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Ubuntu 12.10 has been released. So it’s time for another review to see what’s in it, and if it’s worth considering as your preferred desktop distro.
In keeping with Canonical’s past tradition, Ubuntu 12.10 has a cute animal nickname. This time around it’s called “Quantal Quetzel.” You’re probably wondering what the heck a “quetzel” is, right? I was too, so I googled it and here’s what I found:
Quetzals (play /k?ts???l/ or play /?k?ts?l/) are strikingly colored birds in the trogon family. They are found in forests and woodlands, especially in humid highlands, with the five species from the genus Pharomachrus being exclusively Neotropical, while the single Euptilotis species is almost entirely restricted to western Mexico also in Baja Verapaz, Guatemala . They are fairly large (all over 32 cm or 13 inches long), slightly bigger than other trogon species. Quetzals have iridescent green or golden-green wing coverts, back, chest and head, with a red belly. They are strongly sexually dimorphic, and parts of the females’ plumage are brown or grey. These largely solitary birds feed on fruits, berries, insects and small vertebrates (such as frogs). Despite their bright plumage, they can be surprisingly difficult to see in their wooded habitats.
So there you go, now you know what a Quetzal is, thanks to Canonical and Ubuntu 12.10. You learn something new every day. It’s certainly a colorful bird, if a bit odd looking.
Alright, enough about the nickname. Now on with the review.
What’s New In This Release
Here’s a sample of the new features in this release:
WebApp Desktop Integration
Online Search
Dash Previews
Ubuntu 12.10 now lets you integrate web applications right into your desktop. When you visit a site such as GMail and login, you’ll get a pop menu that asks you if you want to install GMail. Just click the Install button and the app will be added to the Ubuntu launcher. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work, more on that in the problems section.
Online search now lets you use Ubuntu to search online accounts such as Flickr, Google Drive and others.
Dash Previews let you preview your search results in the Dash. For example, you might want to play a song directly from a preview, without opening a music player. This helps cut down on the need to open more windows to actually interact with your content and data.
Next, I’ll look at the system requirements, download options, and install routine.
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Well maybe. 12.04 works decently and it provides a platform that is workable once one learns Unity. Ironically that may be easier for people new to Linux than it is for people accustomed to other DE’s.
That said I just see no compelling case for Ubuntu, despite the fact that I started with it some years ago. Unity works but it is awkward, at least for me. Linux Mint, especially with Mate, furnishes just as much convenience with a DE much more to my taste if I have to be in the Ubuntu family.
If this sounds tepid it is. Once Warren Woodford finishes work in his current Mepis alpha I would be hard-pressed to make any case for any of the ‘buntus for Linus beginners. If the past is any guide the new Mepis will be just as easy to install as Ubuntu, easier to use and very stable.
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I agree with Bill Julian; there is nothing particularly compelling about Ubuntu, and recent releases, taking off into their own space, while they may achieve some yet unseen objective of the Canonical organization, for those of us familiar with previous editions, the past couple of Ubuntu editions have taken a decided step backward, to the point where one of the three other significant variations, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, or Xubuntu, are, at least in my own mind, clear and viable, even preferable, to the flagship Ubuntu version.
Moreover, those minimal hardware requirements really look out of date and off to me. If you use the absolute minimal 64 MB memory requirement, I maintain that you will not be able to do a graphical installation, or if you can, it will just barely work. The 256 and 512 MB recommendations are on the light side too. While they may work, they won’t work very well, and you’ll have little, if any, headroom for doing much of anything. Finally, those disk requirements won’t allow you to store or save anything.
I question whether you can even DO the 1 GB installation; the 5 GB installation should get you in, but leave you little space for saving anything. Not your fault, Jim, but those specs need to be more realistic; I’d say 1 GB of memory is a realistic minimum for any system running a GNOME desktop of any variation; less than that may work, but not well at all.
For disk space, leave an 8-10 GB partition; I generally make mine 12-20 GB these days, and that’s plenty. Less may get you in, but it’ll tie your hands from doing much in the way of useful work.
Mint these days is cleaner, for those who want a drop-in distro. MEPIS is more stable than either of them, even in its current SimplyMEPIS 11.9.70 Alpha snapshot.
Debian Wheezy, in code freeze for the next release, may be slightly rougher around the edges from the standpoint of the initial installation, but once installed, I’d put it over Ubuntu in stability, and it’s easily just as extensible as any version of Ubuntu; after all, Ubuntu gets its code base from Debian, and most of the current stuff is either from the Wheezy or Sid projects; personally, I’d go right to the source.
For those who cannot yet handle that, look to MEPIS or Mint instead, but I’d personally bypass Ubuntu. If you want a Canonical-based system that’s close to Ubuntu, opt for Xubuntu; I find that to be the most stable alternative in their stable.
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