A build of the nouveau video driver for nVidia cards was included in the Ubuntu repositories beginning with Jaunty.  I’ve been meaning to test it for a while, and finally found some hardware recently to give it a shot.

During a phone briefing today, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth described the Ubuntu 9.10 desktop, server and cloud strategy to members of the IT media. WorksWithU tuned in and posed some key questions to Shuttleworth. Here are 10 highlights from the call.

With Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) set to debut this week, here’s a run down of all the new features and changes covered by WorksWithU in the last several months.

NetworkManager, the default wired- and wireless-connection client in Ubuntu, has received a substantial aesthetic makeover for Ubuntu 9.10.  Here’s a look.

Starting with Karmic, Ubuntu now has its own slideshow for users to view while waiting for the installation to finish.  Besides representing one more thing Ubuntu has in common with Windows XP, the slides have some real value to new users.  Below, we take a look.

There have been promises of an overhaul to Ubuntu’s default theme for quite some time.  Ubuntu 9.10, set to be released at the end of this month, will begin delivering on those promises.  Below, we take a look at the new system theme and artwork that will debut in Karmic Koala.

The beta version of Ubuntu 9.10, which appeared last week, brought a number of much-anticipated aesthetic improvements to the desktop.  Here’s a look at the slick new login manager that users can expect when Karmic is officially released at the end of this month.

The Ubuntu Software Store debuted last month in the latest alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10.  Since its announcement, however, there has been more than a little debate over the application’s name, if not the concept behind it, with many commentators questioning the implication of the word “store.”  Here’s the scoop.

The decision to replace Pidgin with Empathy in Ubuntu 9.10 has not been without controversy, or second thoughts on the part of Ubuntu developers.  Much of the discontent centers around concerns that Empathy does not yet offer the features to compete with Pidgin.  With this in mind, I took a look at how Pidgin and Empathy line up when it comes to delivering the functionality that most people look for in an instant-messaging client.  Here are the results.

As WorksWithU reported last week, the Gnome application Empathy was set to become the default instant-messaging client in Ubuntu 9.10 upon its release October, replacing Pidgin.  But Ubuntu developers have been reconsidering that decision in the last few days.  Here’s the story, with some thoughts.