Ubuntu 7.10 Released | Hacker News Reader

Ubuntu 7.10 Released

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16 pointsluccastera14 comments

I wouldn't recommend updating. Back up your home folder and do a clean install. The good news for anyone not keeping up with Ubuntu is that you now get Compiz and AIGLX out of the box. It works great with Nvidia, if you have an ATI card you need to install XGL and the ATI proprietary drivers.

The day this becomes the recommended way of upgrading Ubuntu is the day I'm going back to Debian. Operating like that has no place on a solid OS like Linux.

(No need to vote cstejerean down - he was only suggesting something that he thinks works - the problem is Ubuntu and Windowsthink, if, indeed it turns out that they haven't fixed bugs that make updating difficult).

well, someone must not have liked my response. you can update without reinstalling, Ubuntu makes that pretty easy. From experience however I've found that it works more reliably if you reinstall Ubuntu as some community supported packages can cause problems otherwise.

As a veteran Windows user this is what I will do. Old habits die hard. I want to see some evidence of clean upgrade process first. :-)

Seriously, as an engineer I doubt it will be easy: the success of this update procedure depends on reliable upgrade of every single component in the system: not just the kernel/drivers/gnome/etc, but things that I installed afterwards, including those that I compiled, including those that depend on kernel version. For instance I have no reason to believe that VMware will continue working. Similarly, I expect to see issues with video drivers.

And finally, my friend who's been running Gutsy beta got an unbootable laptop after a series of online updates. Linux is solid software. However, all software has bugs, especially if it's forcefully put on a 6-months release cycle.

There is a very good reason why you don't see new Debian releases very often.

Old habits may die hard but they will also be detrimental to you. When cars were invented, there must've been people who said "I think I'll stick to horses until they work out the kinks in those car things". Those people probably didn't go on to found IBM or RCA. :-)

I generally strive to embrace new things and new ways of doing things. As long as I believe they're practical. For instance, full OS upgrade over the internet -- brilliant. Ubuntu is the first to offer this to my knowledge. On the other hand, web apps.. I don't see that as being very practical any time soon.

There will certainly be bugs and there's a certain amount of risk in doing an internet upgrade, but this is not major risk. Yet embracing the way of the future early will get you a head start, and I think it's an important mindset to have.

> There is a very good reason why you don't see new Debian releases very often.

Yes, and as someone involved in the Debian project since 1997, I think I have a good handle on them:

- It's free software, so there's not really any pressure to actually do anything.

- Unstable "works" well enough for a lot of people's desktops, so that takes even more pressure off.

- There a huge number of packages to try and stabilize. Ubuntu has done a good job of trying to pick a good subset and deal with that, rather than try and be everything to everyone.

- There aren't really any paid staff to sit around fixing the more onerous bugs, or do any of the unpleasant muckwork that paid people do.

That said, I've had both Ubuntu and Debian boxes that have been upgraded again and again over the years, and there just isn't much cruft at all. I had one machine in the late nineties that had its main disk swapped out 2 or 3 times, was transferred to a new case/MB once, and upgraded the distribution itself 2 or 3 times, and it worked just fine.

Beware:

http://journal.dedasys.com/articles/2007/10/14/feisty-to-gut...

I hope new version of proprietary ATI driver made it into this release, I getting quite envious of all those lucky who's running Fusion :)

The new version of ATI is not in the release. The version included in the release might work for you, but if it doesn't get the drivers from the ATI website (8.40), and install them yourself. If you still have problems let me know and I might be able to help you troubleshoot.

I can verify that Compiz Fusion works great with ATI and Gutsy.

I have Thinkpad T60p with Mobility FireGL v5250. ATI does not even have V5250 listed in their Linux drivers section, but for V5200 they want me to use version 8.35.5 of their driver.

That's odd, I think 8.35 or 8.37 might be the version included in the restricted drivers manager in Gutsy. Give that a shot before trying the custom driver but I've had bad luck with it on a Radeon X1300.

This is what I'm running: whatever they (ATI) are saying I should on the website. And it works great, except Beryl/Compiz won't work, people said I should install XGL server first... Which seems a bit too heavy to me.

And since I have very little time to experiment with my workhorse, I decided to wait for "native" support.

Oh... Look what I found: http://digg.com/linux_unix/AMD_8_42_4_Display_Driver_AIGLX_I...

.... This does not include support for the FireGL series, but the workstation compatibility will be introduced next month in fglrx 8.43...

It appears I need to wait a little more :-)

Ah, yes, you need XGL, ATI does not yet support AIGLX (or the other way around). XGL works great in Gutsy, it installs easily (apt-get xserver-xgl). The problem is that OpenGL doesn't seem to work under Xgl so you either get 3D apps or a 3D desktop for now. Wait a little longer. I'd like to get off Xgl as well since it's not very stable yet.

The servers are slammed, but you can grab the release through torrents in about 30 minutes.

If you're updating, be sure to grab the alternate CD for your platform.

http://releases.ubuntu.com/7.10/

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