Hmmm

Story: Edgy pushed me over the edgeTotal Replies: 23
Author Content
rijelkentaurus

Nov 13, 2006
11:24 AM EDT
"I had trouble running a cutting edge desktop that they warned me not to use if I wanted a nice and stable distribution."

Geesh. I know there are issues with Edgy, and with the upgrade from Dapper to Edgy, but it would be nice if people would realize that this release, and the next one, are essentially the Fedora Cores of the Ubuntu world. If you want stable, you want Red Hat or you want Dapper, not Fedora or Edgy.

Just a gripe. The upgrade problems don't actually surprise me...didn't edgy have gcc 4.x, where Dapper was still 3.x? In theory that should work fine, I guess, but things like that always make me say "Don't Upgrade!"

I always use the alternate install CD, so I can't speak too much towards problems with the live CD.

I am using Fedora 6, for the record. I change often, and I found a straight install of Xubuntu 6.10 to be flawless. I think people should regard Edgy as a test release and not a stable release, particularly when they have a release that is clearly marked "long term."
tuxchick

Nov 13, 2006
12:43 PM EDT
Don't you think a clean installation should be a solved problem, and not still "bleeding edge"? Why should hardware support and installation be worse? The author did say it was an older laptop, and he tried all the sensible things you should do to figure out if it's the distribution itself, or something else. In my sometimes-humble opinion I think the *buntu organization does not pay nearly enough attention to quality control. As some funny persons said when the Long-Term Support plan was announced, that gives them 18 post-release months to get it right. :)
Libervis

Nov 13, 2006
1:04 PM EDT
I've had the inexplicable slowdowns problem as well after my patchy upgrade from Dapper to Edgy. I see now I wasn't alone with this.

And it wasn't even on such an old computer. It is a desktop PC running Athlon XP 2000+ with 256MB RAM (I know, not much RAM, but dapper works much better still).

To me, edgy seems a bit more unstable than it should be really. Fit this with their inclusion of proprietary software and the fiesty fawn controversy and Ubuntu doesn't sound all that attractive anymore. Sad.

Right now I'm running stable gNewSense (based on solid Dapper), but I'm still eyeing Fedora and other alternatives, although at this point, being spoiled by the past Ubuntu experience, no distro looks much ideal to me. Time for a fork. Hope I'm just kidding. :P
tuxchick

Nov 13, 2006
1:19 PM EDT
You know, Debian Sid is pretty darned nice. I don't run it on servers unless Stable gets too old and moldy, but as a desktop system it's first-rate. The free and non-free repos are separate, so controlling what goes on your system is easy.
dcparris

Nov 13, 2006
1:32 PM EDT
I've already downloaded gNewSense, but I might give Debian another shot. I can put it on a spare box and see what I think.
rijelkentaurus

Nov 13, 2006
2:02 PM EDT
>As some funny persons said when the Long-Term Support plan was announced, that gives them 18 post-release months to get it right.

Except for the one X server goof (a big goof for which Shuttleworth ate some humble pie), Dapper has been stellar. I've used Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Mepis with no issues. I think Dapper is a winner. Edgy is edgy and I really have no sympathy if you put something like that on a production box and have problems. The whole justification behind trying new stuff with Edgy was that there was a three-year stable version to run on the production systems.

>Fit this with their inclusion of proprietary software and the fiesty fawn controversy and Ubuntu doesn't sound all that attractive anymore. Sad.

That doesn't bother me a bit. I liked gNewSense and it really is perfect if those are concerns. I think Ubuntu will back down and offer at least a choice as to whether or not to include proprietary drivers by default. You really should contact the devs and offer up your opinion. It might not do any good, but it sure won't do any harm. I know "advice" like that is often offered up in sarcasm, but I really think if more people voiced their opinions...especially in a calm and collected manner...we'd have less trouble out of organizations of all types.

>You know, Debian Sid is pretty darned nice.

Debian Etch is also nice. I look forward to that. I've tried the betas and have found them pretty solid. I look forward to the final release, and I might change over to that. Fedora is nice and I prefer the "feel" of a Red Hat distro, but I want one that's stable, and Fedora is "edgy" (sorry, had to...). I think now is a perfect time for Red Hat to offer their desktop solution for free again...earn a little respect back from the community and show up Novell a little. I liked SLED and SLES, but Red Hat pretty well rocks my world on the server and on a desktop.
tuxchick

Nov 13, 2006
2:10 PM EDT
heh, I had problems with Dapper to the point that I blew it off all but a single test system. I'm having better luck with Edgy.

I still don't think 'bleeding edge' should be a blanket excuse for 'poo', especially if you can't even get the thing installed.
jimf

Nov 13, 2006
2:27 PM EDT
> Debian Sid is pretty darned nice

Testing and unstable have been great for a long time. I see no reason to go elsewhere.
rijelkentaurus

Nov 13, 2006
2:42 PM EDT
>I still don't think 'bleeding edge' should be a blanket excuse for 'poo', especially if you can't even get the thing installed.

I'm sorry you've had problems. I've had none with fresh installs, not even with Edgy. I don't think any of Ubuntu's stuff is 'poo'. That's just MHO.
tuxchick

Nov 13, 2006
2:44 PM EDT
Ya know, just because you haven't had problems doesn't mean there aren't any!
rijelkentaurus

Nov 13, 2006
3:37 PM EDT
**trudges off, head low**

**whimpers**

sorry....
dcparris

Nov 13, 2006
3:42 PM EDT
Cheer up. Just because your distro isn't as good as my distro, doesn't mean you should slink off. I have the best distro on the planet. It's perfect in every way. Of course, it's still in development, and likely to be for many years. In fact, don't hold your breath. Come to think of it, It's so early in the development, you might even say it's in pre-dev planning. As a matter of fact, I just thought of it 90 seconds ago. :-)

Ain't no perfect distros dudes and dudettes! All of 'em are flawed in some way. Just some are more flawed than others, that's all.
jdixon

Nov 13, 2006
5:40 PM EDT
> I have the best distro on the planet. It's perfect in every way.

I didn't know you used Slackware. :)
tuxchick

Nov 13, 2006
5:53 PM EDT
I don't even use computers. Quill and parchment for this kid. Look, here's my scars from plucking the goose quills.
dcparris

Nov 13, 2006
5:57 PM EDT
Let's see, I did try to get Slackware 1.x up and running years ago. I couldn't even make a proper copy of the root and boot disks. :-( And then I gave slack 10 a shot. I got it up and running without X, which is better than I did with Debian Sarge. I couldn't even get the packages selected properly in Sarge. It was like I was in a vicious circle in, what is it, packman? Anyway, I'll venture forth again.
jimf

Nov 13, 2006
6:12 PM EDT
> I'll venture forth again

The Landscape has changed radically.

Debian got a lot more civilized. No problem at all for anyone with a little Linux experience. Slack and Arch (which also uses packman) are still a bit sparse for me. Both give you absolute control, but, I just don't like to do that much manual configuration. I have been looking at the latest Gentoo though. Looks like they even have a live CD with 686 binaries to start you off.
jdixon

Nov 13, 2006
6:14 PM EDT
> And then I gave slack 10 a shot. I got it up and running without X, which is better than I did with Debian Sarge.

If you can deal with a text installer and know how to partition your hard drive, the Slackware install is drop dead easy. Just select all the package sets and tell it you want to install everything. It's only about 3 GB total, and the default vesa framebuffer X driver should work with just about any video card. Most ethernet cards should be detected, you'll have to create a user, you may have to configure sound (at least to unmute it), and will definitely have to reconfigure X for any 3D hardware. That's about it. Of course, the old mp3/codecs/flash problem exists, as it does for most distros. Slackware does have mp3 players, java, and the various Free pdf viewers preinstalled.

If you have a fast Internet link, the latest testing netinstall CD is also drop dead easy, but it doesn't give you as complete a system as Slackware. Most people seem to find it a lot easier to add software to Debian than Slackware though (I'm not most people, I've never had any luck with Debian), so if you want to customize the system, Debian is probably a better bet.
dinotrac

Nov 13, 2006
7:52 PM EDT
Hey guys, I was just wondering....

My one remaining Debian box....

Are the current releases good enough to warrant upgrading an old soldier?

I mean -- it's already been through one major upgrade that required pulling a few teeth, especially WRT KDE, but it's solid now, just a littly moldy.

Still... I get the feeling that my old Hamm box could be improved upon.
tuxchick

Nov 13, 2006
8:38 PM EDT
Hamm??

No wonder everyone starts sneezing when you enter the room- the dust is foot deep.
dinotrac

Nov 14, 2006
12:10 AM EDT
>No wonder everyone starts sneezing when you enter the room- the dust is foot deep.

Foot deep? I'll have you know that hamm came with apt-get and libc6. Dust. Hmmmph.

If it had come out a year or two earlier, I might never have had to wrestle with dselect.
jimf

Nov 14, 2006
12:38 AM EDT
> Dust. Hmmmph.

Ok, ok... So technically it's mold spoors :D

And to think, we've been snickering about people still running potato...
dinotrac

Nov 14, 2006
12:41 AM EDT
jimf -

There's a difference, you know.

Which reminds me....

Know where I can pick up some anti-mold software?
jimf

Nov 14, 2006
12:51 AM EDT
> Know where I can pick up some anti-mold software?

It's scheduled to come out 12/4, though most people I know have already upgraded to etch. In your case I think that a fresh install might be in order, although, it sure would be 'intresting' to see what would happen with an upgrade :D
jdixon

Nov 14, 2006
2:55 AM EDT
> it sure would be 'intresting' to see what would happen with an upgrade :D

I think I'd create a parted image as backup and try the upgrade, just to see what happened.

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