10 New Features/Changes Coming In Karmic You May Not Know About…

By , Published August 27, 2009

Below is a list of 10 features and changes in Ubuntu 9.10 that you may not already know about€¦ Or even be expecting!

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Ekiga

Ekiga! Ekiga €“ the VoIP application that nobody uses €“ will finally be removed from the default installation. Not only did no-one use it (or anyone know of anyone else who used it), it also took up a considerable amount of disk space for what it was.

It will still be available to install from the repositories if you miss having it sat in your menu doing nothing.

 

Wine Integration

winehq_logo_glass Installing and managing Windows/WINE applications in Ubuntu will become significantly easier in Karmic thanks to a new level of integration between the desktop and WINE.

Around 50% of all Ubuntu users currently install Wine, yet Wine does feel very separate to the rest of the desktop – Double-clicking on .exe files is hit and miss, uninstalling Wine applications often doesn't work and inserting a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM and hoping for autorun.exe to do it's thing results in a long wait. 

As such, Karmic will see €œproper€ Wine integration throughout the system. This will range from: -

  • Detecting and handling Wine installations €“ including prompting you to install WINE if not installed and clicking on a Windows application installer.
  • Ability to uninstall Wine applications through Add/Remove* (*'Ubuntu Software Store')
  • A gnome control panel for wine applications
  • .exe applications will have a new icon combining their Applications icon and a generic "Windows Program" icon with a Wine logo when viewed in Nautilus.

The menu entries for Wine will be changed as well. No long will you need to go to Applications > Wine > XXX as: -

  • A bookmark for WINE's virtual C:\ drive is now in the 'Places' menu
  • 'Configure Wine' is now done through System > Preferences > Wine Apps
  • 'Uninstall Wine Apps' combined with 'Add/Remove'
  • Application shortcuts no longer in 'Apps > WIne > Programs' but 'Apps > Wine' itself.

For the security conscious, ClamAV €“ the open source Virus application €“ will be installed along with WINE to ensure no rouge malware, viruses, etc are installed.

Revamped Migration Assistant

The Migration Assistant usually found during an Ubuntu installation has been rewritten in Python to allow for greater development and maintainence. 

Controversially, it's also been removed from the actual installer and instead placed under the 'System' menu of the Gnome Panel. This works fine for dual-boots, but if a user is totally replacing Windows with Ubuntu they'll have no option to get migrate their data unless they boot to the desktop in the live CD first.

It will, however, now feature a greater range of sources to import from, including: -

Operating Systems

  • Microsoft Windows XP through Windows 7
  • Apple OS X
  • Major Linux distributions

Sources

  • Microsoft Outlook, Evolution, Mozilla Thunderbird
    • Contacts
    • Account settings
    • Email messages
    • Calendar events (time permitting)
    • TODO list items (time permitting)
  • Apple iTunes, Banshee, Rhythmbox, Windows Media Player
    • Music
    • Playlists
  • Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Opera, Google Chrome
    • Bookmarks
    • Homepage
    • History (time permitting)
  • AOL IM, Yahoo! IM, MSN IM, Pidgin IM, …
    • Accounts
    • Contacts
    • Logs (time permitting)
  • System
    • Wallpaper
    • Documents
    • Desktop files
    • Pictures
    • Fonts
    • Bookmarks (files and folders)
    • WPA/WEP wireless encryption keys (time permitting)
    • IPP network printers (time permitting)

 

A New Look For Network Manager

The interface for connection to Wireless networks is also undergoing some changes.

The revisions are designed to do two things:

  1. To strip out all the confusing and unnecessary options and terms that greet users when they try to connect to networks.
  2. To make switching, joining and finding networks much more easy.

New Applet Design

The new Network Manager Applet really builds on the success of Ubuntu's already awesome network managing tool.

Below is a in-progress mock up of the direction it's taking.

Revised Applet Dialog

In this re-jigged version, the currently connected network is placed at the top of the available networks list. This a simple, but logical, improvement over the previous listing ordered by name.

The €œradio€ buttons on each network have been removed and replaced with just one 'connector' looking icon for the currently connected network.

Several other improvements are planned, but yet to be implemented, such as new icons for secure networks and signal strength.

Connection Dialogs

You can see in the screenshots below how much more refined the network dialogs now look.

Connecting to WEP Networks:

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Connecting to WPA/WPA2 networks:

wpa1

Social Network Integration

Karmic will see Social Networks play an important part in shaping it's core. 

We should make the desktop more social, making it easier for users to not only use their computer but participate in something much larger, be it ubuntu or any other community they have an interest in.

Karmic has even been dubbed with an unofficial slogan: €œSocial right from the start.€

messaging-menu-karmic

Gwibber integration is planned for Karmic €“ from having social data in the Gnome €œAbout Me€ user profile, using Notification bubbles and the newly expanded 'messaging' menu. (Above)

 

Computer Janitor

Computer-Janitor will be undergoing a complete UI overhaul for Karmic. The aim is for a €œ..clearer, more usable user interface€.

I've made a quick mock-up based on the specifications from the information on the wikipage.

Untitl-3

 

UbuntuOne

UbuntuOne €“ Canonical's cloud storage service €“ will be included in Karmic, but any current beta users will find much deeper integration than currently available in Jaunty.

107730-1

UbuntuOne in Karmic will be able to use/sync/share the following data between computers: -

  • Files and folders
  • Screensharing
  • Evolution Contacts
  • Firefox Bookmarks
  • Notes

Another key feature of UbuntuOne in Karmic will be the option to share data with other computers via LAN.

 

Wubi Migration

WUBI (Windows UBuntu Installer) will gain a 'migration' tool of it's own that will allow existing WUBI installs to be transferred to their own dedicated partition €“ thus benefiting from faster performance.

Wubi Logo 

When an Ubuntu CD is inserted in an existing WUBI install, it will detect it and ask the user if they wish to migrate their existing set-up or install a-fresh. Various options during the normal install process will be removed (such as presenting options to wipe/format entire disk) and (finally!!) fstab will be re-written from scratch during the migration.

(Anyone who has tried to migrate a WUBI install to it's own partition may well have been greeted with fstab errors aplenty after reboot, resulting in the need for a fresh install.)

 

Empathy Vs. Pidgin. Still.

Empathy was all set to replace Pidgin as the default messaging in Client€¦ until it implemented Voice and Video chat.

As of now, Empathy is still shipping in place of Pidgin, however a feature freeze exception is being mooted to continue to debate the merits of both clients.

 

XSplash for boot

Whilst the boot-screen in the video below is certainly NOT the new Karmic boot screen, it is a boot-screen using 'XSplash' €“ a boot screen that uses the X Server (i.e What powers the GUI). It turned up very late in the Karmic Development timeline €“ arriving a day before featurefreeze 1!

It seems very likely at that XSpash will be the boot-screen €œmanager€ for Ubuntu Karmic.

Source: Phronoix

Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

Related posts:

  1. Ubuntu Netbook Remix Gets A Facelift For Karmic
  2. 5 Short Karmic Updates
  3. Rhythmbox to remain default Music Player in Karmic
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  • http://uberleak.com/ jacksterson

    You know, i never see any comments, which is really all too bad, this site is fantastic. :D Expect lots of feedback from moi.

    Also, woo karmic!

  • http://anxiousnut.wordprss.com Anxious Nut

    Thanks for this information, I guess it is getting better!!! especially the idea of removing the useless ekiga, they sure though good this time.

    What really caught my eyes:
    1. The email notification applet, this is so useful!
    2. The New wubi migration tool, although i dont use wubi, but this will make more people like it.

    about “pidgin VS empathy”, i really like pidgin but the problem is now -just like my dad says- the pidgin is losing its brain!! having alot of problems recently, I hope they get thing solved in karmic. But if they are not willing to do so then GO WITH EMPATHY!!

    Btw, i reall like this place, keep up the good work, gonna add this site to my rss reader.

  • http://www.yatsite.blogspot.com/ L4Linux

    The Wubi migration was an ABSOLUTE MUST!!!!!!!

  • http://sharkbaitbobby.blogspot.com/ sharkbait

    I don’t think I’ve been more excited for a new Ubuntu release than for Karmic! Your coverage of the changes is the best I’ve seen of several blogs and Planets Ubuntu and GNOME. (though you were a bit harsh on Ekiga ;) Keep up the great commentary.

  • Anonymous

    Hi, also love this site :-)
    I’m very excited about this release, as I’m actually writing this on a wubi installation of Jaunty. I installed ubuntu roughly a week ago and have never booted into Windows 7 since :-)
    Is there no other (safe!) way to migrate my wubi installation? I’m a bit impatient, you see, and I’d also really like to see the performance boost, as my wubi system seems pretty darn fast already. Is there really a noticeable difference?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      You can migrate to a partition already – but in my experience it’s much more hassle and risk than need be. If i were you i’d simply hold on for a couple of months and do a fresh install of Karmic.

      Performance wise there is a bit of a noticeable difference – particularly in things like writing to disc and launching apps – but it’s not like going from 0 – 160mph or anything like that, but it is noticeable-ish.

      • Anonymous

        Wow, thanks for the super-fast response!
        All right, then I’ll be patient a little longer…

  • Mel

    I love this site, I was looking for a site that followed Karmic’s development this well. I added this site to my Google Reader!

    Keet it up!!!

  • Anonymous

    The Social Network Integration is pretty interesting. I use FB, check my e-mail, used Twitter (my account is suspended cuz some spammer) all the time. I hope this integration will also be integrated with the Notification, that would be awesome!

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      AFAIK that is, indeed, the plan! Gwibber 2.0 will probably let you choose which updates “notify” you via the notify-osd etc

      • Anonymous

        Great then!! XD

  • Larry

    Absolutely fab…seems as if karmic is going to rock! The wine integration is pretty damn cool…and the plans to simplify the network management very welcome. I for one am really looking forwards to karmic if this is a taste of what’s to come. Hope that nautilus will be able to render wallpapers in its background…bit tragic really, but I love my eye candy! Thanks for bringing these developments to my attention!

  • http://laibcoms.com JC John Sese Cuneta (謝施洗)

    Cool.

    Well, there’s an Ekiga support in Empathy (I just hope they fix it because it won’t connect :p ). However, I am still going to install Pidgin because of Xfire (Gfire), that’s the only one missing.

    The WINE integration is – FINALLY!! That will make it much more easier for the regular users.

  • Ben

    It’s a good sign for Karmic that these features no one knows about are so damned exciting. I’m particularly looking forward to Wine integration :D

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      As i was finding stuff for this article i kept being a bit amazed that i didn’t already know about some of it!

      WUBI migration, Wine integration, simplified network manager – these are all MAJOR points from a user’s perspective.

      • Ben

        Indeed. I’ve spent so many hours trying to piece together what the splash screen would look like, it’s a shame I never knew about these before.

        Thank you for bringing these to our attention that we may squeal in delighted anticipation.

      • martini1179

        Indeed. Anything that’s good for the newbies is good for Ubuntu as a whole, and Linux in general.

        Now if Canonical would go the extra route and either preinstall proprietary codecs or at least pop up a notification that informs users of why they can’t view their Youtube videos or play their DVDs and what they can do about it, that would be great.

        Wubi Migration is the biggest thing here, IMHO. Wine integration and the migration assistant round out the top usability apps here.

        • papukaija

          Canonical can NOT preinstall proprietary codecs due to legal reasons. Also Ubuntu comes with free (free as freedom, more information available at: http://www.fsf.org/) software.

        • Ben

          Regarding YouTube videos, if you go to any YT page, you’ll get a bar across the top informing you that you need to install additional plugins, which will offer to install your choice of flash software. That’s no different from the experience on Windows, AFAIK. Possibly a little bit easier, since last time I tried it, I was directed to the Adobe download page to manually install.

          Other codecs which can’t be shipped but can be stored in the repos are offered to the user when trying to play such media. There are a few things, including DVD decryption, which require additional repositories. Unfortunate and unavoidable, that is. The situation’s about as good as it possibly can be.

  • http://gnuski.blogspot.com/ lefty.crupps

    That Wine integration is pretty deep; I would imagine new Windows converts might like that but auto-running a CD’s executable when loading a CD is a bad idea, and one of the many reasons Windows is such a security nightmare. Remember the Sony rootkit?

    >Ability to uninstall Wine applications through Add/Remove*
    So, what does the * refer to? I didn’t find that footnote anywhere.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Oops! I forgot the *whatever name add/remove has in Karmic – which we now know is “software store”

      Regarding the security threat, i forgot to add that a ClamAV (virus software) will be installed alongside wine and will scan any windows programmes etc ‘as’ they’re clicked – but it’ll be quick and you won’t notice unless something’s wrong.

      • http://gnuski.blogspot.com/ lefty.crupps

        > ClamAV (virus software) will be installed alongside wine and will
        > scan any windows programmes etc
        That is impressive, I’ll give Ubuntu that…

  • Name

    Hopefully they have fixed the update manager trojan in jaunty… you know the one where update manager decides it is going to pop up whenever IT wants to instead of when the owner of the friggin’ PC wants it to.

  • Hooty

    I actually use Ekiga. It’s great for making SIP calls, lol.

  • http://sinaisix.blogspot.com/ sinaisix

    In as much as i am excited about the new features being implemented in Karmic, i sincerely hope it is not full of bugs as Jaunty was when it was released back in April

    • Randall

      If it is, at least we’ll know how many there are, and we’ll have a way to participate in fixing them. One of the reasons why Ubuntu is still the best choice.

  • Mohan

    Very good info, thanks for sharing!

  • Matt Griffin

    Great post on the 9.10 features. Just one clarification for Ubuntu One. We’re very excited about the LAN data sync capabilities. There will be no time limitations on sharing data over the LAN.

  • Zac

    @jacksterson
    I agree, this site is fantastic.

    I like all the above features. Unsure about Pidgin/Empathy at this stage. Shame about the Migration Assistant, maybe a technical reason for it.

  • papukaija

    Wine integration is awesome. Btw, where are ext4 and grub2?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      EXT4 and Grub 2 (well Grub 1.9 heh) are well known inclusions. This article was to highlight some of the lesser known features/developments coming in 9.10

  • http://twitter.com/yuretsz yuretsz

    Karmic is great!

  • http://openmode.ca Malcolm Bastien

    Looks like there are some nice little additions to look forward to. I must say though that after being a Linux user for 5 years I’m getting a bit tired about incremental improvements (even it is a matter of marketing) compared to what seem to be beautiful and big improvements coming from Apple and OS X (again, maybe it’s just marketing).

    The one thing I think of when I look at this list is: Ok, so nice, some default Ubuntu apps are getting shifted around, updated, and UI enhancements, but how is that going to make the system better, or me happier as the end user overall? Do you get what I’m saying?

    • http://yatsite.blogspot.com/ L4Linux

      Apple said for Leopard: “Evolution, not Revolution”.
      Where did you see all those big changes???
      They changed the wallpaper, made some small changes under the hood(where most job was probably done by BSD developers…).
      Ubuntu evolves every 6 months, not every 2 years. Using EXT4 is a huge change, remember that the top Vista feature was supposed to be WinFS, yet M$ could not make it(so much for M$ “innovation”…)

      • Ben

        Agreed. Apple goes for incremental changes, just as we do. They have a kind of flair about it which, at times, the FOSS scene lacks, but for per release cycle, there’s not much more revolutionary about Mac releases.

        I’m tempted to say that Microsoft goes for revolutionary changes, but the best example of that I have is Vista, released over five years after their previous version. That was revolutionary, although not in a good sense. Windows seven is being released about three years on. Compare the current desktop with Edgy, if you remember it.

  • martini1179

    Hi. Great article. But I’m just wondering where you’re getting all of this information regarding new features in Karmic. Besides your article, the blogosphere is mum on user-level usability enhancements like these. The article on Phronoix that you list as a source really only mentions XSplash being used for boot.

  • Anonymous

    Xsplash is very interesting. As you can very well see in the video, it kicks in really late, probably because x-server starts late. How are they going to implement this is a mystery to me, coz x-server has always been sluggish to begin.

  • http://twitter.com/prguy85 Manuel Mas

    I am currently using Alpha 6 and have yet to see the tight Social integration you post here. Any window for this?

  • mrjack

    Great article !

  • slumbergod

    As long as they don’t screw up intel video and audio like they did with Jaunty I will be very happy. Jaunty left a very sour taste and has taken months to tweak it so it works as reliably as Hardy did.

  • stun

    Damn cant wait for karmic being released! nice job devs!

  • http://tarunaai.blogspot.com/ Onkar

    Ekiga is certainly not the useless program. At this point it is one of the few SIP applications that work perfectly on linux.
    There might be less users using it but it does not mean nobody uses it.

    Other than that. Nice article.

  • Hendrik

    I attended some progress in working with KPatience from KDE 4 in Karmic Koala Ubuntu.
    But I noted no progress.That’s a pity.

    • Hendrik

      There was an update after which KPatience from KDE4 is going now faultless!
      Thanks

  • http://twitter.com/makuchaku makuchaku

    Awesome!

  • C. B.

    I kinda like some of the new featured (no more Ekiga!), neutral to some or don’t care (ethernet always here), but the Ubuntu One and Social Network support, I’d like to apt-get remove it, and apt-get purge the guy who thought it should be included. I’m downloading Debian!

  • Martini1179

    I hope you still read these older posts.

    The fucker at http://www.webjassi.com/2009/10/new-changes-in-ubuntu-9-10-karmic/ has cut and paste this entire article, and he’s running ads.

    Just wanted to let you know.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Oooh thanks for that! I’ve left him a comment asking him to remove it. Whether he will or not…

      I’ve no issue with people sharing my stuff – so long as they don’t pass it off as their own and provide a nice little link back to here.

      • Anonymous

        dude it was just a slip of mind not to add your link. i have done so and also sent you a trackback. this was NOT DONE intentionally. you can check the post again for your link at the bottom and trackbacks.

      • Martini1179

        The reality is that you took the time to gather all of this information, write it, provide pictures, etc., and this is your labor. And as a fellow blogger, only YOU have the right to profit from your labor. When some subhuman leech drags over your entire article, presses CTRL-C and CTRL-V on their blog (which runs ads that profit from YOUR WORK), there’s no rational way that someone can defend that, nor is there any way that someone can argue that they didn’t know it was stealing. It is a blatant and indefensible violation of copyright law. A linkback does NOT legally protect against plagiarism!

        What you do with this is, of course, your perogative. I just want to make you aware of all aspects of the situation. Personally, I’d go on his site and make sure he wasn’t stealing any more of your work, and then I’d see if I could contact whomever puts ads on his site about this. Check out problogger.net for more information.

        d0od, your little blog is currently third on Chrome’s new tab page. It’s my favorite Ubuntu blog and I’d hate to see you get taken advantage of by the bottom-feeders. Just lookin out for ya!

  • http://www.cddvdprinter.net cd dvd printer

    Great read.  I enjoyed reading your post and I like your take on the issue.  Thanks.

 
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