Photos: Ubuntu 7.10

18 Oct 2007 07:47

Ubuntu 7.10 (a.k.a. 'Gutsy Gibbon') is released today (18 October). Here's a screenshot gallery showing the popular desktop Linux distribution in action.

A number of people have griped about Ubuntu's default brown colour-scheme, but it's still there with version 7.10. Of course, individuals can pick something else. Shown here is the initial log-on screen of 7.10, also called 'Gutsy Gibbon', which Ubuntu-sponsor Canonical plans to release in final form on 18 October.

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Version 7.10 of Ubuntu installs a flashy 3D graphical interface by default, but lets individuals select how much pizzazz to use. Linux leaders Red Hat and Novell have already adopted the technology, but Ubuntu developers were more cautious. This year, two competing graphics efforts, Compiz and Beryl, have merged in a project called Compiz Fusion.

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Linux desktop interfaces — workspaces that users can create in order to separate tasks — can be mapped to the faces of a cube, providing a 3D metaphor for moving among different views. To some, such fancy interface effects are gimmicky, but others appreciate it. There's a lot of development in this area, with Mac OS X and Windows Vista also in the race.

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Ubuntu 7.10 adds a desktop search tool called Tracker. Windows Vista and Mac OS X also have desktop search tools to make it quicker and easier for people to find what they need on ever-larger hard drives.

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If Gutsy Gibbon encounters a media file type it can't play by default, a dialogue box will pop up for installing support. Some software that plays such files is subject to licensing rules that make it difficult to include in open-source software products.

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Ubuntu, like other versions of Linux, lets people connect to specific servers for different varieties of software updates, including the latest versions of software under development.

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This shows the standard dialogue box for adding new packages — in this case the page layout program Scribus — to Ubuntu.

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An Ubuntu-specific version of the Eclipse programming tool is available.

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The classic 'wobbly window' user-interface effect for Linux makes windows jiggle and stretch as though they're made of jelly. (This image doesn't actually show Ubuntu, but the window effect is similar across different versions of Linux.)

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The Compiz software for 3D interfaces enables effects such as windows swooping into place.

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