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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?

#61
post #37
post #34

I wish I didn't. My experience was so bad I'm actually back on Windows for the first time since 12.04 and might stay here. It was an X/driver issue and it took me a few hours to fix to just get X to load. Meanwhile, Windows worked fine as I furiously Googled the issue.

Windows and Linux are not apples to apples. One you pay for and one you don't.

Could you expand on this? Of course they're different. 18.04 isn't worth the upgrade yet in my opinion.

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

#62

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/…

I ran Arch for a couple years and agree with OP that it "feels" smoother and more stable. The documentation is fantastic, like FreeBSD, and you end up with a streamlined system you understand well if you go through the manual process.

I moved back to Ubuntu only so I could use the same ansible scripts locally as prod.

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

#63

If you are considering a switch, do give Fedora a shot. I moved after a decade of Ubuntu. All the technologies that won out (systemd, gnome, Wayland,etc) were created at Fedora. So the level of integration is unparalleled. Ubuntu still seems to be fighting it's choices.

> “the level of integration is unparalleled”

Can you elaborate?

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

#64

If you are considering a switch, do give Fedora a shot. I moved after a decade of Ubuntu. All the technologies that won out (systemd, gnome, Wayland,etc) were created at Fedora. So the level of integration is unparalleled. Ubuntu still seems to be fighting it's choices.

You should inform the developers of i3, KDE Plasma, etc. that they can retire now that GNOME has "won out".

I don't think I said that Gnome has won out (and neither should it).

I was making a comparison between two Gnome based distros. In case you were not aware, Ubuntu is now Gnome.

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

#65
post #7

For what it's worth, I had moved to 18.04 from 16.04 and regret it. Booting takes longer, and I have an NVidia 1070 but NVidia XServer Settings has stopped working and if I try to run it it hangs the systems where the only option is to hard boot.

This is the same thing that happened to me. It got to be such a bear to boot up that I eventually moved to Solus, which is a lovely, snappy, refreshing distribution. Really enjoying it. Beware of 18!

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

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should inform the developers of i3, KDE Plasma, etc. that they can retire now that GNOME has "won out".

I don't think I said that Gnome has won out (and neither should it). I was making a comparison between two Gnome based distros. In case you were not aware, Ubuntu is now Gnome.

Actually, that's exactly what you said.

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

#69
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I said that Gnome has won out (and neither should it). I was making a comparison between two Gnome based distros. In case you were not aware, Ubuntu is now Gnome.

Actually, that's exactly what you said.

i can see why you would think that based on the language, but it was very contextual.

it was fedora vs ubuntu - gnome, wayland and systemd had their equivalents in ubuntu (unity, mir and upstart) which lost the battle. Ubuntu then adopted the winners. I meant that specifically - not a general comment across Linux

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

#70
post #7

For what it's worth, I had moved to 18.04 from 16.04 and regret it. Booting takes longer, and I have an NVidia 1070 but NVidia XServer Settings has stopped working and if I try to run it it hangs the systems where the only option is to hard boot.

The issue is the new linux kernel used by 18.04. Nvidia drivers break. In fact if you install debian, that waits before upgrading the last kernel, you do not have any problems.
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