Suggestion: What keeps me and many others from installing Ubuntu

[Anathaen]

This is a serious suggestion directed towards current and future releases of Ubuntu.

The things that keep me from installing Ubuntu are:

- frequent kernel updates that do more harm than good
- blacklisting of older hardware

Most people have encountered that annoying habit of Ubuntu making things that used to work in a previous version not work anymore in a newer one. That is why this is an appeal (and shouldn't be, because a good OS should support ALL THE HARDWARE) to:

- release only properly tested kernel updates

or

- install something similar to mintupdate, that avoids kernel updates, which is the reason Mint is more stable than Ubuntu
- quit the habit of blacklisting older hardware

This is an issue that has been haunting (former) Ubuntu users since Ubuntu practically arrived I believe. Each time with each new release something worked and then it didn't. Each new update broke something.

Would someone finally listen to the community and be reasonable about this?

[snowpine]

If you wish to skip kernel updates then use:

sudo apt-get upgrade

instead of:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

If you install a new kernel and it doesn't work, you can choose your old kernel in GRUB.

If you think you found a bug, report it.

[Anathaen]

That's not exactly the type of answer I expected.

Ubuntu's aim is, after seeing all the vids and stuff, to be the most user friendly OS there is, am I right? In that case users should be able to skip all that hassle with codes and use terminal to the minimum extent possible, so a proper updater should be installed.

If the devs won't come up with a proper solution the distro will always remain the same and users will always have the same issues and many of them won't install it because of the same reason - its update system isn't simply measured.

Take Mint for example. Why has it surpassed Ubuntu? I will tell you.

For the past two years I've been using Mint for one reason only, mintupdate. It saved my system from crashes, avoiding those nasty kernel updates and delivering only updates, that wouldn't do any harm to the system. And it's just "rebranded Ubuntu". Ain't it funny when something based on Ubuntu is better than Ubuntu?

Bear in mind, that NOT ONLY GEEKS AND HACKERS use it!

That is why it should be as much user friendly as possible.

Wanna hack? Be a geek? Use Arch! Or something similar. Let the other, casual users not worry about their system and give them the ability and comfort to use it freely.

[snowpine]

That's not exactly the type of answer I expected.

If the new kernel doesn't work, then pick the old kernel from GRUB.

It's a simple, practical type of answer that even a beginner can follow.

You like Mint's updater, I like to use 'apt-get' in the terminal, so I approach your question the way I would solve it myself, you choose the method that works best for you 2 years, everyone is happy!

[Anathaen]

That's the typical answer of those who don't even want to consider other options for the improvement of the project and the satisfaction of many.

If the devs of Ubuntu have the same approach as yours, they can only long for users to install it, no matter what fancy things they add into it, it'll remain the same.

It'll crash systems and hardware will be blacklisted and a supreme operating system should support everything, to the last bit.

If Windows can do it, some other Linux distros also, why not Ubuntu?

And for the record, I dumped even Mint, because it adopts every single thing from Ubuntu, what used to work for me in a previous version didn't in a newer one.

[snowpine]

That's the typical answer of those who don't even want to consider other options for the improvement of the project and the satisfaction of many.

I am not an Ubuntu dev, I am just random internet guy, so please don't think my views represent those of UbuntuCorp. They are not reading this forum, so I gave you the link above if you want to communicate your bug directly to them. Another site you can share your ideas is Ubuntu brainstorm. Are you willing to make the small effort to actually improve Ubuntu?

To be honest, I don't use Ubuntu, you apparently don't use Ubuntu either, and you haven't described what the actual hardware/kernel problem is, so I'm not sure why we're having this conversation.

[Anathaen]

I was using Ubuntu. WAS. Looking at how they work on it I'd seriously give it a try if they'd be willing to make it more user friendly from another perspective, the real user perspective.

Coz quite frankly, a 50 years old user will not be willing to type something in a terminal, would they?

[snowpine]

You misunderstand my intentions.

Just because I give you an easy answer to your question using a 1-line command you can type in the terminal doesn't mean *you* have to do it that way. Ubuntu also gives you GUI point-and-click tools for updates and configuration, you can use those tools if you prefer. I only give you terminal commands because that's how I would do it myself, and I am trying to help you. Or do you not want to be helped, maybe you just want to vent, that is OK too.

[Futant]

Coz quite frankly, a 50 years old user will not be willing to type something in a terminal, would they?

You might be underestimating your elders...

[Anathaen]

My intentions are solely for the good of the majority. Usability, simplicity are the keys.

Less is always more. Less in clicks in this matter.

Ubuntu devs should be aware of that.

But more to the point, blacklisting of older and troublesome hardware is a real issue here. That needs the highest attention, so that Ubuntu runs on every computer.