Nursing Multiple Installs can lead to Wrong assumptions:

[ventrical]

Having 11 working installs of Precise on 8 different machines can lead to memory lapses now and again. I am an experimenter and like to push hardware to the limits, but, if I forget what machine I had conducted an experiment on and then proceeded to file a bug report based on an erroneous assumption then that doesn't do anyone any good.

I have always preached to others about focusing on just a few fundamental aspects of a platform and then work on those and I should practice what I preach. However, working on Ubuntu Precise (and previous betas) is a real riot!! However, this new Precise alpha should be taken a little more seriously as it will eventually become an LTS release and I think most of us here (and the devs) want this to be a shining beacon for FOSS and for the open internet.

So at this stage of the game I am going to cut back a bit in some areas (and that will be with 64bit testing) Honestly, the hardware I have is regressed with 64bit kernel and it consumes too much time to troubleshoot those problems. Of course if I perchance come across a more Precise friendly 64bit platform then I will continue to proceed with 64bit testings of precise.

Thanks for listening.

Cheers,

ventrical

[ventrical]

Hey !! It was a discovery!!!

[hansdown]

11 installs of precise is pretty impressive.

Does it take up a lot of your time?

[ventrical]

11 installs of precise is pretty impressive.

Does it take up a lot of your time?

Actually I spend a lot of time on those installs. I like to stay dynamic with the latest releases and especially alpha/beta testing Ubuntu and other distros. I like the speed and the way the GUIs handle. Iv'e spent most of my career as data entry, security, hardware troubleshooting and Windows malware removal.

Ubuntu frees up a lot of time because I am not always worrying about malware or Volume Licence Keys. Having 8 different PCs (including three of those as laptops) makes it a lot of fun. Being a hardware repairman I always have extra hdds and MoBos on hand.

I do admit that I get a little ahead of myself or behind myself at times but I'm getting better at how the sudo code works.

I also have other distros running ... but I like the way that the Unity interface works. I also work a lot of Windows systems for others...instructional development ya know .. but it just gets so dern boring sometimes eh .

[hansdown]

Good to know.

Thanks for sharing,ventrical.

Your energy levels are higher than mine.

That's a good thing.

[KdotJ]

11? That is pretty crazy... I guess you get to see how the OS works across different hardware. Good stuff!

[ventrical]

Thanks for your encouragement!! That helps a great deal. I purchased a KVM box that allows me to have 4 different PCs connected to one monitor, have them all running at the same time and I can switch back and forth from different states of Precise and with different video cards.

Might as well jump all the way in

[nothingspecial]

Moved to Ubuntu +1 to continue discussion if anyone wants too.

[grahammechanical]

Since hanging out on this section of the forum I have been impressed at the skill and experience that some of the people have. It is good to have folk like you around.

Regards.

[ventrical]

Thank you all for your kind remarks. As I move along with this new testing of Precise - I do it with anticipation that there are new discoveries to be made. The Ubuntus provide me (us) with unique opportunites where other operating systems failed . There is a certain freedom to be enjoyed while experimenting. A lot of the time they are simple re-discoveries where others have painstakingly pursued work-a-rounds and the sharing of those findings - which is a great help to all of the Ubuntu community.

Discoveries do not always have to be complex or intricate. They can be very simple - and even if there are redundant - then posting them is always good because it may refresh a workaround that may be buried in some of the older databases.

Some of the properties that I have noticed during this beta is that Precise (in it's different releases -K-X-L) will behave differently with different hardware. Different distros seem to install the video drivers differently. For example , Ubuntu raw may roll back into Unity 2D on one machine while Kubuntu will display the full graphical interface with all the bells and whistles. The different DEs can be modified to change the default 'moods' or motifs into user designed motifs. Setting a DE mood can make all the difference between getting work done and general leisure. Also there is a behaviour with monitor detection and the functioning of the Xorg desktop. Earlier distros will work very well and then Precise-roll-Ocelot install will not allow the desktop to display. However, when the monitor is changed on that machine then the desktop will display correctly. So it tells me that with the Precise release that some of the older monitors may be obsoleted completely , perhaps, with the exception of being able to load into a text terminal of GNOME (no effects) desktop.
(therefore an erroneous assumption on my part that the -non-install- is a borked install. It took me about seven installs to realize that this one, older LCD monitor would just not work with GNOME Classic, Unity 3D, 2D or GNOME Shell.

And it is good practice of PC economics because older software is not obsoleted and, in fact can be modded - even by trying driver rollbacks.

So , certainly this community is a great asset to the beta testing community as well as Ubuntu as a whole.

Some of the programs I use to test graphics are extremetux racer and Brutal Chess!! Brutal Chess has a way of exposing that some older ATi graphics cards will work on older and slower machines and then lock right up on others. However, if Open Arena or any of these other 3D programs works well with a certain graphics card does not mean that Unity 3d or Gnome Shell will function at all.

I find this a sort of paradox that highspeed 3d graphics are functional while Unity 3D will roll back.

Perhaps as I move along I will find out. For the most part I am sure that this has already been explored and that all I need do is stumble upon it.