Is editing the registry or hunting down drivers for a new version of Windows better? Or how about waking up to Snow Leopard having deleted your $HOME folder? Operating systems have their issues - it's inevitable...
> Is editing the registry or hunting down drivers for a new version of Windows better?
I can't remember the last time I edited the registry or had to install a driver manually.
Don't get me wrong, I run Ubuntu and I like it. The upgrade process on the whole is much better than a even a few years ago. I just loathe upgrading since it can take weeks to iron out problems with the upgrade. Invariably there are issues with suspend/resume, video drivers, randr, gnome preferences borked, etc. Perhaps these problems will go away in the not too distant future now that more and more manufacturers are shipping Ubuntu pre-installed.
Here's the funny thing: I actually dislike Ubuntu (I run Debian at home and use OSX at work), and I loathe Windows. But of course, none of that matters (saying "I run Ubuntu and I like it" is a bit like saying "some of my best friends are <gay, black, Jewish, whatever>").
The point isn't whether you or the other respondent has recently edited the registry or hunted down a driver. The point was that all operating systems have their troubles.
The standard gripe about Linux distros is hardware related. Well, um, duh: if the hardware is closed source, there are going to be problems getting things to work just right. Hardware manufacturers cater to Windows (for obvious reasons) and Apple controls what hardware their os runs on. Ubuntu, Gentoo, Debian et al. are not in a position to do this. So, yeah, there are probably always going to be those kinds of troubles with Linux.
That said, you can't beat the price, the ability to get at the source code (if that matters to you) or the package manager (for Debian-based distros, at least).
> The point isn't whether you or the other respondent has recently edited the registry or hunted down a driver. The point was that all operating systems have their troubles.
No, the point is I haven't had those troubles on Vista. I haven't had these issues for a long time. I could care less about open or closed source drivers. I just like it when things work. And I like it so much I'm even willing to pay money for it. That is the point.
> Is editing the registry or hunting down drivers for a new version of Windows better?
When was the last time that installing a new Windows involved registry hacks. I'll admit that I haven't used Windows 7 or Vista, but I don't remember hacking the registry on Win95/98/ME/2k/XP installs.
Maybe you shouldn't get so bent out of shape so quickly. It's not like he was bashing Linux and promoting Windows/OSX. If someone gripes about Windows do you immediately rush in to make comparisons to similar problems in OSX or Linux?
With the way that Ubuntu does releases though, it's little wonder that people are scared to update. It's been a revision or two since Ubuntu pushed Xorg over to using evdev for mouse handling/etc, and my Thinkpad's TrackPoint is still only recognized as a regular mouse (no scrolling) when previous Ubuntu revisions had readily setup scrolling automatically for me.
{edit} I'll add there are multiple blog posts, and a LaunchPad report, IIRC with the fix... which the Ubuntu devs have not seen fit to include in Ubuntu, so a fresh install mean applying all of the fixes. {/edit}
With the update to Jaunty (9.04), I've had a few woes with my Atheros chipset:
1. ath5k was forced as the default out-of-the-box driver for Atheros chipsets over the previous madwifi (ath_hal) driver.
2. ath5k is flakey whenever I come home and connect to my wifi network... even when the laptop is 2 feet away from the access point. It will connect/disconnect from the network 2-5 times before deciding to stay connected.
3. If I change position in my room (with the access point in the middle), the same connect/disconnect 'settling' period still needs to happen.
4. /var/log/syslog is filled with spam from NetworkManager with messages along the lines of this (even when I see no visible disconnects in nm-applet):
'disconnect from network (mynetwork)'
'connect to network (null)'
'disconnect from network (null)'
'connect to network (mynetwork)'
5. There are unexplained slow downs in the network with the ath5k driver. For the longest time I thought that my ssh woes (random 'hangs' that last 2-6 seconds) over my network were the problem of the server, but since I've switched back to madwifi they've vanished.
6. The madwifi driver still doesn't play nice with suspend-to-ram (and maybe suspend-to-disk but I haven't tested it). It will refuse to work after waking back up (and a modprobe -r/modprobe doesn't help). Ubuntu could easily fix this... Just need to drop `SUSPEND_MODULES="$SUSPEND_MODULES ath_hal"` into a file in '/etc/pm/config.d'. This problem has existed for at least 2 or 3 revisions of Ubuntu (maybe more). The fix is on the web and on Launchpad.net, but I have yet to see the fix make its way into an official release.
If me, as someone that knows my way around Linux, can get frustrated with these issues, then how can 'Bringing Linux to the Masses' be anyway near achievement? My laptop isn't exactly a brand new laptop with highly unsupported hardware. I'm running a ThinkPad X41.
[ Oh, and did I mention that the headphone jack stops working after the second time I suspend/resume after a fresh boot? I'm perfectly willing to work with the Ubuntu devs on Launchpad, but all of my suggestions/information is apparently falling on deaf ears. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/101986 ]
Not necessarily, but someone griping about needing to wait for Service Pack 1 of a Windows release before having a stable platform wouldn't have gotten the same response.
