Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot, is out

There's a new version of Ubuntu out: version 11.10, codenamed Oneiric Ocelot.

I've updated my computers (three of them: two desktop PCs and a netbook) to the new version. My first impression is that it's really nice, graphically it's even better than the previous version (11.04), the new login screen is nice, there are a number of good improvements to the Unity interface which makes it more user-friendly, and it works very well on all my computers.

Has anybody else tried it yet, and what do you think?

Jesper de Jong wrote:

Has anybody else tried it yet, and what do you think?

I'm going to try and upgrade my (work) laptop this week. Just watching some forums to make sure that there aren't any major issues with the new version.

Wow, they are early this time! I usually don't look for the new version until the last week of the month. It's downloading as I type; I'll set up a VirtualBox VM for it.

I will try this new version. It seems to be nice

I upgraded recently. But I noticed that when I use Firefox or Thunderbird, I dont see the sidebar (with all the shortcuts) appearing when I take the mouse pointer near it. I didnt investigate more into this thinking that there should be some settings issue. Otherwise I havent explored much. Though the login screen stands out among the changes. May be some changes in the Add-Remove programs (which I just glanced).

I installed it in VirtualBox and played around a bit. Seems that Unity is working a little better than in 10.04. At least now when I mount an ISO in VirtualBox, it is automatically showing up in the Unity sidebar (in 11.04 I had to mount it manually). But then I don't know if that is an improvement in Unity or in VirtualBox. Will report again after I have had more time to "kick the tires."

Just installed it in a VM on my system. Haven't had any issues so far. However, it no longer comes with my preferred "Clearlooks" theme and from what read it probably will never have one (given that it was never ported). So looks like I've to get used to a different theme.

Why does my Automatic Updates still show "Upgrade to 11.04" ? I'm still running 10.10 on my Laptop.

You can't do a direct upgrade from 10.10 to 11.10. So you'll have to first upgrade to 11.04 and then to 11.10

I would recommend against an upgrade. Go for the clean install instead. Of course you will need to backup and restore your data.

Ran into a glitch: if I mount a shared folder in VirtualBox, I can use Nautilus to copy files from Ubuntu to the Windows host, but when copying files the other way I get a protocol error. Weird thing is, if I open a terminal and issue a cp command, the copy works just fine in either direction.

I ran my Ubuntu 11.04 VM and verified that I can copy files in both directions, so there must be some glitch related to Ubuntu 11.10 rather than to VirtualBox.

Maneesh Godbole wrote:I would recommend against an upgrade. Go for the clean install instead. Of course you will need to backup and restore your data.

Any obvious reasons?

Data corruption, in user data or system data. Seen lots of topics where people ran into trouble.

This weekend I would do a fresh install of Ubuntu 11.10 on my system. It's been almost a year since I have been running Ubuntu 10.10. I liked it. Hope 11.10 is even better and hope my hardware does not have any problems.

Managed to install a fresh copy of Ubuntu 11.10. The installation was quick and without any hassle. I created a bootable USB and the installed from that. Getting used to Unity. Is there a way to pin the Unity sidebar or move it to bottom like in a MAC?

Joe Harry wrote:Managed to install a fresh copy of Ubuntu 11.10. The installation was quick and without any hassle. I created a bootable USB and the installed from that. Getting used to Unity. Is there a way to pin the Unity sidebar or move it to bottom like in a MAC?

You can install Compiz and try to edit the setting there.

Anyone having experience installing Compiz?

Just googled for Compiz and the first couple of results tell me to be wary of installing Compiz. Is Compiz that bad? I have no clue as to what it is.

Joe Harry wrote:Just googled for Compiz and the first couple of results tell me to be wary of installing Compiz. Is Compiz that bad? I have no clue as to what it is.

Its a tool for managing your UI settings/effects. I just installed it for managing the toolbar. And I used it to remove the auto-hide of the unity toolbar. But I didnt use it for other settings. There are possibilities that you may mess up with the UI, so may in that perspective its suggested not to be used.

Mohamed Sanaulla wrote:

Joe Harry wrote:Just googled for Compiz and the first couple of results tell me to be wary of installing Compiz. Is Compiz that bad? I have no clue as to what it is.

Its a tool for managing your UI settings/effects. I just installed it for managing the toolbar. And I used it to remove the auto-hide of the unity toolbar. But I didnt use it for other settings. There are possibilities that you may mess up with the UI, so may in that perspective its suggested not to be used.

I need to customize the way the side tool bar appears and hides. I find it to be in an awkward place. Need to get it down. So what do I do now? Install Compiz? Is there any other alternative?

Joe Harry wrote:
I need to customize the way the side tool bar appears and hides. I find it to be in an awkward place. Need to get it down. So what do I do now? Install Compiz? Is there any other alternative?

I found the auto-hide of the sidebar really irritating (actually I am finding the tool bar irritating when dealing with multiple windows of the same applications). I dont know if there is another alternative. But I dont think Compiz is that bad. If I recall correctly I think compiz was part of the ubuntu installation a few versions ago. Am sure that using Compiz you can reposition the toolbar.

I installed Compiz. Would try to re-position the side panel.

Any suggestions for a sticky notes for Ubuntu 11.10?

Joe Harry wrote:I installed Compiz. Would try to re-position the side panel.

Any suggestions for a sticky notes for Ubuntu 11.10?

There used to be a default application which used to come with Ubuntu- I think its Tomboy or something.

My one week experience with 11.10 is not as good as it was with 10.10. Unity sucks!

Joe Harry wrote: . . . Unity sucks!

You only think that because you have never tried Gnome 3. That is far worse than Unity.

i am finding this weird issue- My internet speed is slower than what I get when I am using Windows and also the network keeps disconnecting frequently. Issue is seen with both Wired and Wireless. I am not really a linux geek so I am some how managing with the issue.

I just love Linux for the ease it provides for development. I might move to a different distro but now that everything is setup in the current installation, I would continue using for sometime.