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| What are your first impressions of 10.04? |
| I love it! |
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7% |
[ 1 ] |
| It's an improvement over 9.xx |
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21% |
[ 3 ] |
| It's the same as before |
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7% |
[ 1 ] |
| It's somewhat unstable for me |
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7% |
[ 1 ] |
| This is not useable yet |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| I'm holding off until the final release |
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21% |
[ 3 ] |
| I'm following developments but won't install |
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21% |
[ 3 ] |
| Never tried an Ubuntu and still won't |
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14% |
[ 2 ] |
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| Total Votes : 14 |
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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2024
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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 Posted: Thu May 06, 2024 2:55 am Post subject: |
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| tlmiller wrote: | | Yeah, I use Debian Testing as my every day system, but #2 most popular is Kubuntu. Arch I like a lot, but I've had many times that when major upgrades take place, it requires a LOT of manual removal of things in order to get it to upgrade, then you have to reconfigure, which makes it less popular IMO than Debian or Kubuntu that will simply upgrade and continue on, even if they're not as purely fast as Arch. |
Back when I first got the D600 from you, Tim, you may recall that you pre-installed XP and Arch on that box, and I was using Arch regularly on it. Out of the blue, KDE would seem to hang up, even though it would run really fast. It seemed to be some issue with maintaining focus within a desktop workspace. I could get around it by using Ctrl Alt F1 to go to a terminal, then come right back to the GUI, but how annoying is that?
I installed sidux over Arch and had no such problems until overheating trashed my disk. I bought a new fan and a new disk and gave it to my son with just sidux and SimplyMEPIS on the new system. He seems to prefer SimplyMEPIS, but he uses both of them - no XP at all.
I suspect that Arch makes a better home when you use only the stable stuff, when you check around before upgrading and you run it mostly in server mode, but I am sure that familiarity with it is just like my familiarity with Debian. But I think we view it the same way - yeah, we could overcome the issues, but to me that takes more time than I want to spend fooling around with it. I can get a pretty cutting edge system with Sid and with smxi to help me manage it, I never experience problems. Three years of success with zero problems, and perhaps two or three problems over TEN YEARS (before I had smxi to do my package research for me) are convincing enough numbers to stick with Debian.
I have Squeeze, but I'm sticking with sidux - have two of them and neither of them has failed since they've been installed - going on two years, actually in the third year with one of them now. |
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jester
Sr. Member
Joined: 19 Apr 2024
Posts: 1166
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| Posted: Sat May 08, 2024 6:30 am Post subject: |
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Jumping back a couple of pages in this thread mmmna mentioned issues with his Broadcom bc43xx wireless card:
| mmmna - albeit slightly out of context, apologies for that wrote: | | For me, the process of setting up my Broadcom based wifi card in my desktop system has often defied description by rollers. |
Maybe a fix for others similarly 'afflicted':
I'm quite impressed with the stuff that OMGUbuntu comes up with for the Ubuntu community
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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2024
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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| Posted: Sat May 08, 2024 10:52 pm Post subject: |
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I am running Kubuntu 10.04 LTS on the Gateway PA6A tonight. I just got rid of a couple of the old kernels by using apt-get to remove them - one of which was an old and bad beta test kernel. Now this system is working really well without the irritant of stumbling on one of those older kernels. Oh how I miss smxi; I can manage stuff like that in seconds! 
Good system overall here, though, no complaints! |
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mmmna
. . . .
Joined: 21 Apr 2024
Posts: 7224
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| Posted: Sun May 09, 2024 4:29 am Post subject: |
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| jester wrote: | Jumping back a couple of pages in this thread mmmna mentioned issues with his Broadcom bc43xx wireless card:
| mmmna - albeit slightly out of context, apologies for that wrote: | | For me, the process of setting up my Broadcom based wifi card in my desktop system has often defied description by rollers. |
Maybe a fix for others similarly 'afflicted':
I'm quite impressed with the stuff that OMGUbuntu comes up with for the Ubuntu community |
That is essentially the fix I've had to use recently with Ubuntu - download a bunch of Broadcom drivers, expand drivers to a specific folder, tell the Ubuntu setup tool to look again, and poof, WiFi starts working. Before I discovered that method, it was rough, very rough, getting the Broadcom working.
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jester
Sr. Member
Joined: 19 Apr 2024
Posts: 1166
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| Posted: Sun May 09, 2024 7:31 am Post subject: |
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@mmmna: I feel your pain - reminds me of trying to get a winmodem working in RH5.1 or trying to compile drivers to get a VIA ethernet card working in Solaris2.4 x86 - without a Windows install you had no access to the net to download tarballs, real catch-22 stuff.
I'm just wondering if the drivers aren't already included in Ubuntu Software Center (still requires a hardwired connection of course)
| Ubuntu Software Center wrote: | bcmwl-kernel-source
These package contains Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver for use with Broadcom's BCM4311-, BCM4312-, BCM4321-, and BCM4322-based hardware. |
I was reading around a bit on this topic and came across this somewhat ageing article over on ComputerWorld:
| Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols wrote: | Now Dell, with some help from Broadcom and Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has just released a Linux friendly Broadcom Wi-Fi driver for both 32 and 64-bit Linuxes. According to John Hull, Dell's Manager of Linux OS Engineering, "updated Linux wireless drivers that support cards based on the Broadcom 4311, 4312, 4321, and 4322 chipsets" are now available.
For Dell users, this means that they now have Wi-Fi support for the Dell 1490, 1395, 1397, 1505, and 1510 Wireless cards. Specifically, Hull wrote that, "We're currently offering the Dell 1397 card with the Studio 15 system with Ubuntu 8.04 and the 1395 card is supported on our new Inspiron Mini 9." But, this isn't a Dell or Ubuntu only deal. The drivers should work with any Broadcom card using one of the supported chipsets on any modern Linux. |
Then jumping via links in the article to Dell you find a blog posting by John Hull:
| John Hull wrote: | | Linux driver support is now available to Dell-branded wireless cards. We started working closely with Broadcom early this year on providing this support, as our customers have been asking for a Linux driver for our cards for a while now. As a result of this effort, Broadcom released an updated Linux wireless driver that supports cards based on the Broadcom 4311, 4312, 4321, and 4322 chipsets, which include the Dell 1490, 1395, 1397, 1505, and 1510 Wireless cards. This driver is included in the Ubuntu 8.10 release, and should be added to Ubuntu 8.04. It is currently only partially open-source, similar to ATI or NVIDIA video drivers, so keep this in mind when deciding if you want to use it. |
And so from there to Broadcom's Linux driver download page where things are more up-to-date:
The README also lists which devices are supported and also how to troubleshoot installation.
So 2 thoughts occurred to me:
1) Is the fix posted by OMG!Ubuntu (linked above) really necessary? If Broadcom's code is kernel/distro agnostic then surely it shouldn't matter that they only reference Ubuntu 9.04/9.10 in the README - or is their code broken? Or are there chipsets not covered by their drivers?
2) Do we have anyone with a Broadcom chipset willing to test out the Broadcom drivers as officially shipped by the distro (preferably Ubuntu-10.04)?
It would be nice if USALUG had a tried and tested solution (a good HOWTO) to what is clearly a very common problem.
_________________
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Testing: Fedora12_x86-64 :: Ubuntu-10.04-LTS_x86-64
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jester
Sr. Member
Joined: 19 Apr 2024
Posts: 1166
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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2024
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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| Posted: Sun May 09, 2024 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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Glad that you guys are getting the Broadcom wireless issues squared away. I've had two Intel Pro Wireless cards - the IPW2200 on the older Dell Latitude D600 and the IPW3945 on the newer Lenovo 3000 series Y410 laptop that I happen to be using right now. Since I am now in a small apartment and also since a few cheap wireless routers have given up the ghost (though I have one now) I have not been doing much in the way of wireless from home because the wires are so close, but I do have the Broadcom 4311 wireless card working on every system I have installed, and the b43-fwcutter tool (downloadable and available in most distributions) effectively helps me get the 4311 working.
I did have an issue with the 2024 release of PCLinuxOS and this driver, but Texstar did later see to it that it got fixed; I just wired up and looked for b43 packages, found one, and fixed the firmware and no problems since. Ubuntu has always asked me if I wanted to download it and I have said yes. Of course, if you have no wired connection that makes it tougher! |
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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2024
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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| Posted: Tue May 11, 2024 5:39 pm Post subject: Lucid dream: Ars reviews Ubuntu 10.04 |
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The most thorough software release review I have seen in a long time, Ryan Paul reviews Ubuntu 10.04, explains a lot about the background and work that went into the release, where it came from, where it is heading, the benefits and tradeoffs of the new user interface, and some challenges that still need to be overcome. Whether you agree with Ryan's viewpoints or not, I think you will agree that this is a very well written review and it is worth the time to read it. You can find it at Ars Technica:
Here |
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julian516
Jr. Member
Joined: 16 Jul 2024
Posts: 90
Location: Columbia, KY
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| Posted: Tue May 11, 2024 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the tip, Mas.
The Ars Technica review is quite good. I have 10.4 running and I am still trying to decide what I make of it. For better or worse Shuttleworth has a clear and ambitious vision of what he wants to achieve and he is driving Ubuntu to get there. It is becoming an increasingly polished social tool of the sort my family enjoys. And I might add they have absolutely no patience with anything that requires more than 2 or 3 mouse-clicks or finger taps.
So what do I think? I think Ubuntu needs Gnome 3 in the worst way and the LTS would have been much the better for it. Too bad the timelines just did not work out. Putting the Minimize/Maximize/Close button in the upper left corner? Sorry, I just do not get excited but I also do not see the point to the change. So I took five minutes and put them back on their customary upper right corner.
Software Center? Doubtless a very good thing for the targeted audience. It is convenient. Apt-get is just not hard, but OK.
Ubuntu One?? Sorry, I am not ready yet to trust my large photography collection to anybody's cloud and I do not care who runs it. Not going there.
Music Center? OK, OK, I need to be 18 again. More to the point why should I wipe out 25 years of progress in high fidelity sound for inferior digital recordings? I know, I am a minority of one. So be it.
Gwibber-Jibber-Jabber. Good if you jibber-jabber.
The missing GIMP? Not a problem. I just wish Digikam did not require as many dependencies when it is installed in a Gnome environment. Of course, Ubuntu could shift to KDE. (Hmmm, that's called Kubuntu? I think Ubuntu's Benevolent Dictator has no active interest in it.)
Finally let me just say that the entire multi-media codec situation for Ubuntu and Linux generally remains a silly mess. Don't think so? Well, go here and read on. This is one major reason why Linux will not be more than That Other System.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.html?t=766683
So what's good in 10.4? A lot, despite my cranky sputtering. This is a polished, very smooth release that is going to please a lot of people and it will make more than a few friends for Linux.
Me? If I am compelled to load only one -- really, just one -- Linux then right now I think it is going to be Mepis 8.5. Mepis will not break and it has a better desktop environment. It also has access to those humongous Debian repositories. But ask me again in a few months.
Fortunately I am not compelled to choose so I will not. That means Mandriva, sidux and antiX will not be far way.
But then again maybe one of these days I will get all growed up and run Debian Testing.
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Ubuntu 9.10
Mandriva 2024 KDE
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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2024
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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| Posted: Tue May 11, 2024 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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| SimplyMEPIS as a single choice if only one were available would be my choice as well. Same with the four or five choices. My top five are SimplyMEPIS, sidux, antiX, PCLinuxOS, Mandriva, then Kubuntu. After that I'd probably list Puppy, SLITAZ, and CDLinux,maybe a few other light live implementations. |
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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2024
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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| Posted: Sun May 16, 2024 2:26 am Post subject: Looking pretty solid at this stage |
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| masinick wrote: | I am running Kubuntu 10.04 LTS on the Gateway PA6A tonight. I just got rid of a couple of the old kernels by using apt-get to remove them - one of which was an old and bad beta test kernel. Now this system is working really well without the irritant of stumbling on one of those older kernels. Oh how I miss smxi; I can manage stuff like that in seconds!
Good system overall here, though, no complaints! |
I am tweaking at Kubuntu 10.04 LTS tonight once again. It is running fine on the Gateway PA6A. There were 35 packages updated since the last time I updated it - some time near release. I am using Seamonkey 2.0.4; I find it more stable and less memory consuming than Firefox 3.6.3 right now. I always add it, either with repo copies (Kubuntu actually has 2.0.4) or I grab them from the Mozilla Seamonkey project site. |
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jester
Sr. Member
Joined: 19 Apr 2024
Posts: 1166
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| Posted: Sun May 16, 2024 9:36 am Post subject: |
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I've added a few things to my set-up such as gloobus-preview and gloobus-cover
| Gloobus.net wrote: | The Preview mode is without a doubt, Gloobus star. It allows instant access to a variety of file types without the need of opening their default application. It allows you to take a quick look at the content of a file on the fly, saving you valuable time and CPU resources.
CoverGloobus allows you to see at a glance your currently playing song, with album artwork and ratings.
With the correct theme you can even Pause or switch to Previous or Next song in the playlist. |
Also trying nautilus-elementary
Additionally, I've gone for chromium-dev (google chrome) which has been rock solid for me. Interestingly my choice looks to be in line with the initial maverick meerkat 10.10 app-line up.
Speaking of which here's the roadmap to 10.10 which Ubuntu want to release on 10 Oct this year ... at 10:10 maybe?
And an interesting article by Steven J Vaughan-Nichols
Interesting article and well worth a couple of minutes of your time.
I think Ubuntu's push for polish, understanding of 'the cloud', large existing user-base, as well as developments elsewhere (such as Steam for Linux coming soon) really signal a potential increase in the number of users.
My parents recently visited - my father, an MS user who runs his own business and maintains his own webpage, asked to use my PC. It was running 10.04 at the time and I told him it was not windows. He barely heard me and simply asked, have you got Firefox? He sat down, did his stuff, and 30 minutes rejoined us. He had no problems, he didn't know he used linux, it was a total non-event. Now if he knew that he could have saved himself $200-300 on the OS, run a lower risk of virii/malware, get apps to do what he needs to do for free, and not really have to go through any major learning curve, I may just have had a convert. But as I've said before, I don't evangelize. However, clearly, a polished, intuitive UI with all the functionality of a PC running MS could well sway a lot of people on cost and safety alone.
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melloe
Ultimate Member
Joined: 20 Mar 2024
Posts: 2263
Location: Southern Illinois
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| Posted: Sun May 16, 2024 9:46 am Post subject: |
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You know one of the things about the bumtus I like most, especially the Gnome and KDE versions.....and I have several times used it for that purpose?
The ability to find and add to GRUB, and the menu other Operating systems on the box, and on the main HD. Saves SSOOO much times and effort where there are multiple OS on multiple HD. Mint has papas genes, because it is pretty good about that too.
Don't get me wrong, there are other distros that6 do a good job most of the time, but the above seems to have the best batting average.
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mell0: 1. Kubuntu, XP, Sabayon 2. Mandriva,Mint, Mephis
Thor: 1. VISTA, Fedora 2. Chakra, Debian
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masinick
Linux Guru
Joined: 03 Apr 2024
Posts: 8615
Location: Concord, NH
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| Posted: Mon May 17, 2024 3:06 pm Post subject: GRUB updates are inconsistent and often incorrect |
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| melloe wrote: | You know one of the things about the bumtus I like most, especially the Gnome and KDE versions.....and I have several times used it for that purpose?
The ability to find and add to GRUB, and the menu other Operating systems on the box, and on the main HD. Saves SSOOO much times and effort where there are multiple OS on multiple HD. Mint has papas genes, because it is pretty good about that too.
Don't get me wrong, there are other distros that6 do a good job most of the time, but the above seems to have the best batting average. |
The Ubuntu implementation of update-grub, and the associated utilities that get called to scan and update the boot entries on each partition, do seem to be reasonably complete. I have to wonder, though, if one of the steps that the procedure takes is simply to copy lines from the /boot/grub/menu.lst files found on other partitions, either instead of or in addition to an actual scan of /boot in each partition for eligible kernel and initrd images? The reason I speculate that is that on more than one occasion, new boot managers, which I install, not in the MBR, but in /boot/grub associated with their distribution, get populated with the correct entries, but often with extra entries, some out of date entries from other boot managers. I can go into each boot manager and bring them up to date, but since I have enough knowledge and background to get to each system, whether the boot entries are correct or not, I do not bother much any more.
Another side point: I have found that GRUB 2 goes overboard in re-reading each boot partition. If there is a tool that calls GRUB 2 more than once during an update or upgrade, this can get to be downright time consuming, because the GRUB 2 configuration file is quite a bit larger than the GRUB Legacy configuration file, so two or more passes through it can easily take 5-10 minutes, instead of the 1-2 minutes otherwise needed for an entire system upgrade (unless the upgrade is really large and weeks out of date). |
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tlmiller
Ultimate Member
Joined: 01 May 2024
Posts: 2434
Location: MD, USA
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| Posted: Mon May 17, 2024 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Don't know how it works, but Ubuntu uses os-prober to autofind other OS's. This is available in most other linux distributions repositories also.
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Debian Squeeze, Arch, Kubuntu mostly. Some Mandriva. Some Windows.
Desktops: shadowdragon, medusa
Laptops: bluedrake, banelord, sandwyrm, aardvark.
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