Intranet Journal
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Why Ubuntu Linux Tops Debian
Before it is even released (at the time of this writing), I have already found a number of reasons why I will not be upgrading my various computers to Ubuntu 8.10.
Rather than highlighting my own experiences with why upgrading to the next version of the popular Linux distribution is a mistake, let's instead examine those issues that potentially affect the majority of us. In short, if it isn't broken, don't fix it. Allow me to elaborate.
1) A history of broken releases
Despite having tremendous love for Linux and to some extent, Ubuntu, lately I have found myself torn. I first tried Ubuntu after dumping another popular distribution of Linux for it back with Ubuntu 6.06. For its time, it was fairly usable. Yet as new releases came out, I was beginning to see less focus on making sure it was ready to roll out of the beta stages and more interest in making sure the distribution remained in the headlines. To point out that this bothers me greatly really goes without saying.
To be fair, I would say the same about any distribution of desktop Linux -- do not upgrade to a new "version" unless there is a compelling reason to. While security and kernel upgrades are important in the installation running on your desktop, the fact is most people end up jumping into Ubuntu upgrades without realizing all of the facts. Considering that nearly ever version of Ubuntu released since Edgy has shown annoying regressions and other issues that were show-stopping for some, to blindly upgrade despite this knowledge is just plain foolish.
2) Crashing your old installation
Despite the belief that choosing to run "upgrade to the new distribution release" will not break your old Ubuntu install, 8 times out of 10, it will at some level. Moreover, most people do not think to image their existing Ubuntu installations onto a DVD in case the upgrade goes horribly wrong.
Is it too much to ask to grab a copy of Remastersys, make a backup of the way your system is currently, then try making the upgrade? Yes, it is, unfortunately, based on my experiences in the Ubuntu forums -- this never happens. The user generally puts blind faith into the upgrade process going smoothly -- big mistake.
3) Bad video drivers
Proprietary or FoSS drivers, in the end, sometimes do not come through. This happened to one of my old notebooks I was running tests on with Ubuntu 8.10, and, sure enough, nothing I did would allow it to boot into X. Scouring through the logs indicated it was indeed a problem with X and by all appearences, the openchrome driver appears to be the culprit. Had I not tested that notebook at all, the old installation of 8.04 would have continued working fine. Now I am not saying this is driver and not xserver related, but in any case, the result ends up with me not being able to use X on that old notebook.
4) Usability issues are generally dealt with in LTS releases
Although you may see what are deemed to be usability improvements in Ubuntu 8.10, the fact remains it is going to the Long Term Support releases that will reflect broken functionality. And even with that, this is the same bunch that brilliantly release a beta version of Firefox with their LTS product just a few months back!
It is well known that in the Ubuntu world, non-LTS releases are rolling beta disappointments that never really live up to their promise for many users. So lets say 8.10 suddenly stops working right with your webcam, but only with Flash 10. And to make matters worse, the webcam works fine with other programs besides Flash 10 in 8.10, but works with Flash 10 in 8.04, and you are to feel confident that this is a release to trust with your data? Come on, why bother putting yourself through the headache.
5) Wireless is always broken to some degree with updates
As the idiotic pursuit to support the ever-buggy Broadcom chipset continues, you know that something else along the way is going to pay a price. Thus far, two out of three tested natively working wireless dongle I have tested do in fact retain their ability to work with Ubuntu in this release. That being said, I have yet to test any of my Intel based chipsets yet ... sigh. So again, if you want to spend a lot of time tracking down more regressions when the previous install worked fine, be my guest. But do not say nobody warned you.
6) Chasing down audio problems
ALSA and OSS may be old ways of dealing with audio in Linux, but the fact is that they work. PulseAudio, on the other hand, while a nice idea, is also a pain in the butt. Despite writing about this over and over, Ubuntu devs STILL do not provide you with any ability to work with the PulseAudio system without you knowing that you must download the PulseAudio Applet -- padevchooser.
Why in the world would you take the time to tie PulseAudio in so tightly to the ubuntu-desktop package set when the developers can't even bother to provide the basic ability to use the damned sound system effectively in the first place? Come on, include padevchooser by default for Pete's sake!
7) Xorg.conf headaches
I am the first to admit that I am not totally up to date on what all of the hoopla is about with regard to the latest xserver release. But based on what I can tell, any ability to edit your Xorg.conf has been removed as it appears to not be effective any longer.
Again, not totally clear what changed to create so many problems, but the bugs have been pouring in from all over the Web regarding everything from NVIDIA, to Intel, and of course, ATI.
8) Upgrading with alternate CD is failing ... again
If I had a dollar for every time an Ubuntu upgrade failed when using the alternative install CD. Don't get me wrong, it is a great idea in theory. However the fact of the matter is that it also means that most people will find themselves needing to run a gksu "sh /cdrom/cdromupgrade" despite the fact that it should autostart the upgrade prompt for you. Yes, this is not perceived as a big deal ... unless you are a new user who is already feeling beaten down from the failed network upgrade after the servers took a pounding and left your installation broken.
9) Verizon DSL Hell
While this appears to suddenly be resolved before the release date, it nearly slipped through. A bug in which Verizon DSL users could visit some websites, but not the ones they might want to such as YouTube.
What is also interesting is once again, the fix for this bug is post-release. So number nine here is fairly significant is the Internet appears to be working, with only some sites failing. Who in their right mind is going to think to run Ubuntu update to fix access to only some websites? Come on, this is really dumb!
10) Forget about any long term support
No matter what your feelings may be about Ubuntu 8.04 vs 8.10, the fact is that version 8.04 has the benefit of staying-power. Sure, it may not be perceived as cutting edge as the latest release set to come out here soon, but it does have the backing of providing updates through 2011. Not a big deal to some, but to those using the server edition -- they will see support through 2013. Compare this with an end of life for 8.10 schedule in 2010.
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