Having recently encountered problems upgrading from Ubuntu 7.04 to 7.10 I decided to do a clean install.
I opted to install the AMD 64 bit version of Ubuntu. I installed the 64 bit version of Ubuntu back in version 6.06 but at the time it lacked 3rd party support. I was interested to see if 64 bit support would be any better with Gutsy.
The clean install has been a success all round. Unlike the upgrade problems I encountered last week, Compiz desktop effects worked out of the box without any messing around with configuration files. 3rd party support for 64 bit Linux seems to have improved too. I had no problems installing the Flash player Firefox plugin.
One interesting feature during the installation is an option to migrate XP settings over to Ubuntu. You can tell the Ubuntu installer to migrate all your XP files from My Documents, My Photos and My Videos over to Ubuntu. This has obviously been designed to help XP users make the transition over to Ubuntu.
The migration process worked flawlessly for me. Once the installation has finished you will see additional folders in your Ubuntu file browser titled Music, Pictures and Videos that contain all your migrated XP files.
It even migrated the chess icon associated with my XP user account.
Ubuntu had no problems detecting my Nvidia 6600GT graphics card and desktop effects worked first time! I also installed the Compiz configuration manager which enables you to customize the desktop effects.
Here is a screenshot showing the video card settings.
Ubuntu claimed to only support a screen refresh rate of either 50 or 55Hz, although checking the actual signal reaching my LCD monitor I could prove it was using a refresh rate of 60Hz.
When I upgraded from Ubuntu 7.04 to 7.10 I mentioned initial problems with the sound card. I had to delve down into the command line and specify the default sound card. No such problems with the clean install. I simply had to go to System -> Preferences -> Sound and select my sound card from the drop-down list.
Next up was to test how much 3rd party support there is for 64 bit Ubuntu. I visited a website using Flash and to my surprise Firefox installed the plugin with no problem at all. This never used to work back in the days of Ubuntu 6.06 so I was pleased to see this working first time.
All my multimedia files worked fine following the installation. Ubuntu automatically prompting me to download the appropriate codecs the first time I tried to play an MPEG file.
The only problem I’ve found so far is a bug when connecting to a remote server. In previous versions of Ubuntu you could select Places–>Connect to Server and enter the connection details, after closing this dialog an icon would appear on the desktop. You could then double-click this icon, enter your login details and connect to the remote server.
In Gutsy there is a bug so that once you’ve entered the connection details and closed the dialog, an icon is not displayed on your desktop. If took me a while to figure this out, but you have to logout of Ubuntu and log back in before the icon appears. This must be some refresh issue.
Summary
If your upgrade to Ubuntu 7.10 didn’t go smoothly then I definitely recommend giving the clean install a go. The installation process is now very slick and the XP migration tool is a nice touch. Support for 64 bit Ubuntu seems to have improved too which was an added bonus. Apart from the remote server bug everything else seems to be running fine.
I’m now running 64 bit Ubuntu with Compiz desktop effects so I am very happy. Another great release from the Ubuntu development folks.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 qx1 // Oct 28, 2007 at 1:23 am
Well, I’ve done the clean install. And Gutsy takes longer to boot and feels more sluggish on my IBM R31- 1.13Ghz 512mb. System.
Also, libdvdcss2 is proving challenging to activate (no, sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2 doesn’t work and hasn’t worked since Edgy eft)- not to mention the fact that the problems I’ve had in the past with my repositories under feisty seems to be happening under Gutsy as well.
Mint Linux anyone?
There must be a better way….
2 Dean // Oct 29, 2007 at 8:37 am
There seem to always be a few glitches with each release which can be a bit annoying. Overall though it is a good step in the right direction.
Ubuntu will continue to be my main distro of choice although I will be experimenting with other distros. I’ll be writing future articles on my experience with these.
3 Bollywood // Nov 28, 2007 at 9:52 pm
ubuntu 7.10 s better release than previous ones
but still i prefer fedora as i dont want dependency hell
4 Dean // Nov 28, 2007 at 10:01 pm
7.10 is good, but I recently seem to have run into issues with the system locking up, especially Firefox, which I never saw with previous releases.
I definitely want to start experimenting with other distros to see how they compare.
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