Ubuntu 7.10 Beta Review

Osiris · 09-30-2007, 01:57 PM

Ubuntu 7.10 Beta Review

For you Linux guys, take a look at this beta review and check out some of the new features coming soon to a box near you.

As soon as Ubuntu started up I was able to select my wireless network. Occasionally in the past it has had issues recognizing my wireless card, but this time it did a great job. It managed to pull in all of the networks in the vicinity:

CalcProgrammer1 · 09-30-2007, 08:03 PM

Uhh...I want to try using 7.10 Beta, but it's being a pain and not working. I opened the partition editor, deleted my corrupted 7.04 partition and swap (leaving my Windows XP NTFS in place), opened Install, and set up...BUT it came up with the stupid migration assistant, saying something like "couldn't unmount /mnt/migrationassistant, and gives the options "Go Back" (which cancels the install, useless because you can't resume or anything) and "Continue" (which just leaves it stuck at 88% installing). I don't even want to migrate my documents to Ubuntu...I have tons of stuff there and don't need 2 copies of it, when I could just mount my partition. So, for now, 7.10 needs a lot of work, because it doesn't seem to install GRUB until after it's migrated, but it gets stuck, so I can't boot my PC using it.

EDIT:

They really need to put important options in the GUI...after hours of confusion, looking at the installer on command line came up with
sudo ubiquity --no-migration-assistant
Worked fine.

However, it's turning into the dreaded Windows...the EARLY days of the dreaded Windows...the Restart-your-computer-every-10-seconds days of Windows. Within a minute or so of working in it, it asked me to restart to apply changes (changed graphics to fglrx) then again to change RESOLUTION (which it couldn't figure out that my monitor is 1280x1024, not 1024x768, so I had to select it manually). If there's one thing Linux needs, it's a decent video system. The xorg.conf edit-everything-in-commandline feels ancient compared to the GUI of Windows. The X window systems need to get a solid GUI configuration that allows you to change everything without ever having to enter command line, and needs to autodetect information like max resolution from your monitor like Windows does. Also it bugs me about using fglrx, because it's restricted...if it wants to complain, why not provide a good driver for my graphics card? I honestly can't wait for ATi to release specs so that the open source ATi driver will support X series cards.

forrestcupp · 10-01-2007, 09:33 AM

That's weird. I've been running it since about the 2nd alpha release and I didn't have any trouble installing it back then. I really haven't had much trouble out of it the whole time.

Disillusion · 10-03-2007, 12:26 AM

I've been running the Beta for about a week now. I have Compiz Fusion enabled and everything seems rock solid so far. I only have problems coming back out of standby and hibernate. It likes to hang at a black screen for some reason. Hopefully this will be fixed when final version is released. Other than that, it's great.

CalcProgrammer1 · 10-03-2007, 08:29 PM

After getting Xgl from the repos (immensely easier than 7.04), Compiz Fusion runs and it is awesome! It is better than Beryl in every way possible.

zmatt · 10-03-2007, 10:24 PM

So does this new version have better wifi drivers? That would be awesome because the main reason i still use windows on my laptop is because i couldn't get wifi working in linux, ndiswrapper is a joke. i have a broadcom chipset. does anyone know if ubuntu will natively work with it yet?

CalcProgrammer1 · 10-03-2007, 11:01 PM

I'm using a Broadcom 54g AirForceOne chipset right now...native (not ndiswrapper) in Ubuntu Feisty 7.04. The card is PCMCIA. There's a guide at Ubuntu Forums. I'm using PCMCIA, but my friend's laptop has the same chipset built in and it works on his too.

I will let you know if it's natively supported when I finally install 7.10 (maybe beta, maybe final) on my laptop.

zmatt · 10-04-2007, 01:37 PM

I dont know for sure what specific chipset mine is, but ubuntu didn't like it, it couldn't even see it. Its mini pci btw.

Kubel · 10-07-2007, 03:03 AM

I've had problems with Broadcom in the past with Ubuntu (and, well, all Linux distros to be honest). I'm really sick of using ndiswrapper only to have my wireless break with an update. But I hope to give 7.10 a try soon.

CalcProgrammer1 · 10-08-2007, 10:52 PM

I installed 7.10 on my laptop and ALMOST everything has been simple and easy. The stuff that didn't corrupted the whole system and made it a nightmare though.

I have a ThinkPad A21p, I have a Broadcom AirForce One chipset. It found the chip and correctly reported that it needed a proprietary firmware. It downloaded the fwcutter, then it downloaded the firmware, and it was up and running in no time. However, the hotkey-setup package corrupted, so my volume buttons don't work, and the package broke other packages, so I had to reinstall the system.

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