Sunday 12 July 2009

3 Years Ago: Ubuntu Dapper Drake

Remember Dapper Drake? All the fuss around it, being an LTS (long-term support) release, the six-week delay in order to make things stable, all the forum discussions and the enthusiasm with which it was awaited by Ubuntu users.

Dapper Drake was released on June 1st, 2006 and it had version number 6.06. It was probably one of the biggest Ubuntu releases and ended up being known for its stability. After three years of security updates, support for the desktop version of Ubuntu Dapper Drake will end on July 14th, while the server edition will still be supported two more years, until June 2011.

I remember that when Dapper was about to come out I've switched from GNOME to KDE, and I was very enchanted that Kubuntu, the KDE version of Ubuntu, will ship a stable KDE3 environment. For me, that was the most stable Kubuntu I've ever used. In my opinion, after Dapper Drake, Kubuntu never had such a stable release again. A few months later Ubuntu put out 6.06.1, a point release which included several software updates performed after the initial release.

Here's what Dapper Drake included:

Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake
GNOME 2.14
OpenOffice.org 2.0.2
Firefox 1.5
GIMP 2.2

Kubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake
KDE 3.5.2
OpenOffice.org 2.0.2
Konqueror 3.5.2

8 comments:

Hund said...

Dapper Drake was the first version of Ubuntu for me. :)

TuxSurfer said...

Good times..Good times!

Douglas Manzelmann said...

It was delayed by six weeks. 6.06. Otherwise it would have been 6.04 (i.e. not delayed by 3 months).

Craciun Dan said...

My mistake thanks. I'll fix it right away.

colonelcrayon said...

Sadly, I would prefer Dapper to any more modern Ubuntu release. It was rock-solid, simple, and got the job done. How times change...

GuyP said...

I used dapper then & I use (& recommend) the new LTS Hardy now, both on my own & our family computer.

As a family we are very satisfied with Ubuntu. Both computers can boot into Windows but that is very rarely used.

Anonymous said...

Dapper has been the most stable Ubuntu version for my ASUS laptop (L3800C, admittedly an oldie) so far. Tried Edgy (was okay), Feisty (troublesome), Gutsy (nothing short of problems), Hardy (okay-ish) and Jaunty (what a mess!). Dapper is definitely liked most by my L3800C. Typically, my HP 6710b favours Hardy.

Anonymous said...

I loved Dapper Drake, it was the most rock-solid Ubuntu release I had ever seen. One of those releases you wish could be supported forever.