Canonical has some pretty ambitious goals for Karmic Koala: faster startup times, tight cloud integration, an improved experience for netbooks, a Ubuntu software store, and much more. Some of these changes in recent alpha builds and yesterday's 9.10 alpha 6 continues to bring things into focus.

As you can see from the header clip, the old usplash boot animation has been replaced by xsplash which (unsurprisingly) uses X to draw the screens. In the demo, the full desktop is loaded around the 21 second mark - a very respectable time. Don't forget, Canonical hopes to cut that time in half in Ubuntu 10.04.

Also making its debut this go-ground is the Software Store. It's been added to the system menu and brings a more user-friendly program installation experience to Ubuntu. Sure, Synaptic and Ubuntu's own add/remove system are good, but the Software Store is a nice gesture to new Linux converts and less computer-savy users.

The beta release of Ubuntu 9.10 is slated for October 1st and the final release on the 29th. You can upgrade via apt-get or the Ubuntu Update Manager or download the new builds from Canonical. In addition to the flagship distribution, KUbuntu, Xubuntu, EDUbuntu, UbuntuStudio, and Mythbuntu are also available.

Ubuntu 8.10 is available for download today. And because Ubuntu Linux is open source software and we've been following its development for the last 6 months, there aren't a ton of surprises. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't download it if you're running Ubuntu 8.04 or if you're looking for a new Linux distro to try. Because it does include a number of tweaks, bug fixes, and improvements. Here are just a few:

• Improved support for connecting to 3G wireless networks
• A utility for loading a fully working Ubuntu installation on a USB disk
• There's a new System Cleaner utility that will help identify abandoned software packages (which could address one of my biggest pet peeves about most Linux distributions)
• The Nautilus file manager now supports tabs

In addition to Ubuntu 8.10, you can also download the latest version of Kubuntu today. Kubuntu is basically Ubuntu with the KDE desktop environment instead of GNOME. Xubuntu 8.10, which uses the Xfce desktop environment is also available today.

Canonical has released the first beta versions of Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex and its KDE counterpart, Kubuntu 8.10. Both feature a whole slew of new features and updates. But first thing's first. I don't recommend installing this operating system on your laptop unless you:

1. Know what you're doing.
2. Are willing to risk frying your LAN card.

As we reported last week, a bug in the latest version of the Linux Kernel used by Ubuntu 8.10 not only causes some Ethernet cards to stop working, but it also kills them dead. Basically, if your Ethernet hardware uses the Intel 82566 or 82567, do not install Intrepid Ibex yet. Because it could corrupt data on your hardware. There is a patch available to address this issue, but Canonical hasn't incorporated that patch yet. It should be in place by the time Ubuntu 8.10 final is released.

So if you do decide to go ahead and install Ubuntu 8.10, what will you see? Intrepid Ibex includes Gnome 2.24 with a number of improvements including tabbed browsing in the latest version of the Nautilus file manager. You also get a new version of the network manager which provides a 3G connection manager, among other things. The OS also uses X.Org 7.4, which has improved support for hot-pluggable input devices like keyboards, mice and tablets.

Update: If I'd spent a few more seconds reading the release notes, I would have told you that the offending component has been disabled so as not to fry anybody's Ethernet card. That's the good news. The bad news is that means you may not be able to access the internet via a LAN using this build. The issue should be addressed by the time Ubuntu 8.10 final is ready to go.

Check out some more of the highlights after the break.

All right, the headline is a little bit of a lie. Some Linux installs are hairier, take longer, and just aren't as soothing as the one we're about to show you. They do all work approximately the same way, however, and that's just fine for us as a point of illustration.

So there we are, looking at the "Download" page of an Ubuntu derived distribution. We decide that we'll download the x86 version of the distro (we'll assume we don't have a 64 bit or PPC system or don't want a 64 bit OS). So we click on the file that ends in .iso, and it starts downloading.

Now what?

Have you been so busy sending angry letters to Saturday Night Live about their choice of actors to portray Barack Obama that you've fallen behind on your Download Squad reading? Not to worry. Here's a roundup of some of the stories you might have missed this week:

Download Squad at Future of Web Apps

Download Squad's Grant Robertson hit up the Future of Web Apps 2008 conference in Miami this week. And he's been kind of busy. Here are just a few of the topics he's covered or live-blogged:

• Scaling Web Applications
• Google's Kevin Marks and the future of APIs
• Bringing a Web App to the masses
• Adding new features to existing applications
• Leah Culver of Pownce on the future of web services
• Launch an app in 40 minutes
• How to grow a community in the future

DivX shuts down Stage6 online video site

This week DivX shut down the online video sharing site Stage6. The web service never got as much attention as YouTube, DailyMotion. But it was a favorite among online video connaisseurs for its excellent video quality. DivX is now directing users to check out online video site Veoh.

TotalEdit 4.1: Text editor for programmers

TotalEdit is an advanced text editor with programs that could come in handy for coders, including syntax-coloring, code-folding, and line-numbering. There's also a portable version you can run from a USB drive. But one of the best things about this article is the fact that a bunch of readers weighed in with their favorite text editors in the comments.

Canonical has released a new LiveCD with the first alpha version of Kubuntu 8.04 using KDE 4 as its desktop environment. Kubuntu is identical to Ubuntu in many ways, but instead of using the GNOME desktop environment, Kubuntu uses KDE and its associated application suite. But since KDE 4 is brand spanking new, the Kubuntu team is taking things slowly.

Kubuntu 8.04 will come in two varieties. The version running the well-tested (and therefore somewhat boring) KDE 3 dekstop environment will be supported commercially. The version running KDE 4 will only have community support. Of course, the Linux and Ubuntu communities being what they are, community support is nothing to scoff at.

The first Alpha release of Kubuntu 8.04 with KDE 4 is a bit rough around the edges. For example, you'll probably have to run KNetworkManager manually if you want to enable your WiFi card. But for a first release it's pretty cool. And if you want to check out KDE 4's new widget engine, start menu and other features, you can run the operating system from a LiveCD without writing anything to your hard drive.

[via Tombuntu]

If you have to use Windows for your day job or for a few must-have applications, but you're a penguin at heart, have we got a program for you. While you can run Linux inside of Windows using virtualization software like VirtualBox or VMWare, andLinux goes a few steps further and essentially installs Linux on top of your Windows operating system, allowing the two to exist side by side and even interact with one another.

In other words, once andLinux is installed, you can launch native Linux applications almost as easily as any Windows program.

AndLinux comes in two varieties the moment. Both are based on Ubuntu, but one installs a full KDE system with all the programs that normally come with Kubuntu. The other version basically installs Xubuntu, which uses the light-weight XFCE desktop environment and packs fewer bells and whistles.

Since andLinux installs a full operating system, you'll need to make sure you've got quite a bit of free space on your hard drive. The KDE version eats up more than 4GB of space while the XFCE version takes about 2GB. If all you want to do is run a single Linux application like Amarok, Ardour, or Cinelerra, you might be better off checking out KDE for Windows and waiting for the developers ro port your favorite applications. But if you want to be able to run any Linux application you like without rebooting, andLinux is worth checking out. Keep in mind, this is beta software, so you might run into issues like applications failing to start

[via Lifehacker]

One of the nice things about the Ubuntu Linux distribution is that it has a regular development schedule. Every six months a new version of the operating system is released. And every two years, Canonical (the corporation behind Ubuntu) puts out a "long term service" release which will be officially supported a bit longer than the typical 18 months.

But now it looks like one arm of the Ubuntu team is going and messing with the schedule. Kubuntu features the same core as Ubuntu, but it uses the KDE desktop manager instead of Gnome. And while the next version of Ubuntu is scheduled to be a long term support release, the Kubuntu team has decided that Kubuntu 8.04 will not be an LTS release.

Now before you get yourself all worked up about this change of protocol, you should know that there's a pretty good reason for this decision. It turns out that the folks behind KDE are planning on releasing KDE 4 early next month. It's got a bunch of new features including a new file manager, pretty desktop effects, and a new icon set. A lot of people have understandably been interested in trying out release candidates of KDE 4 on Kubuntu, and a huge number of people have downloaded an unsupported Kubuntu 7.10 disc image with KDE 4.

So the Kubuntu team has decided to include KDE 4 in Kubuntu 8.04. But since the new desktop manager is still new, and represents such a major change from KDE 3, the developers are reluctant to promise long term support for this release.

[via Digg / video via kdecommit-digest]

While Linux was once the operating system of command line enthusiasts only, there are now several popular graphical desktop environments, including Gnome, XFCE, and KDE. Of the three, XFCE is the lightest-weight, meaning it's designed to run well on older PCs with slower processors and less powerful graphics cards. Gnome and KDE include more desktop effects, some of which might just be pretty to look at, while others can actually make improve productivity.

The KDE developers team is preparing to release the next generation of KDE. While KDE 3 is often described as an interface that Windows users will find familiar (the taskbar is on the bottom of the screen, there's a Windows-like start menu, etc), KDE 4 looks more like a cross between Windows Vista and OS X Leopard. That's because it comes with some amazing visual effects built right in like window transparencies, and a task switcher that looks a lot like Exposé on OS X.

KDE 4 also includes a new icon set, a new file manager, and a bunch of under the hood changes that most users won't notice. And it accomplishes all that while using less memory than KDE 3. That means you can run KDE 4 well on older machines, or newer computers like the Asus Eee PC which come with slower processors and a relatively small amount of RAM.

The video above shows Trolltech employee Jesper Thomschütz running Kubuntu with KDE 4 release candidate 2 on an Eee PC. You can download that LiveCD disc image yourself and test out KDE 4 on your own machine. KDE 4 is officially scheduled for release on January 11th. It will probably be a little while before you see Linux distributions like Kubuntu or OpenSuse coming with KDE 4 as the default graphical user interface, but you should be able to install stable KDE 4 packages to your existing Linux system starting next month.

So now that Gutsy Gibbon is out, you've decided to try out Ubuntu. But you can't decide which version of the popular Linux distribution is right for you.

Ubuntu's main system has a toolbar at the top, a brown color scheme, and comes with Firefox preloaded. But Kubuntu has a nice calming blue feel, a Windows-like taskbar and start menu, and comes with a powerful new file explorer called Dolphin. And then there's Xubuntu, which has simple, streamlined look and uses the XFCE interface that's designed for quick performance on older, slower machines.

Well, it turns out you don't have to choose. Sure, you could pick one, download it and burn it to a disc and then install it. But you can also install all three desktops. After all, they're all pretty much running on top of the same operating system.

1. If you've installed the default Gnome version of Ubuntu, just open a terminal by hitting Alt-F2 on your keyboard and typing "gnome-terminal"
2. To enable Kubuntu, type "sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop," enter your password when prompted, and answer yes to any questions that pop up.
3. To enable Xubuntu, type "sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop"
4. If you're already using Kubuntu or Xubuntu and want to enable Gnome, type "sudo apt-get install gnome-desktop"

The next time you logoff or restart your computer, you can change session types at the logon screen.

There's been a lot of talk this week about Ubuntu 7.10, which was released today. It has improved hardware and driver support, 3D Desktop graphics, and integrated desktop search. But Ubuntu's main branch isn't the only OS getting an update this week. Kubuntu, Edubuntu, and Xubuntu and other Ubuntu-related projects are also getting a facelift.

Kubuntu, if you're not familiar, is basically Ubuntu with the KDE interface instead of Gnome. You can easily turn Ubuntu into Kubuntu by installing the KDE packages from Ubuntu's repository. Or you can download it directly from Kubuntu.org.

Here's what's new in Kubuntu 7.10:

• KDE 3.5.8 is the new default desktop manager, but you can also install KDE 4 Beta 3. This is an unstable release, but it's a dramatic redesign of the KDE Linux desktop environment.
• Dolphin is the new default file manager. It doesn't replace Konqueror, which acts as a file manager and web browser. But Dolphin supports split views, undo and redo, renaming of multiple files, and other features familiar to Windows users.
• The enterprise version of personal information manager Kontact is available.
• There's a new KDE front end for the APT package manager. GDebi KDE lets you install Debian based packages with a single click.

Overall, Kubuntu looks and feels a bit more like Windows than Ubuntu. It's up to you to decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. But we have to say, we like the default blue background better than Ubuntu's orange and brown scheme.

Freespire 2.0, the free version of Linspire, is out. And unlike previous versions of Linspire and Freespire, which were built on Debian, Freespire 2.0 is built on top of Ubuntu. (Which, for those keeping track, is based on Debian).

But that doesn't mean Freespire will look or act just like Ubuntu. Freespire 2.0 uses the KDE desktop, which looks a bit more like the Windows and Mac desktop interfaces. Of course, you can also install Kubuntu, a version of Ubuntu that uses KDE, but Freespire's got a few other tricks up its sleeve:

• Proprietary software like Java, Flash, and Adobe Acrobat are included.
• Proprietary drivers are included for graphics, WiFi cards and other hardware.
• Proprietary codecs for listening to MP3s, Windows Media, and other file formats are included
• The CNR Plugin provides free access to open source and commercial software.

Open source purists may want to steer clear of Freespire 2.0 for its liberal use of closed source, proprietary software. But it looks like the operating system may hit that sweet spot between free and functional.

[via CyberNet]

It seems like just yesterday that the Ubuntu team released Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn. But Ubuntu has a 6 month release schedule, so you can expect a new version in October. Last night, a message was sent to the Ubuntu development mailing list outlining the planned feature set for Gutsy Gibbon.

In a nutshell, Ubuntu 7.10 will use the 2.6.22 kernel, and include GNOME desktop 2.2 or KDE 3.5.7 for Kubuntu (with packages for KDE 4.0 release candidate two for anyone who wants to check it out). This should be the first Ubuntu distribution to include the recently merged Compiz and Beryl 3D desktop manager.

Ubuntu 7.10 will also be the first release to include a mobile/embedded distribution for mobile phones and handheld devices. We'll be interested to see how it stacks up against the existing Linux ports for PDAs and handheld computers.

Since Ubuntu is released on a time-based schedule, rather than a feature-based one, it's possible that some of these features might not make it into Gutsy Gibbon. But it's also possible that the final release will include features not mentioned in the plan.

[via eHomeUpgrade]

Wow, I am pretty blown away. Almost unanimously everyone said that Ubuntu is the best Linux distro for almost everything you would want to do. I am already a Ubuntu fan, and I thought there would be a huge list of distros because there are so many out there. Ubuntu is the distro I used at work to recover old PC data, and fix PCs when even windows was trashed. It is definitely a killer build and deserves all the recognition it gets. If anyone out there is wondering which Linux distro is good for your uses, this should be proof enough. Other distros that made the list, but were all soundly spanked by Ubuntu are:

• Slax
  
• Fedora Core
• Kubuntu
• SUSE
• Mepis
  
• Red Hat
• Knoppix
• Debian
• DSL (Damn Small Linux)
  
• Gentoo
• Linspire
• Xubuntu
• PCLinuxOS
• Mandriva/Mandrake
• openSUSE
• Puppy

Thanks to everyone for your comments and thoughts on your favorite Linux flavor. I will be awarding stars as soon as I can, but I believe that feature is down at the moment.