Ubuntu contains all the applications you’ll ever need, from word processing and email applications, to web server software and programming tools.
Ubuntu is and always will be free of charge. You do not pay any licensing fees. You can download, use and share Ubuntu with your friends, family, school or business for absolutely nothing.