Ubuntu’s hugely popular free media program ShipIt has been ‘taken down temporarily due to excessive traffic’, thus buttressing the idiom ‘There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch’. (I’ve already ordered my CD long ago. I wanted to check if it had been shipped. No, r-tard, I don’t order multiple CDs and hoard them. I order just one – as a keepsake with its official cover. And to get more Ubuntu stickers.) The ShipIt notice instead encourages visitors to download via BitTorrent. I’m sure the normal ISO file mirrors around the globe are getting pummelled right now.
I plan to upgrade using an alternate install CD I ordered from this place (damn you, Linux Bazar, for not being quick enough). Why am I not downloading myself? My Internet connection has this terrible habit of logging me off randomly at times. I did download OpenSuse 11.1 when it came out but babysitting my download to ensure I didn’t get logged off and it completed was a harrowing experience. So I’ll be a nice guy and instead of DDoSing Ubuntu servers I’ll support the open source ecosystem by buying my CD. I’d have ordered from Canonical’s Amazon shop if the shipping prices weren’t outrageous.
DPS Vasant Kunj is showing interest now in migrating the Internet Lab computers from Windows 98 to Linux. I’d started this on a small scale when I was in school but as soon as I passed out from high school some people (ref: Code Warriors) brought everything back to Windows status-quo. School isn’t likely to upgrade the Internet Lab and users are clamouring for a better experience than Windows 98 (newer browsers, better word processing software which can handle new formats), so I suggested a shift to Linux. I can’t decide between Xubuntu 9.04 and Linux Mint 6 Felicia Xfce Edition. I’ll be installing it on a few systems initially. Based on the feedback it will be expanded to all the systems in the lab.
25 replies on “Ubuntu ShipIt is down!”
I tried the ftp mirrors,they’re giving a 421 error coz too many users are connected.
Try the HTTP download mirrors then. They shouldn’t be having those problems, but will still be slower because of all that traffic.
I’m not in a hurry to try Jaunty.I’m happy with OpenSuSe 11.1.I’ll wait for my shipit CD to try Jaunty.
BTW, even on my systems YaST2 had problem configuring the network in OpenSuse 11.1 GNOME edition. It prompted me itself to use NetworkManager though.
In my case since I’m using an ADSL modem through USB, the GNOME Network Manager did not work.I’m using YaST for network config.
Oh, so it was the opposite for you. That’s odd, because by default the ‘Connect to network’ option in OpenSuse’s SLAB menu launches YaST2, and not NetworkManager. You must have specifically looked for NetworkManager in GNOME Control Panel, right?
Even I pre-ordered it in time. Though I downloaded the iso as well. I’m on the liveCD right now, and installing.
I had a hell load of issues with Interpid due to proprietary nVidia drivers. They kept crashing X.Org. Hope Jaunty solves this issue.
Proprietary drivers – whether nVidia or ATI – are always a bitch. I’m kinda apprehensive about Jaunty too since its release notes states that there are problems with Intel graphics drivers too this time. I’ll disable desktop effects before upgrading.
Yup, Jaunty also giving me a hard time. I can’t enable Desktop effects 🙁 . I’ve tried all the guides I can find, after most of which I have to restore the whole system from a backup. sigh
Any idea if Nouveau drivers can support Desktop effects?
I wouldn’t suggest you to use Nouveau drivers (see current status). I haven’t used Nouveau personally though; graphic card on my laptop is an Intel 965. In general, open source graphics driver packages don’t perform that well, especially with most of the older graphics cards. Sure, you can get screwed with the ‘official’ proprietary drivers too since they don’t get tested that rigorously on a new release of a distro, but in general I’d advise you to stick to proprietary ones for now.
Finally got the nvidia drivers to work, after about 2 fresh installs. Good thing I keep a seperate partition for my /home directory, though I’ll have to set up LAMP again.
XServer and Nvidia’s X Server are too conflicting. And from what I’ve read up in forums, it’s been a LONG time since there was any fix to it.
And NOW that I have enabled desktop effects, I really don’t see the point of it. 😐
Also, does anyone know why all the window titlebars vanish if i type compiz in the terminal? And the system stops responding as well.
Why were you typing ‘compiz’ in the terminal? Anything specific you want to do?
Well, I downloaded from BitTorrent, was pretty fast and I have just installed it, works amazing! except for some little glitch in Network Manager Applet, because of which I now have to use pppoeconf, well, jaunty is much better than interpid speedwise!! Shifting to ext4 and even on my outrageously overloaded pc with comparitively little ram, it boots in about 30 secs!!
I won’t be switching to ext4 yet because there are reports of data corruption with that. No thanks, I’m quite happy to stick to ext3 for now.
I went to ShipIt yesterday, found the same notice. Downloading Netbook Remix now. Looks more interesting. I hope ShipIt is back in two days. Even I want some new Ubuntu stickers :D. My cabinet is full of them.
I’ve used Netbook Remix (on a netbook), and while it may be good for netbook use and look ‘refreshingly different’ for a while, it does get on your nerves. I wouldn’t recommend NBR for normal desktop usage.
@ Ankur – Howcome it was running fine 3-4 days ago? I just ordered the latest Ubuntu Version through ShipIt 🙂
That must have been before 9.04 was launched. After release the number of people accessing ShipIt must have gone very high. You must understand that ShipIt after all is a charity program and they can’t continue to keep shipping CDs if demand increases exponentially.
Freedom Toaster is a concept which Canonical has been exploring to deal with this. They set up automated kiosks similar to ATMs where you have to bring your own blank CD, and for free you can burn all the open source software you want. There’s one in Thiruvananthapuram in India. I do hope this project becomes successful!
Dude, how about just coming over and taking it from me rather than ordering it from a shitty service. Speaking of services, see, MTNL rules. I downloaded the whole ISO in 42 mins via BitTorrent!
Anyway, got a new HD, so installing root and home on separate drives (not partitions) for an added boost in performance. Using EXT4 for root, EXT3 for home (due to those talks abt instability/corruption, etc) 25 sec boot time. That’s good as it now loads different data from two separate drives which it used to load from one before…
Oh, I thought you would be busy with AIEEE. I’m quite surprised that you took time off from that to install Ubuntu. :O
And dude. Even I don’t use 42 so indiscriminately. 😛
oh.. i wanted to type compiz –help or something just forgot the latter part.. 😛
have you tried it though?
and why can’t I reply to your last comment?
by the way, my mobo shortcircuited just after i was finally able to install my graphic drivers. I had also lost all sound. sigh When will Ubuntu fix this?
The reason why you couldn’t reply to my last comment is because I’ve set a limit on how ‘deep’ comments can be nested. Without this limit, the comments will shows oddly as the box for that comment keeps getting narrower.
File this as a bug in Ubuntu. Type ‘ubuntu-bug compiz’ in terminal, and then complete the report using your Launchpad account.
haha… even I downloaded it through torrent. BSNL servers give shock quite often so can’t even think to trust that it will let iso downloaded in a single go. Ubuntu was a nice experience. Scratched my mind myself for a month and when I couldn’t bear frustration of it, just downloaded and tried to experience it myself coz ‘Wubi’ was there. But still the think which is causing ‘troubles’ is that ‘command lines'(sorry couldn’t recall exact name, it was CLI something). Can anyone tell me exactly how to learn that. I downloaded its’ ebook ‘ubuntu kung fu’ but time in XII couldn’t be managed. Oops it is going long.
If you’re new to Ubuntu, then you should download the free Ubuntu Pocket Guide. That will get you started with the basics.
Hey I already have that book + font color=’red’>I have “Ubuntu Kung Fu” too. The problem now is just the management of time. Yeah I will manage to learn it properly later. Thanks man