Alrighty, Ubuntu 11.04 is here – and it’s a little different….okay, a lot different. If you’re not up for trying out a new interface (the gnome-shell/unity thing they’ve got going on), I’d say wait ’til the fall when they have had a full release cycle to iron out some of the wrinkles. But if you’re game for trying it out, download it here.

I hit a snag using Ubuntu Tweak in my first few attempts at the install, so if you like to use it, do so with care and do not enable the “Gnome 3″ repository. Not unless you want gnome and metacity disabled – which is definitely not something you want to happen unless you are doing so on purpose for a specific reason. Here’s the thread where I was trying to figure out what was going on.

that said, I’ve found a few really solid resources on Ubuntu 11.04 out there

• solid thread on your options in Natty and some good instructions on how some things work: Natty Info: Your UI Options
• OMG! Ubuntu! has some solid guides as well:
  • guide to unity
  • 10 things to do after installing natty
  • download indicator applets
• Power User’s Guide to Unity

Good luck! If you have found any other great resources out there, please list ‘em in the comments and I’ll try to update the list I have.

Well, tomorrow Ubuntu 10.10 comes out. In preparation, I always like to post up a list of all the programs I am presently using regularly. It’s actually a pretty small list this time:

• Chromium (web browser)
• Hotot (Twitter desktop client)
• Kupfer (kinda like gnome-do…but it’s working more dependably for me)
• tilda (desktop terminal)
• Avant Window Navigator (very solid dock, though I think for the next six months I’m going to use Docky to see how it holds up for an extended period of time)
• Tomboy Notes
• Basket Note Pads
• Guayadeque (music player)
• Xiphos (Bible software)
• PDFmod
• Ubuntu Tweak

That’s all the main ones! I’m planning on posting up a quick installation guide which will include installing these apps, so keep an eye out for that!

Okay, I’ve been hearing bunches about Lubuntu from various sources and wanted to try it out…without having to download an install disc and deal with all that. They finally released what was supposedly an RC (Release Candidate), so I thought I’d check and see what was in the repos. Yep! Definitely there!

you can install it alongside Ubuntu just like Kubuntu and Xubuntu (as I had hoped you would be able to):

sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

That’s all ya gotta do to install it! I tried it out and it ran freaky fast. Not much on the eye candy – but holy crap, FAST! My system load wasn’t as light as I was hoping it would be, but I still had a bunch of programs open when I checked.

The only thing about installing it is you get this thing called OpenBox with it, some sort of window manager which can replace Metacity, so you could feasibly use it within Gnome, so on your login screen (where you choose your session type) you will now have choises for a “Gnome/OpenBox” as well as an “OpenBox” session. Haven’t tried those yet, though I will eventually, never fear…

Just read a post on Ubuntu Forums about a new distro of Linu being released really soon. It’s called Borderless Linux. Looks interesting. From the screenshot it looks like they’re going with a dockbar based menu/launcher system. Could be very cool. It’s based off Arch Linux, and I really have no idea about that…but hey, seems kinda cool. Soon as I can sell off some stuff and snag a newer (read: better) laptop, I’ll be trying out some of these distros and posting my thoughts.