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

[Johnny Ferguson]

On 09/15/2010 06:00 PM, Paul Nijjar wrote:
> 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.
>

4. Sound sucks miserably. Apps steal sound from eachother, and sometimes 
it just dies altogether. Could be a pulseaudio issue, but I don't 
remember pidgin notification beeps killing flash sound in 9.10.

Been meaning to root out PulseAudio and sink it into JACK (probably the 
only software mixer worth its salt), but I haven't had the time.

> 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
>