On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:19:28 -0000 (GMT) (Ted Harding) Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk allegedly wrote:
One final question: Debian have very recently released their latest "stable" (5.0.0 "lenny" on February 14th, 2009). It seems that the next Ubuntu released is due in the very near future -- but I have not managed to discover a definite planned release date. Does anyone know?
Ted
Apart from the long term support (LTS) versions, Ubuntu's release cycles (and consequent support) are fairly short. There is a new desktop and server release every six months. The version numbers reflect the release date - so 7.10 was released in October 2007, whilst 8.04 was released in April 08. The current stable version is 8.10 (October) and the next stable relesae will be some time next month (making it 9.04).
Standard six monthly stable versions are supported (in terms of security updates) for 18 months after release on both the desktop and the server. LTS versions are supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the server. Upgrades between LTS versions are well supported, but attempting to upgrade across normal releases can be tricky if you want to skip a release (going from say 7.10 to 8.10 without going through 8.04).
Which version you use can depend on your appetite for change. Yes, using Ubuntu can give you access to more up to date packages than sticking with plain Debian, but Debian is rock solid (which is why I prefer it for servers) whilst Ubuntu can be a bit "bleeding edge" at times.
I use 8.04 LTS on my main desktop machine because I like stability and that particular release actually does all that I want. I installed 8.10 on a spare machine and found that it actually stopped me using a few multi-media applications I have come to depend on because it moved the ffmpeg libraries into Ubuntu main and out of medibuntu. The version supplied in 8.10 is crippled. Sure I could compile from scratch, but I actually like the debian repository model (it is HEAPS better than the garbage that is RPM) and prefer to be able to to just update/upgrade binaries from trusted repositories as necessary). I use xubuntu 8.10 on my whizzy new acer aspire though.
So, you have a choice, install 8.04 LTS or wait a week or two for 9.04 to become final. Even then, I'd wait a few more weeks after release so that others can experience the potential gotchas and get them fixed. If you do go for 9.04, let us know how you get on.
Mick ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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