Thumbs down to 9.10 Ubuntu. >:|

[Ken g6]

I finally decided to try upgrading from 9.04 to 9.10 yesterday. I was not pleased with the results. First, my Intel 3100 graphics ran about half as fast as before. Flash videos were smoother in time, but had black streaks and other stuff jumping in from top and bottom. Disabling some effects helped with this, but didn't eliminate it.

Second, Ubuntu 9.10 failed to recognize my old Netgear 802.11b USB device.

Third, Kaffeine stopped working with my Hauppauge USB TV tuner. And it lost all my timer recording settings.

Fortunately, I'd made a complete backup image of my drive, so I restored it and everything's back to normal. I think now I'll wait for 10.04 LTS, so whatever I have to re-configure I only have to do once; then I can leave it alone for a few years.

 

[Fox5]

I don't think upgrades are ever officially supported for ubuntu. They include them for convenience, but only fresh installs are supported.

And honestly, I don't think I've done an ubuntu upgrade yet that hasn't had some kind of problem, even if it was a minor one. Fresh install is the way to go, just keep your home folder on a separate partition.

 

[Nothinman]

I don't think upgrades are ever officially supported for ubuntu. They include them for convenience, but only fresh installs are supported.

Which would be extremely gay. Especially since it should be fairly simple to do because of their 6mo release cycles. Debian always supports upgrading, it's a release requirement.

 

[Fox5]

Which would be extremely gay. Especially since it should be fairly simple to do because of their 6mo release cycles. Debian always supports upgrading, it's a release requirement.

Well, maybe they do support it, but I've almost always gone to a clean install for a new ubuntu version given random issues that seem to pop up from upgrade to upgrade.

 

[Nothinman]

Well, maybe they do support it, but I've almost always gone to a clean install for a new ubuntu version given random issues that seem to pop up from upgrade to upgrade.

I know they can't account for everything, but I've had the same Debian install at home for at least 6 years and the only reason I reloaded back then was to do a pure 64-bit install. The install before that was probably at least 6 years old as well and survived being transplanted across 3 or 4 different machines.

 

[insect9]

I like rolling-release distros for just this reason.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm gonna give Debian a shot when Ubuntu 10.04's released. I want to upgrade, and I'll be wiping my machine anyway, so it'll be a good time to try it. I haven't been pleased with all the issues Ubuntu's been having with new version releases. I think they rush things out too quickly, and end up breaking functionality that was in the previous versions.

 

[Jovec]

I'm gonna give Debian a shot when Ubuntu 10.04's released. I want to upgrade, and I'll be wiping my machine anyway, so it'll be a good time to try it. I haven't been pleased with all the issues Ubuntu's been having with new version releases. I think they rush things out too quickly, and end up breaking functionality that was in the previous versions.

Every distro has its philosophy. Ubuntu tries to be modern and current so these issues will arise. Much like many Windows users wait for the first service pack of a new OS before switching, there's no reason to upgrade on release day. Upgrade 3 months after release and you'll probably have less issues.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

I loaded 9.10 a while ago and it was a complete disaster. Most of my issues revoved around the disk management system. It was horrible. Took me like 2 days to get everything sorted out.

Very sad release.

 

[gsaldivar]

Ubuntu Server LTS fan here:

Great server OS... but I have yet to see any Linux build that I would be happy using as a desktop OS. Still not ready for prime time IMHO.

 

[VinDSL]

I loaded 9.10 a while ago and it was a complete disaster. [...]

The funny thing is...

I tried several different flavors of Ubuntu (including Ubu forks) and never could stand it... until 9.10

LoL! Go figure... :awe:

Great server OS... but I have yet to see any Linux build that I would be happy using as a desktop OS. Still not ready for prime time IMHO.

Ubu 9.10 is all I'm using in this box - and it's my primary workstation.

Gotta say, it's the first desktop machine I've run exclusively on Linux. I multi-boot everything else.

 

[SinxarKnights]

9.10 killed my laptop so to speak. I did fresh installs with both Ubuntu and Xubuntu and the wireless and ethernet won't work for some reason. Nobody knows why, as it is a supported chip. Graphics don't work properly on it either. Don't know what they changed but it surely don't work for me (network and gfx do not use restricted drivers).

I went back to trusty 9.04... at least until next release when hopefully some of the bugs are fixed.

 

[jae]

Ubuntu 9.10 has been great for me, fast and stable. Girlfriend has even been using it on her laptop, no issues thus far.

 

[Aluvus]

I don't think upgrades are ever officially supported for ubuntu. They include them for convenience, but only fresh installs are supported.

Every time the update manager runs (since the release of 9.10), I get a big button encouraging me to upgrade in place to 9.10 (this feature has been in place for a few versions now). There are even specific limits on which versions you can upgrade between in this way. It sure seems supported to me.

Every distro has its philosophy. Ubuntu tries to be modern and current so these issues will arise. Much like many Windows users wait for the first service pack of a new OS before switching, there's no reason to upgrade on release day. Upgrade 3 months after release and you'll probably have less issues.

The release of 9.10 was in late October (the 10th month of '09, hence the version number), so it's been nearly 3 months now. I had been holding off on the upgrade to 9.10 to see if things would get better, but it looks like I'll just be skipping this release.

 

[Tbirdkid]

I dont know if i would skip this release and expect a smooth upgrade later. As for the use and functionality of 9.10, I use it. I put it on a hp dv6700 laptop. Just about everything worked out of the box. I had to add the drivers for my nvidia video chipset but thats it. I vm windows with virtualbox, but most of my stuff is linux now. I dont expect to take this notebook back. Unless of course i screw something up and dont have time to fix it vs just loading windows. I am hammerin away at it right now, and it works like a charm. I just have to find a decent web kit browser to support my specific web pages...

 

[xSauronx]

Ubuntu Server LTS fan here:

Great server OS... but I have yet to see any Linux build that I would be happy using as a desktop OS. Still not ready for prime time IMHO.

I was perfectly happy with it for a while. software installation and management is pretty damn easy for the most part. I got to where I was having issues watching newer DVDs...some just never wanted to work right now matter how much I tinkered, and forget about watching a blu-ray :-/

I really made the switch after a couple of semesters in school...I built a new pc and was having to use a windows VM to do so much work I just figured screw it and have been running 7 for a while now. That and on newer hardware some support was meh (expected) Its ok, not bad and not great.

More than anything I miss compiz and software management. I can still tinker around in linux some, and Id still prefer it in some things. Id run it on my netbook but windows has an OC util that makes a definite difference. I expect Ill keep it as a secondary OS for a while and hope I can make it my primary again at some point.

 

[master7045]

I use it on my laptop at home ant it runs great. To me, this is the first well made distro. I've been dual booting off and on since 8.04 and I like 9.10 the best. I had a few problems getting regular DVD's to work, but other than that It's been smooth sailing. I have it interfaced with my 360, found wireless no problem, and my wife was able to figure it out w/o my help! If all you're doing is surfing the web/listening to music, it works great. Flash works fine for me as well so all those uTube, facebook, myspace videos are viewable.

 

[PCTC2]

There are a few problems with 9.10, but it something that has to be looked over for the sake of running newer technology in my case. The LSI SAS2008 controller uses the mpt2sas driver that's native in > 2.6.30 kernel. However, 2.6.30 breaks VMware (though there are third-party patches). Otherwise, I've found 9.10 fairly stable as my server OS (9.10 Server with Gnome Desktop for local VM management).

VMware just needs to update and 9.10 will be great. Nothing on Ubuntu, just VMware.

The only problem I have is with my Matrox G220eW and Ubuntu (9.04 and 9.10) don't work nicely. I'm stuck at 800x600, though Debian Lenny recognizes it for 1680x1050, but that's only a minor issue. I do a lot of remote stuff and just run a remote session at 1680x1050.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I don't think upgrades are ever officially supported for ubuntu. They include them for convenience, but only fresh installs are supported.

I'm pretty sure back-to-back releases and LTS --> LTS upgrades are officially supported.

link

Once I have installed Ubuntu, will I be able to upgrade to the next release?

We fully support upgrades from one release to the next. However, we do not support upgrades that skip a release. Thus we support upgrades from 5.10 to 6.06, but not from 5.04 to 6.06 unless you first upgrade to 5.10.
Note: that this does not necessarily extend to certain situations involving unsupported software, such as packages in the Universe repository, or software which you obtained from a third-party source. Therefore if you install such packages please be aware that you have to track the security implications of it as it is outside of the distribution. To do this you sign up to a security announcement list for the software you run that is not from within your distribution.

Is there a specific Enterprise Release?

In addition to regular releases, the Ubuntu team may make an Enterprise Release, also known as a 'Long Term Support (LTS)' Release, that has received additional stabilisation, polish and translation work. These Enterprise Releases will be supported for a longer period of time than the standard 18 month support of the time-based Releases. Upgrades will be supported from Enterprise Release to Enterprise Release.

 

[speg]

I am trying to install it now. Very slow. Lots of black screens and finallly some I/O error lines printed out... Oooookaaay....

 

[Nothinman]

I am trying to install it now. Very slow. Lots of black screens and finallly some I/O error lines printed out... Oooookaaay....

Sounds like a bad burn or other hardware problem.

 

[speg]

Sounds like a bad burn or other hardware problem.

I tried again and it was still slow but worked. But then when I was about to boot into my new install I got stuck on the GRUB loader so I was like WTF!!!?!? Googled it and decided I'd just wipe the disk and just have Ubuntu. So booted into the Live CD and copied some things off the disk before formatting.

Started installing Ubuntu again, but format failed (???). Tried going through install again and formatting was taking forever so I left it overnight and woke up to a clean disk. Installing now...


(And this is why Linux will NEVER be mainstream - this has been so sketchy...)

 

[Nothinman]

So Linux will never be mainstream because your hard disk is dying? Good call...

 

[Jodell88]

I tried again and it was still slow but worked. But then when I was about to boot into my new install I got stuck on the GRUB loader so I was like WTF!!!?!? Googled it and decided I'd just wipe the disk and just have Ubuntu. So booted into the Live CD and copied some things off the disk before formatting.

Started installing Ubuntu again, but format failed (???). Tried going through install again and formatting was taking forever so I left it overnight and woke up to a clean disk. Installing now...


(And this is why Linux will NEVER be mainstream - this has been so sketchy...)

How about trying a different distro? Ubuntu is not the end all and be all of Linux. That being said, Ubuntu normally installs in about 15 to 20 minutes, so something isn't right there.

 

[speg]

Well I am finally writing to you from a hdd-based isntall of ubuntu!

I agree with Nothinman that it was probably my hd getting old (though, the installer could have been a bit more graceful..) so i pulled it out and ran on the secondary drive. Oddly enough, the installer now said there was ubuntu already installed (i guess it did this last night when I was trying to dual boot with windows, and it put it on the second drive?). So I was like oook, maybe I can just boot into it? So I quit the installer and it brought me into ubuntu! I didn't quite understand, so I rebooted and (I assume) with no bootloader on the secdonary drive to point to the install I once again hit a snag). So I ran the installer AGAIN (I've lost count now) and installed Ubuntu again (sidebyside)....

So now I think I have two installs on the same drive I'm not sure how to get rid of other one, but at least this one is working (and booting)...

I will be sure to pester you guys with n00b posts in the days to come.... First step... installed mp3 support while writing this post. Seem to be able to play mp3 in the player (which is farther than I got on the live CD) but uh... I don't hear anything? Do I gotta dig for audio drivers now or something?

Edit: NOPE!!! Went into Audio prefs and on the output tab the mute box was checked? UNCHECK AND BOOM! YAY!! Now let's see if I can get Chrome on here without too much trouble...

Update: WOOT! Updating this post from Chrome in Ubuntu! Fixed a resolution issue while it was installing and I am GOOD TO GO!!