Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 4 Released

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 4 Released

Not only did Fedora 11 Alpha make it out the door today, but so did the fourth alpha release for Ubuntu 9.04 (the Jaunty Jackalope). Ubuntu 9.04 Alpha 4 continues to build upon a bleeding-edge set of Linux packages (though still tracking the Linux 2.6.28 kernel) and has installation support for the EXT4 file-system and new notification capabilities.The announcement of Ubuntu 9.04 Alpha 4 can be found on ubuntu-devel-announce...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=NzA0Mw

[Louise]

Is Ubuntu bleeding edge?

I thought the only bleeding edge distribution was Fedora.

[Vadi]

What does this font optimization really mean?

Better fonts for netbooks? Because I don't recall having font size issues.

[bridgman]

Is Ubuntu bleeding edge?

I thought the only bleeding edge distribution was Fedora.

Ubuntu is often bleeding-edge at Alpha stage, but by release time it's more like "progressive". The same could probably be said for some other distros.

Fedora is often bleeding edge at release as well.

[BlackStar]

What does this font optimization really mean?

Better fonts for netbooks? Because I don't recall having font size issues.

It means that text will have the same size regardless of your monitor's dimensions and resolution. 1920x1200 resolution on a 15.4'' laptop? No problem! Your text will have the same size as on a 1280x800 monitor, but it will be *much* more readable (cleaner outlines, fewer color artifacts, more accurate shapes).

Try the same on Windows, or older versions of Ubuntu for that matter, and text will be unreadably small at 96DPI.

If this works as advertized, and if it also affects icons, window size, etc, Ubuntu will be the first distribution shipping with true resolution independence out of the box! Not even MacOS has managed to do that yet (and Windows are far behind in that regard).

[big_gie]

It means that text will have the same size regardless of your monitor's dimensions and resolution. 1920x1200 resolution on a 15.4'' laptop? No problem! Your text will have the same size as on a 1280x800 monitor, but it will be *much* more readable (cleaner outlines, fewer color artifacts, more accurate shapes).

Finally!!! I've been "waiting" for this for _years_ (maybe 5?) for my 1920x1200 15" laptop screen. What I do is manually boost fonts size.

[...], and text will be unreadably small at 96DPI.

Not 96 dpi, 146!!! Even more unreadable.

Text is nice and crisp you can't even imagine. 1920x1200 is a higher resolution then 50" HD tv, but on a 15.4" monitor!

[KDesk]

How do they know which DPI configuration is the best for the resolution being used?

And also which is the best counts per inch of a mouse using a specific resolution, could this be messed?

[dotancohen]

It would be nice if either it installed properly, or if someone were reading the bug reports of it no installing properly:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/319390

[srg_13]

How do they know which DPI configuration is the best for the resolution being used?

And also which is the best counts per inch of a mouse using a specific resolution, could this be messed?

It uses EDID information from the monitor I believe. In my experience, this has always been flawless with LCD monitors, but I have had a lot of problems with DPI, refresh rate and resolution settings on some CRTs.