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Ask HN: Is it a good time to switch to Ubuntu 18.04 desktop?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it a good time to switch to Ubuntu 18.04 desktop?

#51

Post by Ologn »

LarryMade2 wrote: post #4

Here's what I do, I shrink a partition on my HDD (or have it already partitioned so theres space for several OS partitions, Then I install the latest and greatest on the free space or a much older distro partition, leaving my current work distro safe on its own partition, Next I copy over as much of the contents my current home folder as I can. Now, I can truly "taste" the new distro and if it isn't a good transition…

I do this too. Actually I have a web page about various caveats when doing it ( http://vartmp.com/tech/multibooting.html ).

And of course, you can always use KVM's to take a look at distros as well.

Re: Ask HN: Is it a good time to switch to Ubuntu 18.04 desktop?

#52

Post by subsection1h »

tictacttoe wrote: post #38

If you are reasonable comfortable in Linux and a developer, I'd strongly recommend Arch with i3 window manager. Pacman is fantastic. The initial setup is a bit of a pain, but it's so much smoother and more stable from that point forward.

How is Arch "more stable" than Ubuntu LTS?

How is maintaining an Arch installation "so much smoother"? The user must carefully review a PKGBUILD every time any installed AUR package needs to be updated[1], which will happen frequently because the user will need many AUR packages to make up for the fact that there are only 10,200 Arch packages[2], much less than Ubuntu's 81,563 packages[3].

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comments/3yiq4s/is_the_au...

[2] https://www.archlinux.org/packages/

[3] https://packages.ubuntu.com/cosmic/allpackages?format=txt.gz

Re: Ask HN: Is it a good time to switch to Ubuntu 18.04 desktop?

#53

Post by peelle »

Using it, I mostly like. The new kernel supports my newer laptop hardware better. It "feels" like it runs smoother, fwiw.

Upgrading was bad. For my local machine, when it first came out trying to run the upgrade script would lock my system, and force me to hard reboot. I tried several fixes, but ended up just doing an install from CD over the old system.

For my web server, not copying 1 file to a new location before running the upgrade script caused me to destroy the whole system. I restored from backup. After researching about that file, I was able to do the upgrade with only a few broken packages needing my attention.

Re: Ask HN: Is it a good time to switch to Ubuntu 18.04 desktop?

#54

Post by tfolbrecht »

subsection1h wrote: post #48
tfolbrecht wrote: post #41

I think running a long term support distro is silly for non critical devices. I personally use Debian Testing, maybe take this chance to try it? I've never had a stability issue across the 4 different devices I use.

How is it silly? I've used Debian Stable and Ubuntu LTS on desktops for many years. I've always had the latest versions of all the apps I use thanks to backports, repos managed by upstream developers (e.g., PPAs) and occasionally installing software from source. (Disclosure: I don't use GNOME, KDE or any other DE, which can be problematic to keep updated.) Also, many upstream developers who provide packages for Debia…

I'm under the impression OP is asking about a distro for their laptop or desktop.

My question to you is, why use an old kernel + packages when you could have newish ones with a reasonable degree of trust? Is avoiding the extremely rare bug worth it?

re:PPAs I prefer my machines packages to be downloaded from trusted sources. The distro developer package vetting and accountability adds value.

Re: Ask HN: Is it a good time to switch to Ubuntu 18.04 desktop?

#55

Post by Pistos2 »

peelle wrote: post #53

Using it, I mostly like. The new kernel supports my newer laptop hardware better. It "feels" like it runs smoother, fwiw. Upgrading was bad. For my local machine, when it first came out trying to run the upgrade script would lock my system, and force me to hard reboot. I tried several fixes, but ended up just doing an install from CD over the old system. For my web server, not copying 1 file to a new location before…

And that file was... ?

Re: Ask HN: Is it a good time to switch to Ubuntu 18.04 desktop?

#56

Post by kjeetgill »

I'd recommend doing a fresh install on another partition if you can and see how it goes. 95% of Ubuntu installs work like butter but there's always a bit of risk getting all the video drivers and suspend and resume working right.

Use it for a few weeks and decide.

Re: Ask HN: Is it a good time to switch to Ubuntu 18.04 desktop?

#57

Post by tvmalsv »

I'm a 16.04 user, too, and I've been running 18.04 in a VM for a few weeks. Basically seems ok to me, but, I do have some gripes. Not deal-breakers, just dislikes:

* When copying a file in the gui, a progress window doesn't pop-up for the operation. Took me a little while to realize there is now a little icon on the window's titlebar that shows a pie-chart style of progress. Until I look for that icon, it feels like I don't know if the copy even started. * The "start menu?"/launcher thing blows up into a big, full-screen, icon menu. Seems mentally jarring to have all of my current work overlaid by the launcher. * And, my biggest gripe is the least consequential, but, I want my wobbly windows and 3D desktop cube back! There, I admitted it. I used them and liked it :)

Re: Ask HN: Is it a good time to switch to Ubuntu 18.04 desktop?

#58

Post by majewsky »

tvmalsv wrote: post #57

I'm a 16.04 user, too, and I've been running 18.04 in a VM for a few weeks. Basically seems ok to me, but, I do have some gripes. Not deal-breakers, just dislikes: * When copying a file in the gui, a progress window doesn't pop-up for the operation. Took me a little while to realize there is now a little icon on the window's titlebar that shows a pie-chart style of progress. Until I look for that icon, it feels like…

FYI: That's not formatted like you planned. You'll need to put blank lines between your list items.
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