Ubuntu 9.04 RC

[Nightfall]

Yes this news is two days old but I thought I'd share just in case somebody else has been under this rock with me.

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/904

The final release is, I believe, in four days. If your balls are tingling bad enough though...

Has anybody messed around with the RC? Opinions?

[LiquidRain]

It works OK on my laptop - there are some major regressions with Intel video performance, especially if you're stuck with an older chip (like a 945 or 915) but if you run the Desktop Effects you should be OK.

There are a few other bugs too that are annoying, and frankly, nothing really new. I may just go back to 8.10.

[Gormanimal]

Originally Posted by LiquidRain

It works OK on my laptop - there are some major regressions with Intel video performance, especially if you're stuck with an older chip (like a 945 or 915) but if you run the Desktop Effects you should be OK.

There are a few other bugs too that are annoying, and frankly, nothing really new. I may just go back to 8.10.

Major regressions? Any idea why?

[Nightfall]

If I was reading the release notes correctly it seemed as though they were saying they *fixed* Intel graphics problems. Now I'm kind of concerned as the Gateway laptop I'm running Intrepid on has onboard Intel Extreme Graphics 2.

What are the other bugs you have run into that you are referring to?

[LiquidRain]

The major regressions are due to numerous reasons. The new X.org required all drivers to be updated for a new API version - so older drivers don't work. In the meantime, Intel was developing a new graphics acceleration architecture for X.org called UXA, as well as numerous other low-level/complete rewrite sort of features, for which the new X.org was made for. This left the Intel drivers in a complete mess for a while, and thankfully they were somewhat restored right in time for 9.04's release. But all the new unstable features are off since they are just that - unstable, which leaves us with a shoehorned solution that performs worse than the old one.

It was a perfect storm of new versions and features of the whole stack (kernel, video driver, X) that coincided with the landing date of 9.04. Another 3 months for kernel 2.6.30 and Intel's 2.8 drivers probably would have meant much nicer times for us Intel users. (the end result of all this work, as the current moment when it works, is already much faster than the old Intel drivers, and it should be ready by the next Ubuntu release)

My other bugs are mostly related to specific apps I use or XFCE, some of them noted already in XFCE's bug tracker or ones that aren't Ubuntu's responsibility. (such as Quod Libet)

Give it a try on a LiveCD and test the performance. If you don't use dual monitors you might just be peachy keen, and may even be able to turn on UXA successfully. Dual monitors with a 945 or Extreme Graphics, though, and you are in for a world of hurt. (I use dual monitors :/ )

[Straximus]

I've been having some strange issues with MythTv and ivtv since upgrading the Myth box. I'm waiting until release to upgrade my laptop.

[Nightfall]

Originally Posted by Straximus

I've been having some strange issues with MythTv and ivtv since upgrading the Myth box. I'm waiting until release to upgrade my laptop.

Looks as if there is a version released just for the RC?

http://www.mythbuntu.org/9.04/rc

[Nightfall]

Well I bit the bullet and upgraded via apt-p2p

Celeron 1.3
Intel Extreme Graphics 2
768Mb DDR-333

So far so good. After reading all these problems with Intel video I'm quite baffled, actually. In Intrepid when I would unmaximize windows I would get some awkward video artifacts as well as some pretty colors where the window used to be, that is no longer the case. It's still quite sluggish if I turn on all the pretty gnome appearance features, however.

Edit: I spoke way too soon. My entire top bar just disappeared with a few strange artifacts replacing it.
Edit 2: I rebooted and switched the visual effects from extra to normal. Seems okay so far.

[LiquidRain]

Like I said: You're using desktop effects, which means you should be largely unaffected. If you ran dual monitors (with a collective resolution over 2048 pixels wide [that's two 1024x768 monitors]) you'd be in an entirely different world.

Just moving windows around is choppy and laggy for me. :/

[Nightfall]

Originally Posted by LiquidRain

Just moving windows around is choppy and laggy for me. :/

That's unacceptable.

Are you going back to Intrepid or are you going to mess with it a bit?

[Satertek]

Set up my first Ubuntu partition a few months ago with 8.10. What's the best way to upgrade? Will it automatically show up as an update in the tray icon?

[Nightfall]

Originally Posted by Satertek

Set up my first Ubuntu partition a few months ago with 8.10. What's the best way to upgrade? Will it automatically show up as an update in the tray icon?

You didn't even try to find out yourself did you?

Originally Posted by ubuntu.com

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 on a desktop system, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release '9.04' is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

...and after enabling UXA it's been much better. So far anyway.

[Satertek]

Originally Posted by Nightfall

You didn't even try to find out yourself did you?

emerge --sync;emerge -Du world didn't seem to work

[LiquidRain]

Originally Posted by Nightfall

...and after enabling UXA it's been much better. So far anyway.

Yeeeeeep. I can't enable UXA because of my dual monitor configuration and hardware limitations.

Bunch of bullshit, really. I know plenty of other people have complained about this before, too.

I don't know if I'll downgrade back to 8.10 at this point.

[Satertek]

Had a hell of a time getting 9.04 final installed. Started off trying the normal update method, but I guess the servers were getting slammed this morning and I couldn't get over 10KB/s.

Downloaded the normal install CD, couldn't figure out how to use it to upgrade. Tried to add it as a source, no luck. Think I screwed up some of my packages here.

So finally I find the FAQ that says I need the "alternate" CD. WTF? It apparently has the same packages, but includes an upgrade script. I don't get it.

That finally works but now I'm getting "Not all updates can be installed, run a partial upgrade" messages in the Update Manager, and upon attempting this partial update, exits and does nothing. This may have something to do with me messing with the sources.list trying to get the first disc to install, but I don't know.

All I should have had to do was download the normal install disc, see an autoplay prompt to upgrade, and click.

[Nightfall]

Originally Posted by Satertek

Had a hell of a time getting 9.04 final installed. Started off trying the normal update method, but I guess the servers were getting slammed this morning and I couldn't get over 10KB/s.

Why not just download a torrent of the iso and start fresh?

[Satertek]

Originally Posted by Nightfall

Why not just download a torrent of the iso and start fresh?

That's what I started with, but I wanted to upgrade it so I wouldn't have to reinstall all my crap. Guess I get to anyway in addition to the time I wasted trying.

Doesn't make sense at all why the default installation CD can't do an upgrade.

[J Arcane]

I'm installing 9.04 now via Wubi, just for fun.

I should be playing LOTRO, but damnit, you guys gave me an excuse to install a new operating system, and for some perverse reason, I enjoy that kind of shit.

It's sick, I know, but I can't help myself sometimes.