[kwlug-disc] Lucid is disappointing .. was Android everywhere ...

[Paul Nijjar]

On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 08:48:46AM -0400, Ralph Janke wrote:
> On 09/14/2010 04:10 PM, Paul Nijjar wrote:
>>
>> Until the disappointing Lucid release, I think the conventional wisdom
>> was "Start with Ubuntu".
>>
>
> Why is lucid disappointing?

I'll try to keep it brief: 

0. Lucid is the least lucid distro I have used in years. It wants to
be silent and pretty on bootup, which means that when bootup fails for
some reason it is hideous to try and figure out what went wrong. 

1. I get video problems again and again, because support for very
common Intel chipsets is basically broken. I install Lucid and end up
with a blank screen. This is because KMS support in the X.org video
drivers is broken. But Ubuntu released Plymouth anyways, which depends
pretty heavily on KMS. 

2. I have mixed feelings about GRUB 2, but I definitely do not like 
the decision to hide the GRUB menu unless you happen to press the
shift key at the magical right time. (I also despise having to run
"update-grub" after editing config files -- wasn't that why we
switched away from LILO?) 

3. Plymouth is not ready for prime time, and again you need to know
the secret magic keystroke to make it display anything useful. I don't
know of any Plymouth theme that actually displays useful information
by default. 

My basic complaint is that Ubuntu pushed fast, pretty bootup over
reliable, debuggable bootup. Fast, pretty bootup screens are nice when
the system boots up consistently, but in Lucid's case the bootup is
buggy on all kinds of video cards. 

I cannot in good conscience hand somebody a Lucid CD and expect that
they will have a usable system at the end of it. That feels a lot
different than previous versions of Ubuntu (Hardy and earlier).

I cannot even get our automated installer to work consistently when
installing Lucid. 

I have spent hours and hours working around these problems so that I
can actually install Ubuntu systems for work and for sale. 

Apparently I am the only person on this list who gets bitten by these
bugs again and again. Lots of other people (including people at my
workplace) are thrilled with the new features that Lucid supports. But
I personally am pretty unhappy with the release. It has cost me a lot
of time and a lot of frustration. 

My basis of comparison for this is Hardy, because I am a conservative
who tends to ignore the 6-month releases. 

- Paul

-- 
http://pnijjar.freeshell.org