Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Is Finally Here!

That’s right, folks.  I’ve been hitting refresh on Ubuntu’s front page for the last half hour or so, and they’ve finally made the final release of 8.10 available.  I’m downloading now and will be installing it on my workstation at work today.

Ubuntu is sporting a fresh new look on its front page as well.  Well, it has a nice little flash animation anyway.  It’s explaining all of the bigger features in the new release.  Go ahead and download – I’m sure you won’t be sorry.

— UPDATE

I now have a fully functioning Ubuntu 8.10 system.  Once word got out that it was ready, everybody began downloading and started slowing down all of the circuits.  But I finally got it, and installed it.  Installing the handful of security fixes that are already out takes a little bit of time because of how saturated the circuits are, but it works.  Installing new software using the Add/Remove utility on the Applications menu is the same – slow, but working.  I imagine it will take a few days to sort out while everyone downloads their copy.

I have, however, managed to get everything I need to get going.  I installed the 3D drivers for my nVidia card, and my 3D desktop is all working.  I installed the Advanced Desktop Effects Settings utility and tweaked them to my heart’s content.  I also installed Synergy from the Ubuntu repositories so that I could control my XP laptop from this machine as well.

So far everything is working completely as expected – flawless.  Unless, again, you count slow speeds at Ubuntu’s repositories to be flawed.  Don’t worry – that’ll settle down soon.

My only disappointment is that OpenOffice.org 3 wasn’t included.  2.4 is here, but 3 has been out for a few weeks now.  I suppose I understand, though – they didn’t want to introduce last-minute changes.  It is available for install, however, so I’m sure I’ll be remedying that in the not-so-distant future.