Impressions on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Alpha 6

First of all, I know it is an Alpha version, however it is the last alpha version and today just happened the Beta Freeze. So, I decided to try the new Ubuntu on my Lenovo’s Thinkpad T61 (all chipsets are Intel). My impressions were very good at a first glance, however after installing I needed to remove a lot of Gnome’s configuration files.

What surprised me:

• Network Manager 0.7 is becoming a very powerful tool, now supporting also GSM and ADSL.
• Network interfaces can be activated at boot time (configurable also via Network Manager).
• Flash Plugin upgraded to 10, solving the annoying issues of overlapping over menus and other page items.
• New Kernel 2.6.27 with new drivers (Now my wifi light is on)
• The Pidgin was upgraded to 2.5.1
• The volume control is now integrated with Pulse Audio.

What disappointed me:

• The Network Manager does not recognise my mobile phone over Bluetooth or USB
• My Flash Blocker plugin is not working anymore (tryied to reinstall everything)
• The Kernel still in development, so the suspend does not work
• My Ricoh Card Reader still does not support Memory Stick due the lack of a kernel driver
• The is some graphical bugs related to X and my Intel video.

In conclusion, the Ubuntu 8.10 will be very promising. There is a lot of bugs to be fixed until it reaches beta. Until then, I will be filling bugs and tracking then very closely on Launchpad.

Click using the Thinkpad’s TrackPoint on Linux

I do not like the TrackPoint on the my ThinkPad, however some of my friends do. Then, at least on Ubuntu 8.04, there is a little trick to make the Z-Axis works.

You can configure your TrackPoint settings at the following directory: ‘/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2′.

To activate the clicking feature just follow the steps below on a Terminal/Console:

sudo -s
cd /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2
echo -n 1 > press_to_select

That’s it.