I tell you all, Ubuntu 9.10 is the REAL THING! For the first time since I've been using Linux, the browser actually updates! When I checked for updates, it upgraded from 3.5.4 to 3.5.5 (the same as in Windows). Ubuntu is really on top of things now. They even actually call it Firefox, instead of a code name. For months, I've struggled with linux, juggling between Mint, Xubuntu and Ubuntu (the last two, version 9.04). But this is a major step forward for Ubuntu and the Linux community. For a long time, a lot of people asked: Why can't we get the same updated Firefox that Windows users has? The time is here! I don't know for sure yet, but I read somewhere that we may even be able to get Firefox 3.6 Beta 1. I have it installed in XP Pro, but it still needs fine tuning. It starts a little slow, and all add ons won't work. But all hats off to Ubuntu for this major milestone. Let's keep moving forward!

Nice to see a happy karmic user for a change.
Btw all you stated were firefox integration to ubntu, I don't think that's quite ubuntu-specific. let us know what "ubuntu-specific" features you liked, like Can you change your gdm theme?
Hardly. This is their worse release ever.

I am not too happy with Karmic Koala. Jaunty was so much better and faster. There are a lot of changes that were good but that has not worked too well I guess. My jaunty was really fast and booted under 20 secs flat from grub to desktop. Now with Karmic, it takes more than a 45 secs for the same process on the same machine.

And as far as firefox is concerned, it was always available for Linux much the same as for windows. I do not know why you still feel Karmic is better, Not for me though.

Chaitanya, I agree with you that the previous Ubuntu (9.04) booted much faster, and the same with Xubuntu on my other laptop. Hopefully, there will be some updates to address this concern. But I find 9.10 better to use. The screen doesn't fly everywhere like previous versions, and that included a lot of Linux distros. It will get better. You encouraged me a few months ago to hang in there, that I would like Ubuntu and that it is user friendly. 9.10 made it better for me.

I do not have any grudges against Ubuntu, I use it myself on my desktops. I am seriously waiting for some updates which would allow fast boot times. I am not saying Karmic is not usable. It surely is. But I find Jaunty was far too stable. My Karmic even hangs some times if left unused for some time. But this does not happen always and the behavior is unpredictable. I can not say when it will hang. It just does.
But will still hang around with Ubuntu though. I like it.

I am happy to hear that you are all having success with 9.10 but I have to say that for me it is a disaster.
Sound card doesn't work, hence Skype doesn't work.
The display card is limited to the bare essentials, no 3d effects.
After start up the system crashes after about 90 seconds needing several reboots to establish any stability.
Yes I know I can change hardware but that was no my intention. It all worked with earlier versions.
I am going back to 9.04

Though did not have those disasters, I am also thinking of going back to Jaunty. Its pretty much more stable than this Karmic. For me Karmic and Ibex were two unstable and not to the standards releases.

As the one who started this post, I hate it admit it, but I jumped the gun a little when I said that this is the "real thing". My laptop hangs badly at boot up, and Firefox 3.5.5 does not perform as well as the 3.5.2 that I had in 9.04. If some updates aren't made fast, I still have my 9.04 CD. Ubuntu and Xubuntu are the only two Linux distros that I use. By the way, Xubuntu also is slow to boot. Someone had better get back to the drawing board. This reminds me of Windows Vista, when it was released, it was a nightmare.

There sure are issues with Karmic. A lot of issues though. If after some time I put my monitor to sleep, my system hangs and I have to hard shut it down. But if the screen saver is going on it wont hang. I havent had issues with Firefox yet and hope I do not have else will have to revert back to Jaunty. Though I am not totally repenting on upgrading to Karmic too soon, I accept I am not too happy with the performance. Lets see if I can find some to-the-point reason for my issues. If I do will post it here.

It's definitely gotten slower.

I think that I know what's going on here. Microsoft just released Windows 7, and Ubuntu had no choice but to do something. I'm not cheering for them, but the latest Windows is putting pressure on all of the competition, including Mac and Linux. They are gaining a lot of the ground that they lost with Vista back. I don't know what Mac placed on the market to answer, but what Ubuntu placed on the market wasn't ready. They were under pressure. For the time being, I'm reverting back to 9.04 (Xubuntu, too). My older laptop runs Xubuntu better. Canonical needs to produce a more market ready product, not a pre-release candidate. I'm still in favor of a better, stronger, faster Ubuntu, but until it happens, I'll stick with 9.04. Mabye soon, 9.10 will be a more stable product. It is an attractive product as far as looks are concerned, but without performance, looks means nothing.

Hi

I'm happy with it. It's the first Linux distro I've tried that I really liked (and managed to install and run more or less successfully). One thing though: today there's a message in small print on top of the screen when Ubuntu boots up: "ERROR: UNKNOWN PYTHO DETECTED" or something like that. Everything seems to be working fine though... I've been running it for 3 or 4 days now.

And....why is there a question mark on my penguin's belly? He he - maybe I need to fill in some info?

The question mark on you belly means that you're online. When you're offline then it shows a penguin without question mark on its belly.

Ah, thanx Eric.

It's been three months since my original post, and to update it is necessary. I've since bought a new desktop with Windows 7 64 bit installed. Recently, I have been running Mint 8 in a VM. I was so impressed that today I installed the 64 bit as a dual boot. Talk about fast, I have 4GB RAM, and Mint 8 64 bit leaves Windows 7 64 bit in a cloud of dust, and I'm not overstating that, either. It's like taking two Mustangs, one with a four cylinder and the other with 8 cylinders. Windows 7 was the four cylinder by a long shot. Mint 8 is really fast and I like the look and features. It's going to be a matter of time, but there's going to be a demand for preinstalled Linux OS's. There already is, but the places I've looked, the systems were expensive, no budget models were offered. I realise that people will read this and say, if you'll pay out tons of cash for Windows & Mac, why not Linux? I have never paid tons of cash for any computer, I can't afford it. I have a budget model HP (MS214 all in one). But it performs and serves my purposes, and that's all that matters. To all of my fellow Linux users and to linuxlover, chatianya, who gave me a lot of support, I say a big HELLO!