After a short delay, Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) was released in June. Originally scheduled for mid-April, the developers decided to let the date slip six weeks to allow for concentrated bug fixing and some final polishing.

The previous version, 5.10 (Breezy Badger), was immensely successful, and Dapper’s release was, not surprisingly, long awaited.

Earlier this year we ran a series on installing and configuring Breezy (available for free online), and so this month we will update that to cover this latest release. The new version was also included in PCW magazine's September cover DVD.

There are several options to consider before installing Ubuntu. First, there are four versions from which to choose: the original Ubuntu itself and its three variants Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Edubuntu.

Ubuntu is the prime platform, and the one we will concentrate on here. It is the best supported of the four and where the focus of the development goes.

Kubuntu gives you a KDE desktop as opposed to Ubuntu’s Gnome. Xubuntu provides the lightweight XFCE desktop environment, suited especially to older PCs, and Edubuntu is a special version of Ubuntu, aimed at schools and younger people.

It is important to note that these are not different distributions – just different software selections. If you download and install the KDE desktop in Ubuntu, you will get the same system as you would installing Kubuntu directly.

There are three supported processor architectures from which to choose. The x86 release, which most people will use, runs on any 32bit PC.

The 64bit release runs only on the latest CPUs that have 64bit support. These machines can run either the 32 or 64bit releases. For Mac users there is a PowerPC (PPC) release.

The newer Intel-based Macs are not yet supported. Most people will want the 32bit x86 version, and if you are not sure which to use, pick this one.

The 64bit version will run faster for CPUs that support it, but you may run into some problems with closed-source binary software, such as Macromedia Flash or Google Earth.