JDPFu.com 2025

You all know I use Ubuntu heavily. I love the application management and update scheme used – APT.
A new version of Ubuntu is scheduled for release this week – 9.10. While this isn’t an LTS – Long Term Support release, so it isn’t suitable for production servers, it does have enough new and useful things to be worth migration consideration.

I plan to migrate my main desktop to it, but I’ll really be waiting for xubuntu, the lighter weight GUI version.

As I consider the new features included and made significantly easier, I came across an article where someone compared the so-called new features in Windows7 with other OSes.

Big new features in Ubuntu 9.10, from my point of view?

• EXT4 – this will be the default file system. Testing has shown it to be faster than most other alternatives. I’ll be staying with JFS on physical hardware and ext3 on virtual hardware. IMHO, more time is needed before I’ll risk my data. I really want ZFS, but since the license isn’t working with GNU, my best hope is btrfs at some future date. Linus is running btrfs on his daily workstation, so that’s a good sign.
• Cloud Computing infrastructure with Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus was introduced in an earlier release, but I didn’t use it. Ok, so it isn’t new, but it is_ new to me._ This is both compute and storage infrastructure that is compatible with Amazon EC2 and S3. Ubuntu has decided to call this UEC going forward. Very nice.
• KVM – Ubuntu has decided to leave my beloved Xen for KVM. That means it will be easier for me to change from Xen to KVM for virtual servers with the next LTS server release. I’ll need a few months to get ready and test.
• Easy HOME directory encryption – Don’t know that I’ll use this, but I will encrypt a subdirectory. Yes, I know TrueCrypt has been available for a long time and is cross platform. Ubuntu adds an auto-mount / dis-mount as you log in and out of your account. The resulting encryption can be moved, but only with the key provided at create time.
• Bluetooth tethering with cell phones. This means you’ll be able to use a cell data connection from your laptop, fairly easily. Great if you travel much.
• New kernel – In every new kernel, there are lots of new features that don’t matter to most of us and a few new features that matter a bunch. My kernels are so old that there are many, many new to me features. Some are security and others are performance related. KVM is built-into the kernel now. That’s better than getting Xen updates that don’t get tested well enough and occasionally break.

Ubuntu is also excited about free cloud storage they will offer. Of course, there’s a storage amount that will force a payment, but ease of use will make this useful to many people. Even if all you do is share your desktop settings or back them up to the cloud, you’ll be better off.

Anyway – Look for bittorrent downloads on 10/29 and get yours running. Seed after you complete for the entire weekend to help your fellow users out, please.