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Thread: updates in 12.04 LTS going forward

  1. #1
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    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    updates in 12.04 LTS going forward

    I've always had problems with updates since Windows XP. It seems that the plethora of updates and patches accumulate over time and eventually slow my system at minimum and make it unuseable at worse. Since recognizing this, I don't "do" updates, many times one thing or another becomes corrupted during an update and the application becomes disabled through corruption. I just can't afford to lose the time or have the headache of trying to recover a vital program or service which has ceased to function due to either my sloppy system or an update that effects vital dependencies negatively with no prior notice.

    Isn't it sad that one is more secure in flashing the BIOS versus downloading an update?

    Anyway, I would like to know if updates are any better at minimizing system corruption or are they the same? I really haven't allowed a scheduled update since 2011 or so.
    Ubuntu 18.04_amd_64_LTS on Desktop run by Intel core I5 3570K on Asus P8Z77-V Pro MB

    Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on Lenovo N500 laptop

  2. #2
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    Xubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish

    Re: updates in 12.04 LTS going forward

    alvinmoneypit; Hi !
    All I can relate to you is that I have been running 'buntu since version 8.04 on several different boxes. I do not have any proprietary drivers nor do I utilize 3rd party PPAs ---- I always do the updates and have never experienced any serious problem> I believe that updates are made available for good reasons.
    That's my story

  3. #3
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    Re: updates in 12.04 LTS going forward

    Thanks, Bashing,

    I always had to use some proprietary drivers, 12.04 is the most forgiving version I've used since I started Ubuntu with 9.04. But I still have some drivers and software that is proprietary. For instance, my printer driver is a Lexmark z600, although Ubuntu offered a printer driver through foomatic, it didn't work, but I may still try to get it going. I have Flash which is pretty important to me right now and pdf reader and AIR. But other than that, it's pretty clean.
    I've only had this version for 5 days and everything is working that I know of right now. In previous versions, I've had problems with every install, and later with the updates corrupting my install ( I say that because after the update, various problems occur, not blaming the update itself, but the process or unseen configuration errors in my system become exacerbated after the updates). I remember XP was problematic after very many updates which I accepted all of them, over a period of years my system became quite slow. I'm not sure if it was the updates, but I kept a pretty close eye on the registry and didn't add too many programs and kept my system fairly secure, so I default to a problem with what programs I did allow, i.e. the updates.

    My hardware isn't the greatest either. I usually use the cheapest computer hardware I can get, so I guess I get what I pay for.
    Ubuntu 18.04_amd_64_LTS on Desktop run by Intel core I5 3570K on Asus P8Z77-V Pro MB

    Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on Lenovo N500 laptop

  4. #4
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    Xubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish

    Re: updates in 12.04 LTS going forward

    alvinmoneypit; It is sad that you have had such experiences. If one steps out of the support umbrella ( for what ever reason is compelling)
    i.e. graphics drivers, printer drivers, wifi drivers in particular, then it is often required to (re)install the broken drivers when updates to the system are done.
    Lexmark drivers - from what I have observed - are a particular problem; we do not enjoy great support from lexmark.
    Any proprietary driver is out of support in any open source environment as access to the code is denied ( though many providers work closely with ubuntu to provide drivers, that may or may not work in any given system).

    That said, the developers of the linux kernel work hard keeping up with advances in respective technologies, and having a open source driver available for most hardware that does indeed work at some level of functionality.

    I have seen this point addressed much better than my feeble attempt. But the point is, it is outside of 'buntu ability to cope with the requirements of a proprietary driver install. No access to the code and not able to incorporate that driver code into the kernel's structure, well just is a problem. The best solution is to use hardware that is tested and known to work in the linux world.

    To address "older" hardware, there exist variants of ubuntu that runs very well on such. Popularity is a driving force and getting 'buntu "mainstream" takes the eye candy and this is system resource hungry. I don't like it, personally, just the way it is. My wife's 10.04 is on an old sempron system, and I am contemplating the need to go to lubuntu when we have to upgrade (wife says will pry 10.04 ubuntu out of her cold dead fingers !).

    What can I say, ubuntu is the best all around solution I have ever ran across!

  5. #5
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    Re: updates in 12.04 LTS going forward

    Aye Bashing, I agree, once you have Ubuntu setup correctly, it runs great never crashing or stalling out. I had 10.10 on the system before, I ran it about 1 year out of support. I broke or lost the keys to downloading software from the repos so instead of fixing that I decided to go with 12.04, but only after checking it out on my laptop first. I've had good luck with laptops - even this laptop has proprietary drivers on its wifi, but it always worked. I think they've made a driver for it as I don't remember selecting the proprietary driver for it during install.

    I guess I'd like to see a list of supported hardware, I know some places have lists, but some are really old posts and not exhaustive. It would be nice if hardware was rated for compatibility right on the box, but with still less than 1% market penetration it would be difficult to set this expectation in this Walmart culture we've built. I understand the point about proprietary software code not being available, along the same line as the software for voting machines and vote tabulation is proprietary (which means your voting process belongs to corporations, scary). Yet Ubuntu in this version has been able to construct a working display driver that works with my ATI card well enough to at least see my primary method of monitoring output, part of the reason I started this thread - to see if things improved enough that I would feel safe accepting updates. However, I've a small problem I had with 10.10 - the "Suspend" function frequently fails on "wakeup", it might have something to do with Firefox running?
    Ubuntu 18.04_amd_64_LTS on Desktop run by Intel core I5 3570K on Asus P8Z77-V Pro MB

    Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on Lenovo N500 laptop

  6. #6
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    Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus

    Re: updates in 12.04 LTS going forward

    I can only speak of my own experience and it has been positive with Ubuntu. I have not had any updates that caused my computer to lag or crash. Usually any problems are discussed and solved by the forum. I do however, look at the updates before and if questionable, will research before installing. And I always wait several days to weeks before installing a new version of the OS, just to make sure there are no hidden bugs or other issues causing problems. The forums and Google is a great source of information that provides for a good security blanket.

    As for XP, I moved from using windows years ago, went to a Mac and then on to Ubuntu. I do remember the problems with windows, and any change to the system was problematic.

  7. #7
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    Re: updates in 12.04 LTS going forward

    Thanks Gifford,
    I did download the first round of updates after this install (not to mention the updates during install). I looked at the pending updates - there is already about a dozen or more of them and from what I can see, none of them affect me to the point where I would desire them, which brings up the time component of how much time one has for screening updates and researching what they actually do. I agree that a competent search engine is indispensable, after all, I've had problematic installs I had to fix, it's the fastest way to access info on highly specific issues.
    Ubuntu 18.04_amd_64_LTS on Desktop run by Intel core I5 3570K on Asus P8Z77-V Pro MB

    Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on Lenovo N500 laptop

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