Ubuntu 11.04 - an opinion

Family and friends depend on me to provide support for their Linux PC's. What is great is that does not require that much support. But it does mean keeping at least one step ahead. A variety of issues are at stake:

• Do all applications still work? 
• Are the devices still supported? 
• Will the user interface changes be problematic? 
• Are there new must have features?

So, while most stayed back on stable UNR 10.04 systems, I charged ahead to see if the upgrade path was safe ...


Upgrading from UNR 10.04 to 10.10 introduced the Unity desktop. For the netbook form factor, this desktop is excellent. It uses limited screen space well. It can be run with minimal use of the trackpad. It looks good. It is very responsive. All the applications that are required to work, do. Devices are recognised and work. So all looks good!  But, as 10.10 was not a LTS release I recommended holding back until 11.04 came out.


So I was very eager to see what the next release had in store.


Instead of upgrading though, I decided on a new installation. This was made practical since the netbook records any localisations into the Ubuntu One cloud. So restoration was trivial. The installation was, as we have grown to expect from Canonical, smooth. Everything worked wonderfully. But boot-up and login was very slow! This was a major disappointment. Even after switching off all non-essential services it still is noticeably, irritatingly slow! Slower than either the 10.04 or 10.10 releases. What's more battery life was much shorter.


A netbook must be fast. You don't want to wait for a portable device to start-up. It will sour the experience. There are workarounds. Using hibernate or suspension will assist, but at the cost of even shorter batter life.
The Unity interface has matured and now that I understand the design philosophy, it's functionality and usability make sense. Customisation was easy.


For the casual users currently on UNR, then the move to 11.04 would not be too traumatic.


Overall, I like what Canonical have done with 11.04. But, can I safely recommend it to all? Sadly, no. For UNR users it is a good upgrade, if you have the hardware. For the rest of us on older hardware, there are much lighter weight options.


Canonical's upgrade cycle is starting to hurt. Six months is way to fast, and it seems that years are getting shorter too! So, rolling releases like Linux Mint are starting to look attractive ...