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Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron First Impressions

Updated: May 1, 2008April 28, 2008


The Good:


Network Driver

My e1000 onboard network hardware was autodetected, unlike any previous Ubuntu releases. Up to now I had been using a 3com 3c59x card I borrowed from a sysadmin down the hall. Now I can give it back.

Yes, I'm aware I could have compiled a new kernel. Honestly I think my days of building kernels are pretty much over. I'm more into getting things done nowadays than tinkering with hardware and kernel compilations.


Printer Configuration, Check.

I was able to browse the network for my company's HP4250 LaserJet printer. After a few more obvious clicks, Ubuntu configured it itself and I was able to print a beautiful Ubuntu test page on the first try.


ATI Proprietary Driver

I followed this guide to get my onboard ATI hardware working:

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Hardy_Installation_Guide

A few minutes later I had Compiz Fusion working perfectly.


The Bad:


Firefox 3 Beta 5, What?

I'm not sure who thought plopping "beta" software onto my system was a good idea, but that's a big no-no for my work pc. I thought 8.04 was supposed to be a stable LTS release? Being a web developer you can only guess how many Firefox extensions and add-ons did not work for me under Firefox 3.. important ones like Firebug that I require to do my job. Ever try to debug Ajax without it? Firefox 3 beta was not called-for to say the least.

`apt-get install firefox-2` was the fix. I wasn't able to get it until today however, see below.


Bandwidth All Gone

Early adopters like myself were unable to install any optional software until today. The wait time for an apt-get command was unbearable if it didn't timeout and fail outright. I guess these are Ubuntu's growing pains, but I'll probably wait a week or so next time there's a big LTS release.

Tags: ubuntu, hardy

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