I love the little points of Karmic. The Dust Sand theme - apparently it was available in Jaunty too, but this is the first time I've noticed it. It does look a little like OS X which I usually hate, but it's a very nice theme that integrates with everything well.
I also like the fade-in, fade-out of the usplash, and the way the Xsplash fades into the desktop. I don't like the completely different looks of the Usplash and the Xsplash; IMHO the Xsplash should start by looking just like the Usplash, and then morph into something more visually fascinating. Of course, I like the new versions of programs... but I'm very disappointed that Rhythmbox's DNLA and DAAP plugins are broken, and that the Tangerine DAAP server won't run on 9.10. This has taught me to only use LTS releases on my server in the future! Ubuntu Karmic is fast. I formatted / into Ext4 before installing and everything feels a lot snappier. I'm very pleased with this. My netbook's slow SSD is noticably faster with Karmic/Ext4 than with Jaunty/Ext2. Oh, and the wifi LED works now, and I should theoretically get better battery life with the better Powertop result. I also love the little warning you get when you run the update manager on battery power. That's cool. And although I thankfully haven't seen it myself, I'm also very impressed by the ability for Gnome Power Manager to know if your laptop battery has been recalled, and give you a warning. Unfortunately, Karmic is not a dream release for netbooks, due to the problems with mobile broadband. My broadband stick sometimes takes a couple of tries to connect properly, and from what I hear I'm one of the lucky ones. Mobile broadband, broken - this is something that needs to be prevented before too many more people get their hands on Ubuntu. I'm also a fan of the notifications system, especially the way it fades out more the closer your mouse gets to the notification. Did you know you can get Firefox to use the new notifications, by installing the "firefox-notify" extension from Synaptic? I also like the Software Center, it does make it easier to discover new programs. Don't worry - all my programs will remain free of charge under the GPL, I haven't been tempted to sell my wares :-) I'm hoping that the Software Center convinces more developers to look at Ubuntu, and that we get some first-tier game ports and some Blu-ray playback software in there soon! In conclusion, I love Karmic on my desktop. I like Karmic on my netbook, although I still think netbook users should stick with Intrepid. And unfortunately I don't like Karmic on my server due to the problems with DNLA and DAAP - all server software seems to have one problem or another. -- ubuntu-au mailing list ubuntu-au@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au
