linuxcandyclone

Overall, what's new with Oneiric from Natty:

So, some general thoughts: 11.10 is both the most easiest to use Ubuntu, but also the most frustrating. Unity has a definite learning curve, but once you figure it out it's quite usable (though not outstanding). It's visual appeal will probably put Linux newbies at ease, but the incessant need to use desktop shortcuts may place the casual computer user in an awkward position. You can now use Unity completely through the GUI thanks to the new dash launcher, but this quickly becomes irritating and for the sake of efficiency the desktop shortcuts will have to be used. If you're already in the habit of using the keyboard to make quick navigational changes, you're in a good position.....If not, then you will learn. Oh yes, you will.

Fortunately, if you prefer to use Ubuntu with other desktop environments then you're in luck again. I've tested 11.10 on a variety of desktop environments and they all seem to work really well. Gnome 3 is now the base of 11.10's Unity incarnation and it's so much easier to install Gnome 3 than back in Natty days. I've given Gnome 3 a whirl over the last few days and it's snappier, more stable, looks pretty, refined, and just plain cool. I'm no longer a fan of Gnome, unfortunately, but that's just personal preference.

Gwibber, The Ubuntu Software Center (USC), and Thunderbird got some love too. For those who have been following, Gwibber and USC got a new makeover and they are much easier to use now. Gwibber has always been a bit of a pain to use, and still is, but it's now less of an irritant. Gwibber has now become my social media client of choice (surprising, eh?) because of it's clean interface and intuitive design. That's not to say it's perfect: one of the issues that bothers me is that Gwibber doesn't show which post came from where unless you hover the mouse over it (is this Facebook or Twitter?) and it takes longer to start - up than it should (at least 6 seconds), but other than that I love it. I'm quite impressed with it, especially since I hated Gwibber from the beginning. It's still integrated tightly into the OS as well, allowing you to update both FB and Twitter simultaneously through the message applet; however, to actually update through the applet is now more of a hassle. Before, all you had to do was click on the applet and then start typing. Now, you have to click the message applet, scroll down, click, than start typing. That's a whole extra step! I know this sounds minor, but this is part of a bigger problem with Unity: little things do not feel as efficient as they could be (or did in the past in this case).

As far as system performance goes: things are freakin' sweet! 11.10 at this point is quite the stable OS with only a few blips here and there. Since updating to 11.10 stable I've had no freezes, blips, hangs, or kernel panics. It simply feels rock solid. I've also noticed that at idle, the OS consumes less system resources than Natty. I suspect this has to do more with the Linux kernel changes than anything Canonical did, but it's still a nice development.

Essentially, this is a rock steady release and with a few tweaks it's quite usable. Even Unity is starting to shape up, but at this point Its probably not the most efficient desktop environment around. The little things seem to take more effort than it should. If you're using the mouse primarily, expect allot of extra (superfluous?) clicks. I think newbies can start using this DE as well, but they WILL get frustrated in the beginning, especially if they're not used to using the keyboard to get around. That's not to say this isn't a great starting distro for newbies because it is. I think Canonical made some great changes to be more appealing to the less geeky masses. For instance, it's nice to see synaptic gone (it's quite intimidating towards the casual computer users, just ask my sister) and replaced with the much less cumbersome USC. The only downside to this is USC is still premature as a package manager so if you have the know - how, keep Synaptic. I'm hoping that in upcoming releases the USC will be better suited towards managing packages (as opposed to "just" applications).

To summarize my beta articles and this one: 11.10 does some things really well, most things satisfactorily, and a few things terribly. I was thinking of jumping ship and moving to another distro, but 11.10 has convinced me that Ubuntu still has some surprises kicking around. My biggest pet peeve with the OS is Unity itself, not the OS, so with another DE I'm quite happy. If you're interested, I've gone into a bit more detail in my beta reviews so you might want to check that out too.

Give 11.10 a try, you might actually like it.