| Jaunty Jackalope ARM'd and ready |
Apr. 20, 2009
 Canonical will release Ubuntu 9.04 (nicknamed "Jaunty Jackalope") on April 23. The new release of the fast-growing open-source Linux distro boasts faster boot and resume operations, a new desktop notification service, smoother handoffs between WiFi and 3G service, and Ubuntu's first ARM port, says Canonical.
Desktop and server editions of Ubuntu 9.04 will be available for free download on Thursday, while the "Netbook Remix" version will be available a week later on April 30, says Canonical. Billing Ubuntu 9.04 as a Jackalope-like hybrid (pictured) that is at home on servers and even embedded devices as it is on the desktop, the Canonical-sponsored Ubuntu project follows the October 2008 release of Intrepid Ibex (Ubuntu 8.10). Prior to that, the last major release was Hardy Heron (8.04), which arrived a year ago.
Desktop Edition: Fast boots and ARM support
Pushing a key differentiator from Windows, Canonical has focused on improving Ubuntu's boot-up times, faster resume from suspend operations, and more power-efficient hibernation, according to a story in our sister publication, eWEEK. Boot time is now as short as 25 seconds, claims Canonical, and users are said to enjoy longer time between charges and faster access after hibernation. In addition to the smoother switching between WiFi and 3G cellular network service, the consumer-oriented Linux distribution now supports more WiFi devices and 3G cards.
The Ubuntu ARM port was announced in November, and could play a significant role in a new wave of ARM-based netbooks due to arrive starting later this year. Adding to its previous support of 32- and and 64-bit x86 processors, Ubuntu 9.04 now natively integrates an ARM installation for mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and low-end netbooks that run ARMv5EL and ARMv6EL-VFP architectures. The ARMv7 port targets system-on-chips (SoCs) based on ARM's Cortex-A8 and -A9 processor cores, such as new SoCs from Texas Instruments, Freescale, and Qualcomm. Ubuntu already supports the open-source Moblin stack that runs on Intel Atom-based netbooks and MIDs.
Ubuntu 9.04 is based on the 2.6.28 Linux kernel, and includes the new Ext4 filesystem that was introduced in the latest 2.6.29 release. The Ext3 file system is still offered as the default, however. A new integrated notification system is said to combine the notification methods of various applications and present the information "in a simple, unobtrusive manner," says Canonical. The overall UI, meanwhile, has been gussied up with new icons and artwork, says the company.
Gnome 2.26 and Brasero app
(Click to enlarge) |
Other updates include X.org server 1.6, as well as the KDE 4.2 and GNOME 2.26 desktop environments. Gnome 2.26 is touted for additions, including the Brasero CD burning application (pictured), and improved handling of multiple monitors with an updated gnome-display-properties function. The new Ubuntu also offers version 3.0 of the Microsoft Office-compatible OpenOffice.org.
Netbook Remix
The Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix, which is aimed specifically at netbook installs, is improved with an enhanced interface, says Canonical. The netbook version benefits from Ubuntu 9.04's general enhancements, including the faster boot performance and improved power management techniques. With Ubuntu's ARM support, meanwhile, the coming ARM-based netbooks will have at least one optimized Linux distro available.
Users can load Remix to a USB flash drive directly from Ubuntu.com and then install it on a wide variety of netbooks, including the following tested models:- Acer Aspire One
- Asus eeePC 900 and 1000
- Dell Mini 9
- HP Mini Mi
- Toshiba NB100
Server Edition in the clouds
The Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition debuts a preview version of Canonical's Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) technology. UEC can help businesses build cloud environments inside firewalls, as well as explore the benefits of cloud computing without the data and security issues involved with using an external cloud provider, the company claims. The Server Edition also offers support for nested virtualization.
With UEC, Server Edition is targeted at and fully available on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), says the company. The UEC technology, meanwhile, uses an open source program called Eucalyptus that is said to enable a company to deploy and test their own private, in-house cloud that matches the Amazon EC2 API.
Other Server Edition enhancements include improved virtualization with an updated KVM, enhanced clustering support in Samba 3.3 file server, as well as easier mail server setup "with out-of-the-box Dovecot-Postfix integration," says the company. Additional enhancements are said to include mail server features such as shared user authentication and enhanced spam protection, as well as better integration between OpenChange and Microsoft Exchange, and security enhancements with AppArmor. Server support has been extended to 45 mid-range servers from IBM, Dell, HP, and Sun (soon to be owned by Oracle).
Stated Jane Silber, COO at Canonical, "With access to the latest office productivity suite, support for Skype and Adobe Flash, and faster boot times, we're confident that Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop Edition will see more people join millions of others and make the switch to an open platform."
Stated Mark Shuttleworth, CEO and founder of Canonical, "It's an extraordinary time in the PC industry and 9.04 is an extraordinary release. We think it's our best release ever."
Availability
Desktop and server editions of Ubuntu 9.04 will be available for free download on Thursday, while the updated Ubuntu Netbook Remix will be available on April 30, says Canonical. More information on Ubuntu 9.04 may be found here.
The eWEEK story on Ubuntu 9.04, focusing primarily on the Server Edition, may be found here.
-- Eric Brown
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