Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" (Alpha 6): first impressions

By Hamish Taylor
Wednesday, 24 September 2008 04:16

Opinion and Analysis

In a continuing series of articles highlighting that GNU/Linux is a viable replacement operating system, today we're putting the newest release of the popular Ubuntu distribution through its paces.

  Most of the time, I wouldn't consider installing and testing an Alpha release of any operating system. However, having written about it recently, I just couldn't resist downloading, installing and testing it.

Alpha software of any sort tends to be pretty buggy. It's basically the developers saying that they can make this work but need a bit more time and "watch this space".

Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" Alpha 6 is no exception to the buggy rule. There are a number of things that don't quite work. Saying that, it is not so bad as you might imagine, as I am writing this article quite happily from 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex".

Alpha 6 is the last of the Alpha releases. The Beta release is due on the 2nd of October, and the Release Candidates will appear around the 23rd of October with the final release on the 30th of October.

I have had a look at the bug reports and the forums for Intrepid Ibex and things are being actively worked on. In the 24 hours since I installed, there have been a number of updates. I will be interested in logging onto this install and updating and seeing how things begin to work over the next few weeks.

It is interesting that the Free and Open Source Community is so open about the fact that things don't quite work and how hard they are working to get them right.

So, after using it for a day or so, what doesn't work? Please read onto page 2...