Linux Format forums

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

towy71 — Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:18 pm

Author: towy71

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:18 pm

leke wrote:

nelz wrote:

Quote:

The poll is aimed at Ubuntu users.

How many Ubuntu users don't use Ubuntu?

Do LinuxMint users count?

nope

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

leke — Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:51 pm

Author: leke

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:51 pm

nelz wrote:

Quote:

The poll is aimed at Ubuntu users.

How many Ubuntu users don't use Ubuntu?

Do LinuxMint users count?

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

nelz — Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:46 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:46 pm

Quote:

The poll is aimed at Ubuntu users.

How many Ubuntu users don't use Ubuntu?

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

paulm — Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:50 pm

Author: paulm

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:50 pm

I think the survey should have included another category - haven't used any form of 'buntu in years and don't intend changing any time soon.....

Paul.

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

leke — Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:04 pm

Author: leke

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:04 pm

Hell, I'm going to a least see what it is before I make the decision to reject it or not.

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

Marrea — Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:19 pm

Author: Marrea

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:19 pm

nelz wrote:

I use Gentoo, but I was thinking of something like Debian, or the Debian-based Mint when I wrote that.

I think Gentoo would be a step too far for me, but Debian (which I have used before and fortunately could never have that dreadfully inappropriate and over-used adjective "awesome" applied to it ) or Linux Mint Debian might suit. I am slightly concerned about the stability of the latter though.

nelz wrote:

To me, it doesn't make sense to get things set up just the way you want, only to have to reinstall and do it all again.

Precisely - and sometimes you find you can't actually set things up in the new version in exactly the same way as they were in the previous one.

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

nelz — Sat Jan 22, 2011 9:58 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 9:58 pm

That's just how I feel Marrea, which is why I've been using the same distro for years and never reinstalled. I use Gentoo, but I was thinking of something like Debian, or the Debian-based Mint when I wrote that.

Even Mandrake, bless 'em, used to provide a rolling update system. To me, it doesn't make sense to get things set up just the way you want, only to have to reinstall and do it all again.

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

heiowge — Sat Jan 22, 2011 7:29 pm

Author: heiowge

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 7:29 pm

Maybe it's because my netbook (10.10) is only a couple of years old, whereas my desktop still has DDR1 RAM.

Hopefully I can change that soon...

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

ajgreeny — Sat Jan 22, 2011 6:02 pm

Author: ajgreeny

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 6:02 pm

Helowge said

Quote:

I have used Ubuntu since 7.10 and had planned on sticking. It's been 10.10 and 11.04 that have changed that. 10.10 hated my ATI graphics card, whereas 10.04 just worked. How can they upgrade and break something so simple AND STILL fail to fix it after 3 months. Surely they could find a way to revert...

I have been using Ubuntu since 5.04, and all was well until 9.10 which would not run on my old ATI card, the 9200SE I mentioned earlier, without disabling compiz, reducing resolution or running at 16 bit colour. !0.04 was better in some respects but desktop rendering was poor using the standard kernel, however an update to a newer kernel using a ppa has overcome that, and now 10.04 is as good as 10.10, which now, after fully updating is really good.

My point? A version upgrade is not always better, but also not always worse, as apparently has been the case for helowge. Everything, as always, depends on hardware!

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

PCNetSpec — Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:19 pm

Author: PCNetSpec

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:19 pm

Mint have been doing a Debian based rolling release for a while now.

Linux Mint Debian Edition:
http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

Debian but with a bit of Mint's polish.

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

Dutch_Master — Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:35 pm

Author: Dutch_Master

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:35 pm

As Debian user, I couldn't care less about what release-schedules other "main-stream" distro's have, nor the hype they create for themselves... If one uses the Testing branch of Debian, although chances of something breaking are higher then the Stable version, many report no issues at all. Testing is a more-or-less rolling release (unless during the freeze when the new Stable is being launched) but if you're not happy updating regularly (you should anyway ) then stick to Stable. That only gets security updates and once in a while a new release.

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

Marrea — Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:17 pm

Author: Marrea

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:17 pm

nelz wrote:

Then don't. Use a distro that provides rolling upgrades, rather than expecting you to repeatedley reinstall.

I'm not sure currently which distros they would be. Gentoo and Debian? Any others? I could live with Debian but I'm not keen on Gentoo.

What I'm referring to is the way we are constantly bombarded with references to the "latest and greatest" version of Ubuntu/SuSE/Fedora/Mint/Mandriva/whatever. The desperation many people seem to have to download the newest version the minute it is released. "Just getting it now on the torrent as we speak." "Will get it installed tonight."

I've no sooner become settled with Lucid when all of a sudden Natty is upon us (you'll notice I've completely missed Maverick in the rush). It's hard not to get caught up in all the excitement and you somehow feel deprived if you don't upgrade like everyone else.

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

khakilang — Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:09 am

Author: khakilang

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:09 am

I will try it and see how it help me on my day to day computing and if I don't like I still have 10.04 or 10.10 and also all the Distro DVD that come together with Linux Format magazine. Its a matter of choice.

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

nelz — Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:17 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:17 pm

Marrea wrote:

Like Rhakios, I'm sticking with 10.04. One of the things (well the only thing really!) that I find tiresome about Linux is the constant updating of distros. I want to get a distro on my computer, set it up to my liking and then use it, not be reinstalling a new version every few months.

Then don't. Use a distro that provides rolling upgrades, rather than expecting you to repeatedley reinstall.

Re: What to do about the Narwhal

Rhakios — Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:56 pm

Author: Rhakios

Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:56 pm

Well, as 11.04 is only an intermediate release, the adoption of Unity isn't yet set in stone. However, I'm not sure it is aimed solely at mobiles, rather it's seen as an alternative the the Gnome Shell.
Alternative desktop interfaces seem to be becoming quite popular these days, which I conceded, is probably being driven by the increasing prevalence of touch interface devices, though these are not restricted to mobile devices as Jeff Han has often demonstrated.