The upgrade from the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS version to 9.04 (codename “Jaunty Jackalone” = JJ) was very smooth. It did NOT screw up the X-Server, SMB, Cups, NFS, SSH, USB, etc. For me it was about a 3GB download.
The first thing I noticed was that a nasty gdm-login-screen-resolution bug was fixed by upgrading from 8.04 to 8.10.
Since each upgrade changes the default version of ones most used/favorite software, I will list those products I was concerned about most:
Sun Java ** (http://java.sun.com/) **
- OK: JJ comes with the current Java JRE and SDK version (1.6_13)
**Eclipse **(http://www.eclipse.org/)
- Out-of-date: JJ comes with version 3.2 (2 years old). The current version is 3.4 (Ganymede). But since you can run Eclipse directly without compiling, this is no big deal.
**GNU Emacs (http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/) **
-
GNU Emacs snapshot (=bleeding edge/developer version): OK: installing emacs-snapshot-gtk gives a current developer version (build from 2009-04-05)
-
Emacs stable: Out-of-date: The current Emacs version is 22.3. JJ has Emacs version 22.2, although Emacs 22.3 was released 2008/09.
**AUCTeX (http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/) **
- Out-of-date: JJ comes with AUCTeX version 11.84. Version 11.85 was released 2008/02. I’ll have to install this manually.
R ** (http://www.r-project.org/) **
- OK: JJ has 2.9.0. The current version is 2.9.0.
TexLive (http://www.tug.org/texlive/)
- Out-of-date: JJ comes with texlive-2007… Just download the current texlive-2008 from the texlive homepage and install it beside the Ubuntu texlive version.
Skype-Plugin for Pidgin’s Instant Messenger
- I’ve already written a blog on some of the nice Pidgin features. After upgrading to JJ and seeing that Pidgin is used for internal messaging within Ubuntu, I am even more convinced that this is currently THE multi-protocol multi-plattform instant messenger to go with. Get the skype-plugin from http://eion.robbmob.com/ and install the Debian/Ubuntu skype4pidgin.deb file by executing “sudo dpkg -i skype4pidgin.deb”
**GTKtalog (http://www.nongnu.org/gtktalog/) **
- Not present in JJ’s repositories. I’m very sad about this, because to my knowledge this is the only software for managing a CD/DVD collection which does not require a database. Although its user interface (Tck/Tk) is not-so-stylish-up-to-date, it has many features which I have grown accostumed to and which are lacking even in current high-end Disk-Manager programs.