Linux vs Windows vs Mac

Something happen to a windows Master Boot Record (MBR) that you’re responsible for? Want a very quick, very easy way to restore it with nothing but your craft, native intelligence and a liveCD?

Boot into your Ubuntu LiveCD on the offending machine. Once Ubuntu starts up, go to System -> Administration -> Software Sources and enable (by checking it off) the Universal repository.

Now, open a terminal session (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and type the following:

sudo apt-get install ms-sys

ms-sys is a program used to write Microsoft compatible boot records.

Now you’ll need to figure out what partition is the one hosting your Windows operating system. Back in the command line, type:

sudo fdisk -l

That will list the available partitions. You’re looking for a partition that says something like

/dev/sda1 1 9327 74919096 83 NTFS

The two important bits are the ‘/dev/sda1‘ which is the partition itself and the ‘NTFS‘ which tells us it’s a Windows formatted partition. So your Windows partition exists on your drive sda and it’s partition 1. The MBR for drive sda (assuming you boot into windows using it’s native boot loader) is what you want to repair.

We want to fix the MBR on /dev/sda. To do so, type:

sudo ms-sys -m /dev/sda

You’ll want to change the ’sda’ bit if your results from ‘fdisk -l‘ are different. If for instance your windows install is on sdb or hda.

Once you do that, reboot the machine, removing the LiveCD from the drive and Windows should come back to you.

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To create lan to linux or windows computer you must install SAMBA.
1)To get samba,samba gui tool and related packages type in terminal.

sudo apt-get install samba samba-common smbclient smbfs samba-dbg system-config-samba gsambad

2)Share folders
Take System->Admiistration->Samba.Click Add Share.Then browse to folder you want to share.

3)Set STATIC IP
Take System->Admiistration->Network.

Take Wireless connection or Wired Connection as u prefer.

Select Static IP.
Type Ip address 192.168.0.1
Dns 255.255.255.0
In other computer type

Ip address 192.168.0.1
Dns 255.255.255.0

Now close network
Now people think the other computer must appear in Places->Network,As in windows.But actually it wont happen in linux.
To view shared folder of other computer take.
Type in terminal:

nautilus

Now you will get a window,in its address bar type smb://192.168.0.1
Note: The given ip is Ip adress of the computer we want to view.

Now you will get the shared folders!

Envizions Computer Entertainment announced recently that the Linux-based EVO gaming console will be available for sale November 18.

There have been dedicated gaming consoles that are able to run Linux, namely the PS3. In these cases, Linux made the console function more as a home computer than a gaming rig. The EVO system uses Linux to power the games.

It is a system geared for early adopters and developers at this point.

If anything, this release will heat up the “Linux isn’t an operating system for gaming” chorus. So while playing “Gears of War” on a Red Hat server that’s also running mail services, LAMP, and a intranet portal hasn’t been possible (or necessarily a good idea), the introduction of dedicated console hardware, a Linux flavor optimized for gaming, and a company willing to develop (and encourage others to develop) games might change the tune.

It’ll likely be a slow process, given that Envizions only plans to release 500 to 1,300 units in the United States and Canada (there’s no mention of any worldwide release at this time). The console costs $599, but the company plans to offer a subsidized rebate plan to reduce that price to $249. Depending on the terms of the rebate, it is somewhat competitively priced to other game consoles.

It doesn’t feel right to compare this with the traditional game console. It’s very much an early adopter platform with an appeal to gamers. Those who are interested purely in the gaming aspect of a console likely wouldn’t have much use for EVO now. This console offers some similar features to other game systems, such as networking with other system owners and access to internet multimedia services. It also offers VoIP, cloud computing, and storage services.

The system will ship with a modified version of Fedora 8 pre-installed, with the option to use Envizions’ Mirrors Evolution Linux distribution.

Again, since this is marketed to early adopters who are as interested in developing games as playing them, the game selection is going to feel lackluster compared with more mature systems. The Linux game page has a teaser title (Hexen II Hammer of Thyrion) and very little else.

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KDE 4.1 is finally out today, as you probably already know, and it comes with a lot of innovations for the Linux desktop. KDE 4 is the next generation of the popular K Desktop Environment, which seeks to fulfill the need for a powerful yet easy-to-use desktop, for both personal and enterprise computing. The new version provides increased stability over the first KDE 4 version and more eye candy!

So, if you don’t want to download an openSUSE-based KDE 4.1 Live CD or to wait until a stable distribution is released with KDE 4.1.0 as the default desktop, we will teach you how to install it on your existing Ubuntu 8.04 or 8.04.1 LTS desktop.

Step 1 - Add KDE 4.1.0 Repositories

Go to System -> Administration -> Software Sources…

…enter your password and the Software Sources window will appear. Click the second tab “Third-Party Software,” then click the ‘Add’ button and paste the following code in the new window that will appear:

When the download is over (it will take a while if you have a slow bandwidth) you will be asked to choose a display manager (GDM or KDM-KDE4). Just click Forward…

This simple guide will bring up the Windows start menu inside GNOME and allow you to run, use and install any Windows app (that can run in a VM) inside your existing desktop. It takes about 10 minutes to setup, minus the time to install Windows, and involves one command in total.

Final Update September 2007: Virtualbox 1.5 includes seamless virtualization! Go read about that instead!

Update: If you’ve been having trouble getting this working, make sure the key is correct - our site layout chopped the last part of the registry key earlier. Note this requires Windows XP Pro. XP home won’t do.

Update 2: To install the vmware-server package just use the Add/Remove… program.

Update 3: If RDesktop starts a blue background, instead of just the taskbar, click Start ? Control Panel ? User Accounts ? Change the way users log on and off, and enable the welcome screen and fast user switching.

This is a newer version of a rather popular article I wrote a while ago. This updated version is a lot simpler and allows multiple apps to be run.

• Click Applications ? Add/Remove… install the vmware-server package.
• Click System ? Administration ? Synaptic Package Manager. Install the rdesktop package.
• Click Applications ? System Tools ? VMware Server Console When VMware Server Console starts, click Connect to attach to your local machine. Then Create a New Virtual Machine. Use all the defaults, but pick NAT networking. Pop in your Windows CD, and install Windows
• Once Windows has started:

1. Enable Terminal Services by clicking Start ? Control Panel ? System. Click the Remote tab, and enable Allow users to connect remotely to this computer
2. Turn off the desktop for the user you’ll use to run your Windows apps, by clicking Start ? Run typing regedit and selecting HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/ CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer. Create a DWORD called NoDesktop set to 1.
3. Note the IP address of Windows. Clicking Start ? Connect to ? Show All Connections. Select the Local Area Connection and hit the Support tab
4. Download SeamlessRDP, then extract it to C:\seamlessrdp
5. Log out of Windows, and close VMware Server Console (leave the VM running)

• Back in Ubuntu, open a Terminal, and run:

rdesktop -A -s ‘c:\seamlessrdp\seamlessrdpshell.exe c:\windows\explorer.exe’ IPAddress -u user -p password

substituting the IP address you noted earlier.

• The top of the Windows taskbar should appear above your GNOME panel on the bottom of the screen. Right click it, select Properties, and disable Lock the Taskbar. Then drag the taskbar to the left hand side of your screen.

That’s it. You can now run launch any Windows app you want from your VM (and install more if you need them). They’ll appear on the GNOME desktop, and you can switch between them from the panel.

We’re going to look at what may be a better way to do it. It’s certainly easier and from reports, NTFS-3G is a bit more stable as well. This Howto is written specifically for and from Ubuntu 6.10 - Edgy Eft but should work on any Debian based distro.

It should be noted that NTFS-3G may contain bugs and issues. Writing to NTFS from Linux may be unstable so you should use this at your own risk.

The first thing you’re going to have to do is install NTFS-3G. Let’s open up a terminal session and do the following:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g

You’ll be prompted to install this and several other dependancies as well. If you run into errors where ntfs-3g can’t be found, check out this article about adding extra repositories.

Now that NTFS-3G is installed, it’s time to tell your box to use it to mount your NTFS partition. Let’s find out where exactly that is. Back in your terminal type

sudo fdisk -l

You should get something that looks like this:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2550 20480008+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 2550 7493 39707451+ f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda3 7494 9729 17960670 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 2550 7394 38911288+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 7395 7493 795186 82 Linux swap / Solaris

We’re interested in the partition that says HPFS/NTFS. Notice that on my machine it’s /dev/sda1. You’ll want to keep track of this for yours. I suggest spelling it out in leftover Halloween candy on your desk, or for a spooky effect, use fake blood.

Now that you have your info on the NTFS partition, let’s edit the fstab file in your /etc directory to use NTFS-3G.

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak

Always make backups of stuff like this. Really.

Many Ubuntu users will find that the fstab already reflects their NTFS drive as mounted in the /media folder. This is standard but does not allow write access, only read access. We’re going to change this to use NTFS-3G. To see what you have do the following:

cat /etc/fstab

If you have a mount point already for your NTFS partition, it will look something like:

/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1

You’ll want to replace the bit that says ntfs with ntfs-3g, so it looks like this:

gksu gedit /etc/fstab

Now add:

/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ntfs-3g defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1

Replace the /dev/sda1 bit with whatever you wrote down from your fdisk -l output and save the file.

If you don’t have this listed at all, you’ll want to create a mount point in your /media folder. If you want to call it ‘windows‘ then you’d make a directory under /media called windows:

sudo mkdir /media/windows

Then add the below line to your /etc/fstab file:

gksu gedit /etc/fstab

Now add:

/dev/sda1 /media/windows ntfs-3g defaults,nls=utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1

Finally, restart your machine. Your Windows partition should now be on your desktop, and you can access it through your terminal by going to /media and then cd into the directory your using.

If you’re like me, then you’ve got a dual boot machine running both Windows and Ubuntu. heck, even if you’re not like me it’s entirely possible that you’ll have a dual boot machine. I’ll even allow for a triple boot machine if you like.

Here’s a guide to making the most of your NTFS partition while in Ubuntu. When you’re done you should be able to have your NTFS partition mounted at boot, be able to write to it and read from it and be able to lift three times your body weight without breaking a sweat.

It should be noted that writing to NTFS is still experimental. You’d best have a backup of your machine if you’re going to do this.

First let’s figure out where our NTFS partition is hiding. I’m going to assume that you’ve got an NTFS partition, an EXT3 partition and perhaps a FAT32 partition laying about. Open up a terminal session and type the following:

sudo fdisk -l

You’re looking for the NTFS partition, my output looks like this:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2550 20480008+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 2550 7493 39707451+ f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda3 7494 9729 17960670 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 2550 7394 38911288+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 7395 7493 795186 82 Linux swap / Solaris

It’s /dev/sda1 that I’m interested in. Find out what yours is and write it down somewhere. A good thing to do is to write it backwards on your forehead in indellible marker. This not only allows you to see where it is every time you look in the mirror but I’ll also be able to identify my readers if you venture out into public.

So let’s install the stuff we’ll need to get this working.

sudo apt-get install libfuse2 fuse-utils libntfs8 ntfsprogs

Now let’s add fuse to the list of stuff that our kernel will load:

echo fuse | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Now let’s add a group which we’ll use to control who can or can’t get access to the NTFS partition.

sudo addgroup ntfs

When this is done, you’ll get some output which will contain your GID (Group ID). It’ll look something like adding group ntfs (1001). Write down that GID, or add it to your backwards forehead list.

Now we’re going to create a mount point for our partition. This is a folder into which this disk will be shoved. Well, metaphorically speaking anyway. We’ll put it in the /media directory so it’ll show up on our desktop. then we’ll edit the fstab file to tell it to mount the NTFS partition on to the folder.

sudo mkdir /media/windows

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak

gksudo gedit /etc/fstab

Now that you’ve got the fstab file backed up and open in gedit, let’s add the following line to the bottom of it.

/dev/hda1 /media/windows ntfs-fuse auto,gid=1002,umask=0002 0 0

Here’s where you’ll need a mirror to look at the info you’ve written backwards on your forehead. The first bit ‘/dev/hda1? is the location of your NTFS partition. If you’re is different, then change it in your fstab entry above. The second bit we’ll need is the GID of your ntfs group. If it’s not 1002 then change that as well.

Now, let’s add your user to the ntfs group. If you’re username is ‘slartibartfast‘ this is how the command would look. (If you’re username is not ’slartibartfast, then type your username in place of slartibartfast, or consider changing it to slartibartfast’).

sudo adduser slartibartfast ntfs

Now let’s do some quick removing and linking to fix a known bug.

sudo rm /sbin/mount.ntfs-fuse && sudo ln /usr/bin/ntfsmount /sbin/mount.ntfs-fuse

Now reboot your machine and you’ll come back up to the joy of being able to muck with your windows install while not actually booting into windows.

The KDE Community has recently finished and shipped the latest version of their popular graphical environment for UNIX workstations. Codenamed ‘Codename’, KDE 4.1.2 is a monthly update for KDE 4.1 and it features:

- Deleting files got a nice 32 times speedup.
- Many bugfixes and improvements in KHTML and its new JavaScript bytecode interpreter Frostbyte. “Stop animations” is back in Konqueror.
- The Kopete Instant Messenger team fixed crashes in the ICQ, Yahoo and Gadu-Gadu protocols.
- Comicbook backend fixes in the document viewer Okular
- Fixes in Gwenview’s thumbnailing,
- Various crash fixes in KGpg, the PGP security utility.

To download KDE 4.1.2 visit this page.

After no less than six Alpha’s the Intrepid Ibex aka Ubuntu 8.10 has now finally taken beta form. The release features GNOME 2.24, X.Org server 7.4, the 2.6.27 Linux kernel, Network Manager 0.7, Samba 3.2 and much more which will also make it into the final version. Speaking of that, the full and final Ubuntu 8.10 is scheduled for a October 30th introduction.

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu 8.10
Desktop and Server. Codenamed “Intrepid Ibex”, 8.10 continues Ubuntu’s
proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source
technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition delivers the features you need for an
increasingly mobile digital life, including 3G wireless support and
guest sessions that lets users temporarily share computers without
compromising security.

Ubuntu 8.10 Server consolidates its support for virtualization with an
integrated Virtual Machine builder, and brings with it a fully-supported
Java stack and support for per-user directory encryption.

The Ubuntu 8.10 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio, and
Mythbuntu, also reach beta status today.

Desktop features

Xorg 7.4 brings improved support for automatic configuration of input
hardware, such as keyboards and mice.

3G support: Network Manager 0.7 comes with a number of greatly anticipated
features, including management of 3G connections (GSM/CDMA) and PPP/PPPoE
connnections.

Guest sessions: the User Switcher panel applet provides a new option for
starting a Guest session. This creates a temporary, password-less user
account with restricted privileges - perfect for lending out your laptop for
a quick email check.

Please see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/intrepid/beta for details.

Server features

Encrypted private directories: the installer now offers the option to
configure a secret encrypted folder for each user, to be unlocked and
mounted at login time, using ecryptfs.

Virtualization: Ubuntu 8.10 ships with a Virtual Machine builder that allows
complete Virtual Machines to be built from the command line in less than
five minutes, with support for scripting custom virtual images.

Java: a complete free Javaâ„¢ stack is supported in Ubuntu 8.10, including
OpenJDK and Apache Tomcat 6.0, making Ubuntu a great choice for Java
development and deployment.

Kubuntu features

Kubuntu builds on the groundwork of the Kubuntu 8.04 KDE 4 Remix to provide
a fully-supported KDE 4 desktop in Kubuntu 8.10.

Please see https://wiki.kubuntu.org/IntrepidIbex/Beta/Kubuntu for details.

Xubuntu features

Xubuntu comes with the light-weight Xfce 4.4.2 desktop environment for those
who want a desktop that is easy to use, but places particular emphasis on
conserving system resources.

UbuntuStudio features

Ubuntu Studio includes the updates to input hardware and sound device
management from Ubuntu Desktop, and includes a complete suite of tools for
generation of audio, video, and graphic content.

Mythbuntu features

See http://mythbuntu.org/8.10/beta for information about the Mythbuntu beta
release.

Other

* On the Desktop: KDE 4.1.2, GNOME 2.24, OpenOffice.org 2.4.1, X.org 7.4

* On the Server: Apache 2.2, PostgreSQL 8.3, PHP 5.2.6, LTSP 5.1

* “Under the hood”: GCC 4.3.2, glibc 2.8, Linux 2.6.27, Python 2.5

The full release notes can be found at
http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/intrepid/beta

About Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, and
servers, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases. A
tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and
an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.

Professional technical support is available from Canonical Limited and
hundreds of other companies around the world. For more information about
support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support

To Get Ubuntu 8.10 Beta

Download Ubuntu 8.10 Beta here (choose the mirror closest to you):

Africa:

* http://ubuntu.mirror.ac.za/ubuntu-release/8.10 (South Africa)

Asia:

* http://ftp.daum.net/ubuntu-releases/8.10 (Korea, Republic of)
* http://ftp.tcc.edu.tw/iso/Ubuntu/8.10 (Taiwan)
* http://tw.releases.ubuntu.com/8.10 (Taiwan)

Europe:

* http://ubuntu.mirrors.proxad.net/8.10 (France)
* http://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/ubuntu.iso/8.10 (Germany)
* http://nl.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/8.10 (Netherlands)
* http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/8.10 (Sweden)

North America:

* http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/ubuntu-iso/CDs/8.10 (United States)
* http://mirrors.gigenet.com/ubuntu/8.10 (United States)
* http://ubuntu.cs.utah.edu/releases/8.10 (United States)

Oceania/Australia:

* http://ubuntu-releases.optus.net/8.10 (Australia)
* http://planetmirror.com/pub/ubuntu/releases/8.10 (Australia)
* http://ftp.citylink.co.nz/ubuntu-releases/8.10 (New Zealand)

South America:

* http://ubuntu.c3sl.ufpr.br/releases/8.10 (Brazil)

Rest of the world:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.10 (Great Britain)

Please download using Bittorrent if possible.

To upgrade to Ubuntu 8.10 Beta from Ubuntu 8.04 LTS,
follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/IntrepidUpgrades

The final version of Ubuntu 8.10 is expected to be released in October 2008.

Known Bugs

There are a few key issues that users will want to take note of before
upgrading to this beta.

* The e1000e device driver (which provides support for Intel GigE ethernet
hardware) is currently disabled due to a serious bug. A fix for this
bug has already been prepared and will be released shortly as an update
to all users of the beta release.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/263555

* No real-time kernel variant is available for the Linux 2.6.27 kernel
included with Ubuntu 8.10 Beta. Users of Ubuntu“Studio 8.04 who need
real-time kernel support are advised not to upgrade to Ubuntu“Studio
8.10.

Alpha software of any sort tends to be pretty buggy. It’s basically the developers saying that they can make this work but need a bit more time and “watch this space”. Ubuntu 8.10 “Intrepid Ibex” Alpha 6 is no exception to the buggy rule. There are a number of things that don’t quite work. Saying that, it is not so bad as you might imagine, as I am writing this article quite happily from 8.10 “Intrepid Ibex”.

Alpha 6 is the last of the Alpha releases. The Beta release is due on the 2nd of October, and the Release Candidates will appear around the 23rd of October with the final release on the 30th of October.

I have had a look at the bug reports and the forums for Intrepid Ibex and things are being actively worked on. In the 24 hours since I installed, there have been a number of updates. I will be interested in logging onto this install and updating and seeing how things begin to work over the next few weeks.

It is interesting that the Free and Open Source Community is so open about the fact that things don’t quite work and how hard they are working to get them right.

So, after using it for a day or so, what doesn’t work?
The most obvious one is the wireless card that I have in this laptop. The Hardware Drivers sub-system comes up with the fact that the Broadcom 4318 card has been found and that there’s a driver available, however, the installation routine just doesn’t do anything. Dropping into the terminal and running the following command: sudo /usr/share/b43-fwcutter/install_bcm43xx_firmware.sh fixes it (just make sure you have a wired Internet connection).

I can then select my wireless network and it automatically selects the right encryption scheme. When I put in the WPA password it all connects correctly and I can browse my Local Area Network and the Internet (more on this on page 3).

However, I run into a problem when I restart. The system seems to forget the WPA password and I have to type it in again. Once this is done, it connects fine, so this is more of an annoyance than anything else. It has been reported as a bug and it is being worked on.

I want to listen to some music that I have on one of the shares, so I tell the music player, Rhythmbox, to go look there for the music. However, it doesn’t see any of the music files on the share. This is a Rhythmbox application issue and has been logged. I get around it by mounting the share in a different way (I want to write an article about how to do that soon) and I can successfully listen to my music.

I am sure there are more issues to be discovered, but that’s as far as I have tested so far.

My first impressions are that it’s all about the speed, the pretty and small improvements that make it more usable.

One of the generally accepted rules of computing seems to be that if you retain the same hardware and upgrade the operating system, then you can expect it to run slower. For example, Windows XP runs pretty well on my laptop, but Vista would be barely useable.

This seems to have been accepted as a fact of computing. But noone seems to have told the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community. They clearly don’t subscribe to this idea!

Ubuntu 8.10 “Intrepid Ibex” Alpha 6 absolutely flies on my laptop. It boots faster and generally feels more responsive than the 8.04 version, which again felt faster than 7.10 and 7.04.

At the same time, I have a lot more applets loading on startup (and software installed generally) in 8.04, so I will be interested to see what happens when I enable them in 8.10. I suspect that things will just be faster in 8.10 anyway as the quality of FOSS just keeps increasing.

The biggest difference is in the wireless speed. In Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10, my Broadcom 4318 WLAN card used the bcm43xx driver, which had a maximum speed of 24Mbps (3MB/sec), although being wireless it was usually quite a lot slower. This was replaced by the b43 driver in 8.04, which usually connected somewhere between 11 Mbps and 36 Mbps (although due to a bug in Network-Manager which remains unfixed, it only ever showed that it was connected at 1Mbps). I was able to get about 1.2-1.5MB/sec when downloading off my ISP’s local file mirror.

However, in 8.10 I can get 2.3MB/sec, sustained, over wireless! I am quite close to the exchange and on ADLS2+ (theoretical maximum speed of 24Mbps), so I am pretty much maxing out that connection. Interestingly, this is faster than the speeds that the Vista SP1 machines in the house can achieve (about 1.5MBps for the same file).

Having a fast connection speed - Network-Manager tells me 54 Mbps at the moment - and good throughput on wireless is a very welcome change.

One thing to keep in mind is that (as far as I am aware) Broadcom themselves have not helped with this driver, it is the open source developer community that have improved it to this point.
The second good thing that I have noticed is that it is gorgeous to look at. Compiz (the 3D desktop) is enabled by default, so I get all the nice 3D effects. This is pretty incredible as I have an onboard video card which shares 128MB of the system RAM. Vista’s Aero would just laugh at this video card and tell it to grow up!

It also seems to be a lot easier on the eyes. If the Ubuntu team has selected new default fonts then I salute them.

Applications such as Firefox and Gedit (the default text editor, a bit like Notepad in Windows, but much more powerful) just look nicer. Enabling Subpixel Smoothing makes it even better (go to System, Preferences, Appearance. Under Fonts at the top, click on Subpixel Smoothing. Makes things look nice on an LCD screen).

It might not seem like much, but now I only have to have one file manager window open, and can open tabs and copy and paste files between the tabs. This is quite simply a time and screen real-estate saver saver. I wonder how long it will take Microsoft to incorporate a tabbed file manager?

Secondly, is the icons for safely ejecting removable media, such as CD/DVD drives and USB keys. This is a bit like Microsoft’s “Safely Remove Hardware” system, just straight from the file manager itself. I find this very useful as I use USB keys a lot to carry files with me.

All in all, this is shaping up to be an interesting addition to the Ubuntu line up.

As I type this, I have been notified that there are another 30.6MB of updates! Being Alpha software, it is under heavy development. I will be watching with interest to see how the developers and the community respond to the bugs that have been raised so far.

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