Go Go Geekboy

Well today is the official release of Ubuntu 9.10 (a.k.a. Karmic Koala) and let me tell you it is one of the best releases so far of Ubuntu I have seen.

I have played around with previous versions going back as far as Warty the Warthog (version 4.10) and none of them really compare to the look and feel to Jaunty Jackalope (version 9.04) and Karmic Koala.

The first thing you will notice is that they have added a graphical splash screen to the OS load screen using xsplash. Of course being the type of guy who likes customizing his GUI I found information on how to modify it thanks to the Ubuntu Forums.. Well google first, but you get the picture.

I really like seeing this over the old text style loading and then blank screen.

Of course the load time has drop considerably. It takes 15 seconds to boot up from a cold boot. A lot better than the slow boot of the other OS’s I have ran on my computers.

They have ditched Pidgin for Empathy. Personally I don’t care for Empathy so I am continuing to use Pidgin.

The Software Center replaces the old Add/Remove programs option and it is a lot simpler. But for a better control of packages I still use the synaptic manager from time to time.

All in all Karmic Koala kicks ass and you will see a ton of other reviews agreeing with that statement.

I personally recommend downloading it and checking out the Live CD at least. Even if you are not ready to make the jump into Linux, you can play around with it and see how easy it is.

I will be compiling a list of alternative software VERY soon.