Let me start with where I left off in my review of Ubuntu 13.04 beta 2. To me, as an user, it appeared to be an updated version of Quantal (12.10) and nothing more. However, I ended with a note that possibly by the time of release Ubuntu will come up with something really spectacular like Smart Scopes. I must say, I am a bit disappointed with Ubuntu in the absence of Smart scopes. I heard that it is still unstable and possibly, would release with Ubuntu 13.10.
With that expectation, I downloaded the Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail 32-bit ISO, about 833 MB in size and was quick to install in my Asus K54C with 2.2 Ghz Core i3 processor and 2 GB RAM, once the release note came in Distrowatch. I'll take you through my experience of a couple of days with the latest release of Ubuntu.
Installation
Installation is as usual and no surprises there. It is as easy as an installation of an operating system can be. Questions are usual about language, time zone, keyboard language and type, location to install, whether or not to download multimedia codecs, and finally user ID creation. It went smooth for me and took about 30 minutes, including download of multimedia codecs. Post-installation I check for any updates available or not and there was about 1 MB of updates required to installed.
Unity 7 Desktop
Ubuntu 13.04 comes with the latest upgrade of Unity with a cool new look and better stability, than Ubuntu 12.10. In Quantal, Unity was so unstable and lagging, I had to quit it within a couple of weeks! However, in Raring, there was no instability, I'll come back to the performance later.
Make no mistake, the new Unity looks more attractive than the older versions. It works faster - applications open faster in Ubuntu 13.04 from the icons in the Unity bar than any other Ubuntu release with Unity DE, I have seen. Definitely Unity 7 is snappiest of all the Unity DEs I have seen. Further, I noted quite a few cool new icons for applications like Ubuntu software center, Files, etc. signifying some improvement in designs as well.
I found a couple of usual icons missing from the launcher, viz. show desktop and the workspaces short cut. However, they can be easily added from the settings manager -> Appearance -> Behavior.
Otherwise, it is the continuation of the same simplistic desktop. Even the typical Ubuntu wallpaper retains the same look. However, there are quite a few stylist wallpapers available as an option, in case you hate the typical Ubuntu bland look.
Social Network Integration
Perhaps this is the best aspect of Ubuntu 13.04, social network integration just got better in it. First, through All Settings -> Online accounts, I could set up my Facebook, twitter, google, Windows live, Flickr and Yahoo! accounts. The information gets shared with applications like empathy IM and shotwell photo manager. Also, the same info goes to the photo lens and social network lens in the Unity dash.
Second, when I opened Facebook for the first time, with my permission, Facebook instant access shortcut got installed on the Unity strip. It helps in easy access to Facebook (opens in Firefox only - the icon is just a short cut). Similarly, I could install web apps (these are called web apps) for Twitter, YouTube, Gmail, Linkedin, etc. Pretty handy short cuts, no doubt!
Third, the best part of social network integration can be experienced through the dash. Just typing my name in the newly added social network lens (it shows messages posted in Facebook on the topic or person you are searching), would show me all the messages posted by me in last one week or so. Actually no Gwibber here but a new social network app called Friends. Hopefully we'll get to hear more of friends in future Ubuntu releases.
Similarly, in the photo lens, typing my daughter's name would show me all the photographs that I posted in last couple of months. In some photo
Music and video lens were already there in Ubuntu 12.10 and it returns albums, videos from Amazon, YouTube, Dailymotion, etc. upon searching. Also, dash would show my google doc files in dash along with the locally created/accessed files.
I really liked the social network integration in Unity dash and it brings a new dimension to the end user experience. Similar things even Windows 8 is trying to offer.
However, the much promised Smart scopes with search options from 100 different search providers, is not there in Ubuntu 13.04. It is still buggy and unstable and possibly would be added to 13.10 release. Till then you have to live with Amazon!
Issue of Privacy
After much legitimate hue and cry over privacy concerns, there is a legal notice offered to the users by Ubuntu along with some flexibility to switch of recording activity and possible utilization of the usage information for commercial purposes. I switched off the recording activity but kept the option of including online results. Otherwise, social network integration stops in dash! So, it is kind of a "all or nothing" thing till now!
Others
Applications are the usual ones that you expect with Ubuntu, viz.
The multimedia codecs and Adobe flashplugin gets downloaded during installation and hence, you can live stream or watch your favorite movies right after installation.
On technicality side, Ubuntu 13.04 comes with kernel 3.8.0-19 and has Files 3.6.3 as the file manager. Ubuntu kernel 3.8.0-19 is based on the upstream Linux kernel 3.8.8 released few days ago.
Ubuntu Software center is as usual and it sports the latest available applications. Ubuntu has the richest repo in the Linux world and I downloaded VLC player, Steam and added Skype 4.1 to my installation.
Performance
Now this is where I am a bit concerned. Though Unity 7 DE is snappier and works faster but at an overall level the OS seems to be a tad bit slower than even Ubuntu 12.10. And it definitely takes more resources than Ubuntu Precise, the long term support one. If I compare RAM and CPU usage of the Ubuntu releases on the same machine and under identical conditions, definitely Ubuntu 13.04 lags behind.
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| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Installation
Installation is as usual and no surprises there. It is as easy as an installation of an operating system can be. Questions are usual about language, time zone, keyboard language and type, location to install, whether or not to download multimedia codecs, and finally user ID creation. It went smooth for me and took about 30 minutes, including download of multimedia codecs. Post-installation I check for any updates available or not and there was about 1 MB of updates required to installed.
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Unity 7 Desktop
Ubuntu 13.04 comes with the latest upgrade of Unity with a cool new look and better stability, than Ubuntu 12.10. In Quantal, Unity was so unstable and lagging, I had to quit it within a couple of weeks! However, in Raring, there was no instability, I'll come back to the performance later.
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Make no mistake, the new Unity looks more attractive than the older versions. It works faster - applications open faster in Ubuntu 13.04 from the icons in the Unity bar than any other Ubuntu release with Unity DE, I have seen. Definitely Unity 7 is snappiest of all the Unity DEs I have seen. Further, I noted quite a few cool new icons for applications like Ubuntu software center, Files, etc. signifying some improvement in designs as well.
I found a couple of usual icons missing from the launcher, viz. show desktop and the workspaces short cut. However, they can be easily added from the settings manager -> Appearance -> Behavior.
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Social Network Integration
Perhaps this is the best aspect of Ubuntu 13.04, social network integration just got better in it. First, through All Settings -> Online accounts, I could set up my Facebook, twitter, google, Windows live, Flickr and Yahoo! accounts. The information gets shared with applications like empathy IM and shotwell photo manager. Also, the same info goes to the photo lens and social network lens in the Unity dash.
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Third, the best part of social network integration can be experienced through the dash. Just typing my name in the newly added social network lens (it shows messages posted in Facebook on the topic or person you are searching), would show me all the messages posted by me in last one week or so. Actually no Gwibber here but a new social network app called Friends. Hopefully we'll get to hear more of friends in future Ubuntu releases.
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
However, the much promised Smart scopes with search options from 100 different search providers, is not there in Ubuntu 13.04. It is still buggy and unstable and possibly would be added to 13.10 release. Till then you have to live with Amazon!
Issue of Privacy
After much legitimate hue and cry over privacy concerns, there is a legal notice offered to the users by Ubuntu along with some flexibility to switch of recording activity and possible utilization of the usage information for commercial purposes. I switched off the recording activity but kept the option of including online results. Otherwise, social network integration stops in dash! So, it is kind of a "all or nothing" thing till now!
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Applications are the usual ones that you expect with Ubuntu, viz.
- Office: LibreOffice 4.0.2.2 Calc, Write, Impress & Draw along with Document viewer
- Internet: Firefox 20, Empathy, desktop sharing, Remmina remote desktop client, thunderbird, transmission bit torrent client
- Graphics: GIMP 2.8.4, Image viewer, Shotwell photo manager, simple scan
- Multimedia: Rhythmbox music player, Videos 3.6.3
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| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
On technicality side, Ubuntu 13.04 comes with kernel 3.8.0-19 and has Files 3.6.3 as the file manager. Ubuntu kernel 3.8.0-19 is based on the upstream Linux kernel 3.8.8 released few days ago.
 |
| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
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| From Ubuntu 13.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in |
Now this is where I am a bit concerned. Though Unity 7 DE is snappier and works faster but at an overall level the OS seems to be a tad bit slower than even Ubuntu 12.10. And it definitely takes more resources than Ubuntu Precise, the long term support one. If I compare RAM and CPU usage of the Ubuntu releases on the same machine and under identical conditions, definitely Ubuntu 13.04 lags behind.
| Parameters | Size of ISO | Base | Desktop | Linux kernel | CPU Usage | RAM usage |
| Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS | 693 MB | Ubuntu | Unity with Gnome 3.4 | 3.5.0 | 1-10% | 230 MB |
| Ubuntu 12.10 | 790 MB | Ubuntu | Unity with Gnome 3.6 | 3.5.0 | 1-10% | 412 MB |
| Ubuntu 13.04 | 833 MB | Ubuntu | Unity with Gnome 3.6 | 3.8.0 | 1-10% | 450 MB |
Overall
Definitely Ubuntu 13.04 is a good release with some incremental innovation but no Smart Scopes. Unity DE works better and more snappier than ever; Ubuntu 13.04 offers better social network integration and has a lot of cool features to showcase. But, is it enough to warrant an upgrade from Ubuntu 12.04 or even for the matter Ubuntu 12.10?
A big "NO" from my side. I am sticking to Precise for now. Also, the 9 months support on Ubuntu Raring is a big bottleneck for me. I guess even the Quantal users may not be tempted enough to upgrade to Raring, given there are very little incremental features as well as support on Quantal is longer. Like many other users, I am also waiting for Smart Scopes in 13.10. Till then I'll stick to Precise only!
You can download both 32 and 64 bit versions of the new Ubuntu from here.
I like it, runs great. I have had zero issues.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing it out. Should read the release note a bit more carefully :).
ReplyDeleteWell, I really dig the new Unity in 13.04, it looks better and it's much snappier than in 12.10, as well as more stable, in addition 13.04 in general is just quicker as well, don't take very long to boot, and shuts down in about a second, in addition to being able to pull up apps quicker, also, if you dislike Unity for any reason, there's a whole silver platter of DEs out there waiting to be installed, you just gotta get your hands a little dirty and get in the command-line to install them, two of my most recommended alternatives are Cinnamon and MATE, however GNOME Fallback is good too, and all three use up less resources than Unity, however GNOME Fallback and Cinnamon are GNOME 3-based, and as for MATE, that's just a rebadged GNOME 2.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAlso, Cinnamon's in the official repos, along with GNOME Fallback, but you still have to add MATE, so to obtain Cinnamon or GNOME Fallback, it's sudo apt-get install gnome-panel or sudo apt-get install cinnamon, and you've got GNOME Fallback or Cinnamon as a Unity alternative, however to get MATE, you have to type in the following.
Deletesudo add-apt-repository "deb http://repo.mate-desktop.org/ubuntu raring main" && apt-get update && apt-get install mate-archive-keyring && apt-get update && apt-get install mate-core mate-desktop-environment
Thanks Josh for the elaborate tips. Also, Linux Mint 15 Mate & Cinnamon will be round the corner, in case anyone is interested to have a pure Mate or Cinnamon Ubuntu spin.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's a worth upgrade IMO. What 12.10 should have been... As I upgrade each 6 months, the 9-month-limited support doesn't worry me :)
ReplyDeleteMy luck runs out while upgrading and I end up with an unbootable distro. I am sticking to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS for the time being, till 14.04 LTS is released :)
DeleteLiked your review, but I cannot agree with the social network integration. The integration is way too much for my comfort! I tried to login to FB Chat using Empathy, everything was normal on the first page with username and password. The second page showed me a screen saying "Ubuntu would like to post to your friends on your behalf"... I did not go ahead, since I did not want to be a billboard for Canonical and Ubuntu.....
ReplyDeleteActually, the permission is for the posts you make. Even twitter & facebook apps like hootsuite requires that permission. I have been using quite a few social network apps in Android as well as in Ubuntu, for quite sometime. None of them have posted anything on my behalf till date. Hope it helps.
DeleteI agree, but it does keep the gateway open for something like that to occur in the near future..... If the company wants to..... As it is, more and more of user data is being mined by both Google and Facebook.... I guess time for me to shift to a different distro, but I cant get over the brilliance of space utilization by Unity.... Next stop, Unity on Arch Linux! Thanks for the reply.......
DeletePeace out!
thx for the great and vast review arindam! i share your concern about the performance consumption and lack of real new features so i guess i will stick with the LTS version as well.
ReplyDeleteif u want to get rid of that amazon suggestions when searching with the dash but keeping all the other web searches just open the ubuntu software center and search for ‘shopping lens’. just remove it and that should do the trick.
Thanks Maddy for liking my review. And your tops worked for me, no more irritating amazon results :).
DeleteI think I have long since jumped off the Ubuntu bandwagon when I find on the same hardware Mint is more performant than Ubuntu. Especially when running builds and performance tests and the overall responsiveness of the DE. Mint is all the convenience of Ubuntu minus the UI baggage.
ReplyDeleteMint is excellent in terms of performance but doesn't have the social network integration as Ubuntu Unity/Gnome. Also, the boring repetitive design requires a bit of change. Hopefully, Mint 15 will address both.
DeleteReally nice review dude,
ReplyDeleteand as i'm new to linux...this review helps me a lot :)
thanks in advance :D