It's that time again...
May. 2nd, 2010 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charameiI just opened Firefox, typed 'ch' into the address bar and hit the down arrow once to get my Dreamwidth URL up, appended '/update' to the URL and started typing. I am listening to Die Fledermaus (again) on Rhythmbox. If I feel like it, I can watch a DVD in a minute.
The impressive bit? Three hours ago, this computer was running a different operating system. And so was my laptop.
Yes, it's Ubuntu update time again. I mentioned last time that Ubuntu's like the little girl in the rhyme when it comes to upgrades. But there are other factors too.
Last time, I had a slow-as-fuck Internet connection to contend with, a pile of hardware failures - most notably, my monitor gave up the ghost - and, er, my own ignorance of the inherent problems with using dpkg to upgrade the OS rather than doing a clean reformat-and-install. (I am never, ever using dpkg to upgrade again. Ever.)
This time, the hardware's all fine, the 'net connection is delightfully speedy (although the Ubuntu repositories are responding a little slower than usual, no doubt because half the world's accessing them), and I backed up my home folder, got a live CD and did it properly.
And whereas at the end of the horrible upgrade process for Karmic I was left rather unsure about whether or not I liked the OS, Lucid has already given me one nerdgasm and it's only half-past three.
To start with, let's go through my list of grievances with Karmic.
Lucid has a tonne of new features, most of which I don't care about: I don't have a MyFace account and rarely use Twitter, for example, so the upgraded Me Menu is exactly as functional for me as it was back in Karmic: I use it for quick access to Pidgin and that's it. Likewise, I can barely edit still pictures, never mind movies: so PiTiVi doesn't exactly grab me.
Ubuntu One? I already have a Dropbox account, which is much more useful for someone who frequently switches between Linux and Windows. I do like the fact that you can now sync any folder via Ubuntu One, though: I may start using it to sync Pidgin logs, for example, something Dropbox just can't do. (I do find it rather amusing that if I wanted to I could use Ubuntu One to sync my Dropbox folders. How much synchronicity does one folder need?)
And then there's Nautilus, which is the part that just gave me a nerdgasm.
(Click to enlarge)
Having been using Windows 7 at work, I've been bemoaning Windows Explorer's continued lack of tabs a lot recently. Who wants ten instances of a file manager open just to move a few files around?
Well, Nautilus has had tabs for ages. But now it's achieved new heights of awesome with the addition of a second pane.
In that image, I have both panes open (they don't have to be: you can toggle the second one with F3, or the View menu), and each has two tabs open. They have different views: the left side has list view with one folder expanded, the right has thumbnail view. They each have their own address bars. The left tab has focus: you can see the background of the right one is grey, although it doesn't affect the thumbnails it's displaying. Pressing Ctrl+H toggles the visibility of hidden files in all tabs of both panes. This is the most powerful and simplest file management tool I've ever seen.
It's still missing a couple of things: there's no way to move a tab from one pane to the other as far as I can tell, and no way to, say, 'Open [folder] in new tab of other pane' (or even 'Open [folder] in other pane'). At present it's very like having two windows squashed into the space of one. Nautilus still doesn't open folders in a new tab by default, either, something I've been wishing for for a very long time.
Nevertheless, for simple - or complex - file moving operations, this is a stroke of genius. I doubt it'll be long until we get the ability to move tabs between panes, or open a folder in the other pane, but for now the basic functionality is astonishing enough.
Other things... well, obviously there's the new theme. Everyone seems to be talking about the new theme. It's purple, they keep saying, as if this is the most important part of the whole shebang. Yes, it is. There, that was quick.
(The default theme also has the minimise/maximise/exit buttons on the top left of the window rather than top left, for no apparent reason*. The theme I'm using in that screenshot is New Wave, which is similar in colour to Ambiance but more sensibly oriented. And now I'm one hundred per cent out of things to say about the theme.)
*Does Apple do this too? I have a feeling...
What else... the desktop switcher now has four desktops instead of just two, so I can be doubly as inefficient with them. CPU and memory load seem to be lower, judging by the System Monitor. OpenOffice is still lacking one tiny bit of Word's functionality that I adore. Libdvdread4 seems to be installed by default(?), which makes getting hold of libdvdcss2 much easier. GNOMEtris has been renamed again (it's Quadrapassel now), but underneath it's still exactly the same Tetris clone that it always was. Firefox seems to load faster even with my old profile loaded in, installing Celtx was a dream, and Matt Smith is finding his feet at last...
Yeah, that's it. I'm out of things to say about Lucid Lynx, except that I'm very glad I switched from Karmic and very happy with it so far.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and play with Nautilus some more.
The impressive bit? Three hours ago, this computer was running a different operating system. And so was my laptop.
Yes, it's Ubuntu update time again. I mentioned last time that Ubuntu's like the little girl in the rhyme when it comes to upgrades. But there are other factors too.
Last time, I had a slow-as-fuck Internet connection to contend with, a pile of hardware failures - most notably, my monitor gave up the ghost - and, er, my own ignorance of the inherent problems with using dpkg to upgrade the OS rather than doing a clean reformat-and-install. (I am never, ever using dpkg to upgrade again. Ever.)
This time, the hardware's all fine, the 'net connection is delightfully speedy (although the Ubuntu repositories are responding a little slower than usual, no doubt because half the world's accessing them), and I backed up my home folder, got a live CD and did it properly.
And whereas at the end of the horrible upgrade process for Karmic I was left rather unsure about whether or not I liked the OS, Lucid has already given me one nerdgasm and it's only half-past three.
To start with, let's go through my list of grievances with Karmic.
- The Add/Remove tool was removed in favour of the Software Center.
Ugh. The Software Center's still around, and just as unwieldy as it was in Karmic, but Add/Remove Applications has been completely removed from the repository. It's clearly time to get in the habit of going straight to Synaptic, or even the command line.
Thankfully the SC has a dynamic search function, or I would have become extremely cross with it. As it is, using it was relatively pain-free... it's just ugly, unwieldy and not nearly as slick as Add/Remove was. Can we have the program categories back in a sidepane, rather than enforced breadcrumbing, please? - The boot screen was ugly.
Lucid's boot screen is prettier. I still miss the progress bar, though. - Upgrading buggered up my WiFi.
This was one of the things which finally taught me not to use the dpkg upgrade. The laptop's fine this time: the only stumbling block was trying to type in the WiFi key. - Had to use accessibility mode to type in Greek.
No longer the case. Installing the keyboard layout was nice and easy, too.
Lucid has a tonne of new features, most of which I don't care about: I don't have a MyFace account and rarely use Twitter, for example, so the upgraded Me Menu is exactly as functional for me as it was back in Karmic: I use it for quick access to Pidgin and that's it. Likewise, I can barely edit still pictures, never mind movies: so PiTiVi doesn't exactly grab me.
Ubuntu One? I already have a Dropbox account, which is much more useful for someone who frequently switches between Linux and Windows. I do like the fact that you can now sync any folder via Ubuntu One, though: I may start using it to sync Pidgin logs, for example, something Dropbox just can't do. (I do find it rather amusing that if I wanted to I could use Ubuntu One to sync my Dropbox folders. How much synchronicity does one folder need?)
And then there's Nautilus, which is the part that just gave me a nerdgasm.
(Click to enlarge)
Having been using Windows 7 at work, I've been bemoaning Windows Explorer's continued lack of tabs a lot recently. Who wants ten instances of a file manager open just to move a few files around?
Well, Nautilus has had tabs for ages. But now it's achieved new heights of awesome with the addition of a second pane.
In that image, I have both panes open (they don't have to be: you can toggle the second one with F3, or the View menu), and each has two tabs open. They have different views: the left side has list view with one folder expanded, the right has thumbnail view. They each have their own address bars. The left tab has focus: you can see the background of the right one is grey, although it doesn't affect the thumbnails it's displaying. Pressing Ctrl+H toggles the visibility of hidden files in all tabs of both panes. This is the most powerful and simplest file management tool I've ever seen.
It's still missing a couple of things: there's no way to move a tab from one pane to the other as far as I can tell, and no way to, say, 'Open [folder] in new tab of other pane' (or even 'Open [folder] in other pane'). At present it's very like having two windows squashed into the space of one. Nautilus still doesn't open folders in a new tab by default, either, something I've been wishing for for a very long time.
Nevertheless, for simple - or complex - file moving operations, this is a stroke of genius. I doubt it'll be long until we get the ability to move tabs between panes, or open a folder in the other pane, but for now the basic functionality is astonishing enough.
Other things... well, obviously there's the new theme. Everyone seems to be talking about the new theme. It's purple, they keep saying, as if this is the most important part of the whole shebang. Yes, it is. There, that was quick.
(The default theme also has the minimise/maximise/exit buttons on the top left of the window rather than top left, for no apparent reason*. The theme I'm using in that screenshot is New Wave, which is similar in colour to Ambiance but more sensibly oriented. And now I'm one hundred per cent out of things to say about the theme.)
*Does Apple do this too? I have a feeling...
What else... the desktop switcher now has four desktops instead of just two, so I can be doubly as inefficient with them. CPU and memory load seem to be lower, judging by the System Monitor. OpenOffice is still lacking one tiny bit of Word's functionality that I adore. Libdvdread4 seems to be installed by default(?), which makes getting hold of libdvdcss2 much easier. GNOMEtris has been renamed again (it's Quadrapassel now), but underneath it's still exactly the same Tetris clone that it always was. Firefox seems to load faster even with my old profile loaded in, installing Celtx was a dream, and Matt Smith is finding his feet at last...
Yeah, that's it. I'm out of things to say about Lucid Lynx, except that I'm very glad I switched from Karmic and very happy with it so far.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and play with Nautilus some more.