The newest version of our beloved Linux distro Ubuntu was released on April 21st. Code named Jaunty Jackalope, Ubuntu 9.04 desktop edition brings some nice features:

• finally OpenOffice 3.0.1 installed;
• Gnome 2.26 with some improvements for multiple monitors setups, Empathy (multi-protocol instant messenger), Evolution (email client now with MS Exchange support), Volume manager (now integrated with PulseAudio);
• X.Org server 1.6 to improve support for some 3D video cards;
• new notification alert system specially designed for Ubuntu;
• Linux kernel 2.6.28 with ext4 file system support;

I’ve been using Ubuntu almost exclusively for about 2 years now. The improvements made since that time have been enormous and this release although not ground breaking has brought some very nice improvements.

This is the third of a sequence of posts where we’ll take a look at a few of the main Linux distros to find out which are the most welcoming to Linux newbies. In our first article of this series we took a look at Fedora 9 Beta, the second article we spoke about openSUSE, and the third in the series was about Mandriva.

We’ll do this test with the live (Gnome) CD to analyze: parts of the hardware that are recognized, software package installed, general usability (setup adjustments, software installation). Computer tested specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 6100.

Over the weekend I updated my Ubuntu machine from 7.10 to the brand new 8.04 release. I waited a few days after the official release to see if I heard any reports of upgrade problems.

I searched and searched and really didn’t find that many written reports of people that had updated their machines, most prefered to install from scratch. So, I took the risk and pressed the update distribution release button.

The ever so popular and handy Long Term support 8.04 versions of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu are out. The star of the show, Ubuntu has quite a nice set of new features, including:

• A windows based Ubuntu installer, so you don’t have to go through creating and managing partitions;
• New out-of-the-box programs such as Transmission (for BitTorrents), Brasero (CD and DVD burning), Firefox 3 beta;
• new Gnome 2.22;
• plus lots and lots more.

Get it now through download, purchase liveCDs, or even ask them to be shipped to you for free! For torrents, try here.