In a week or two it is possible to configure a desktop Linux machine to almost-perfection. Not working on it full time, of course, just fixing broken things as they are discovered. But then there's always one tiny nagging thing that doesn't quite work right.
So, an upgrade. Everything is shinier, and that one bug is finally fixed. Too bad a lot of the programs and libraries are obsolete now, and the software that did survive in the repos is rewritten to use the new interfaces. Along with their bugs. And after a couple weeks setting everything up just so, there is one tiny nagging bug...
I use a Debian machine exclusively. After I upgraded to testing, my video stopped crashing. That's great. But now bluetooth is broken. It's been replaced with a completely new HAL framework, and I still can't figure out how to pair a device.
That's how it seems to be these days. Something is always not working quite right. I got a new Macbook Air a while ago and decided to install Linux. After messing with it for a few hours I realized I didn't have time to hunt down all the bugs and Google the various solutions. So I'm back in OS X.
For my desktops I'm used to Linux. It works perfectly and I'm so used to the way I do things there that doing them on any other operating system or in a different window manager is annoying.
I hear you - I'm an Ubuntu user and I see usability and driver regressions with every release.
I cant disable the touchpad in Karmic (could do do that in Jaunty) - bug marked as wishlist.
DEC Tulip drivers have stopped working from Hardy onwards.
Audio drivers dont work well on Thinkpad R series - its quite a hack to get them to work.
A similar thing happened to me last fall. I wanted to switch to ubuntu, Installed it and found that the audio won't work.
After some google-fu, I found a setting described in ubuntu forums which made it work, but the sound from my laptop speaker kept playing even after plugging in the headphone jack :(.
A LOT of trouble can be saved if the hardware is confirmed to work with the OS. I bought a System76 Starling. Haven't upgraded it to Karmic yet - I figure I'll let more people tread the upgrade path until it is smoother.
really ... I configured my computer to dual boot Ubuntu in a couple of hours. It was faster than it took me to configure my original Windows installation (which came pre-installed, mind you).
And I have no idea what you are complaining about regarding the libraries. I just merely say ok when update manager pops up. Have not had problems thus far.
Well, my upgrade went fine too. But the amount of auto-removable packages was astounding afterwards. Most of them were libsomething.deb :) Which means that for whatever reason the original libraries (or packages) were no longer good enough. Now, how many dependencies need to be checked (and/or get broken subtly) any time a library is rolled into a new package? What about when a library is re-written?
I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for these changes. But they do make life a pain for us users. And the stuff that keeps breaking/changing is the interfaces and packaging. Which means configs have to be tweaked with every major upgrade.
All my recent troubles have been caused by the switch to HAL. First it was X.org (broke my keyboard layout). Now it's Bluetooth. I like the modular design of HAL, but I just can't help but think it's just going to be ripped out and replaced again in a year or two because someone decides they hate XML, or something like that :)
Well, so you are having HAL issues. It is not surprising that switching to HAL may make some devices not work, because HAL takes over all the driving of all devices from Linux, and HAL although a great idea does not seem to be nearly finished.
What is bewildering is why you decide to blame Linux for all of that. You decided to use some cutting edge not really finished utility that is not nearly necessary and you have some issues. Linux is not to blame for that, Linux has perfectly good hardware drivers, you do not need to use HAL.
I mean you may have a point if MS and/or OSX had something like HAL but to the best of my knowledge they don't.
And that's just the nature of Linux -- it gives you freedom. It provides a completely easy and safe route if you choose to take it, but it also allows you to live dangerously, to change everything and to use all kinds of unstable experimental software as part of the OS stack if you choose that. It is your choice and if you choose to live dangerously you should not blame linux but yourself.
I have been running linux for about 5 years now. When i furst started I was all gung ho and compiled my own programs dove headlong into obscure config files, etc. I quickly realized that is not for me and now I only install things with the pachage manager and have not touched a config file in two years. And I am completly happy with my computer.
So, an upgrade. Everything is shinier, and that one bug is finally fixed. Too bad a lot of the programs and libraries are obsolete now, and the software that did survive in the repos is rewritten to use the new interfaces. Along with their bugs. And after a couple weeks setting everything up just so, there is one tiny nagging bug...
I use a Debian machine exclusively. After I upgraded to testing, my video stopped crashing. That's great. But now bluetooth is broken. It's been replaced with a completely new HAL framework, and I still can't figure out how to pair a device.