The latest and greatest from the folks over at the Fedora Project Fedora 12 has just hit the beta stage (download link at the bottom of the post).

I’ve decided to write a post for the occasion because quite simply, I’m darned impressed with what they hope to accomplish for the new release, which is due out November 17th (of 2009 of course).

This post is going to focus on some of the highlights of the new release that I really think are great, but you can find the full lengthy feature list over on their wiki.

I’ll preface this list by saying, I’m not sure I am 100% on board with everything below, and I’ll go into detail on next week’s Computer Action Show. But that said it’s a strong list with a ton of great stuff.


OK kids, buckle up… Here we go:

* Optimized performance – All software packages on 32-bit (x86_32)
architecture have been compiled for i686 systems with special
optimization for Intel Atom processors used in many netbooks but without
losing compatibility with the overwhelming majority of CPUs. There is a
list of the rare CPUs which will no longer be supported.


* Smaller and faster updates – In Fedora 11, the optional yum-presto
plugin, developed by Fedora contributor Jonathan Dieter, reduced update
size by transmitting only the changes in the updated packages. Now, the
plugin is installed by default. Also, RPMs now use XZ rather than gzip
for compression, providing smaller package sizes without the memory and
CPU penalties associated with bzip2. This lets us fit more software into
each Fedora image, and uses less space on mirrors, making their
administrators’ lives a little easier. Thanks to the Fedora
infrastructure team for their work in generating delta RPMs.


* NetworkManager broadband and other enhancements – NetworkManager,
originally developed by Red Hat’s Dan Williams, was introduced in Fedora
7 and has become the de facto network configuration solution for
distributions everywhere. Enhancements to NetworkManager make both
system-wide connections and mobile broadband connections easier than
ever. Signal strength and network selection are available for choosing
the best mobile broadband connection when you’re on the road. Bluetooth
PAN support offers a simple click through process to access the Internet
from your mobile phone. NetworkManager can now configure always-on and
static address connections directly from the desktop. PolicyKit
integration has been added so configuration management can be done via
central policy where needed. IPv6 support has also been improved.


* Next-generation (Ogg) Theora video – For several years, Theora, the
open and free format not encumbered by known patents has provided a way
for freedom-loving users to share video. Fedora 12 includes the new
Theora 1.1, which achieves near-H.264 quality, meeting the expectations
of demanding users with crisp, vibrant media in both streaming and
downloadable form. Thanks to the work of the Xiph.Org Foundation’s
Christopher “Monty” Montgomery, sponsored by Red Hat, other Xiph
developers, and the contribution of Mozilla.org, Firefox 3.5 can deliver
free media on the web out of the box, using the Theora video and Vorbis
audio formats even better than the previous release of Fedora.


* Graphics support improvements – Fedora 12 introduces experimental 3D
support for AMD Radeon HD 2400 and later graphics cards. To try it out,
install the mesa-dri-drivers-experimental package. On many cards, this
support should allow desktop effects to be used. Kernel mode setting
(KMS) support, which was introduced on AMD hardware in Fedora 10 and
extended to Intel hardware in Fedora 11, is now extended to NVIDIA
hardware as well, meaning the great majority of systems now benefit from
the smooth, fully-graphical startup sequence made possible by KMS. The
Fedora graphical startup sequence now works better on systems with
multiple monitors. Also on multiple monitor systems, the desktop will
now automatically be spread across all monitors by default, rather than
having all monitors display the same output, including on NVIDIA chips
(where multiple monitor spanning was not possible without manual
configuration changes in Fedora 11). Systems with NVIDIA graphics chips
also gain initial support for suspend and resume functionality via the
default Nouveau driver. Initial support for the new DisplayPort display
connector has been added for Intel graphics chips. Support for Nvidia
and ATI systems is already under rapid development and will be included
in the next release of Fedora. Thanks to the Red Hat Xorg team including
Adam Jackson (X server), Kristian Høgsberg (Intel driver), Dave Airlie
and Jerome Glisse (Radeon driver for AMD), and Ben Skeggs (Nouveau
driver for NVIDIA).


* Virtualization improvements – Not content with all the improvements in
Fedora 11, we’ve kicked virtualization based on KVM up another notch in
Fedora 12. There are extensive improvements in performance, management,
resource sharing, and still more security enhancements. A new library
(libguestfs) and an interactive tool (guestfish) are now available for
directly accessing and modifying virtual machine disk images.


* Automatic reporting of crashes and SELinux issues – Abrt, a tool to
help non-power users report crashes to Bugzilla with a few mouse clicks,
is now enabled by default. Abrt collects detailed information
automatically and helps developers identify and resolve issues faster,
improving the quality of individual upstream components and Fedora. The
SELinux alert monitoring tool has also added the ability to report
SELinux issues to Bugzilla quickly and easily with just a couple of
clicks.


* New Dracut initrd generation tool – Up until Fedora 11, the boot
system (initial ram disk or initrd) used to boot Fedora was monolithic,
very distribution specific and didn’t provide much flexibility. This has
been replaced with Dracut, an initial ram disk generation tool with an
event-based framework designed to be distribution-independent thanks to
the Dracut team including Harald Hoyer, Jeremy Katz, Dave Jones and many
others. It has been also adopted by OLPC which uses Fedora; OLPC modules
for Dracut are available in the Fedora repository.


* PackageKit plugins – PackageKit now has a plugin which can install an
appropriate package when a user tries to run a command from a missing
package. Another new plugin allows installation of software packages
from a web browser. Thanks to Red Hat’s Richard Hughes and the
PackageKit team.


* Bluetooth on-demand – Bluetooth services are automatically started
when needed and stopped 30 seconds after last device use, reducing
initial startup time and resource use when Bluetooth is not in active
use. Thanks to Red Hat’s Bastien Nocera.


* Moblin graphical interface for netbooks – The Moblin graphical
interface and applications are fully integrated thanks to Peter
Robinson, a Fedora Project volunteer, and others. To use it, just
install the Moblin Desktop Environment package group using yum or the
graphical software management tools, and choose Moblin from the login
manager. A F12 Moblin Fedora Remix (installable Live CD) will also be
available.


* PulseAudio enhancements – Red Hat’s Lennart Poettering and several
others have made significant improvements to the PulseAudio system.
Improved mixer logic makes volume control more fine-grained and
reliable. Integration with the Rygel UPnP media server means you can
stream audio directly from your system to any UPnP / DLNA client, such
as a Playstation 3. Hotplug support has been made more intelligent, so
if you configure a device as the default output for a stream, unplug
that device — causing the stream(s) to be moved to another output
device — and later replug it, the stream is moved back to the preferred
device. Finally, Bluetooth audio support means pairing with any
Bluetooth audio device makes it available for use through PulseAudio.


* Lower process privileges – In order to mitigate the impact of security
vulnerabilities, permissions have been hardened for many files and
system directories and process privileges have been lowered for a number
of core components that require super user privileges. Red Hat’s Steve
Grubb has developed a new library, libcap-ng, and integrated it into
many core system components to improve the security of Fedora.


* SELinux sandbox – It is now possible to confine applications’ access
to the system and run them in a secure sandbox that takes advantage of
the sophisticated capabilities of SELinux. Dan Walsh, SELinux developer
at Red Hat, explains the details at
http://danwalsh.livejournal.com/31146.html


* Open Broadcom firmware – The openfwwf open source Broadcom firmware is
included by default. This means wireless networking will be available
out of the box on some Broadcom chipsets.


* Hybrid live images – The Live images provided in this release can be
directly imaged onto a USB stick using dd (or any equivalent tool) to
create bootable Live USB keys. The Fedora Live USB Creator for Windows
and the livecd-tools for Fedora are still recommended for data
persistence and non-destructive writes. Thanks to Jeremy Katz.


* Better webcam support – While Fedora 11 improved webcam support, in
Fedora 12 you can expect even better video quality, especially for less
expensive webcams. Red Hat’s Hans de Goede, developer of the libv4l
library, has more details on his continuous upstream webcam support
enhancements at http://hansdegoede.livejournal.com/6989.html.


* GNOME 2.28 – The latest version of the GNOME desktop includes the
lighter Gnote replacement for Tomboy as the default note application,
and Empathy replaces Pidgin as the default instant messenger. The new
volume control application, first seen in Fedora 11, has been improved
to restore some of the popular functionality from earlier releases
without making the interface too complex.


* GNOME Shell preview – Fedora 12 includes an early version of GNOME
Shell, which will become the default interface for GNOME 3.0 and beyond.
To try it, install the gnome-shell package, and use the Desktop Effects
configuration tool to enable it. It will only work correctly from the
GNOME desktop environment, not others such as KDE or Xfce. This is a
preview technology, and some video cards may not be supported.


* KDE 4.3 – The new KDE features an updated “Air” theme and fully
configurable keyboard shortcuts in Plasma, improved performance and new
desktop effects in the window manager, a new bug reporting tool, and a
configuration tool for the LIRC infra-red remote control system.


* Cool new stuff for developers beginning with Eclipse Galileo, which
includes more plugins than ever before. Perl 6 is now included, along
with PHP 5.3. For Haskell developers, the Haskell Platform now provides
a standardized set of libraries and tools. But one of the biggest
changes for developers is that most of the nice new features of Fedora
12, from Bluetooth to WebCams is implemented through underlying
libraries, and many of the improvements will be included simply by
relinking your application. Also available in this release are SystemTap
1.0 for improved instrumenting and debugging of binaries, complete with
Eclipse integration, and the newest NetBeans IDE for Java development.


* Cool new stuff for sysadmins includes added functionality for
clustered Samba services (including active/active configurations) over
GFS2; and the ability to boot a cluster of Fedora systems from a single,
shared root file system.


* Multi-Pointer X – The update to X.Org server 1.7 introduces the X
Input Extension version 2.0 (XI2), with much work contributed by Red
Hat’s Peter Hutterer. This extension provides a new client API for
handling input devices and also Multi-Pointer X (MPX) functionality. MPX
functionality allows X to cope with many inputs of arbitrary types
simultaneously, a prerequisite for (among others) multitouch-based
desktops and multi-user interaction on a single screen. This is
low-level work that applications and desktop environments will
incrementally take advantage of in future releases. More details are
available in the Release Notes and in the XI2 tag of Peter Hutterer’s
blog at http://who-t.blogspot.com/search/label/xi2


Now it should go without saying, but this is a beta release and you should be cautious about loading it on a production system. If you do come across something you think needs attention before the final release, you should probably spend a few minutes letting the Fedora team know about it over at their bug tracker: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/


Now go forth and enjoy, you can grab the latest ISO in your preferred flavor here: http://fedoraproject.org/get-prerelease

Over the years I’ve written several microphone reviews in my ongoing search for the one microphone that combines quality of sound, great features, and does not require very expensive equipment to operate. Those requirements make USB microphones very attractive, they plug right into the computer and show up as a digital sound device, they are powered from the USB bus of the computer.

In the last Microphone review I did in early 2009, the microphone I heard to most feedback on was the Blue Snowball, and rightly so. The Blue Snowball is a classy looking microphone with some great features. USB means you can simply plug it in and start podcasting right away (with some issues under Linux).

With the many advantages to USB and the obvious popularity, I set off to research and try out the absolute best USB podcasting Microphone. If you’d like to see my take on a few fantastic non-USB mics, check out my review on those.

I’ll be comparing what might just be two of the best selling USB Microphones, Blue’s Snowball and the Rode Podcaster.

Watch my In Depth Look video for even more details:

The Blue Snowball:

Starting with the Blue Snowball, it has a few features I love, with it’s exaggerated 1920’s classic look. Some of the great features  include:

• Three operational modes, standard audio level, -10db pad, and a room mode. The room mode is great for using a single mic for a couple people… Though I find the quality takes a noticeable hit (see video for more). Over all I tend to really only find my self using the first main mode, unless I’ve setup a co-host with the Snowball, and he or she needs a little help keeping those levels in check.
• The Blue Snowball is probably one of the most prolific mics on the market, so support is wide spread. This has not led to very solid Linux support, but it is usable out of the box on Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Overall I find the Blue Snowball to have a very true sound, if not a bit t00 thin that can’t really be fully restored in post without a lot of extra work. I find the stand the Blue Snowball comes with nearly useless, it’s too short and built cheap, however the hole the stand mounts into is a standard mic pole socket, so you can easily mount the Snowball to any standard mic mount.

The new contestant for my label of “best podcasting microphone” is the Rode Podcaster. It has a more serious look and design, I can tell that Rode was aiming for a pro look and feel, and I think they nailed it. It’s a hefty microphone, nearly 2lbs in weight, with a metal body and it has a really good solid feeling in your hand – though that extra heft can be felt in your laptop bag if you’re traveling and want to record on location.

The Rode Podcaster:

The Rode Podcaster has a few really great features that I feel put this microphone in a category of its own for the consumer market, such as:

• The number one feature is the built in microphone jack. This means you can monitor your audio live, without the delay from USB. Something not possible with nearly all USB microphones and is such a critical way to avoid regretting a horrible recording session that could have been avoided with simply monitoring what was going into your recorder. The headphone jack being built into the mic means no delay, which is critical so your not finding your self getting tripped up by hearing your self on a strange delay. It does odd things to the brain.
• Not content with just acting as headphone jack to monitor your self, the headphone jack also shows up as a USB audio output device on your computer. This means when your doing a Skype call, you can set Skype to send audio to that jack, so you don’t end up picking up the bleed from your desktop speakers on your mic. Direct monitoring and Audio out ability can really improve the quality of your recordings.
• Overall I think the Rode has a great sound, it can be a bit quiet, so be sure you have your levels set right. But it’s always safe to error on the side of quite audio, you can boost that.. You can’t fix your recording if you clip out the entire time and blast the recorder with too much level.
• Last but far from least, the Rode Podcaster is a top fire-end mic, with a very narrow pickup range. What the heck does that mean? It means you talk into the top of it, not the side of it quite simply. The advantage is it’s not awkward to use if you put it on a mic stand or boom.  As for the narrow pickup range (this is better demonstrated in the video) stuff that is not directly in front of the mic, is hardly picked up. This is key if you are recording in a noisy room with PC fans, other background sounds, or have other hosts around you. One of the often missed causes of a bad sounding recording is when your hosts are picked up by the other hosts mics. Because they are not directly in front of the mic next to them that is picking them up, their voice has a poor sound quality, it gets mixed into the overall recording, and BOOM, you have some element in your recording killing your quality that is kind of hard to track down and figure out.

The Rode Podcaster does not come with a stand, so you’ll need something to mount it on. You can go with something simple and cheap, like a desk stand that sits right on your desk or a mic boom that clamps to your desk and lets you adjust the mic around to better fit how you are sitting. The desk stand also tends to transfer any noise on your desk into the mic, the mic boom can do this as well, but when you combine the boom stand with a shock mount, you can almost totally eliminate this issue.

To really get setup right, I’d recommend a boom and shock mount. I contacted the folks over at The DVeStore.com (whom I got my Rode Podcaster from) and told them I was doing this review. They put together a full Rode Podcaster bundle that induces the Mic, boom stand, and shock mount for a great price. I don’t make anything off their sales (unlike the Amazon links above), I just know them and been happy with the service.

The One:

Over all I am giving the crown for the “Best Podcasting Microphone” to the Rode Podcaster, it’s built in headphone monitor, support for Windows, Linux, and Windows (Linux & Vista/Win7 after a firmware update) really make this a fantastic mic. When you factor in it’s high-end sound quality, exceptional build quality, and Rode’s reputation for making great mics -  it’s a clear winner!

So what the heck is Flowplayer? Well if you ask Wikipedia it sounds like just another dang Flash player:

“Flowplayer is a video player for the World Wide Web. It allows users to embed video streams on their personal web pages. It is an open source project with a GPL 3+ license. Commercial versions are also available. Commercial versions allow users to add their own logos. It can play flash video.”

But let me tell you, it is so much more:

I don’t think I’ve ever been giddy over a video player until I meant my new crush, Flow. On top of being awesome (which I’ll get into in just a sec) it is an open source project with a GPL 3 license.  They also offer a few flavors of a commercial license that let you fully brand the player, and of course, support them with some cash.

Flowplayer’s real power comes in it’s advanced scripting options, their API is object-oriented and not just a flat list of functions. They have what is known as an event model, allowing you to link custom functionality to every player event (such as play, pause, rewind, stop). And if you are a jQuery user you will be delighted by the seamless way in which Flowplayer and jQuery work together.

On top of the incredible power that JavaScript and jQuery give you, they also have built in plugin support to Flowplayer. Some already-existing plugins allow you to, for example, place HTML content over the video when the playback ends, or implement custom playlists using only basic HTML skills, detect the viewers available bandwidth and dynamically select the best bit-rate for them. If you really want to go crazy, you can build (or use their free examples) all of the player’s controls out of HTML.

How am I using Flowplayer:

LIKE A PRO, that’s how! My day job wants to start creating tech help videos for our clients, and the general Internet audience. We kicked around the idea of hosting the flash version of our videos on YouTube, but we are worried that people leaving comments might scare our audience away (these are not computer savvy types), I am a big fan of blip.tv and started going that route with our videos. But in the end I realized that for a commercial company we need to have more control and flexibility… I realized I was going to have to roll my own solution.

My solution (note: files are hosted on Amazon S3):

1.    On initial page load, instead of loading the resource heavy flash player and flash, it loads a place holder image with a play button. This means our pages load FAST, and peeps with slower PC’s don’t take a performance hit on our page (a very common problem on Jupiter Broadcasting with all the flash videos).
2.    Using my mad skills, I got the Flowplayer plugin working that detects your bandwidth, and sends you one of three versions of the video, most appropriate for your connection speed. So we won’t be slamming client’s networks with our videos if they can’t handle them.
3.    Using Flowplayer’s ability to accept JavaScript commands, I have setup a central config file that all the players on our site will read from. So we can change all the players color themes, size, streaming properties, you name it, in one single config, and all the players will update. Even years down the road, with a huge video archive, they will all update. That? That’s called EPIC. HUGE. EPIC.
4.    That central config also means we can change out the pre and post roll ads, or even just turn them all on at any point.. So again, all flash videos on our site will always be able to feature our latest promos. Or if we want, we can override and setup a on-off video that has it’s own config outside the global config.. So a promo ad just for a certain video, or certain color scheme, etc.
5.    Google Analytics integrated into the player. YUP. Those handy action aware contexts in Flowplayer really pay off here. It knows when someone hits play, pause, fast forward, volume up/down, etc (still kinda basic, just getting going with this)… Leveraging Google Analytics, I’m be able to track at what point someone tunes out of the video, or fast forwards, or heck, even rewinds so we know when we needed to make something more clear.

Want to know more?

I’m still new to all of this, so I am probably not the best resource, but here are a few good ones:

• Flowplayer’s fantastic documentation with real work examples.
• Flowplayer also has a active user forum.
• They are also rockin a Flowplayer twitter account which they are very active on.

If you’d like to ask me a question about the stuff I’ve done, send me a tweet and I’d be happy to try my best to answer!

Serval Professional Laptop

I recently had a chance to sit down with system76’s  Serval Professional laptop. For those who are not familiar with system76, they sell laptops, desktops and servers pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux.

When they released their new Serval Professional laptop I knew I had to get my hands on it do a full review.

To start off with, the specs of the machine are fantastic, and it ships with Ubuntu 8.10 (64bit version on my machine) for $1,588 my review unit included:

Display: 15.4″ WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050)
CPU: 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo P8400 1066 MHz FSB 3 MB L2 (25 Watt)
Memory: 4 GB – DDR3 1066 MHZ
Hard Drive: 250 GB 7200 RPM SATA II
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 9800M GTS with 512MB DDR3
Networking: Gigabit LAN,  WiFi with 802.11 agn & Bluetooth
Expansion: Express Card 34/54 slot
Ports: DVI, HDMI, 3 x USB 2.0, eSata Port, FireWire, Headphone In, Microphone In, S/PDIF Output, SD Reader
Camera: Built-In Webcam
Security: Fingerprint Reader (beta),
Battery: 8 Cell Lithium Ion
Dimensions: 14.3″ x 10.6″ x 1.45~1.95″ (WxDxH)
Weight: 7.1 lbs.

Even a casual geek reads desktop replacement between the lines of those specs, and boy is it. The raw speed of this laptop is felt in all aspects, boot up, program launch, and shutdown are all fast fast fast.

Watch our video for the full review:

Some possible cons of this laptop:

• The overall size and weight might not be ideal for everyone, if you’re looking for more of an Ultra portable this laptop is not really for you, the weight of the power adapter alone probably weighs more than some new Netbooks. However, system76 does have a unit that may suit your needs as well, their  Darter Ultra.
• I ran into some issues with sound support in Flash 10… This is not really the fault of the laptop, or anything system76 can really do much about at all. It’s simply the current state of sound support with Flash 10 on a 64bit Linux system. In many ways, I think it is a big plus system76 had the foresight and understanding to include Flash 10.

Some real Pros of this laptop:

• A system76 machine comes backed with great support, from the system76 staff, but also from the community. They (system76) have integrated with the Ubuntu world. They work with Ubuntu Devs, but also directly with the community, and even have a dedicated support section in the official Ubuntu forums.
• The company also has official support channels, wiki’s and their own active forum as well.
• system76 includes a “driver package” that can reload and reinstall those important drivers if they ever get messed up for some reason. In my week of testing this laptop, and installing all the Ubuntu update, I never had an issue. But I see in the support forums that it has been handy for users after some big kernel updates.
• Your typical needs from a laptop, that don’t always typically work under Linux “just work” on the Serval Professional. You close the lid, it sleeps, you open the lid it wakes up. I was able to join my 802.11n WPA protected wireless network with zero issues and the connection remained solid the entire time I used the laptop.
• The last pro I’d say is that, by purchasing this system you’re money is going to support a company that makes it’s living of selling, supports and pushing forward Linux on the desktop.

In Conclusion:

The Serval Professional laptop is an outstanding machine with fantastic Linux support out of the box. I’d say it lives up to the professional in it’s name. This machine would be ideal for any pro on the go that’s looking for the power of a desktop!

I’ve been a long time SuSE user, I enjoyed the old boxed sets with the big manuals and CD books full of software. With that view I have always looked forward to every release of the distribution.

openSUSE 11.1 features all of the great new improvements in the Gnome and KDE desktops, combined with many of their own direct innovations.

Having been a user of SuSE, now openSUSE as well as their enterprise offerings such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Server I’ve seen this distribution from a lot of different perspectives. The various releases always seems well integrated and have a lot of small touches that give it a polished feel. The enterprise version has key features that fit that role perfect, and the desktop always seems to nail it’s target. I recall when SuSE was the first Linux distribution to ship with the ability to boot off the installer CDs and perform a system recovery that could restore your boot loader or kernel, something that saved my bacon once or twice when I was still learning “the right way” to do things!

These days I’d say the gap between distribution features is starting close up, but did I find something that stood out about openSUSE? Watch the video and find out:

Some major features by category

In some ways openSUSE is a distribution (like others) caught in a transition world between KDE3 and KDE4. As the KDE user base makes it’s switch, the developers must spend a lot of energy in making both KDE3 and KDE 4 work well, on top of Gnome and XFCE. It’s difficult task I am sure, but I think in a year or so it will have paid off, as KDE4 seems to be steadily reaching a point where it will be useable for the everyone. Despite this nether desktop environment seems to lack polish, truly a job well done!

Great job to the openSUSE team, they’ve got a great release on their hands!

Ubuntu 8.10 kicks off the new batch of Linux Distribution releases, how does it stack up? Read on…

When the very first version of Ubuntu shipped it was late October of 2004, and the release name was Warty Warthog, I was among the many that rushed to the mirrors to download this new version of the Linux Desktop. Since 2004 Ubuntu has been a Linux desktop trend setter, and it’s with that in mind that I look at the latest version of Ubuntu.

Each release of Ubuntu I spend some time talking about the brown theme, and I do so in the video below a bit more… So I’ll leave it at that, and not re-iterate those comments here.

Watch the video for some screen shots and a general overview of new features:

I’ll breakdown some of the key new features and talk about them. I’ll start with what I think might be the most significant work my way down. I’ll try and give each new major feature a grade, that will reflect its usefulness, and functionality.

The new Gnome 2.24 and a improved File Roller (the Archive manager)

At first I was more than ready to roll my eyes at a tabbed file manager being a major feature, after all with Firefox and every other browser on the planet, we are all kind of tab snobs now and it all seems like such old hat.

But then I stopped to think about it, and realized this is a VERY handy feature that most other

desktop file managers do not have… Oh sure KDE has had it for quite a while as well as a handful of other file managers on Linux, but Windows and OS X still do not. And after all does it matter if we already had it over here, but did not have it over there.. The most important thing is that we have it now! I have spoken with some developers on the Nautilus project and they told me that adding tabs was no easy task, it involved some major re-tooling at the core of the file manager and for a long time they were unsure if it would be worth the efforts.

Well I am very pleased we got this feature, my grade for tabbed nautilus file manager: A+

X.Org 7.4, X11 steps up it’s hot-plug support for display devices

I have been harder and harder on X.org lately. To make a long story short, I feel they are holding the Linux desktop back in some major ways. So any progress forward on multi-monitor support improvements or the ability to plug in projectors and have that project recognized immediately

with the correct resolution (just as OS X or Windows would).

X.org also handles input devices like your mouse and keyboard as well, so it’s critical that a Linux Desktop distribution has a fantastic implementation.

Now all that said, there are real disadvantages to living on the cutting edge of X.org, at the time of this writing the Nvidia and ATI binary (proprietary) drivers do not work with X.org 7.4, that means for many of us, no OpenGL acceleration and no Compiz support.

Now if this was 2006 or mid 2007 and we were looking at a distribution shipping that does not support those drivers, I’d look past it. But this is 2008, and desktop Linux is trying to complete in the same space as OS X and Windows Vista, both of which have accelerated video and utilize transparency with alpha channels to enable better usability.

The product managers at Apple and Microsoft would never even consider taking a “final” version of their operating system to management for approval with out those features, just like the vast majority of us they realize the important it is that users are able to take advantage of the most expensive component in their computer, their GPU. The lack of support for binary drivers is not Ubuntu’s fault, but it is going to be a deal killer for many.

The great improvements in X.org 7.4 with Hot Plug, and the new X safe mode are great, but the short-falls of no binary driver support are a killer. I have to believe that X.org could have worked more closely with Nvidia and ATI to prevent this, after all it would be in Nvidia and ATI’s best interest to do so.

I have high hopes that this is fixed very soon.

X.org 7.4 in Ubuntu 8.10 final grade: D-

NOTE: Sounds like updated drivers are already in the repo, this brings the final grade up to: A-
(more details at the bottom of the post)

DKMS, rebuild kernel modules automatically with kernel updates

DKMS stands for Dynamic Kernel Module Support, DKMS means it’s very easy to rebuild modules (such as drivers, or VMware hooks) as you upgrade kernels. This will allow Linux vendors to provide driver updates without having to wait for new kernel releases while also taking out the guesswork for customers attempting to recompile modules for new kernels.

I see no reason that this should not be HUGE, I want to see this in every distrobution going forward. The best part is that it is working, tested code. Dell (creators of DKMS) have been using

DKMS in house for several years. This is going to bridge that gap between the use of binary drivers and frequent kernel updates, and that is going to be BIG time handy.

Personal side note, members of my family have tried Linux on the desktop after having awful experiences with Windows, but kernel upgrades broke X11 for them too many times, and they gave up and bought a Mac… Needless to say I was very disappointed, my hope is that DKMS will prevent this kind of thing in the future.

DKMS included in the new Ubuntu 8.10 final grade: A+

Other minor features that I think are great, but overall I am not super stoked about:

• Samba 3.2 (good improvements for large enterprise)
• Network Manager 0.7 (improvements in 3G device support, have not tested yet)
• Guest sessions (seems handy, but not something I’ll use)
• Totem BBC plugin (Probably great for my friends across the pond)

Minor features in Ubuntu 8.10 final grade: B+

Final Grade Roundup:

So is Ubuntu 8.10 once again a trend setter? Perhaps, I aruge maybe not what it once was, but it is still a very strong desktop offering. In the end though, thats up to you and everyone else to determine!

You can download Ubuntu 8.10 here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

UPDATE: A new Nvidia driver (at the time of this writing) is reported to have early support for new X.org version in Ubuntu 8.10: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=122139 and appear to have been included in the repository, still waiting for an official word on ATI drivers (I do not have an ATI card to test with).