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Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

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Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#381

Post by cies »

jamieweb wrote: post #159
viraptor wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Snaps have mostly created problems for me I think this is the wrong way to look at it. You still have access to the same packages as before without snap. If you're using snap, that means you either explicitly chose it, or the package is not available in the repo. The choice here isn't between a package or a snap most of the time. It's between: not using the app, packaging it on your own, or using a snap which is no…

But certain packages are migrating to Snap-only, e.g. Chromium. I understand why they're doing this (primarily to save on build times), but the way they've gone about it (using a transitional Apt package that just installs the Snap) is messy and inconsistent. If I type `apt install` then I want an Apt package. Under no circumstances should this install a Snap.

> If I type `apt install` then I want an Apt package. Under no circumstances should this install a Snap.

Exactly!

I found a way to remove snap[1] and get Chromium from Debian[2]. But I'm close to leaving the buntus over this drama.

[1] https://github.com/cies/kubuntu-setup#remove-snap

[2] https://github.com/cies/kubuntu-setup/tree/master/chromium

Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#382

Post by cies »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #333
jamieweb wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But certain packages are migrating to Snap-only, e.g. Chromium. I understand why they're doing this (primarily to save on build times), but the way they've gone about it (using a transitional Apt package that just installs the Snap) is messy and inconsistent. If I type `apt install` then I want an Apt package. Under no circumstances should this install a Snap.

Yep, and the chromium migration broke my webex meetings. First I had to research and find out how to give it microphone permissions. That worked, but the mic works for about one minute then stops. So frustrating, I had to move meetings to Firefox which is where I do most of my work. I like to have two browsers to split the work to that which is most appropriate.

I found a way to remove snap[1] and get Chromium from Debian[2]. Have a look (I have the same problem with audio in the snap version):

[1] https://github.com/cies/kubuntu-setup#remove-snap

[2] https://github.com/cies/kubuntu-setup/tree/master/chromium

Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#383

Post by iforgotpassword »

cies wrote: post #104
iforgotpassword wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Ubuntu at work. Chromium is now snap only, and snap crapped itself with some error messages that didn't immediately lead to a solution when thrown into Google. Firefox was my main browser anyways so not too a great loss but oh man...

There is a way, which I documented here: https://github.com/cies/kubuntu-setup/tree/master/chrome I also use FF primarily, but sometimes I need Chrome (chromium actually, I should fix that).

Thanks for that. A little hacky but worst thing that can happen is it just doesn't run I guess...

URL is now https://github.com/cies/kubuntu-setup/blob/master/chromium for the curious.

Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#384

Post by karatestomp »

sparkling wrote: post #50
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just switch to LibreOffice. The dependency on .docx/.xlsx is an overblown propaganda. I personally had a business in 2007..2011 that replaced windows for Linux. All that time I heard that same old song again: "But but MS Office is so essential!". Turned out, not so much, on over 5000 PCs in several dozen companies. Update: business eventually failed, for one simple reason - Ubuntu Linux is too freaking stable. The id…

Ignoring format issues, LibreOffice just feels extremly slugish for me. I get little freezes all the time, the UI is laggy and startup time is pretty bad too. I came to dislike it so much that i prefer to edit things in Google Docs over LibreOffice .

It's always felt slow (I mean, since early in the OpenOffice days). I've assumed it has something to do with its Java dependencies. Back when I used linux I'd stick to Abiword and Gcalc and such when I didn't need Microsoft compatibility, for that reason. On Mac, Pages and Numbers and such are nice and light. Google Docs is too input-laggy and glitchy for me.

Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#385

Post by geokon »

foresto wrote: post #344
geokon wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how well do ppa's work on Debian? I don't like my system constantly updating (and occasionally breaking) - esp secretly behind my back like snap/flatpak but occasionally I do need the latest version of some package and i don't want to manage manually installations tucked away in some folder with random bashrc tweaks

There is no official support for PPAs on Debian. You can configure a Debian system to use them, but you'll be installing packages built on and for Ubuntu, so you'll be risking breakage unless the package maintainer has already taken the extra time to test for problems on Debian (which is rare). This feature request shows some community interest in Debian support, but as far as I know, it hasn't gone anywhere yet. htt…

Damn. That's a real shame. I really like Debian otherwise. It's still minimal to the point where you can understand all the pieces. I used it for years, but then 5 years ago I moved off of it just because it's so easy to get software from PPAs and b/c every instruction is Ubuntu by default. Over those 5 years being a little flexible has ended up saving tons and tons of hour. Even just the other day I wanted to install OpenJDK 14 and ended up having to do it manually. Maintaining that in some directory and having my own update-alternatives entries.. it just feels really yucky at this point

Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#386

Post by mceachen »

twic wrote: post #98
turbinerneiter wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on Fedora where the equivalent is called Flathub/Flatpaks. There are definitely some rough edges still, but the possible upsides are amazing for me. It makes it way easier for a developer to release for different Linux-flavors. The applications get sandboxed and there is much less risk to mess up your system. Stuff like permission, similar to Android/iOS becomes possible. There for sure is problems to: it makes i…

The way i see it, software which is truly part of the distribution can and should still be packaged the traditional way. But snap/flatpak creates a standard way to install software which is not really part of the distribution. It replaces all the random tarballs and unpacking things in /opt that you occasionally had to do when installing third-party software. It makes sense for VS Code, IntelliJ, Slack, Chrome, etc,…

> snapd itself is distributed as a snap, which seems like a very poor idea to me

I took this as a "vote of confidence" that snap could self-host snapd.

Hosting via snap means they can push updates and not have to wait for users to `apt update; apt upgrade`, as snaps auto-upgrade without user intervention.

I don't know of other benefits, though.

Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#387

Post by Jean-Philipe »

paines wrote: post #191
Jean-Philipe wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only 'con' is the pushing of Snap packages. I don't get why they're doing that. Snaps have mostly created problems for me, like they don't scale when other apps do, or the styling is off, or they don't show up properly in the software manager. The snap daemon on one of my laptops always blocks the shutdown by 30 seconds. Generally a rather confusing experience.

>The snap daemon on one of my laptops always blocks the shutdown by 30 seconds. I used Spotify, VS Code and some PS2 emulator from Snap and haven't seen this behaviour. Which snap package does that for you ?

I don't think it's from a specific package. It's just the Daemon. I didn't really dig into why or what, don't have the time, and don't have the energy. I just get the message on the console when shutting down my laptop. Maybe it's updating something? Who knows.

Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#388

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

insulanian wrote: post #380
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> MS Office document format support is simply not good enough on any alternative This is a key fault in your logic. You SHOULD NOT judge the alternative by how it supports the document format that is specifically created in such a way to block competition from effectively supporting it. The company that did it also corrupted the international standards organization to get it an official 'standard' status. But the tru…

> The company I've founded in 2007 never ever sent out any document in MS Office format, never owned any copy of MS Office, and we survived since then just fine. It's great that it worked out for you, but that's just not the case in the most business environments I have been dealing with. When a person sends out a document to a customer, and it turns out that customer didn't see the content as intended, alternatives…

> but MS Office is simply a necessity in most business environments.

My experience says otherwise. Most businesses can replace it with alternatives without too many difficulties. Definitely 95% of SMB can, I have led many transition projects myself, where companies moved 90% of their computers to Ubuntu and 100% of their computers to OpenOffice.org / LibreOffice

Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#389

Post by nairnkenedy »

(1) After update to 20.04, my Ubuntu Software Store app wasn't there, and neither wad there an icon for Snap Store. (2) Aftet I installed snap-store, it showed me only 16 available apps rather than the umpteen which should have been there. I'm sure these are only intitial glitches, and I'll wait patiently for an update to fix the bug.

Re: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)

#390

Post by josteink »

pedrocr wrote: post #57
LeonM wrote: post #22

Looking through the features Gnome 3.36 - X11 fractional scaling. I got all excited, because this means that now finally Ubuntu will be usable on my Lenovo X1E with High-DPI display. But then further down below: Fractional scaling does not work with the NVIDIA proprietary driver (bug 1870736, bug 1873403). OK, nevermind, back to Windows with WSL...

Just set font scaling to 1.3x or whatever it is you need and everything works great. I've been doing that for many years for 1440p in a laptop. Ubuntu actually regressed there since switching back to GNOME from Unity. In Unity font scaling was neatly exposed in the same slider as integer scaling and all apps used that setting. Now I have to set one thing for GNOME and another for Firefox to get the same effect. "Prop…

> It's only really worth it if you want really consistent sizing of things when you have several screens with very different DPIs.

So useful for all laptop-users with an external monitor then.

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