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The Linux distillery Ubuntu 8.04’s Wubi makes for universal desktop
The Linux distillery Ubuntu 8.04’s Wubi makes for universal desktop | Ubuntu 8.04’s Wubi makes for universal desktop |
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| by David M Williams | |
| Wednesday, 23 April 2008 | |
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Page 3 of 3 On completion Wubi tells me I need to reboot to complete the installation. I can reboot now or do it later. Let’s reboot right away.My laptop panel displays in full glorious 1680x1050 resolution. The keyboard works, as does the touchpad and mouse buttons. My built-in webcam is operational. I can insert USB sticks and SD memory cards with Ubuntu kindly asking me what I wish to do with the files contained on them. I plug an Ethernet cable into my laptop and an IP address is picked up and I’m online. I check for wireless networks and my home SSID is listed; yes – my wireless adapter is working right off the bat. As best as I can see my laptop is working right away. I can play music and hear it. I can play videos. I can browse the Web. I can fire up The GIMP and Open Office. Rebooting, I choose to go back into Windows. I click Start/Run, type appwiz.cpl and press enter; the Programs and Features control panel comes into life (that’s “Add/Remove Programs” for the pre-Vista among you.) Sure enough, Ubuntu is listed as an installed application, with an Uninstall button readily available. It has to be said: Wubi is remarkable, Wubi is astounding. As useful as a Live CD is, Wubi leaves it way behind. A Live CD doesn’t modify your hard drive; it therefore has no permanent storage. Every time you boot from the Live CD you’re in the exact same configuration you were last time you booted. You can’t add programs, you can’t customise it, you can’t add new drivers. Instead, with Wubi, I’ve achieved the same goal of testing out Linux without having to fiddle with my hard drive, reorganising data, carving up partitions or risking my existing data. However, I have persistent storage in the form of an effective private hard drive. I can save documents and I can change my wallpaper and make any other modification I like – even save my Wireless network info to connect on startup. Wubi is simple, it’s a doddle to install and to uninstall. It opens up Ubuntu Linux to any Windows users anywhere. Try it out. If you don’t like it, uninstall just as you would yesterday’s popular shareware game. If you love it, leave your computer dual booting. Or, install Ubuntu properly to the hard drive in its own partition. What’s also pleasing is that if you wish to make a dedicated disk partition you don’t have to start from scratch; another tool supplied will copy the contents of your Wubi hard disk file onto a specified disk partition meaning the setup you’ve been working with is preserved including any docs you’ve made. It’s undoubtable to my mind that Ubuntu have a winner with Hardy Heron. It comes with a rich feature set, a stable platform and a raft of brilliant new additions like ufw and Wubi which completely demolishes barriers and puts an end to the reputation of Linux as being arcane and cryptic. Hardy Heron will usher in the era of the Linux desktop, or if not, at least the era of Linux being a truly viable dual-boot desktop.
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