Early adopters bloodied by Ubuntu

[ikt]

Ubuntu 9.10 is causing outrage and frustration, with early adopters wishing they'd stuck with previous versions of the Linux distro.

Blank and flickering screens, failure to recognize hard drives, defaulting to the old 2.6.28 Linux kernel, and failure to get encryption running are taking their toll, as early adopters turn to the web for answers and log fresh bug reports in Ubuntu forums.

Reg reader motoh delivered a warning on moving to Ubuntu 9.10 from version 9.04 - Jaunty Jackalope - in comments on our review of the new OS here. "If you upgrade from Jaunty beware. You may have a rough ride. I made my mistake by trying too soon. Wait the usual month," motoh wrote. Angus77 at Ubuntuforums.org agreed: "This is so frustrating! Jaunty was a snap to install."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/03/karmic_koala_frustration/

Will 11.04 be able to shine through with its new interface or will it succumb to the bugs and early usability issues?

*ponders* (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/01/ubuntu1004_beta_review/)

[sffvba[e0rt]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/03/karmic_koala_frustration/

Will 11.04 be able to shine through with its new interface or will it succumb to the bugs and early usability issues?

*ponders* (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/01/ubuntu1004_beta_review/)

Change... we fear change...


404
PS - Love the sig btw :p

[wojox]

I have not had any issues installing 11.04. No more "nomodeset" issues for my nvidia cards/chipsets.

[3Miro]

"Bleeding edge" is not just a myth. Every piece of new technology holds unforeseen problems. Everybody going for an early switch should keep this in mind.

We should put a thread/message/disclaimer/advice:

Be warned: The new version of Ubuntu 11.04 comes as a huge change compared the previous releases. The new Unity interface may or may not be to your liking. As a large change to previous conventions, you can expect larger than usual amount of bugs. If you depend on your system for work/school and you are not willing to experiment or deal with potential problems, stay with 10.04 or 10.10.

I remember 9.04 coming out, I so wanted to try it, but it was the edn of the semester for me on my graduation year. I did not dare change anything on my system as I depended on it so much. When I finally got to try it, sure enough, I had some issues with the sound, but I had the time to deal with those.

[TBABill]

What fun would it be if we all waited for that month-after point where many bugs would have already been squashed? :) My Natty is working very well after several days of testing.

[3rdalbum]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/03/karmic_koala_frustration/

Will 11.04 be able to shine through with its new interface or will it succumb to the bugs and early usability issues?

*ponders* (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/01/ubuntu1004_beta_review/)

There's articles and complaints like that after every Ubuntu release. If one of the other distributions was this high-profile, I'm sure the same complaints would be made of the other distribution.

[Irihapeti]

If you need a production system right now for urgent work, then don't mess with a new installation.

That applies to any OS, not just Ubuntu. Yes, that includes Windows.

[Rachel_Eliason]

If you are worried about that, stick to the LTS version. I almost always wait for the next LTS to upgrade and it's almost always bug free.

[Hyporeal]

That particular release, 9.10, coincided with the retail release of Windows 7 -- and the biggest marketing blitz for an OS in history. It is not surprising that there were a few cheap shots at Ubuntu during this time. I don't mean to sound cynical, but these factors must be taken into account when pondering this question.

[kaldor]

That particular release, 9.10, coincided with the retail release of Windows 7 -- and the biggest marketing blitz for an OS in history. It is not surprising that there were a few cheap shots at Ubuntu during this time. I don't mean to sound cynical, but these factors must be taken into account when pondering this question.

Ubuntu 9.10 also had a load of multimedia, java, and Flash issues for myself, a friend and many others. It was a bad release.

[LowSky]

Anytime any OS releases a new concept or new way of doing things its bashed by the users.
I remember when Win 95 came out and people complaining about the whole start menu concept. Who knows maybe this will all be second nature 10 years from now.

[zer010]

I totally skipped 9.10 because of all the posts about this or that not working. I installed it once and had some issues with booting so I went back to 9.04 and kept that until 10.04 came out. Been using 10.04 ever since with little to no issues. I'll be skipping 11.04 and probably 11.10 as well. As far as 12.04 is concerned, time will tell. I'm split between Ubuntu10.04(GNOME) and Fedora14(Xfce) right now...

[pookiebear]

9.04 was the only release that bounced me back to a LTS so far.
Rest have been good. I also ran xubuntu for awhile as 9.04 in X was pretty solid. I would have used MINT but their menus are too KDE like and I am not a fan.

[lemming465]

The most conservative choice is generally the LTS .1 re-spin, about 3 months in, when most of the annoying bugs have been squashed. Bleeding edge types can upgrade around alpha 3 or beta 1 of the up and coming future release, which is what I do on my desktop machines. I suspect 11.04 is going to have a lot of initial bugs, e.g. I have a 50% failure rate for nvidia binary video on different chips; some work, some don't. We're still working through a lot of low-level churn in the kernel and X video infrastructure; reliable video you can trust and enjoy might be another 2 years away.

Best advice: try a live CD/USB boot before doing an upgrade. If all your hardware works from the live ubuntu, the odds you'll like it when installed go way up.

[Shmantiv_Radio]

To me, Unity in 11.04 is Ubuntu's Vista.

[frup]

Meh, for all the times I've heard this release, that release having serious problems, I've never really experienced anything major. I've used every release from 5.10 to now except 8.10 (partly because 8.04 was ok and partly because I wasn't exactly "around" during this time.)

When I began using Ubuntu, setting up 5.10 and 6.06 was much more difficult than any release is now. It took hours of using things like ubuntuguide to get things configured the way you wanted. Then along came compiz, and setting that up could completely break X if you did it wrong.

The things that Ubuntu has gained by default these days are set up nicely most of the time. Doing it yourself used to risk really breaking your system. While there are bugs, in my experiences they have only been minor inconveniences rather than serious issues.

The worst release for me would have been 8.04 interestingly, considering people recommend sticking with LTS releases. It used to completely lock up randomly at times, while watching videos they would go black and white and there was an issue with GTK for me that meant running an application like gedit could crash everything.

Since 6.10 I've always tried out the development versions, since I back up my data regularly I use them on my main laptop on a daily basis, 10.04 and 10.10 had a really stable alpha series in my opinion, and while unity has had a few rough edges initially, already it is working quite well. I haven't had a problem in about a month. Yeah, I can't customise it, but it's definitely usable (though using gimp is a bit frustrating and last time I checked I'd lost the ability to use a second monitor or svideo to my old TV).

Every release is the worst release ever. Life goes on.

[Peter09]

Maverick was 'the' bad release for me - huge regression on my wireless card on my Samsung N150 (not an uncommon netbook) to the extent that it became unworkable. I had hoped that Natty would improve these problems but no luck so far.

[Timmer1240]

9.10 was great for me I had a great year using it no problems at all!

[sammiev]

To me, Unity in 11.04 is Ubuntu's Vista.

Ouch!

[Derxst]

If you need a production system right now for urgent work, then don't mess with a new installation.

That applies to any OS, not just Ubuntu. Yes, that includes Windows.

Excellent advice!

[MooPi]

This is the first release that holds little excitement for me. Not to crazy about Unity and my systems are rock solid as it stands. I may throw 11.04 on something to test but will probably only test and check wireless adapters on the new release.

[kaldor]

To me, Unity in 11.04 is Ubuntu's Vista.

Change does tend to be frightening doesn't it?

Maybe try complaining when you've tried it.

[Shmantiv_Radio]

Change does tend to be frightening doesn't it?

Maybe try complaining when you've tried it.

Does running it as my only desktop OS for about 3 weeks count as trying it?

[el_koraco]

Does running is as my only desktop OS for about 3 weeks count as trying it?

try kubu natty, it's marvelous

[CharmyBee]

Am I doing something wrong waiting only for Xubuntu instead?

I'm not a fan of the sudden "gotta make it so-obviously-not-Windows different" decisions done by either GNOME or KDE teams...

[aaaantoine]

Am I doing something wrong waiting only for Xubuntu instead?

I'm not a fan of the sudden "gotta make it so-obviously-not-Windows different" decisions done by either GNOME or KDE teams...

The Gnome transition was not sudden. It was years in the making.

KDE's changeover did seem rather sudden from my perspective as I only got into Linux "full-time" about 6 months prior to its release. However, KDE 4 has been out for over 3 years now.

Both releases -- and Unity -- share at least a handful of new UI features inspired by OS X and Windows.

[kabloink]

Change... we fear change...


We don't fear change, but we do fear largely untested potentially unstable desktops.

[ikt]

The Gnome transition was not sudden. It was years in the making.

Which is what made it sudden.

Those years making it should have been spent on gradual improvements. (full post here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10695308&postcount=5)

Why am I jealous of gnome 3 after seeing this image?

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_1QSDkzYY2vc/Tay4BJreS9I/AAAAAAAAEBg/P67nvvxOCkc/gnome_shell____atolm.jpg

I mean the activities thing, and the workspaces etc are a bit bad, ok basically it's horrible, but damn it looks good :(

[BlacqWolf]

We should put a thread/message/disclaimer/advice:

Be warned: The new version of Ubuntu 11.04 comes as a huge change compared the previous releases. The new Unity interface may or may not be to your liking. As a large change to previous conventions, you can expect larger than usual amount of bugs. If you depend on your system for work/school and you are not willing to experiment or deal with potential problems, stay with 10.04 or 10.10.



Ubuntu 11.04 will come with GNOME which you can switch to using the login menu. And, from what I see, though it's still in beta 2, Unity and Ubuntu are very stable at this point. And if you like neither GNOME or Unity, you could just install another desktop environment just like any other program. No need to tell people to stay with 10.10 or 10.04 because they will eventually become outdated.

[weasel fierce]

I have like crazy ubuntu luck I think. Every version has worked great for me. Some I upgrade early, some I wait. One of them I did end up skipping as I had actually forgotten a new version had come out, and didn't realize until support for mine stopped :P

[pony-tail]

I had 11.04 Unity on a Machine for 14 days ( to see if I would get used to using it ) but each day it annoyed me more - That machine now has Kubuntu 11.04 and I am trytng that - so far not that impressed but it seems stable .
I have been using Gnome for over 9 years and remember having to adapt to the changes going into Gnome 2 but it only took a couple of days to not only get used to it but prefer it . Did not happen with Unity . I currently have Gnome 3 (Fedora) running on my test machine ( an old NF4 - Opteron 185 machine ) and it is running ok but after only 1 day I am not fussed - looks nice but some of the functions are less than intuitive but still preferable to Unity -- just . no bloody noses though .

[Artemis3]

I'm split between Ubuntu10.04(GNOME) and Fedora14(Xfce) right now... Whats wrong with Xubuntu?

[screaminj3sus]

Unity was pretty unstable beta 1 and previous, but since beta 2 its been pretty solid for me.

[CharmyBee]

Whats wrong with Xubuntu?

When you use fglrx, the DPI in resolution changes will become inconsistent, and this affects xfce the worst. I wonder if that's fixed yet.

[screaminj3sus]

When you use fglrx, the DPI in resolution changes will become inconsistent, and this affects xfce the worst. I wonder if that's fixed yet.

I didn't notice any font issues when I used xubuntu natty with fglrx