Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 2 Removes HAL

[jro]

http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/Onli...-2-Removes-HAL

Ok, first off I take exception to the way this article keeps referring to "Ubuntu's Hardware Abstraction Layer". It seems that Ubuntu has gotten popular enough that even the Linux publications feel they can use it interchangeably with "Linux". Anyway, I will step off my soapbox for now..

After reading about this, it doesn't really seem to be that big of a deal. I mean, faster boot times are always welcome, I can't wait for the instant on release of Linux ;-) . My biggest issue is not being able to use my Wacom tablet, since they say the drivers won't work.. I guess I will have to wait and see what they do with this.

Any one else have any input on this subject?

[beezlebubsbum]

What is the positive thing we get from this?

[jro]

They seem to be pushing the faster boot-up times and the major reason we should look forward to this. From the Ubuntu site:

Lucid Alpha 2 sports full removal of the hal package, making Ubuntu faster to boot and faster to resume from suspend.

Not sure thats going to be worth breaking a lot of legacy drivers in the process. I suppose if the driver authors are quick to respond with updates it won't be TOO painful. I don't use my Wacom that much, but I would like the option of using it.

[beezlebubsbum]

Yeah, maybe this is the point we may see another Ubuntu fork, one with HAL for legacy device support, and one without for the "bleeding edge" crowd.

[jro]

Yeah, maybe this is the point we may see another Ubuntu fork, one with HAL for legacy device support, and one without for the "bleeding edge" crowd.

Hmmm, that seems unlikely. My guess would be that we see another attempt by Ubuntu to introduce something new that quietly becomes standard for the distro. UUID's for storage device identifiers? Yep, they implemented those 4 years ago. Everyone was in a big stink about it too when they did it, now, no one even notices.

[beezlebubsbum]

I'm all for it if it moves us into the future. While I do like to have things behave "they way the always used to" I like how they are attempting and experimenting with new technologies. Linux in recent years always seems to have lengthier loading times than their rivals (eg: mac and windows). I think what a lot of people don't realise is that when you are at the login screen at Linux, you are loaded, whereas Windows is usually still chugging processes after it's loaded into it's environment. Back to topic though, I would love to see how fast it loads now! Might keep my older Ubuntu versions though for some of the old pc's in my garage but