Ubuntu Studio 8.04 (Hardy Heron) 64Bit
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/8.04/beta/ubuntustudio-8.04-beta-alternate-amd64.iso
Live DVD and Installation on one 1Gb disk
Version 8.04 at the time of writing this article had just been released on Beta, it should be noted from the outset that the version supplied is not complete. Amongst it's early persistent problems is the wireless networking, tests conducted with the Dell Inspiron 1521 do provide wireless networking only after manual installation of Firmware code for the bcm43xx network card. Most frustrating about the wireless network is it's inability to scan and roam for other wireless networks within range, only the networks pre-programed through the configure option can accessed (connection properties only display signal strength). There have been advances in display output although far from perfect at least on this Dell product, again we have Eye Candy already installed by default and this works well. The sound card was detected and correctly identified without further requirement for the installment of additional drivers, as was the case in previous Ubuntu versions for the Dell 1521 specifically.
Amongst the Desktop improvements in Hardy Heron 64Bit 8.04 versions compared against 64Bit Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 is the visual improvement of resizing application size of objects on the Desktop. In the Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 64Bit release resizing any desktop application object resulted in the whole laptop use being unusable, everything would slow to a crawl which could only be rectified with a Power Restart.
Distribution Upgrade from version 7.10 to Version 8.04 was not attempted.
Applications included:
Openoffice
Gimp
Firefox Ver 3
Flash and other Plugins
Updates proved again to be very simple and easy to install with only the requirement for a reboot on very rare occasions or when the Kernel image file needed updating.
You have two possible ways to install new software the first and easiest is from the main Applications Menu from Gnome entitled Add/Remove this is a Gnome Application Installer it does not have the full functionality of the Synaptic Package Manager but it is easy to use and will install all that is required. It reliably installs software to a given point on the menu system so no additional menu editing is required.
The second way is to use the Synaptic Package Manager you would use this to install system applications and codecs not normally found in Add/Remove application.
With website's and Forum sites supporting this version of Ubuntu it was easier to resolve some issues that came to light but not all.
Their are now three factions for Eye Candy on Linux systems any one of which with the correct hardware will heighten your Desktop experience all of which are being developed in parallel. Compiz and Beryl started independently and perhaps more or less the same time it has been argued that many of the Compiz developers are the same developers that are working on Beryl and visa versa. However then comes the third faction which is the collaboration of Compiz & Beryl called Compiz-Fusion. There may be more Eye Candy development out there a good place to start is sourceforge.net
For more information on these projects or developments please visit their project sites at the following locations:
beryl.org
compiz.org
compiz-fusion.org
Summary
In short the improvements with this release are significant however something has been sacrificed and lost at least for the time being, previous versions of Ubuntu would connect and download the Firmware needed to operate the wireless network cards once connected to a fixed Local Area Network node. In this release Firmware must first be downloaded and installed manually first before the wireless network will work, and this requires perhaps a bit of experience. It has been noticed however that initial runs of Studio on the Inspiron 1521 required failsafe display properties only to be used, this issue we are pleased to report seems to have been addressed as the Desktop runs sufficiently well now in normal operation after full installation of upgrades.
