Karmic Koala Prospects Kloudy

Posted by Greg Laden on February 26, 2009
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In a good way. Ubuntu 9.10 is scheduled for release in October of this year, and will include the Amazon EC2 API. This will allow anyone to have a cloud using all OpenSource raw materials.

And it will be energy savvy. From Mark Shuttleworth:

What if you want to build an EC2-style cloud of your own? … The Eucalyptus project, from UCSB, enables you to create an EC2-style cloud in your own data center, on your own hardware. … A savvy Koala knows that the best way to conserve energy is to go to sleep, and these days even servers can suspend and resume, so imagine if we could make it possible to build a cloud computing facility that drops its energy use virtually to zero by napping in the midday heat, and waking up when there’s work to be done. No need to drink at the energy fountain when there’s nothing going on. If we get all of this right, our Koala will help take the edge off the bear market.

The Koala version of Ubuntu will also have a desktop redesign. The startup system will likely be modified partly to make it look better but also to speed up booting (which is already pretty fast compared, say, to Windoze).

The color of the desktop may be changed from Ubuntu Brown to some other color. To which I object. I like the brown.

MS’s message.

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  1. #1 D. C. Sessions
    February 26, 2009

    The color of the desktop may be changed from Ubuntu Brown to some other color. To which I object. I like the brown.

    To each and all that. My diaper-changing memories aren’t so precious that I need a computer to remind me of them.

    Having just (re)installed Ibis this morning, I’m just hoping that they either get a usable KDE or offer reversion to 3.5.10 — the 4.0 and 4.1 experiments should have been shipped off with the rest of the toxic sludge. In the meantime I’m going to have to cobble together a (hopefully) usable replacement or else go back to Heron.

  2. #2 Salad Is Slaughter
    February 26, 2009

    My hope is that when I install the new version (I assume 9.04 in April) that my wireless starts to work. I’ve been troubleshooting/Google-ing/installing modules/etc for my wireless issue since I bought the new laptop and installed 8.10 a couple of weeks ago.

  3. #3 Greg Laden
    February 26, 2009

    Isn’t Heron the current stable release that you should really be using?

  4. #4 Greg Laden
    February 26, 2009

    Salad: What kind of laptop, what kind of wireless ‘card’ are you using, and what is your router?

  5. #5 Salad Is Slaughter
    February 26, 2009

    I’ve got a Compaq (model escapes me at the moment) with an Atheros card. I’ve installed the ath5k driver, installed the linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic package, turned off bluetooth, and so on. The driver says it’s activated but not being used. When I do a scan for a wireless network I get nothing when I’m trying to find my 2WIRE modem.

    From what I’ve found, my problem seems to be pretty common and there are a lot of potential solutions.

    This is my “hobby” computer – I wanted something I could do anything with and not destroy our photos, the wife’s iTunes, the novel under development, and so on – so I’m not desperate. I’m actually having fun doing the research and learning this beast.

  6. #6 Stu
    February 26, 2009

    Greg, censor all you want, but at least have a look:

    http://www.tuxradar.com/content/benchmarked-ubuntu-vs-vista-vs-windows-7

  7. #7 D. C. Sessions
    February 26, 2009

    Isn’t Heron the current stable release that you should really be using?

    Intrepid Ibis (8.10) is the most current stable version. For those of us who prefer KDE over GNOME, it’s got problems but the hardware support is decidedly better.

  8. #8 Greg Laden
    February 26, 2009

    Stu,

    Your comment appeared to be spam because it has a IP address very similar to a spam address, so it got tossed in the spam bin.

    The reference you give shows Linux as faster, leaner, better, than Windows in almost all respects, and almost identical in booting. I can cite dozens of comparisons including the personal ones I experience every day showing Linux to be much faster. Also, for a given Linux installation the user can make numerous adjustments to speed up bootup time that are much more effective and meaningful than most adjustments than can be made in Windows. Linux also beats OS X in bootup.

    There are, of course, versions of Linux designed specifically to be fast at bootup. Many laptops today that are running Windows have these Linux versions also installed for this neat little trick of turning your computer on in a few seconds to run a web browser.

    Now, if you want to disagree with me, great. Providing a link like you did is good. Come on my blog with nothing other than a one word ad hominem insult, and IRTR to eviscerate you. Do not forget that, Stu.

  9. #9 Stu
    February 26, 2009

    Fair enough; the least I could have done is at least post the link that shows Windows to be faster than Ubuntu (at least in booting).

    It does make me wonder what kind of machine they’re using, and what crud they have installed. I am at a usable desktop in under 40 seconds — including typing in my username and password, and with the crapware McAfee on it. I should download a minimal Knoppix — I bet I can be at a workable desktop faster than those review times booting from CD!

  10. #10 jj
    February 26, 2009

    Re:Benchmarks
    Hardware can be a very important factor for benchmarking BTW. You can run benchmarks on identical systems with differing OS’s, then do the same on another two identical systems (different from the first)and get marks that are quite different. And also there’s the fact that things like graphical rendering and data processing can be very different depending on the hardware. Anyway, I can’t wait for both Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows 7, they both look like sweet OS’s to me (screw dual booting too, I have more than one PC). Just keep OS X away! Anyway, I really just wanted to throw in a comment, nothing that important to say.

  11. #11 Dan J
    February 27, 2009

    The EC2 API sound pretty darn cool. More toys to play with!

    There are a few things that I really want to complain about regarding Ubuntu. Oddly enough, these things aren’t directly Ubuntu problems, but problems with software that I use on Ubuntu.

    • Skype
      Skype does not work and play well with Ubuntu. More specifically, with the pulseaudio sound server that is the default with Ubuntu. I rely on Skype to work closely with colleagues in Europe. My solution? I have a second sound card dedicated to Skype. Long-term solution? None, as Skype is proprietary software, and it’s all up to them.
    • Gnome Screensaver
      I want the settings button back! So do many other users. The developer has stated:
      I don’t have any plans to support this. My view is that any screensaver theme that requires configuration is inherently broken.

      What?!!?!? The comments I have seen from him give me a not-very-friendly opinion of the man. The word enraged gives a close approximation of my feelings when reading his explanations. This is a Gnome issue, thus becomes an Ubuntu issue. My solution? I use a little program that another gentleman produced in order to get around this idiotic problem. It lets me change the settings for all of the screensavers I have.

    • Flash
      Again, an issue with proprietary software. I’m guessing that Linux support is not a very high priority for the developers at Adobe. The current Flash plugin for Firefox on Linux is awful. The one provided on Adobe’s site is 32-bit only, and there are a lot of us out here running a 64-bit OS. My solution? Bear with it until something better comes along.

    Windows? We have Vista Home Premium at Job #1 (Job #2 is from home) and I hate it. I provide the support for our two PCs there, and Vista frustrates me basically every day. I had to restart one of the machines nine times yesterday to resolve a problem with anti-virus software. One of those times I had to resort to literally pulling the plug because it would not shut down after about 15 minutes of sitting there with the “Windows is shutting down” message on the screen, and the hard drive light flashing.

  12. #12 Spiv
    February 27, 2009

    I haven’t put tried putting ibis on my netbook yet, but anyone happen to know if they’ve started real support for the processor throttling (powersave modes)?

    Atom seems to be the next big thing for these little laptops, and it’s all about battery life.

    And yeah, linux can definately be made to boot much, much faster than a windows machine can. Both seem to come in with a lazy config to start with though, which is probably why windows stuff looks faster. Difference is that linux can be stripped down to just what you need it to do if that’s your deal.