Ubuntu 20.04 got a lot of things right!

[monkeybrain20122]

I wouldn't know how to tell the difference in Software Center. I've never used it.

There are some core things in 20.04 that only come as snaps.

Not sure what you mean by core things. I removed all snaps by purging snapd (it will remove all snap packages), nothing bad happened. I am running unity but I logged into gnome shell just to see if anything was broken and everything seemed fine. I also disabled tracker (which is a gnome shell thing I think) and nothing bad happened but now cpu is not running at 100% all the time and slowing things down.

Personally I prefer flatpak for things where I can't find in the standard repo because of local access control (and it doesn't mount a bunch of volumes)

[TheFu]

Just so I'm clear - of the 10,000 things that I use different Ubuntu system to accomplish, there are probably less than 100 issues that make me sad. Sure, I complain about bloated GUIs, systemd, pulse-audio, snaps, network configurations, name resolution, and solutions forced onto us for problems we never had. Wish Canonical didn't have Ubuntu Core (embedded OS) locked down so much. I'll never, ever, deploy using it because it requires registration and Canonical demands to be in the middle. This turns me off about the snap store too. Canonical should have made a F/LOSS reference implementation first, then created theirs with all the extra tracking and security mandates. Deploying to an internal snap store would be a good thing inside many enterprises, but they won't touch Canonical's setup and uncontrolled updates.

There are some really great things too. LXD is pretty great - would be better without mandating snap packaging. ZFS - oh boy! Can't wait for that to be solid for any use. virsh/virt-manager + KVM are totally awesome. All those little updates for thousands of packages with each release that don't get screwed - that is freakin' amazing. I'm not big on using raspberry pi HW for general purpose stuff, but lots of other people get introduced to Ubuntu in that way.

For me, Ubuntu almost always gets the right mix of new, but stable. Long enough support, but not so long that change is deadly. 5 yrs between OS migrations is almost too long for a system that needs to be maintained the next 30 yrs. Somewhere after 5 yrs, a system that "just works" becomes a "never, ever, touch" system by management. There are still RHEL v5 systems running that way. All are a danger to the network they are on. Getting 4+ yrs from an OS line an excellent compromise.

Now, if canonical will only make LXD in a non-snap package. That would really be nice. And don't force ZFS to be used so hard in LXD. Better LVM support would be appreciated.

[exploder]

The only problem I have had in my daily use was with the repo version of VLC, that wasn't a big deal to fix for my use case. I did find a small bug with the dash and mounted volumes under wayland, it also was very easy to work around. Both my desktop and laptop were running Windows 10. I am using public WiFi since the pandemic cost me my job and my divorce... It took hours on end to update Windows, if the updates ever actually installed and there was massive breakage with the May update. I had tried KDE Neon and Kubuntu originally but Ubuntu had more support when I had hardware issues with the new laptop.

For whatever reason I get a better WiFi signal under Ubuntu. I know I could have just installed the mainline kernel in Kubuntu but then I stated considering that Ubuntu has 5 years of support, massive amount of support documents all over the web and why not give it a try? I had no idea the new theme was so good or that it could look so modern with just a small amount of personalizing. I do pretty basic things with my computers right now and Ubuntu does them all well. I really want to stay with something, it's challenging downloading iso's over pubic WiFi, torrents are great!

I still have Kubuntu on my son's desktop, it has been problem free on his hardware. Kubuntu uses less resources and he has a dedicated graphics card. I have Intel graphics on both my machines and wayland seems to make my hardware work a little better. KDE appears to utilize the graphics card more, Ubuntu seems to utilize memory more. All our computers have 8 GB of RAM so memory use is not an issue. All have SSD's so performance is excellent. Ubuntu scaled well on the 15.6" screen of the new laptop, better than anything else I tried.

I rediscovered gnome extensions and I actually like how I can custom tailor the system with them. The disconnect WiFi extension helps using public WiFi when it drops my connection, impatience perks the animations up and let's face it, extensions are pretty cool! The default Gnome Shell menu works great on the smaller laptop screen and it's way better that the one in Windows 10 for sure! Use Chrome OS and Windows 10 for a year and you will certainly appreciate Ubuntu 20.04 a heck of a lot more!

It was a bold move in my opinion to include snaps in an LTS the way Canonical did but the greater the risk the greater the reward. Snaps, flat packs and app-images all have their advantages and disadvantages. Canonical was quick to jump on the technology and they appear to be improving on it at a good rate. I personally would like to see them succeed with their interpretation of these types of packages. Canonical at least tries new things, good or bad at least they give it their best shot. Canonical is noticed for the right these these days.

[TheFu]

It was a bold move in my opinion to include snaps in an LTS the way Canonical did but the greater the risk the greater the reward. Snaps, flat packs and app-images all have their advantages and disadvantages. Canonical was quick to jump on the technology and they appear to be improving on it at a good rate. I personally would like to see them succeed with their interpretation of these types of packages. Canonical at least tries new things, good or bad at least they give it their best shot. Canonical is noticed for the right these these days.

There's a fine line between bold and foolish. Which side is often up for debate.

Fedora tries lots of new things too. That's the point of that release. But they leave a way out of the new stuff. Wayland on Ubuntu has a way out too.

[maglin2]

KDE appears to utilize the graphics card more, Ubuntu seems to utilize memory more.

I'd thought Ubuntu was a lot heavier on memory than kubuntu - one of the reasons I switched to kubuntu on my old laptop (4 Gig RAM).

I now wonder if this may be in part a function of the way their respective GUI tools measure memory.

Running an ubuntu wayland session with ksysguard also installed and no other apps open these are the simultaneous outputs from gnome system monitor, ksysguard and top (in terminal):

GSM 1.0 Gig

KSYS 0.58 Gig

TOP 0.67 Gig

On kubuntu ksysguard typically shows about 0.44 Gig with no apps open (increasing slowly with session length to about 0.55 Gig).

I don't claim any rigour for this, but it does seem to suggest that if you are comparing kubuntu RAM use on ksysguard with Ubuntu RAM use on gnome system monitor you aren't really comparing like with like.

[exploder]

@ Maglin2

You brought up an interesting point. The comparison you make supports it. As I recall, system information also varies in it's display of memory use too in KDE. I am going to have to look at my son's Kubuntu desktop and compare now. Thank you for your input!

[mastablasta]

they should have made snaps more like portable apps, where you would update the apps either through their portable app manager or individual apps would offer the update option. that way you can always turn off updates if needed or leave them on and have the apps updated.

they should not push snapd so much. if solution is good, people will pull anyway.

[lammert-nijhof]

You did forget to mention, that Ubuntu can be installed on ZFS. I now use it on all my PCs, simply because it protects my files against the frequent power fails in my country of residence. Backing-up the system and snapshots are that fast and elegant! I delete zsys after install, because that specific Ubuntu add-on is useless and causes more issues than it solves.

I appreciate Gnome and I use it for my Virtualbox Host OS, because of the great way they deal with workspaces. Gnome is the flavour, that takes the longest time to boot from a Silicon Power nvme-SSD (3200/2300 MB/s) in a Ryzen 3 2200G. My Ubuntu 20.04 VM boots in ~13 seconds, while my Xubuntu 20.04 VM boots in ~7 seconds. Most flavours boot in ~10 seconds Boot times of Gnome still could use some improvement, being twice the boot time of Xubuntu or Ubuntu Cinnamon.

[aaronrv2008]

Even through Ubuntu 20.04 is very stable and works great, I still prefer Kubuntu as it's very stable.

[exploder]

Even through Ubuntu 20.04 is very stable and works great, I still prefer Kubuntu as it's very stable.

I started out this release with Kubuntu 20.04, still have it on my son's computer. To be perfectly honest, I started looking at Ubuntu 20.04 after seeing the new theme. I had always thought Gnome Shell looked old and dated but it looks great in Ubuntu now! I briefly tried Ubuntu Budgie on my new laptop but it did not scale well at all on it's 15.6" display. Ubuntu for me at least had everything I was looking for! TheFu is right, it is a little bloated but what isn't these days? Gnome Shell has gotten pretty nice over time, it's simple yet very functional. The new theme is the best out of the box I have ever seen. I don't like spending hours customizing and I like the few customization's Ubuntu provides.

I know that you can make any Linux distro look any way you want but the community did an outstanding job. I know it took awhile but the hard work in my opinion has really paid off! I used to ask my stepdad why he never used KDE, he said it looked too much like Windows. I ran Windows 10 for about a year and I have to admit I saw his point of view more after that. Some of my friends share this point of view too, it surprised me! In my opinion, if it looks like Windows, people expect it to work like Windows and it doesn't. People instantly know Ubuntu is not like Windows and they just except that they are learning something new. This is just my opinion, feel free to disagree if you like.

I always give new user's a choice between Linux Mint and Ubuntu, they always choose Ubuntu! Canonical I think without even trying got the right combination this time around, the right look and feel, ease of use and ease of maintenance. Ubuntu is criticized some over snaps but it does address the issue of people wanting newer versions of software. It's not a perfect solution just yet but it is a step in the right direction. I guess I see the glass as half full instead of half empty with this release!