10 problems in Ubuntu

[Tomatz]

I was strangely gratified to read point one about screen resolution. I updated 8.04 and now I have 640x480 resolution. Being a clueless user, I wish it didn't happen.

For those that can help

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=843723

Have posted a possible fix

[Canis familiaris]

Few points are of extreme importance. But few points are wrong.
(1) Problems in video/graphics is a major gripe and it takes lots of time and effort in setting that right. Personally I feel Ubuntu should not default to any resolution below 1024x768 unless it is configured that way explicitely by the user.
(2) Yes there must be an menu option to get back GRUB in the boot menu of the live CD itself. (Why cant they incorporate features of SuperGRUB disk in the CD)
(3) Mounting of hard disks is pretty simple. I dunno what the author is talking about. But there should be a tool where one can configure Disk Mounting. There was a tool called Disks in Dapper. Why was that removed?
Personally I want that back.
(4) I havent experienced stopping of Ubuntu installation like that. But then I always unplug the cable while the installation process.
(5) Sound works pretty well. I havent placed that problem in any PCs in use. Only minority of users face the problem. Personally I hav eless sound issues in Ubuntu rather than Windows.
(6) Lets face it. Whoever has knowledge of what IPv6 is would google and get the solution. Who has no knowledge of IPv6 would still be screwed up even in presence of GUI.
(7) It is a fact Power Management in Linux lags far behind than Windows. Suspend and Hibernate work sometimes, sometimes they dont. But even if it works, it is mightily slow. Especially Hibernate is very slow.
(8) E-Mail migration is not needed by most users.
(9) Documentation is very readily available in the net. But is scattered IMO. It would be great if Canonical puts a more in depth help system accessible offline and also having ability to access online documentation, similar to Help and Support in XP. Since these would be mostly web pages, with few images, they would not take too much space either.
(10) I do not agree newbies would ever install programs by compiling by source. And those who wish to do so would not be afraid of the terminal.

[quinnten83]

Few points are of extreme importance. But few points are wrong.
(1) Problems in video/graphics is a major gripe and it takes lots of time and effort in setting that right. Personally I feel Ubuntu should not default to any resolution below 1024x768 unless it is configured that way explicitely by the user.
(2) Yes there must be an menu option to get back GRUB in the boot menu of the live CD itself. (Why cant they incorporate features of SuperGRUB disk in the CD)
(3) Mounting of hard disks is pretty simple. I dunno what the author is talking about. But there should be a tool where one can configure Disk Mounting. There was a tool called Disks in Dapper. Why was that removed?
Personally I want that back.
(4) I havent experienced stopping of Ubuntu installation like that. But then I always unplug the cable while the installation process.
(5) Sound works pretty well. I havent placed that problem in any PCs in use. Only minority of users face the problem. Personally I hav eless sound issues in Ubuntu rather than Windows.
(6) Lets face it. Whoever has knowledge of what IPv6 is would google and get the solution. Who has no knowledge of IPv6 would still be screwed up even in presence of GUI.
(7) It is a fact Power Management in Linux lags far behind than Windows. Suspend and Hibernate work sometimes, sometimes they dont. But even if it works, it is mightily slow. Especially Hibernate is very slow.
(8) E-Mail migration is not needed by most users.
(9) Documentation is very readily available in the net. But is scattered IMO. It would be great if Canonical puts a more in depth help system accessible offline and also having ability to access online documentation, similar to Help and Support in XP. Since these would be mostly web pages, with few images, they would not take too much space either.
(10) I do not agree newbies would ever install programs by compiling by source. And those who wish to do so would not be afraid of the terminal.

Well, most of the 10 points I agree with. Not necessarily only for the newbie, but from an inovation and evolution point of view.
- we use GRUB, but if there is something newer and better, than why not use that?

- The stopping of the installation, i've never experienced either, but some people have that. More to the point this is an example of an error creeping up and the system not giving you any feedback. I hate that, at least windows gives you an error report or a BSOD. Sometimes in Linux/Ubuntu software crashes and the windows just closes, no mention of anything. Error handling should be perfected.

- Sound: lately, my Rhythmbox temporarily loses sound whenever I click a link in firefox. I don't remember having this problem in the previous version. Also if you have two soundcards (onboard and a PCI one), it's still difficult to make Ubuntu stick to the soundcard of your choosing. It will keep defaulting to the onboard.

I think the author is mostly saying that Ubuntu tends to implement stuff without improving or fixing them and that makes things newbie-hostile. Now, i don't completely agree with that, but I think we could work more on the fixing and improvement.
Also, and this has been a complaint of a fedora developer I know, Ubuntu does not contribute enough to the development of the linux Tools, such as gnome and the kernel. I don't know how much of this is true, but I think that if we did, we would be contributing to make Linux as a whole much more user friendly.

[frodon]

- Sound: lately, my Rhythmbox temporarily loses sound whenever I click a link in firefox

This is a pulseaudio issue, should be fixed soon as pulseaudio is rather young. Nothing ubuntu can do on this.
This is what i mean when i say that this article mix too much different things. Pulseaudio issues are related to pulseaudio not ubuntu. The choice of implementing pulseaudio is ubuntu related however.

I don't remember having this problem in the previous version. Also if you have two soundcards (onboard and a PCI one), it's still difficult to make Ubuntu stick to the soundcard of your choosing. It will keep defaulting to the onboard.

If you're interested i saw the solution of this issue somewhere in the forum.

Also i don't know what's the point with GRUB, please explain me why and what you want to edit in GRUB, because for a newbie i don't see any need of configuring tweaking GRUB.

[lukjad]

I just read this article on Linux.com, and I must say that I agree.
I think Ubuntu should start being more of an innovator.
What do you think?

Link: http://www.linux.com/feature/139214

These are valid points. I can't say that today I am unduly affected by any of them but I will say this. Ubuntu 8.04 is the least polished version of Ubuntu I have seen. (I started with Dapper Drake 6.06 on a PII.) I can't say I don't like it, it certainly has its good points, but if I had know then what I know now I would have done a dual boot of Feisty Fawn and Hardy Heron. I would have used Hardy for the newer cutting edge stuff and Feisty for the movies, surfing and chatting. Hardy is in no way as bad as Vista but (IMHO) it suffers from the same basic conceptual flaws in that it is not completed when it was released (some dependencies for a few packages were missing from the repos) and we were lead more by enthusiasm into this release then by merits. It may have a much of cool new features but those are worth diddly-squat if you have trouble browsing the web and watching movie clips and viewing DVDs. (And yes, I do have all the codex installed.) I like Hardy and will not downgrade. I am not a fearmonger and do not want to scare people away from Ubuntu. Perhaps it's just my old PC cannot handle the demands for 8.04 like it could for older versions.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth.

[Canis familiaris]

...if you have trouble browsing the web and watching movie clips and viewing DVDs. (And yes, I do have all the codex installed.)

Anyway, that's my two cents worth.

Did you install the ubuntu-restricted-extras?

[quinnten83]

This is a pulseaudio issue, should be fixed soon as pulseaudio is rather young. Nothing ubuntu can do on this.
This is what i mean when i say that this article mix too much different things. Pulseaudio issues are related to pulseaudio not ubuntu. The choice of implementing pulseaudio is ubuntu related however.

If you're interested i saw the solution of this issue somewhere in the forum.

Also i don't know what's the point with GRUB, please explain me why and what you want to edit in GRUB, because for a newbie i don't see any need of configuring tweaking GRUB.

Thanx, i allready managed to blacklist the onboard soundcard. I just sometimes have issues with my microphone now.

about the grub issue, let's say you dualboot, It would be nice if you can easily configure grub to start windows up automatically or change the defautl login time, or some such. Yes there is a graphical editor somewhere, but you need to install it.

They don't need to remove grub as far as I am concerned, cause I've learned to live with configuring the config file. But if there is something newer and better, than can also easily implemented, than why not use that?

[Tomatz]

about the grub issue, let's say you dualboot, It would be nice if you can easily configure grub to start windows up automatically or change the defautl login time, or some such. Yes there is a graphical editor somewhere, but you need to install it.

You can do that by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst or there is a gui app to configure grub called SUM.

More info here:

http://ubuntusoftware.info/sum.html

[K.Mandla]

I just read this article on Linux.com, and I must say that I agree.
I think Ubuntu should start being more of an innovator.
What do you think?

I think it's a load of rubbish. Cherrypicking "Canonical's forums" and plucking ten problems that Ubuntu needs to fix is ridiculous.

I may as well skim through The Times and accuse Britain of ten social problems -- then demand they fix things, because it's keeping people from immigrating to the UK.

It's amazing what passes for "journalism" sometimes. I expected better from linux.com, but I guess I was deluding myself.

[dburnett77]

GRUB is difficult due to it's being able to handle USB, external, IDE and also SATA. And, with tweaking SCSI.

And, mishandling can lead to physical damage to the drive. Which is why you have to pay attention and know what you're doing.

An easy work around, for this instance, is to use a graphical GRUB manager.

search for 'grub gui'. There are several.

As far as the others, thank the industry shift to larger system bus bandwidth. And the need for newer equipment to handle it. No longer are the days where any component's data speed is MHz, but now GHz. Which is, of course, and order of magnitude.

It should level off around the end of this year. But, with R&D the way it is, "It's gonna be a bumpy ride..."

Similar to when HD's went from MFM and RLL encoding to data-packet. Which was phenomenal, BTW.