Re: [tlug] Ubuntu Trusty (14.04) issues

[Travis Cardwell <travis.cardwell@example.com>]

On 2014年05月07日 09:23, Jim Breen wrote:
> I've been using Ubuntu 10.04 since mid-2010, and I've never felt the
> slightest need to move. It's been rock-solid, does everything I want, the
> IME ran out-of-the-box, etc. Certainly the best distro I've used in my 20+
> years of Linux userdom. (Part of the reason for not moving is the fact
> that my Compaq CQ61 hasn't skipped a beat either. In the past it was
> the approaching end-of-life of the notebook that drove the distro change.[*])

I started using Ubuntu in early-2007 for the same reason: everything just
worked out-of-the-box, including Japanese and WiFi.  I had just gone
through a particularly frustrating week of unsuccessfully trying to
compile a Japanese-compatible version of OpenOffice.org on Gentoo [1].  I
needed OpenOffice.org for a particular task with a deadline, so I tried
Ubuntu.  Despite the fact that I loved Gentoo and learned a lot from it, I
ended up completely switching to (K)Ubuntu because I wanted to spend more
time doing my work (programming) instead of systems administration.  More
accurately, I wanted my desktop system to be stable and hassle-free, as I
could always experiment with unstable software in virtual machines.

I used Ubuntu happily until the upgrade to KDE 4, which killed KDE as far
as I am concerned.  I tried Gnome again but still hated it, primarily
because of the lack of configurability.  I ended up using XFCE for a
while, until an upgrade caused XFCE to become incompatible with my
hardware [2].  With a very busy work schedule, I gave up and used Gnome,
hacking it to look and behave little like stock Gnome.  I put up with
Gnome until mid-2010; with the release of Unity, I decided to stop using
Ubuntu.

My opinion is that Ubuntu can work really well (out-of-the-box!) if you
use it in the way that it is designed, with Unity.  Things do not work
near as well in other cases.  My advice to Linux users who use Ubuntu: If
you do not fully agree with the Ubuntu direction (a consistent yet
resource-heavy UI for working with phones, tablets, TV, and desktops), try
Debian!  I have had much less hassle running a stable desktop on Debian
than I had with Ubuntu.  Also, one very significant benefit to running
Linux is choice, as even open-source software can effectively die (*cough*
KDE *cough*).  With Ubuntu's narrow target audience, one is SOL when it
stops working well.  Debian, on the other hand, provides stable packages
for a very wide range of options, making it a much safer distribution to
use, IMHO.

By the way, I have used Ubuntu Server quite a bit as well.  At one point,
I preferred it over Debian because sudo is installed by default, with no
need to ever set a root password.  (I later learned that the same can be
done in Debian in the "expert install.")  I have since started to avoid
Ubuntu Server as well, however.  I use virtual machines extensively and do
many tests in them.  During installation, I have never had an issue
installing any other distro, but Ubuntu Server freezes on me all the time,
at random points in the installation.  Sometimes I have to try four or
five times in order to install it successfully.  Once installed, it runs
fine.  There is likely an incompatibility between the installation kernel
and VirtualBox.  Searching for "ubuntu server virtualbox freeze" turns up
many results, most of them unrelated, and no solutions.  It seems like
consistent hardware such as that exposed by VirtualBox be very well
supported...

I have not had a need to install Ubuntu Server for a few months, so
perhaps the problem is fixed...  The 14.04 release includes OpenStack
support, which I am looking forward to trying out, so I will likely try
again soon.

As I mentioned before my Debian presentation last year [3], I do not hate
Ubuntu.  I wish them well.  I want to use the best tool for the job,
however, and I am very productive on a desktop (using a keyboard and
lightweight WM!).  Ubuntu has already been incompatible with my usage, and
their direction indicates that such incompatibilities will likely grow.

Travis

[1] With a compile time of over 24 hours on my slow hardware, I could try
a maximum of one permutation of USE flags per day, kicking off a new build
before heading to work.  Compiling OpenOffice.org was so frustrating at
the time, that many people just installed binaries, which is very rare for
Gentoo users!  Unfortunately, those binaries did not work with my Japanese
setup, necessitating that I emerge it myself.

[2] Whole parts of my screen would go black or invert.  I tried to solve
it but did not have time to seriously dig into the issue.  Besides, the
main reason I used Ubuntu was to avoid such issues!

[3] http://tlug.jp/wiki/Meetings:2013:06