Ubuntu 8.10 arrives

As those of you who regularly read this column will know, the end of the year means a new season not only in the meteorological sense, but also with new releases of the major Linux distributions. With Ubuntu Linux the most popular choice of distribution, this month we will take a look at some of the features of the new version.

Ubuntu follows a strict six-month release cycle. The current version, released in October 2008, as usual takes its release name from that date - Ubuntu 8.10 - also colloquially known as the Intrepid Ibex, or Intrepid for short. The previous version, 8.04, is a ‘long-term release’, which means it is supported through updates on the desktop for three years and five on the server. Intrepid is a standard cycle release and as such is supported for 18 months. Quite often this status indirectly means a slightly more risky release, with some cutting-edge software and major development changes. If that’s what you are looking for, however, you won’t find it here.

As Ubuntu synchronises with the Gnome desktop release schedule, Intrepid takes in the full latest Gnome version, bringing it up to the 2.24 series. The changes in the desktop software are naturally carried over into Ubuntu’s releases and often provide many of the new features as a whole. Gnome 2.24 unfortunately is rather lacking in that respect.

Nautilus, the file browser, now has support for tabbed viewing, similar to that of web browsers such as Firefox. There are other minor improvements, including better handling of screen resolutions, and a new instant messaging client - although this is not installed as standard with Ubuntu.

Applications receive the usual small upgrades, which fix bugs and can result in better performance and enhancements in functionality. Pidgin, the popular instant messaging client that Ubuntu has stuck with, has had a boost from version 2.4 to 2.5, for instance. The image manipulation application, the Gimp, has been upgraded to version 2.6. This is one of few major upgrades of Intrepid and provides some improvements on the older version, including some interface enhancements.

Be my guest
Of course, the Ubuntu developers haven’t been idle over the past six months, and some useful additions have made it into the Intrepid desktop. The new ‘guest session’ feature is particularly attractive. This lets you switch your current logged-in session to a temporary new one, so that another person can use your computer without having any access to your files or settings. The files for the guest session are stored in memory and are destroyed once the session is logged out, or the computer is shut down.

Another new feature is improved networking support. The Network Manager application, which maintains the connection to the internet or the local network, now has good support for mobile broadband and mobile data connections. It was possible previously to configure these with Ubuntu, but now it is handled automatically with the updated networking tool. For example, if your mobile phone supports 3G, you should now be able to plug it in via a USB cable and access the internet immediately, without having to configure anything or install any software or drivers. Owners of mobile broadband dongles for fast internet access on their laptop should find things similarly simple.