Things that you dislike in Ubuntu

**aj34** · May 29th, 2022

Originally Posted by proppo001

I am not an IT person but I've used Ubuntu and a couple other flavors for 20+ years. I've spent days at a time looking at a terminal trying to get something or other to work. I am not a neophyte but after all that time and expectations that things would get easier, it hasn't. In all those years, I have NEVER had reliable Printing. It may work for awhile until it doesn't for completely unknown reasons. Currently I have a $500 HP printer that Ubuntu refuses to download drivers for because... (insert a myriad of errors). Asking for help in the forums is going to be far beyond the scope of the average computer user, I myself don't ask because I couldn't know how to "properly" parse the the details, bringing instant derision and impatience from the forum. For years, every printer I've had, Samsung, Cannon (not sure it ever worked) and HP has ultimately needed to be wired direct which, may or may not work (currently does not) - or just resort to Windows. This is the only reason I cannot live without Windows. Sad.

PRINTING - networked or not - can they ever get it right???

Echoes my sentiments too, although I'm relatively new to Ubuntu and have found forum members most helpful when I've needed to ask questions relating to printer installs and intermittent printing problems. So far, printing is the solitary reason why I won't be recommending Ubuntu to non-geeky friends and colleagues. And it's the only reason I still run a dual boot PC with Windows 10 Pro (which I had planned to ditch by now).

**cmcanulty** · May 29th, 2022

I always recommend HP printers which all seem to work flawlessly as long as HPLIP is installed.

https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing

**bsniadajewski** · October 19th, 2022

The main things that I don't like about Ubuntu these days are:

- Firefox installed as a Snap by default. It seems to still to take longer to get going than either the Flatpak or deb version. Thankfully I'm able to remove the snap ( as well as snapd itself), and install the deb from the Mozilla Team PPA.
- The fact that there no longer is a mini.iso (for 20.10 onwards) available if I wanted to totally customize my install after installing just the base system the way you're able to in Debian.

**richpressinpv** · September 27th, 2023

I dislike that some applications can not be resized without changing the default resolution. As example: I like a low esrolution for running my VPN frontend app as it can not be changed within the app, but I like a higher resolution for running Excel thru wine. Is there a way to change the screen resolution as a function of the program being run?

**TheFu** · September 27th, 2023

I dislike applications that don't honor the window manager title and boarder controls. Gnome-disks is an example. This is an abomination far worse than systemd or mandated snap packages. 20 yrs ago, I would have suggested the programming team who decided something like that was a good idea needed to be shot, to convey my disappointment. We can't do that anymore, so I self-censor to just say that I'm really disappointed and dislike the Gnome team's choice.

**Tadaen_Sylvermane** · September 28th, 2023

I enjoy Gnome but along with above I dislike that not everything is consistent. But this is not limited to Ubuntu. The problem is on Debian as well as any other distro I imagine. I can't understand why there can't be a single gui toolkit that can inherit whatever theme is on the system or being used without looking like a cheap hack. The power and choice of linux leads to this situation though so it can't be helped. I dislike the snap concept in general. It's flawed. The flaw is that it gives up one of the biggest strengths of *nix stuff... shared libraries. Without that benefit while I'm no fan of Microsoft I have trouble seeing why one should deal with the limitations (depending on what you do with it) of linux rather than just accept Windows as is. That seems to be the direction, at least at the moment. It does not bode well as far as I am concerned. Why bend over backwards to make something work when I can get a more polished system with far more available software. Without shared libraries it's just not worth the effort for me. Outside of my server at least...

**TheFu** · September 28th, 2023

Do you use MS-Windows? Whenever I'm forced to use it, it is so very frustrating. Nothing works right. Programs crash without any warning. And I can never find the right program to accomplish what I need. All the MS-Windows programs seem to suffer from "kitchen sink" bloat, meaning they feel some need to add yet another "feature" because someone got a wild hair somewhere that itched.

I much prefer the Unix way of having small, do one-thing well, tools.

I'm not 100% anti-snap anymore like I was. The key line for me is whether the snap is the only way do run a specific program or just another option. I like options, not mandates. I suppose using Ubuntu isn't a mandate, which is why I've moved my desktop off Ubuntu to a different distro.

I much prefer AppImages over snaps and flatpaks. This is because with an AppImage, I can add constraints that I control, not have constraints I don't want/need inflicted on me like snaps do. I've avoided Flatpaks, but my understanding is they allow local control over the constraints AND are only for end-user, desktop, applications. Canonical trying to make snaps THE answer for all programs, server and desktop is a mistake for their normal desktop.

I can appreciate someone who wants an OS they don't need to maintain and doesn't need control over where things are located or placed ... you know - like a cell phone user without a 2nd microSD card.

Don't get me started about how google screwed android when they prevented apps from being setup to handle file types located anywhere on the file system that user has access. Google is their own worst enemy. I'm still trying to figure out how to get FBreader to open an epub file that is managed by nextcloud apps on my phone/tablet. It shouldn't be that hard. I wasted over 30 minutes trying to solve this yesterday and failed.

But I digress, which is normal for me.

**Tadaen_Sylvermane** · September 28th, 2023

I agree. I prefer the *nix way of course. And I've learned the strength of the system and quite well, maybe not perfectly to mold it to my desires. But at the end of the day it takes more work and I'm just flat lazy. It's hard to justify working twice as hard for the same result. But again that is down the road. Snaps haven't taken over and they certainly aren't becoming main stream. But while I appreciate the purpose of universal packages they are a major threat to as I said before to possibly the *nix stuffs greatest strength in regards to security, efficiency, everything really. If I'm going to end up with a system with holes damn near everywhere why not take the easy road. Laziness will prevail in my case... lol

Windows does irritate me. But laziness == me. And I don't rely on my computer for work anymore so... it's little more than a choice at this point. Not a requirement either way. Flatpak bottles works nice but I spend a fair amount of time gaming still. Why not do it native if there are so few other benefits, in my case anyway.