Some Early Adopters Stung By Ubuntu's Karmic Koala

Norsefire writes to mention a Register piece reporting that early adopters are having a tough time with Karmic Koala, Ubuntu's latest release. "Ubuntu 9.10 is causing outrage and frustration, with early adopters wishing they'd stuck with previous versions of the Linux distro. Blank and flickering screens, failure to recognize hard drives, defaulting to the old 2.6.28 Linux kernel, and failure to get encryption running are taking their toll, as early adopters turn to the web for answers and log fresh bug reports in Ubuntu forums." What has been your experience if you've moved to Karmic?

Comments

My experience

[Kjella]

Blank and flickering screens: No
Failure to recognize hard drives: No
Defaulting to the old 2.6.28 Linux kernel: No
Failure to get encryption running:
Sorta, but only because my computer took a dive in the middle of the live upgrade. I had to remount / read-write from an emergency console and run apt-get again. Or actually it told me to run "dpkg --configure -a" to correct it. That installed most things, but I had to reboot into the normal recovery console and run last updates. Rebooted and...

Working flawlessly with full disk encryption and everything. No problems with anything so far, that's my anecdotal evidence at least.

netbook remix

[feranick]

I was looking to replace the default 8.04 in my dell mini 9 with the 9.10 netbook remix. I found out that the desktop-switcher is not included in the distro. So I need to stick with the default single windows window manager, instead of the full GNOME. Why you may ask? Well, the desktop-switcher application was too buggy on release time, and they decided to remove it from the distro instead of fixing it. So nobody can complain and more important, there is nothing to be fixed if it's not there in first place. I'll stick to the old but reliable 8.04, for the time being.

openSUSE 11.2

[Anonymous Coward]

openSUSE 11.2 : 8 days to go.

Re:Great

[VirusEqualsVeryYes]

I immediately found a very large irritant after upgrading. Previously, I had line-in set to play through to the speakers. There was a simple slider in sound preferences that existed back since at least 6.06. The same option exists under Windows. But suddenly, 9.10 removed this option. Line-in no longer plays through, and the option has been completely removed from the revamped (and somewhat disorganized) sound preference panels. I appreciate the effort to "modernize" the sound options like per-application tuning, but not at the cost of tossing simple, basic options that have existed since the invention of the sound card.

Also, regarding the bootup animations, they've changed for three or four consecutive upgrades now. I don't mind a refresher when appropriate, but "refreshing" every six months tells me that some priorities need some reordering.

My problems with 9.1

[flyboy974]

Blank and flickering screens: Yes. I was running NVIDIA 180.29. The new kernel, being GCC 4.4 barfed. In fact, it caused screen flickers, which caused strangely Hard Disk read errors, keyboard input failures, and would lock up my computer if I couldnt' SSH in from another machien to do a "sudo service gdm stop"

Failure to recognize hard drives: No

Defaulting to the old 2.6.28 Linux kernel: Yep. Does not set the new 2.6.30-14-generic as default. So I have to keep arrowing up in grub. I'll reset this myself.

I also am having a problem with X-Plane 9.40. I use to get 60FPS no problem. I get 20 now. Notably I upgraded to NVIDIA 190.42 as a result of the 180.29 issues. But, it doesn't matter on the NVIDIA version. Strangely I found a work around. If I go to Preferences/Rendering and exit out, about 1/3 of the time I get back to 60FPS. My guess is the OpenAL or pulseaudio as it's reinitialized.

Re:Karmic Koala - mostly Karmic

[Nerdfest]

Problems plugging in an external monitor on my netbook. Workarounds are available, so it's tolerable. On the upside, it seems a bit better on batter life. Strangely, I'm not seeing any improvement in boot times, which people seem so obsessed with. Until it's under 10 seconds for my netbook, I'm sticking with suspend/hibernate.

The new disk utility picked up the informed me that my laptop disk is in serious need of replacing, which is a nice thing to know before it fails. Overall, not as smooth an upgrade as Jaunty, but not bad.

Re:Release cycles?

[V!NCENT]

Canonical is interested in rushing out bleeding edge versions of Ubuntu twice a year. Canonical is also interrested in stable, long term release versions, called LTS. Mod parent Troll.

Re:Release cycles?

[ozmanjusri]

they can deliver something on time, rather than delivering something good

I'm using Karmic on three computers, one fresh install and two upgrades from Jaunty.

All of them are good - one is Xubuntu on a lower-specced laptop and it feels quicker, both booting up and in use. The biggest problem was the current MythStream not working with V0.22 of MythTV.

Re:Release cycles?

[ozmanjusri]

Why do people insist on trotting out their own experiences of success

Because my experiences match that of the vast majority of Ubuntu users.

Just as the people who are caught up in the "endless reboot" problem with Windows 7 are a tiny minority, so are those having trouble with Karmic.

Even your example fails since you are having difficulties but are willing to brush them off.

My "difficulties" are that a single plugin for a single program hasn't been updated yet. The author of the plugin has been notified and has provided a beta updatebeta update. I have no doubt that I'll be seeing the release version in my update manager soon.

Re:Only Use LTS

[vigour]

...6 months releasing cycles are a joke. Just look at how long Windows 7 has been tested before release.

Then use Debian.

Re:Release cycles?

[Weslee]

On the very poll you linked to it says this -

  *** Disclaimer for those willing to analyse this poll ***
  Most of users voting here are users with issues.
  Users with painless experience are not likely to come here.
  If you want to compare Karmic release with other releases based on this poll anyway here are the previous polls :

Numerous problems, all downgrades from Jaunty

[musicon]

Unlike previous releases where I jumped in fairly early in the beta process (beta 2 or 3), I waited to move to Karmic until the release. I also decided to do a clean install this time to ensure I wouldn't run into any upgrade issues.

Unfortunately, despite the supposed "papercut" fixes, this release seems far more prone to problems. On my Dell Latitude 620 (with Intel graphics, mind you):

1. Where Jaunty did great handling my laptop display and external monitor, Karmic has had no end of problems; problems that kept enforcing mirroring of displays, continually defaulting to 1024x768, random placements of the taskbar and notification popups, etc. See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8229025 about moving the taskbar.
2. Totem/gstreamer had no display, just a blank screen. Finally found http://blog.php-oop.net/archives/39
3. The system defaulted to enabling compiz. I turned it off while troubleshooting all of the other video errors, but now it won't enable again.
4. Despite the touted KMS, I still have a 2-3 second wait at boot (text mode from Grub I'm assuming), and later a 2-3 second delay with a blank screen excepting an underscore in the top-left corner that shows up between the boot image (eg, usplash) and the "pulsing" gdm startup
5. The overall boot time (from power on to entering my password) is roughly identical to Jaunty -- I don't notice any difference.
6. Power usage seems to be about the same, although powertop has reported a spike of 33W whereas before I never saw it go over 19W.
7. Much higher memory usage reported in system monitor (previously most of the memory was allocated to cache, now most of it is allocated to programs).

About the only good thing I can say (which may also be attributed to the larger 500G drive I swapped in for the install), is that overall the system seems smoother and more responsive.

Re:Release cycles?

[Chaos Incarnate]

People with failures are more likely to be on the forum to see the poll in the first place.

Re:Release cycles?

[Falstius]

That poll is not scientific (people who find the poll are more likely to be people with problems), and out of people who upgraded the success rate is 68%. It is listed as 35% because they count successful installs separately from upgrades. Checking the polls for previous releases, the numbers are pretty much the same as this one.

I still don't use a new Ubuntu release for at least a few weeks though. There is always a flood of package upgrades for a few weeks after a release.

Re:Release cycles?

[somersault]

Vista had some really pathetic issues for *months* after it was released. I expect at least these issues will be cleared up pretty quickly. And as others have pointed out, this isn't an LTS release.

People are justified in trotting out their own experience because the summary asks for it.

For me KK is awesome, because I finally have accelerated graphics on my Dell Mini 9. I tried setting it up on jaunty a couple of times before but just assumed that my netbook didn't have the right chipset or enough graphics memory to run compiz. Now my netbook has all the benefits of the Ubuntu installation on my MBP (avant window navigator being one of my favourite things about it, 3D desktop cube and wibbly windows next), and more.

The only backwards step I've noticed so far is that the battery app in the system tray now just gives charge level as a percentage, with no time remaining or time to charge info. I don't think I had to install a custom app for that before. Strange.

No problems here, on two computers

[shellster_dude]

I upgraded to Karmic Koala on one box, and did a fresh, full ubuntu install on my EEEPC of Karmic, and I have had absolutely no problems. It even recognized my Atheros wifi and ethernet cards which I had previously had to custom compile the ethernet drivers, and install backported intrepid drivers for the wifi before, in Jaunty. In fact, this is the first ubuntu upgrade that I have never had any issues with. I have been using Ubuntu since Hoary Hedgehog.

Re:Release cycles?

[styrotech]

Why do people insist on trotting out their own experiences of success on a limited subset of hardware as if they somehow negate the fact that people are suffering because of the Ubuntu developer's subservience to the tyranny of the "Six Month Release Cycle (OMG)." Even your example fails since you are having difficulties but are willing to brush them off.

Jumping to conclusions about their motivations? Maybe that persons experience was trotted out purely because the story summary itself asked for peoples experiences.

And here is mine: Two clean installs (no upgrades yet), and no apparent problems.

Register Bloodied by Lack of Research

[dustinkirkland]

As this article attacked the feature I personally worked on in Karmic, I felt it appropriate to respond in my blog at http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2009/11/register-bloodied-by-lack-of-research.html.
Typically, I read and respect The Register. They usually run intriguing technology articles that make me think. I'm quite disappointed with today's carelessly researched piece, specifically, the paragraphs regarding eCryptfs.
Lack of automation? In Ubuntu 9.10, encrypting your home directory is a matter of selecting a check box in the installer: That's it. 9.04 Encrypted Home upgrading users simply run update-manager and upgrade all packages to 9.10. Their home directory encryption is not affected by this.
The author of this article found one post in the Ubuntu Forums poorly articulating an issue with home directory encryption and suddenly Ubuntu 9.10 users are getting "bloodied" by encryption in Ubuntu? Seriously?
I expect better journalism from The Register...
:-Dustin

Re:Release cycles?

[Sonic McTails]

The release behind shipping the LTS with Firefox 3.0b4 was simply that Firefox 2 would not have been maintainable for the next five years. It was decided that as soon as firefox 3.0 final was released, it would be placed both in the updates and security tree. If your running an up to date Hardy system, you have the latest version of firefox 3.

My Experience

[Tarlus]

Whas [sic] has been your experience if you've moved to Karmic?

The Good:

• PulseAudio was improved and is (finally) friendly and functional with my sound card.
• The new Intel drivers have drastically improved the performance of my video hardware.
• My machine boots up and enters/emerges-from hibernation faster than ever.
• General performance in GNOME is faster and more responsive.

The Bad:

• Notifications in GNOME were deliberately shoved downward and away from the top of the screen. Luckily there's an easy fix.
• The Firefox icon disappeared. Had to spend a whole five seconds re-applying it. :D
• A couple of packages disappeared since they were mistakenly marked as deprecated. A quick apt-get reinstalled them.

I would have to say that in my experience with Karmic, the pros greatly outweighed the cons. I'll live major increases in performance at the cost of minor fixable annoyances!

Of course, I did an upgrade from 9.04 so I haven't taken the plunge to GRUB 2 or EXT4. Those two things are still kinda young (and bold decisions for Canonical to commit to production) so perhaps they're contributing factors to the problems that most people are experiencing?

Re:I switched shortly before the RC

[melikamp]

Occasional pop sounds from the speakers, but audio is working fine.

In

/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

comment out

options snd-hda-intel power_save=10 power_save_controller=N

(last line).

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1311262&highlight=popping+sounds