Linux Solutions

Jaunty Jackalope, the third alpha of Ubuntu’s 9.04 distro, has been released. The Alpha includes the Linux 2.3.28-3.4 kernel and comes pre-loaded with support for using the Ext4 file system – however the Ext4 is widely expected to remain as the default file system for Jaunty.

Ubuntu’s founder Mark Shuttleworth spoke about a number of improved notifications on the desktop in quite some detail last year. The company as added a simple menu into the latest alpha version that sets preferences for notifications.

Ubuntu have said that the final version of Jaunty Jackalope will hit shelves, so-to-speak, on April 22nd.

The distro includes the use of X.org’s latest 1.6 server, which means there is no more support for proprietory nVidia drivers, which means users will have to wait fot an update from the chip maker or choose a suitable open source driver instead.

“In the short term, this will again cause increased instability for some users while the video drivers catch up,” said the Jaunty Jackalope press release.

Ubuntu has also warned those who use Intel i845 or i865 video chipset’s for the next while until they fix a glitch that is known to prevent the nouvea X driver from loading.

The company has also disabled the DontZap option so as to stop users from accidentally initiating the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace combination. Developers are currently working on a GUI Configurable option that they hope will be ready for the April 22nd release.

Mr Shuttleworth said that he wants the best experience for his users: “Experiments are also not something we should do lightly. The Ubuntu desktop is something I take very personally; I feel personally responsible for the productivity and happiness of every Ubuntu user, so when we bring new ideas and code to the desktop I believe we should do everything we can to make sure of success first time round. We should not inflict bad ideas on our users just because we’re curious or arrogant or stubborn or proud. Despite being occasionally curious, arrogant, stubborn and proud…”

In related news, Ubuntu has also released a bug fix for a problem that crept out of the shadows back in October 2007. Many users complained that the Distro forces drives to spin up and down at an unnatural rate due to power management features that were a little too aggressive.

When the problem first arose Ubuntu said it was a firmware/BIOS problem and nothing to do with the OS. The update is now available for versions 9.04, 8.10 and 8.04 (LTS).