Ubuntu Linux 10.04 is (coming) out

[doxos]

Next LTS is coming out Apr 29

 

[doxos]

This is a long term release.

 

[SNGX1275]

I can't be excited.

I have an Acer Aspire One D250 and the only version of Ubuntu that will install is 8.04, once I got that installed I tried the horribly painful process of trying to update it to 9.10 or whatever was the newest real release before 10.04 (by painful I mean they make you upgrade to every version inbetween rather than one big upgrade). Once I got to 8.10 my wireless crapped itself.

Actually I think I got one of the later versions to install, but wireless didn't work, which is why I tried the upgrade path from one that did work.

So I have 2 main problems:
1. New versions won't even attempt to install, before the installer even loads it quits.
2. Upgrading from a version that does install and has working wireless ends up killing wireless (oh and wired support isn't available on any version to my knowledge).

I'll probably give 10.04 a shot because I'm a sadist apparently, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[runescape]

ive given up on linux its alrite nothing bad, but its just that i find it hard to get software for it, and use the 'terminal'

 

[caravel]

I have an Acer Aspire One D250 and the only version of Ubuntu that will install is 8.04, once I got that installed I tried the horribly painful process of trying to update it to 9.10 or whatever was the newest real release before 10.04 (by painful I mean they make you upgrade to every version inbetween rather than one big upgrade). Once I got to 8.10 my wireless crapped itself.

Distribution upgrade is messy in Debian based distros, especially in Ubuntu which tends to be buggy and packed full of proprietary drivers from the start. It's risky enough in Debian (which I use). The difference is that Debian doesn't push a very risky distribution upgrade into your face via update manager every six months.

Actually I think I got one of the later versions to install, but wireless didn't work, which is why I tried the upgrade path from one that did work.

If your wireless isn't working between one version and another the issue may be due to a kernel update or missing proprietary firmware. The fact is to get your wireless working you will first need a working wired connection in order to fetch drivers and firmware from the repos.

So I have 2 main problems:
1. New versions won't even attempt to install, before the installer even loads it quits.

Have you tried requesting help on this at their official forums?

2. Upgrading from a version that does install and has working wireless ends up killing wireless (oh and wired support isn't available on any version to my knowledge).

As I said above, this is probably because you're using a proprietary wireless driver or a FOSS wireless driver that requires closed source firmware. Such firmware has been moved out of the Linux kernel and you may have to download it separately (which is a 10 second job in aptitude/apt-get/synaptic). If it's not firmware (some wireless chipsets don't need it), then it's most likely because your wireless driver was built for an older kernel.

Wired networking is always available... I'm not sure where you've gotten that (mis)information from?

I'll probably give 10.04 a shot because I'm a sadist apparently, but I'm not holding my breath.

I would advise that you try a different distribution. Ubuntu is not the only Linux and definitely not the best distro by a longshot.

ive given up on linux its alrite nothing bad, but its just that i find it hard to get software for it, and use the 'terminal'

Depends on distribution. For most mainstream distros, software is in the repositories for that distro. The terminal is something you get used to. You should not need to use it that often, but it is a necessary and powerful tool.

 

[SNGX1275]

Caravel - I've finally got some free time coming up this week, I'll spend some time with it and post back, but I believe the wired connection on the Acer Aspire Ones does not work in ubuntu. I'll find more information and post back (perhaps with links).

 

[fastco]

I use a HP Tx2500Z tablet and with Ubuntu 10.04 everything works, even the touchscreen. I tried other versions of Linux and the newest Ubuntu is by far the easiest and best. Everything just works and the whole computer is so much faster. I installed Wine so I can use Microsoft Office.

 

[steeve]

so I can use Microsoft Office.

that's disappointing...why not open office?

 

[caravel]

Caravel - I've finally got some free time coming up this week, I'll spend some time with it and post back, but I believe the wired connection on the Acer Aspire Ones does not work in ubuntu. I'll find more information and post back (perhaps with links).

It's important to remember that Ubuntu is just a distribution. In the case of hardware, if it "doesn't work in Ubuntu", it's likely to be an upstream issue. In fact if my memory serves me, this was a kernel bug. I think the Aspire One has an Atheros ethernet controller. It may be worth checking if the bug has been resolved and maybe upgrading to a newer kernel.

 

[Leeky]

Distribution upgrade is messy in Debian based distros, especially in Ubuntu which tends to be buggy and packed full of proprietary drivers from the start. It's risky enough in Debian (which I use). The difference is that Debian doesn't push a very risky distribution upgrade into your face via update manager every six months.

I find the frequent cycle to be nice, as your getting something new and improved on a twice yearly basis.

I never do upgrade though, as its just not worth the problems in doing so. That said, with seperate /, /usr/ and /home partitions my work is minimal after installing the newest version. I can live with 30 mins work to get everything back to how it was, or mess with a few settings that have changed etc. I don't lose documents, and the vast majority of my setting stay in place too. To be honest its all much better than when I installed Linux back onto one partition many moons ago.

If your wireless isn't working between one version and another the issue may be due to a kernel update or missing proprietary firmware. The fact is to get your wireless working you will first need a working wired connection in order to fetch drivers and firmware from the repos.

Have you tried requesting help on this at their official forums?

As I said above, this is probably because you're using a proprietary wireless driver or a FOSS wireless driver that requires closed source firmware. Such firmware has been moved out of the Linux kernel and you may have to download it separately (which is a 10 second job in aptitude/apt-get/synaptic). If it's not firmware (some wireless chipsets don't need it), then it's most likely because your wireless driver was built for an older kernel.

Wired networking is always available... I'm not sure where you've gotten that (mis)information from?

Someone will have experienced the same problem online. I dare say you'll even find it if you looked on the Ubuntu forums!

I've never come across a fresh install with no network capability from the ethernet. Sure wireless on many occasions, but never ethernet. That always works. Your wireless is just a driver, firmware or software related, and once you know the exact problem is easily corrected. You'll usually even find that once a network lead is connected it will find the driver and offer it in the drivers list for you anyway. I know you know this, but I thought it was a good point to make.

Depends on distribution. For most mainstream distros, software is in the repositories for that distro. The terminal is something you get used to. You should not need to use it that often, but it is a necessary and powerful tool.

Totally agree there too. Terminal is your friend, once you take the time to learn it.

I do think linux distro's to some degree are down to personal taste. I think Ubuntu offers most peop[le much more than other distro's do, and while its maybe not as powerful and customisable as say gentoo, its still very, very good in my opinion.

 

[caravel]

I find the frequent cycle to be nice, as your getting something new and improved on a twice yearly basis.

That's probably a matter of opinion. Personally I prefer (and use) Debian testing release (which Lucid is based on anyway).

I never do upgrade though, as its just not worth the problems in doing so. That said, with seperate /, /usr/ and /home partitions my work is minimal after installing the newest version. I can live with 30 mins work to get everything back to how it was, or mess with a few settings that have changed etc. I don't lose documents, and the vast majority of my setting stay in place too. To be honest its all much better than when I installed Linux back onto one partition many moons ago.

There's no reason why you can't upgrade. Debian upgrades ok if you know what you're doing, Ubuntu never upgrades ok in my experience - even from a clean install there are likely to be problems.

For Debian it's usually only a case of changing your sources.list over to the newer distro, then aptitude update, aptitude full-upgrade. For going from stable to testing at the moment it's wise to upgrade the apt tools first and then install and boot into the newer kernel before running the upgrade - this is because of the upgrade to dependency-based boot sequencing, etc. Upgrading from testing to unstable is simpler because there's much less difference between the branches.

Someone will have experienced the same problem online. I dare say you'll even find it if you looked on the Ubuntu forums!

If you're an UF regular, you may know me and also may/may not know that I'm actually banned. It's not exactly my first choice for info/advice anyway.

I've never come across a fresh install with no network capability from the ethernet. Sure wireless on many occasions, but never ethernet. That always works. Your wireless is just a driver, firmware or software related, and once you know the exact problem is easily corrected. You'll usually even find that once a network lead is connected it will find the driver and offer it in the drivers list for you anyway. I know you know this, but I thought it was a good point to make.

It can happen - rare but entirely possible.

It's worth noting that having an ethernet cable plugged in has no bearing whatsoever on a device being detected and kernel module loaded for said device.

On wireless, it's not always so easily solved as some wireless chipsets are still problematic and will need ndiswrapper.

I do think linux distro's to some degree are down to personal taste. I think Ubuntu offers most peop[le much more than other distro's do, and while its maybe not as powerful and customisable as say gentoo, its still very, very good in my opinion.

That's you're opinion and you're entitled to it. In my humble opinion, after having used Ubuntu on and off since Dapper Drake, it offers nothing that cannot be provided by Debian or other distros. From my perspective 'buntu is mostly marketing.

 

[arcksonn]

Ubuntu 10.04 is our first Long Term Support release since early 2008… and it feels long overdue. And that is because desktop Linux has come a long, long way in the last two years.Those amazing 3D desktop effects we all know and love? Those were not a part of Ubuntu 2 years ago. That’s right. Out of the box, Ubuntu in early 2008 was horrifyingly 2-Dimensional!.This is a release we are going to be “stuck” with (for many) for the next two years and is the release that many companies will measure up against Windows and MacOS X.

 

[SNGX1275]

It's important to remember that Ubuntu is just a distribution. In the case of hardware, if it "doesn't work in Ubuntu", it's likely to be an upstream issue. In fact if my memory serves me, this was a kernel bug. I think the Aspire One has an Atheros ethernet controller. It may be worth checking if the bug has been resolved and maybe upgrading to a newer kernel.

Tried 10.04 Netbook remix. Initially all appeared to be going well, despite there being some error before the gui part of the install began. I get through all the steps and it begins installing. At 30% I get:

[Errno 5] Input/output error
--------------------------------------------
This particular error is often due to a faulty CD/DVD disk or drive, or a faulty hard disk. It may help to clean the CD/DVD, to burn the CD/DVD at a lower speed, to clean the CD/DVD drive lens (cleaning kits are often available from electronics suppliers), to check whether the hard disk is old and in need of replacement, or to move the system to a cooler environment.

After that happened, I wondered if my USB stick was slightly undervoltage because I'm running the netbook off battery. So I plug it in and try again, this time it gets to the Ubuntu screen with 4 dots and hangs. Tried again, same issue.

I decide maybe it just doesn't like that USB stick, so I try a newish Patriot Razzo 16GB stick. Begins just like my first attempt with the other stick, this time I manage to read some of the errors before the GUI loads, it says something about wireless. So I suspect that the Wireless doesn't work again, but maybe the wired will. Begin installing, get to 30% and it throws the same error as above.

So still looks like I'm not going to get this installed.

Some information on the error here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/245794
Haven't read it all yet.

Edit: Finished reading it, there is a lot of talk about RAM causing that. So I did 4 passes with memtest and don't have any errors. They say to swap RAM if you can anyway, I may pull some RAM from my Powerbook and try that. But at the moment I'm left with without an OS on the netbook because when it began installing I had it wipe the partition the bootloader was on.

Edit 2: Switched to Jolicloud, its specifically designed for netbooks and actually lists my Acer Aspire One D250 on their compatibility list. Worked without any hitches. I'm liking it so far, except it seems they need to do some tweaking because the battery life is almost half what it is in Windows 7. Still ~4.5 hours, but in 7 I can get about 8 hours.