Upgrade to 11.10 or stay with 11.04?

[deskman]

IT IS KINDA LONF POST BUT I APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE! READ AND MAYBE YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF FEELING SOMETHING SIMILAR TO WHAT I FEEL. THANKS


I would start with my system specs:
I5-2500k, ASUS p8p67 m pro mobo, Nvidia GTX460 1G, 2x4G 1600MHz GSkill RAM

I whiped Ubuntu 11.04 and installed Oneiric as a fresh install. Frankly, i didn't like the new one. Mainly because of Unity and Gnome3. I mean the settings have become more hidden than before. For example i was not able to find a way to disable bluetooth daemon starting every login; There was only option to Add new startup entry)) etc etc.. I also tried to install the gnome-shell but it is buggy; no proper resizing windows.. compiz doesn't work and in general i dislike docs with funny icons. I like all my menus to be clear and finding a program doesn't have to be started with remembering the name of it. For example if i want to see the load on CPU. I have to remember that the application that i need is called System Monitor and then click on the Dash and type "system". Really annoying. I used to click on menu and then see all the options available and then choose what i need.
I tried Xubuntu 11.10!! Everything is great except the blurry fonts and somewhat grayish colors. I installed "freetype" package and played with fonts settings so now ,maybe it looks a bit better but still the fonts are not as in Gnome and the colors are still not bright as in gnome. I feel kinda frustrated.
Strange thing with Nvidia driver in Oneiric. When i'm not doing anything it stays in performance mode 0 as it should be. But if i simply point on some opened window, the performance mode jumps straight to maximum - 3. And then GPU starts to get hot somewhere 50 C compared to 32 in performance mode 0. I don't need my GPU running almost full time in maximum performance mode.
The problem is that the older Nvidia driver (270 if i'm not wrong) that came in 11.04 was the opposite to the new one, because it stayed in performace mode 0 tough i was running heavy compiz effects and because of that everything felt sluggish.

Now I'm in a dilemma: STAY WITH ONEIRIC AND WAIT FOR IT TO BECOME STABLE AND MATURE or INSTALL OLDER NATTY????
I must say that Natty didn't feel perfect but at least not annoying as Oneiric but the problem is the support that will be stopped in October next year. In this case Oneiric wins 'cause it is supported till april 2013. I'M SIMPLY SICK AND TIRED OF REINSTALLING IT EVERY HALF A YEAR BECAUSE A NEW VERSION IS OUT.

Please help me to sort it out. 11.10 or 11.04??????

Thanks for your time!

[Rasa1111]

that's all up to you man.
I like 11.10 quite a bit more than 11.04.
Everything is nicer , and quicker, smoother, prettier.
I love 11.10!
But it all depends on what's right/what works best for you.

[dino99]

due to your hardware config, you should run the newest packages/kernel/drivers to have the best experience

[deskman]

Please pay attention to what i dislike. Stupid things with new more recent packages(gnome3/ kernel 3.0 etc..) or older less stupid things (gnome2) with older packages and older kernel? What is worse?

[dino99]

future is always ahead, thats it. dont know about your "stupid"

[ajgreeny]

Use what works for you!!

I'm still using 10.04, which I think is probably the best version of Ubuntu available, and it still has 18 months of support, exactly the same as 11.10.

10.04 with a few judiciously chosen ppa repos and you have all anyone could want.

[Mark Phelps]

Previously, I personally would have advised you to wait, for Ubuntu to become "stable" -- but then, Canonical threw Unity into the mix.

So basically, every release they change SOMETHING such that some old things don't work anymore, some new things don't work right, and any "upgrade" install is doomed to failure.

In other words, if you're waiting for Ubuntu to become "stable" -- to the degree that new releases won't bring new problems -- you might as well wait for the next Ice Age.

[mrw]

I'm still using 10.10. I tried the upgrade and had all sorts of problems. First a straight upgrade didn't allow the GUI. Then I did a clean install (having saved my home directory and apps) and got i working. I would advise this approach to upgrading. But then I was left with little annoying problems, I hated the desktop both unity and gnome3 and decided to give up. I erased 11.10 did a clean install of 10.10 and happy again. If anything I may do a clean install of 11.10 on a separate partition and play with it.
My philosophy is if it aint broke and your satisfied don't fix it.

[critin]

<<Please help me to sort it out. 11.10 or 11.04??????>>

Since you weren't pleased with either, I suggest going with a 10--either one. They are supported just as long, they are stable, and you can customize to please yourself.

Try, really try, new versions before you commit to an install and then decide.
No one version suits everyone.