Release candidate release notes

[Eero Tamminen]

Hi,

On Sunday 14 October 2007, Vincent wrote:
> > > It's not ready yet, I got all screenshots and wrote a first draft,
> > > but I still have to rewrite it before I can publish it, and I won't
> > > make it before tomorrow.
> >
> > Can you please just provide the text?  Whatever text you have?
>
> Sorry, I turned off the computer just after I emailed that ;-)
>
> Anyway, it's now available here:
> http://xubuntublog.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/this-is-gutsy/
> (I think it does need to be edited a bit to be more release note-ish
> instead of blog post-ish ;-)

Great review, thanks!  I'm definitely going to test/use Gutsy Xubuntu
(once I find computer where to install it[1]).  Are all the Murraine color
variations listed here available on new Xubuntu:
  http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2165/430731qh9.png
?

Could the review mention also some things in which Xubuntu differs from
Ubuntu besides using different desktop environment?


Regarding this comment in your article:
"Then Xubuntu inherits from Ubuntu the latest Linux kernel (core) that
 includes dynticks. Again, I’m not too sure what exactly it is, but I read
 that it makes sure Xubuntu uses less power and makes your computer
 produce less heat"

Kernel using Dynticks infrastructure (i.e. instead of waking the CPU at fast
fixed clock rate, kernel now lets HW to sleep until the next wakeup),
is not enough for getting Xubuntu to use less battery.  The kernel cannot
let the HW to sleep if some user-space application is constantly polling the
kernel.  This page lists some worst offenders:
	http://www.linuxpowertop.org/known.php
(gnome power manager, mixer applet, firefox, pidgin, SDL programs...)

I don't think anybody's checked Xubuntu desktop for this.  You don't really
need powertop for checking this.  Just pick the topmost process showing
in "top" output and attach strace to it with "strace -p PID" (preferably
through ssh instead of terminal window so that this window doesn't create
extra activity).  If the process does anything more often than say at few
second intervals without user doing something with it, the program should be
fixed.  Now that kernel has inotify (file change notifications), nothing
should need to be polled.


	- Eero

[1] My slower laptop and desktop machines are too slow for Cairo based Gtk
(P166) and have too little memory for full desktop like XFCE (96MB).
Although the palmtop (N800) has already XFCE ported to it[2], it's not
really usable on that small screen.  The main Desktop computer has already
Kubuntu and main laptop unfortunately has Windows from which my wife
refuses to part from.  And at work my machine has Debian Etch with Gnome.
Hm... A time for a new computer? :-)

[2] 
http://origin.arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2007/09/14/running-xfce-on-the-n800