

Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) released - micrypt
http://releases.ubuntu.com/oneiric/

======
Garbage
For me, the most interesting features are:

* 32-bit compatibility on amd64 systems

Ubuntu 11.10 provides "multiarch" support for installing 32-bit library and
application packages on 64-bit systems. For all amd64 installs and upgrades,
select 32-bit software (like Skype and Flash), will now be installable
directly using the same 32-bit packages that are used on i386 installations.
You are not required to install the ia32-libs compatibility package. For
users, this change means that the 32-bit libraries will always be available at
the same time as their 64-bit counterparts, even in the case of security
updates, and users will only need to install those 32-bit libraries required
by the user's application(s).

* Hybrid CD/USB images supported

All ISO images released with Ubuntu 11.10 are hybrid CD/USB images that can be
written directly to a USB disk and booted without the use of special software.
Users who wish to enable persistent storage on a USB stick can still use the
usb-creator tool to configure the USB stick.

------
47
Checkout the online tour <http://www.ubuntu.com/tour/> I am curious are there
any software/libraries which can build a demo/tour like this for any Desktop
application?

~~~
dazbradbury
Really like that they've done that. A very slick html interface which I'm sure
they spent a fair bit of time on. I doubt it was "automated" with any
software. Every object is a html element, with "firefox" just opening an
iframe for example.

Very nice - even if it's not really a representation of the OS, it shows off
the UI very well IMO.

~~~
alperakgun
on my android tablet the fancy tour confused me, i felt like i m on my
desktop.. Good job, thanks ubuntu for one more version of new goodness.

------
Iv
I wonder if unity can work on my recent laptop. It has a recent nvidia and
like most of these, it has the optimus "feature" which for now requires the
hackish bumblebee.

It has been years since I had to go in the xorg.conf file, that was the main
reason I switched from debian to ubuntu. That is the only feature I wish of
any Ubuntu release. Can someone tell me if it has now been implemented ? From
the release notes, they don't seem to mention it.

~~~
heyrhett
> It has been years since I had to go in the xorg.conf file

You must have a pretty high general satisfaction for how your life is going.

<http://xkcd.com/963/>

~~~
Iv
Not anymore :-(

But really, the horizontal axis in my case would be labeled "perceived
maturity of the linux distribution I am using"

------
morrow
Question about the "dash" (menu that appears after clicking the top-left
ubuntu logo) - for those who've tried it out - does it let you customize it
now? More specifically, does it let you change the main shortcuts like "Browse
the web", "View Photos", "Check E-mail", "Listen to music" to other functions?
Thanks in advance if anyone's able to help with this.

~~~
bilban
I couldn't work this out either. Or work out how to edit the dock. How can I
add Terminal say to the dock?

~~~
morrow
Yea it doesn't seem possible to edit the default dash page, even using ccsm -
its a shame, I dont think I've ever or will ever use 3/4 of the huge shortcuts
there (view photos, check e-mail, listen to music) since I really only use web
services for all of those.

I dont think the dock is editable (if you mean the bar along the top) - you
can add applications via ubuntu software center (I added weather), but I don't
know if you can add application shortcuts like in previous versions.

~~~
bilban
When I say the dock I mean the big bar down the left hand side.

~~~
morrow
for that you can right-click an app once launched and select "keep in
launcher", or you can define custom ones by hand. I did that last install,
haven't tried it yet for this one, but this was the guide I used:
<http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1578379> (not sure if it still works
in this version of unity, but it's worth a shot).

~~~
bilban
Weird. I have a slight bias to the keyboard - so I think I tried right
clicking, and didn't find the option. Anyway - it seems that you can drag and
drop on to the dock.

------
nphrk
My experience so far:

* Looks nicer.

* You can't modify the panels. I always had some shortcuts there, now I have to go through the menu.

* You can't even change the default icon theme using the customization app. You have to get gnome-tweak-tool (IIRC).

* ALT+F2 doesn't do anything by default. I guess the key bindings are changed/some are disabled by default.

* It tried to install the new ATI drivers, then miserably failed. Trying to fix it, I purged the old drivers, but it still didn't work. This only caused it to freeze at boot time, so I had to the recovery console to fix it.

* Bottom line: never ever upgrade from an old version. Always do a clean install (or pick up a different distro/OS).

* Note: I'm using Gnome (now not so) classic.

~~~
imd
Alt-F2 works for me. What's Gnome (now not so) classic? Gnome 3?

~~~
nphrk
gnome-about says 2.32.1, but I suspect that the Ubuntu version is vanilla

------
hristov
I cannot believe they removed the option to run classic. I literally cancelled
my update the moment I learned that (on slashdot). I hear there is a way to
bring it back but I am worried about compatibility at this point. So I will
have to wait a bit and see whether others can get classic to work for ubuntu
11.10 and look for alternative distros.

This is really annoying because the main reason I run ubuntu is so I do not
have to deal with testing and installing distros.

~~~
emu
Install the GNOME 3 packages using apt (gnome-shell and gnome-panel should get
you most of what you need) and run them in fallback mode. The GNOME 3 fallback
mode is pretty close to the GNOME 2 experience, although it is missing a
couple of features that some people may want (e.g., panel applets). I've been
using Oneiric this way for months and I'm pretty happy with it.

------
aqrashik
Any reason why Ubuntu just doesn't seem to make the switch to DVD based
installation ISOs?

I end up burning the CD images on DVD anyway and would definitely prefer to
have a larger selection of available packages on the installation media, even
if I didn't end up installing some.

~~~
jcastro
There are DVD ISOs made with exactly that, plus some extra goodies like
Inkscape, GIMP, etc.

------
jaz
If you're on a laptop, and the trackpad stops working after upgrading, try one
of these solutions in the terminal:

synclient TouchpadOff = 0

or

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/touchpad.conf and in that file type "options
psmouse proto=imps" (no quotes).

The second solution worked on my Lenovo T510. Credit goes to Hopper122 here
<http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1479286>

------
navs
I ran Ubuntu 11.04 on a netbook and performance was terrible. Switching to
Unity 2D helped a bit but it was still struggling. Any indication 11.10 will
work better?

Of course I'm gonna give this a try regardless but I'd like to hear from
netbook owners if they've noticed better performance.

~~~
eru
Have you considered using a window manager that's not so fancy?

~~~
navs
Yes, I've used alternative window managers. But the menu bar integration with
unity is something I enjoy and would like to continue enjoying.

------
clarkevans
It doesn't appear that XMonad works as nicely, at least, I'm unable to get the
panel to work. It seems gnome-panel is no longer used, furthermore, right-
clicking on the new unity panel to configure it doesn't seem work. XMonad
works... I'll just be panel free for a while.

~~~
sciurus
I used the i3 window manager with gnome-settings-daemon and nautilus in Ubuntu
11.04. This stopped working in Ubuntu 11.10, which I blame on the upgrade from
GNOME 2.x to 3.x.

------
sireat
The online tour really makes me like Unity, but of course that is too brief an
impression. Might have to give it a spin on a home machine.

I used to upgrade religiously every 6 months, from 7.10 to 10.04LTS. Been
waiting for next LTS to upgrade work machines.

~~~
vimalg2
I've been sticking to 10.04 LTS for quite some time.

I'm finally starting to appreciate the old adage 'If it ain't broke, don't try
to fix it'.

LTS works ultra-reliably.

~~~
bilban
I was gutted that my Hardy Heron died two weeks before the release of Lucid. I
swapped over to Debian, but use the LTS elsewhere. I treat other Ubuntus as
Betas.

I gave Ocelot a whirl this eve, and it's much better than my experience with
the 10.04 netbook edition. The window management is more consistent. It feels
more cohesive.

Anyway after some initial excitement, I broke it without much effort.

I'd pretty much written off Ubuntu, but think the next LTS could be pretty
good - if they iron out all the bugs, and listen to the community.

------
kenny_r
Check out the new content on their Ubuntu countdown site:
<http://thisisthecountdown.com/>

They released a soundtrack for this release of Ubuntu.

------
jwingy
Maybe this isn't the best place to ask, but does anyone know if you can do the
'aero snap' with windows when running unity in 2d (non-accelerated) mode?

~~~
thetwentyone
Yes, you can. At least in 11.04, I haven't upgraded to 11.10 yet, but I would
assume it would be the same/enhanced.

~~~
Iv
how do you run unity in non-accelerated mode ? It has always refused to run
for me unless I had graphical acceleration installed.

~~~
sciurus
In 11.10, it should automatically start in 2D mode if 3D acceleration isn't
available. Alternately, you can choose it from the login screen. Here is how
Unity and Unity 2D are configured on my system.

    
    
        $ cat /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/ubuntu.session 
        [GNOME Session]
        Name=Ubuntu
        Name[eo]=Ubuntuo
        RequiredComponents=gnome-settings-daemon;
        RequiredProviders=windowmanager;panel;
        DefaultProvider-windowmanager=compiz
        DefaultProvider-panel=compiz
        IsRunnableHelper=/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test
        FallbackSession=ubuntu-2d
        DesktopName=Unity
    
        $ cat /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions/ubuntu-2d.session 
        [GNOME Session]
        Name=Ubuntu 2D
        RequiredComponents=gnome-settings-daemon;
        RequiredProviders=windowmanager;panel;launcher;
        DefaultProvider-windowmanager=metacity
        DefaultProvider-panel=unity-2d-panel
        DefaultProvider-launcher=unity-2d-launcher
        DesktopName=Unity

~~~
Iv
Ok, in 11.04, without acceleration, I have to switch back to "classical" mode
which I assume to be Gnome.

------
kleiba
Perhaps a more informative link: <http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/whats-new>

~~~
zootm
Well I certainly hope getting Daft Punk when searching for Radiohead isn't
what it normally does...

------
pavelkaroukin
unity... ability to install and run 32-bit apps along side with 64-bit apps -
is what huge! :)

------
asianexpress
Did the release take down linux.org somehow? 509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
right now

------
lhnn
Ubuntu 11.10 has removed simple configurable items like font size and
screensaver into a non-default tool, making them much less accessible to non-
hackers.

Combine this with all the usability changes in Unity (alt-tab affects all
workspaces, etc.) and you have an environment I'm not too excited to work in.

~~~
mrinterweb
I have really enjoyed Unity. I think there are a lot of very good UI choices
that are better to the normal gnome desktop. I am bummed to hear that alt-tab
affects all workspaces. That is one of the things that drove me crazy on OS X.

~~~
mrinterweb
I just installed compizconfig-settings-manager, and in the Unity plugin, there
is a setting where you can tell Compiz to prefer applications in your current
viewport. I am no longer as concerned about the alt-tab change now.

------
carussell
I flagged the other 11.10 submission[1] for the reasons in mgunes's comment,
and it's dead now. The same should happen here.

1\. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3106857>

~~~
buster
thanks for the flagging!

</sarcasm>

~~~
carussell
Alternatively, don't jump the gun with your submissions.

And I'm loving the downvotes from future-land, where 11.10 has now been
officially released, and we shit on people who posted outside of future-land,
before the official release did come to pass.

