Comment 1 for bug 459498

Same problem here:

$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=9.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=karmic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 9.10"

$ apt-cache policy electricsheep
electricsheep:
  Installed: 2.6.8-9ubuntu1
  Candidate: 2.6.8-9ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 2.6.8-9ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.linux.duke.edu karmic/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

$ uname -a
Linux karmic 2.6.31-14-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 16 14:05:01 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ electricsheep
please be patient while the first sheep is downloaded...
lost contact with v2d6.sheepserver.net, cannot retrieve sheep.

I have literally about 3GB of sheep downloaded manually in my ~/.electricsheep folder. I noticed there was also a ~/.sheep folder and I moved them there and attempted to start the screensaver, with the same error.