By now most of you probably know that the newest version of the Ubuntu has been released. Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 was released about a week ago. This is the second Long Term Support (LTS) version of Ubuntu. The LTS desktop versions are supported for 3 years and the server edition for 5 years.

I have installed Hardy on my laptop (HP dv2000t) and have had few problems so far. From what I can tell Hardy seems to be a step in the right direction. For me, the jump to Hardy came from Feisty (7.04) via a fresh install. I tried Guty (7.10) but had several problems on both my latop and desktop. However, I know several people who had no problems at all. I will be upgrading my desktop in a few days and I hope the transition goes as well as it did with my laptop.

 Loading ...

For those of you who don’t know whats new in Hardy Heron, let me give you a quick overview. For more information, check out the Ubuntu Features page.

To start off, Wubi is now on the installation CD, so you can install it without having to download it separately. Wubi is a way to install Ubuntu from Windows. Wubi is great for people who want to try Ubuntu but are afraid of messing up their Windows installation in the process. If you try Ubuntu via Wubi and don’t like it, all you have to do is uninstall it in Windows and you’re done.

There are updated versions of all your favorite software including Gnome, OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Pidgin, etc. There is also a new bit torrent client named Transmission which is installed by default. If you are Mac user, you are probably already familiar with Transmission. There is also a new VNC viewer installed.

For the next several Linux Friday’s I will be covering how to setup and use Ubuntu Hardy Heron. These posts will include using everything from installing Ubuntu using a Wubi, to checking your system temperatures using lmsensors. So be sure to check back for our newest Linux Friday posts. Check out the WLMTips Extras section in the sidebar to be sure you don’t miss a single post.

For some more information on the newest version of Ubuntu, visit Linux Format: Hands on with Ubuntu 8.04.

To get your copy of the Ubuntu live CD, visit the download page.

Pidgin is a multi-protocol instant messaging program that works with Windows, Linux, and Unix based systems. When I say it is a multi-protocol messenger, I mean that it works with:

AIM
Bonjour
Gadu-Gadu
Google Talk
Groupwise
ICQ

IRC
MSN
MySpaceIM
QQ
SILC

SIMPLE
Sametime
XMPP
Yahoo!
Zephyr

With pidgin you can be logged into multiple accounts at the same time. You can be instant messaging your friend on AIM and another friend on Yahoo! at the same time. Pidgin supports things like file transfer and away messages. With the buddy pounce feature you can have it set to play a sound, start a program, or even send a message when a friend comes online, signs off, or comes away from being idle.