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diff --git a/ubuntu-1904review.txt b/ubuntu-1904review.txt index 5107ddb..c15f0bb 100644 --- a/ubuntu-1904review.txt +++ b/ubuntu-1904review.txt @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ The default desktop for 19.04 looks, aside from the new wallpaper, more or less Thanks to work both in the upstream GNOME project, along with some contributions from downstream, Ubuntu 19.04 is the snappiest version of GNOME I've ever used. In fact, Ubuntu's GNOME desktop finally feels like it's about on par with the old Unity, at least in terms of speed and responsiveness. -Much of the credit here goes to the GNOME project, which has been hard a work speeding things up and to be completely fair to GNOME, they've actually made even more speed improvements that didn't make it into Ubuntu 19.04. Ubuntu is looking to incorporate some more of those improvements down the road. It's also worth noting that nearly all the improvements to GNOME in 19.04 have been [patched into 18.10](https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/gnome-3-32-performance-ubuntu-19-04/10208) and will eventually make it to the 18.04 LTS release as well. +Much of the credit here goes to the GNOME project, which has been hard at work speeding things up and to be completely fair to GNOME, they've actually made even more speed improvements that didn't make it into Ubuntu 19.04. Ubuntu is looking to incorporate some more of those improvements down the road. It's also worth noting that nearly all the improvements to GNOME in 19.04 have been [patched into 18.10](https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/gnome-3-32-performance-ubuntu-19-04/10208) and will eventually make it to the 18.04 LTS release as well. Suffice to say that, if you're a GNOME user, the huge, very noticeable speed boost in Ubuntu 19.04 will make you very happy. @@ -44,21 +44,21 @@ Ubuntu MATE 19.04, which would be one of my top picks in the Ubuntu flavors worl Ubuntu MATE 19.04 ships with MATE Desktop 1.20 rather than the recently released 1.22. The MATE blog [notes](https://ubuntu-mate.org/blog/ubuntu-mate-disco-final-release/) that this is for stability reasons. MATE 1.22 introduces some API changes that some third party applications have not yet incorporated, making them unstable. Look for MATE Desktop 1.22 to land in 19.10 later this year. -As you would expect from and Xfce-based flavor, Xubuntu is more or less the same as the previous release. Indeed the lack of change is one of the best reasons to use Xfce. That said there are some changes in this release that should welcome news to Xfce-users' ears: more GTK 3 apps. Xubuntu 19.04 ships with GTK 3 versions of the Xfce file manager and app finder. Xubuntu's transition to GTK 3 continues to progress and may even be finished by next year's Xubuntu 20.04 LTS. +As you would expect from an Xfce-based flavor, Xubuntu is more or less the same as the previous release. Indeed the lack of change is one of the best reasons to use Xfce. That said there are some changes in this release that should be welcome news to Xfce-users' ears: more GTK 3 apps. Xubuntu 19.04 ships with GTK 3 versions of the Xfce file manager and app finder. Xubuntu's transition to GTK 3 continues to progress and may even be finished by next year's Xubuntu 20.04 LTS. -Other Ubuntu flavors like Lubuntu (LXDE-based), Kubuntu (KDE-based) and the oft-overlooked Ubuntu Studio have updates for 19.04. The latter deserves special mention for 19.04 since it's now possible to install Ubuntu Studio's configuration and metapackages on top of an existing Ubuntu installation. That means you can have your stock Ubuntu (or other flavor) desktop and get all the Studio goodness as well. If you've ever wanted a complete audio/video Linux workstation, without the pain of configuring low level audio and video setting, Ubuntu Studio is the way to go. +Other Ubuntu flavors like Lubuntu (LXDE-based), Kubuntu (KDE-based) and the oft-overlooked Ubuntu Studio have updates for 19.04. The latter deserves special mention for 19.04 since it's now possible to install Ubuntu Studio's configuration and metapackages on top of an existing Ubuntu installation. That means you can have your stock Ubuntu (or other flavor) desktop and get all the Studio goodness as well. If you've ever wanted a complete audio/video Linux workstation, without the pain of configuring low level audio and video settings, Ubuntu Studio is the way to go. ## Under the hood While Ubuntu's various desktop options all get a little love in this release, most of what's new and improved in Ubuntu 19.04 lies further beneath the surface, especially all the way down in the kernel, which is now at 5.0. -There's a good bit of new stuff in the Linux 5.x line, but the notable new features include support for AMD FreeSync (great news for anyone with a compatible monitor, you shouldn't see an tearing or latency in video and games), NVIDIA Xavier display support, support for swap files on Btrfs, and support for the Raspberry Pi Touchscreen. There's also a new 16x32 sized Terminus console font in there as well, which, while not super useful for Ubuntu, might come in handy next time you install Arch on a HiDPI screen. +There's a good bit of new stuff in the Linux 5.x line, but the notable new features include support for AMD FreeSync (great news for anyone with a compatible monitor, you shouldn't see any tearing or latency in video and games), NVIDIA Xavier display support, support for swap files on Btrfs, and support for the Raspberry Pi Touchscreen. There's also a new 16x32 sized Terminus console font in there as well, which, while not super useful for Ubuntu, might come in handy next time you install Arch on a HiDPI screen. Ubuntu 19.04 also includes Mesa 19.0, the latest development release of the open-source graphics driver. There's quite a few performance improvements in 19.0, including everything you need to get the kernel-supported FreeSync working. Ubuntu's attention to graphics in this release doesn't stop there, in 19.04 you can go ahead and install proprietary NVIDIA drivers for your NVIDIA graphics card. Just be sure to check the option during installation to "Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware and additional media" (note to Canonical, might be time to split that into multiple options). -The NVIDIA support It's not earth-shattering, but it's one less thing to do after Ubuntu is installed and it goes a long way to making the overall experience even more hassle free for new users. And anyone who tells you the open source Nouveau drivers are good enough has obviously never used it for gaming. +The NVIDIA support is not earth-shattering, but it's one less thing to do after Ubuntu is installed and it goes a long way to making the overall experience even more hassle free for new users. And anyone who tells you the open source Nouveau drivers are good enough has obviously never used it for gaming. -There's a little tease in this release as well, if you open up the Software and Updates app you'll see a new tab label Livepatch, which does... nothing -- it's just there so it can be backported to 18.04. Canonical's Livepatch feature, which applies security updates that don't require a system restart, only supports long term releases. Previously it was only available in Ubuntu server and required configuration through the command line. Now it will be available to Desktop users with a handy GUI -- just not 19.04 users. If you stick with 18.04 LTS, look for this feature to arrive soon. +There's a little tease in this release as well, if you open up the Software and Updates app you'll see a new tab labeled Livepatch, which does... nothing -- it's just there so it can be backported to 18.04. Canonical's Livepatch feature, which applies security updates that don't require a system restart, only supports long term releases. Previously it was only available in Ubuntu server and required configuration through the command line. Now it will be available to Desktop users with a handy GUI -- just not 19.04 users. If you stick with 18.04 LTS, look for this feature to arrive soon. Ubuntu is also shipping with an impressively up-to-date set of developer tools in this release. Python is at 3.7.3, golang 1.10.4, rustc 1.32.0, and GCC 8.3, with the option to go ahead and use GCC 9. Normally this warrants a sentence and that's about it, but I think 19.04 shows something of a shift for Ubuntu, which previously was more conservative about updating programming languages. I think this change is indicative of a change in direction for Ubuntu -- it's becoming a more developer-focused distro. @@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ Another example of this focus on developers can be seen in Snaps, Ubuntu's conta There's also a noteworthy new Snap app available that will make some developers happy -- Microsoft's Visual Studio Code. Yes, in 19.04, with a single click you can install an open source Microsoft app on your Linux box. I'll be honest, that's not a sentence I ever expected to write. -But one of the reasons Ubuntu is the closest thing Linux has to a household name is because it focused on making Linux newcomer-friendly and easy to use. Now it seems to be bring that experience to bear on a subset of the Linux user market -- developers. +But one of the reasons Ubuntu is the closest thing Linux has to a household name is because it focused on making Linux newcomer-friendly and easy to use. Now it seems to be bringing that experience to bear on a subset of the Linux user market -- developers. To some extent Ubuntu was and often still is the first place people, including developers, experience desktop Linux. That's a huge part of how Ubuntu became a household name. Since people were comfortable with it on the desktop, they turned to it on the server as well, which is a big part of Ubuntu's growth in server space over the past decade. @@ -82,8 +82,8 @@ Despite being a press release, it's worth considering that headline for a minute It's also worth noting that this is a trinity of goals that have long served the Fedora project well, producing a quality no-frills desktop loaded with developer tools, a set of server management tools and Fedora's various cloud-based tools. They also trickle down to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which in turns is a big part of IBM's acquisition, which is to say that Canonical is following in some very well established footprints here and the release of 19.04 shows its paying off. -Not only is this a solid desktop release for developers (as well as everyone else), it shows the considerable progress Canonical has made in providing an entire tool chain for it's customers. From the bare metal server management system MaaS, to Juju, to LXC/LXD, to Ubuntu Server, to it's integrated OpenStack and Kubernetes tools, Ubuntu has something for every part of the enterprise stack. +Not only is this a solid desktop release for developers (as well as everyone else), it shows the considerable progress Canonical has made in providing an entire tool chain for its customers. From the bare metal server management system MaaS, to Juju, to LXC/LXD, to Ubuntu Server, to its integrated OpenStack and Kubernetes tools, Ubuntu has something for every part of the enterprise stack. -That makes Ubuntu a compelling alternative to public clouds, as well as an integral part of those clouds. Seemingly no matter what enterprise opts for Canonical wins. This trickles down as well since Canonical's continued investment in the desktop we users enjoy is made possible, at least in part, by its success elsewhere. And with 19.04 Ubuntu looks to be in a good position to continue growing in both use and mind share. +That makes Ubuntu a compelling alternative to public clouds, for those that need to role their own, as well as an integral part of those clouds. Seemingly no matter what an enterprise IT department opts for, Canonical wins. This trickles down as well since Canonical's continued investment in the desktop we users enjoy is made possible, at least in part, by its success elsewhere. And with 19.04 Ubuntu looks to be in a good position to continue growing in both use and mind share. Ubuntu 19.04 is not a Long Term Support release and will only be supported for nine months. For the average user that's not a huge deal, though the question of should you upgrade is complicated by the fact that most of the improvements to the desktop will eventually make their way to the most recent LTS release (last year's 18.04). My suggestion would be for LTS users to stick with 18.04. If you already upgraded to 18.10, you'll definitely want to make the jump to 19.04. If you'd like to do so now you can follow [Canonical's instructions](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DiscoDingo/ReleaseNotes#Upgrading_from_Ubuntu_18.10), or just wait a few weeks for the first bug fix release, after which Ubuntu should prompt you to upgrade. |