Ubuntu 7.10

I have been running Ubuntu 7.10 since I upgraded my 7.04 install to the 7.10 release candidate a week before the final release. That was a good tip I picked up frm the Ubuntu Forums - upgrading a week before the final release avoided the release day rush.

The upgrade ran smoothly enough with no problems during the install. Before I upgraded I ran a backup of my 'Home' folder, just in case. What improvements are there in 7.10?

Compiz-Fusion is installed by default, and this seems a lot more stable than Compiz-Beryl was in 7.04. A new application is 'Tracker', a desktop search tool. I haven't noticed any performance hit due to Tracker, which is quite remarkable considering it must have run a full index search after the install. This seems an improvement over Google Desktop, which I had just started to use in 7.04.

In 7.04, I had also started to use the Avant Window Navigator (AWN). If you don't know about this, it is a 3d dock that sits at the bottom of the screen, and can be used to replace the standard Gnome panel. A new version was released shortly before the 7.10 release, and this is a marked improvement stability wise. Combined with a number of optional applets, AWN makes the standard Ubuntu desktop stand out.

Another improvement for me has been the shutdown process. Upon shutting down, my PC would regularly hang, which meant I would have to force the shutdown by holding in the power switch. I have no idea what the cause of this was, so whether the improvement is due to Ubuntu itself or a third party application I'll never know.

I also love the new elephant skin wallpaper (although not enabled by default). Very nice.