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Interviews: Ask 'Ubuntu Unleashed' Author Matthew Helmke
Matthew Helmke (personal blog) is the author of the newly published 11th edition of Ubuntu Unleashed (published by Pearson); this updated edition of the book will cover the OS through Ubuntu's 15.10 and (forthcoming) 16.04 releases. Helmke is also a former Ubuntu Forum administrator, a musician, an entrepreneur, and a long-time Slashdot reader who now leads a "nice quiet life in Iowa." Ask Matthew about what it's like to be a Linux book author and community leader, and his thoughts on Canonical, the goods and bads of modern Linux distributions, and the future of Ubuntu -- especially relevant with the upcoming release of the first Ubuntu-based tablet. (Remember, Matthew isn't responsible for gripes you may have with either Ubuntu or Canonical, but he might have some good solutions to particular problems.) Ask as many questions as you'd like; we just ask that you keep them on-topic, and please stick to one question per post.
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Who would you like to see interviewed on Slashdot? Drop us a line at feedback@slashdot.org.
The Unleashed books are still going?
Correction: Books are still going?
At the bottom of the
>> long-time Slashdot reader who now leads a "nice quiet life in Iowa."
Are you saying that if you live in the American midwest, you have to give up reading SlashDot?
I'm curious as to your thoughts on the future of Linux on the desktop. With SecureBoot and UEFI, the formerly simple process of trying out distros like Ubuntu has become something of a PITA. Do you think we have a future for Linux on the desktop, or are PC's going the way of locked-down bootloaders like many cell phones?
Since I'm not upgrading Windows beyond 7, due exclusively to Microsoft's new explicit policy of tracking every little thing I do on my computer, what distribution would you recommend? I am a long-time Linux user and enthusiast admin, but the problems I have encountered using Ubuntu Desktop have been simply silly, including my AMD Radeon HD 4XXX card completely losing driver support (believe me when I say the card is completely unsupported by all projects), a Linksys Wi-Fi card completely losing driver support (these last two happened after an update, not version upgrade), monitors not being recognized and having to manually configure Ubuntu to support the resolution settings, plus Wine being a crazy-klunky glob of instability for running MS Office, which is still far superior to Office alternatives for my usage.
Windows 7 expires in 2020 and I'm still unclear as to which direction I am going to end up going. And, omg, I'm even looking at Apple.
Why do you support a distro that ships with such a lousy piece of garbage software?
Ubuntu as is, is basically forking itself into the mobile version (and IMO making it all kinds of 'crap' in the process). This process has caused Ubuntu Desktop to stagnate like a mofo since 2013. 16.04 isn't looking much better in this regard. Is anything going on to ~innovate~ the user-facing side of Desktop Ubuntu? Mir feels like vaporware, Unity hasn't changed at all. 8 might be good but is also vaporware. Canonical has a wonderful opportunity to steal vast shares of the windows market with MS spying going on, but is letting the OS stagnate to chase some pipe dream of mobile they'll never gain a real foot-hold in....
stderr? This is driving us nuts when we have about six hundred Ubuntu servers, and simple problems are harder to solve because stderr is not displayed in the terminal or saved in the journal.
Switch to Red Hat...oh wait.
I have been using Linux since the good old days of the late 90's. I was using Debian until Ubuntu came around in 2004 and switched. Ubuntu was amazing in terms of how it made Linux more usable. However, as time went along Ubuntu was no longer so cutting edge and no longer resonated with me, so I have switched back to Debian. Anyway, all this time as a Linux user it's been a rough ride, every laptop I have purchased (I haven't had a desktop for 15 years) has had issues with Linux. Most common issues for me are that wi-fi drivers don't work and graphics card drivers are unstable. I choose Laptops that are going to give me the least problems by researching them thoroughly beforehand. The most recent laptop (HP ProBook) came with the option of having SUSE Linux installed by default, I thought this would be perfect, but the wi-fi did not work unless you had the correct version of SUSE installed. I am experienced at debugging and resolving issues, a new user would require a lot of patience, technical no-how just to get Linux functioning before they can use their PC. Although you can use Linux without the console, it is difficult to never have to go to the console. The console requires a paradigm shift for many users. In a nutshell the first hurdle for Linux is a massive jump, and only few are brave/curious enough to take it.
So my question is: What support channels would you recommend for new Linux users?
And dropping of exit statuses. If a daemon fails to start, it shouldn't return a zero!
Don't make config mistakes, and you won't need stderr.
I'm a life long computer user and have been considered very knowledgeable in some operating systems, but so far I can't claim to be knowledgeable or even comfortable with Linux, although I would like to gain that knowledge. I'm leaning towards Debian. Is there any reason that I should try to learn and use Ubuntu over Debian? If something has been dumbed down at the loss of flexibility or usefulness I would not consider that a "feature".
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I reply to my own post to ask another question, because the context is relevant.
Are there any solutions / techniques out there that simplify driver installation and configuration in Linux / Ubuntu? I am ask just in-case I am missing it.
This. The people here that keep complaining are causing their own problems. Don't create trouble then you won't have to troubleshoot.
Good read
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Don't duck up then u don't need a log.
Why would a GUI need stderr?
I haven't used stderr in over a decade. systemd is correct in getting rid of it.
Stderr is only displayed to the console so it is t that much better so people that complain about systemd have an agenda.
Oh please. How many people actually check exit statuses these days.
Why do you feel that you need stderr?
You people will bitch about anything.
You've put up with Linux on a laptop for 15 years? Dear god, help this poor AC.
When they were brand new, I laughed at things like Compiz as silly eye-candy. Then I watched a lot of the demos anyhow, and eventually installed it (slightly painful at first -- had to wait until I had a graphics card that would work) and came to really like the feeling of wobbly windows that moved with some interesting physics that made them feel more like "real" objects rather than just rectangles on a screen. My mind was changed, and I always enjoyed showing people the famous rotating cube desktop. Some people like the command line, and that's fine -- terminals are still around! -- but I liked windows that moved in a way that seemed more intuitive to me. Fast forward almost 10 years (sheesh!), and after a lot of platform switching for school, for work, or just because, I realize that I've been back for a few years on boring old 2-D desktops. Looking at Wikipedia, it seems like Compiz itself (speaking generically, and not wanting to get into a nomenclature war) doesn't seem to be a good match for Ubuntu these days [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiz].
So: what's your advice if I want to have a modern, supported, open-source, 3D desktop that plays well with the rest of an Ubuntu system? Ease of install is just as important as ease of use -- without the first, I might not get to the second. Bonus points it if works with Ubuntu derivatives like Mint and Elementary.
Hey, slashdot, that's the Debian logo, not the Ubuntu logo.
"Ask as many questions as you'd like; we just ask that you keep them on-topic, and please stick to one question per post."
This aint fucking reddit you dont make any fucking rules here.
We post what the fuck we like.
You got that backwards. SysVInit drops stderr, systemd does the right thing and stores stderr in the journal.
That systemctl returns 0 is not the same thing as dropping the exit code. The exitcode is used correctly, however systemctl does not launch the service syncronious, it merely schedules the service to launch and hence it always returns 0 unless there where a problem with the scheduling.
Now systemd can be configured to launch services syncroniously so what you want can be done, you just have to change your config.
"stderr? This is driving us nuts when we have about six hundred Ubuntu servers, and simple problems are harder to solve because stderr is not displayed in the terminal or saved in the journal. Is there a way to get systemd to not throw away...
How to Pipe Output to a File When Running as a Systemd Service?
Why do OS designers (or, more accurately, the suits who manage them) feel moved to swap around the main controls for known tasks with each new release? It is so silly to have such a steep learning curve for new versions. Windows 8 was too stupidly different (not hard, but different) from its predecessors. And it was obvious to anyone with the common sense that God gave a parakeet that people would hate doing familiar tasks in novel ways. People want to do stuff they are used to doing, Don't they? But boy do people despair of gratuitous novelty.
If auto designers did what OS designers routinely do, then we would be steering with a stick one year and with our feet the next. Accelerating with our thumbs one year... (Oh, wait! We DO do that.) But it's okay... We can still use our foot pedals. Why not design something more stable, faster and more bullet proof? It is no accident that schools are gravitating to Chrome OS, which is essentially a browser, which everybody already knows how to use. Chromebooks are admittedly cheaper. And there is no doubt that functionality and choices are sort of basic and limited in Chrome. But ask the fast food industry how restricting choice and reducing ambiguity actually improves the user experience. I use Mint because I hated Unity. Again... Why ax the steering wheel in favor of a cyclic? Why, I ask... Why? Why? Why?
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
Somehow I like 'no-how' better than 'know-how'.
"Son, Do you have the know-how for this? "
"Yes! No-how, no-way, Sir."
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
Do you foresee that one day Canonical will be up there with Google, Apple, and Microsoft in terms of being perceived as a software tech giant?
Publishing is notorious (well, semi-notorious -- based on the rants of a few friends who have had books published, technical as well as non-technical) for requiring authors to submit their work in formats friendly for their internal systems, which is understandable from their perspective but I imagine could be annoying to authors. (Not all publishing is the same, I know --- math journals for instance seem to go in for LaTex and similar.) But for you as an author writing for a mainstream publisher about open source and Free software, how do you find the tools that are available out of the box on a Linux system (Ubuntu specifically, since that's your bailliwick)? Are there any tasks you find are complicated by that, such that you have to keep a Windows or OS X system up? Does Pearson want you to use Word, for tracking / editing purposes, say?