Ubuntu’s Intrepid Ibex (8.10) Goes Forth
So, it’s out.
Ubuntu 8.10 started shipping yesterday and I’m sure the world’s download servers are groaning yet again.
I was fortunate enough to have been invited to the Launch Party last night in London which was a really fun event. And I even managed to have a brief conversation with SABDFL.
I’ve been using Intrepid since the Alpha 5 release for my main computer and it’s been bloody good to be honest. There were a few niggles of the kind you’d expect from an Alpha build, but it continued to improve day-by-day. For the last couple of weeks it has been solid as a rock.
The main new features in this release are:
- An upgrade to the Gnome desktop to version 2.24 which adds some nice enhancements to the Nautilus file browser,
- xorg 7.4. This is really quite odd if you are used to hacking xorg.conf. This upgrade makes the config file virtually redundant from what I can tell. Here’s what is in mine right now:
Section "Device"
Identifier     "Configured Video Device"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier     "Configured Monitor"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier     "Default Screen"
Monitor        "Configured Monitor"
Device         "Configured Video Device"
EndSection
That’s it. Nothing else. No resolution settings, no modelines, no mouse, keyboard… Weird man.
- The encrypted private directory… (Your porn folder?)
- The Guest Session which is nice. This creates a temporary password-less user account with restricted privileges: the account cannot access any users’ home directories, nor permanently store data. This is sufficiently safe to lend your laptop to someone else for a quick email check.
- NM-0.7. The network manager applet has some new features including initial support for 3G dongles.
- And quite a few more interesting features. Here’s the full run-down: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IntrepidIbex/TechnicalOverview
Must dash. Got a train to catch.
