Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

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michael louwe

Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by michael louwe »

In a way, though, having given up on innovating on the desktop and on the smartphone market has been a blessing. "I can work with more focus on cloud and the edge and IoT.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/mark-shut ... oing-next/ (Mark Shuttleworth dishes on where Canonical and Ubuntu Linux are going next)

This may be why Ubuntu desktop 18.04 and Linux Mint 19 Beta have deteriorated a bit or become slightly more buggy.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by altair4 »

The "having given up on innovating on the desktop" in that quote refers to "Unity" not the Linux desktop itself. They never had any control over the entirety of the Linux desktop.

If the latest desktops are more buggy than before it's because there are hundreds of parts that make it up and there is no ownership and supervision of all of it that can dispense punishment or exclusion for sloppy, unprofessional, incomplete, and incoherent code. Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, suse, etc.. have no control over the majority of packages it contains.

That is a very different situation from the way the Linux Kernel is developed.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Hoser Rob »

michael louwe wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:55 am... This may be why Ubuntu desktop 18.04 and Linux Mint 19 Beta have deteriorated a bit or become slightly more buggy.
Ubuntu 18.04 is relatively new. You know how savvy Windows users would wait for the first service pack before installing? Savvy Ubuntu users will wait for 18.04.1 for a less buggy version.

And Mint 19 is a beta release, which makes it buggy BY DEFINITION. I can't believe how many Linux newbies will install a beta release. None of the IT people I know of will do so unless they're forced to.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by catweazel »

michael louwe wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:55 am ...Linux Mint 19 Beta have deteriorated a bit or become slightly more buggy.
:lol: What do you expect of a beta release?
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by KBD47 »

Shuttleworth is looking at that IPO. I think he lost interest when mobile/convergence failed for Ubuntu. The reason Debian and Mint are my favorites is Debian is all about community, and Mint much the same. Canonical/Ubuntu is becoming more and more about business and I suspect that will drive their actions for years to come.
rado84

Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by rado84 »

Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop
What does that mean for the future of Mint? Does that mean Mint will not be developed at some point?
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Fred Barclay »

rado84 wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:57 pm
Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop
What does that mean for the future of Mint? Does that mean Mint will not be developed at some point?
No worries for that. Ubuntu is continuing, they're just using Gnome instead of their home-grown Unity as the desktop environment.
Since Mint doesn't use either Gnome or Unity, this shouldn't have any effect on us. ;)
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Moem »

rado84 wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:57 pm
Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop
What does that mean for the future of Mint? Does that mean Mint will not be developed at some point?
No one knows, which is fine because it hasn't actually happened.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by rado84 »

Fred Barclay wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:59 pm No worries for that. Ubuntu is continuing, they're just using Gnome instead of their home-grown Unity as the desktop environment.
Since Mint doesn't use either Gnome or Unity, this shouldn't have any effect on us. ;)
Ah, good. For a moment there I thought we'd be deprived of this great green OS.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Cinnamon based on Gnome? If "yes", then Mint does use Gnome, altough a modified version.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by KBD47 »

rado84 wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:57 pm What does that mean for the future of Mint? Does that mean Mint will not be developed at some point?
Mint's not going anywhere. They have plenty of options no matter what ubuntu does.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Fred Barclay »

rado84 wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 1:06 pm Ah, good. For a moment there I thought we'd be deprived of this great green OS.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Cinnamon based on Gnome? If "yes", then Mint does use Gnome, altough a modified version.
Kinda-sorta. :mrgreen: From what I understand Cinnamon is a true fork now instead of a customised version of Gnome Shell. That means if the Gnome guys were to all quit tomorrow, Cinnamon could still march on.
Possibly I'm wrong on some of the details though. I pay more attention to MATE. ;)
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by MintBean »

michael louwe wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:55 amThis may be why Ubuntu desktop 18.04 and Linux Mint 19 Beta have deteriorated a bit or become slightly more buggy.
Nothing to do with the fact that it's a beta with a lot of structural changes that won't go final release for around a month then? My advice - don't run betas if you're going to start worrying about the number of bugs.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Portreve »

The title of this thread is significantly misleading.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Arch_Enemy »

I never cared for Ubuntu anyway. I have often said Mint is "too easy", and Ubuntu was moreso, but then they came out with the Unity desktop and that really turned me right off.
Came to Mint, but, as I said, it was "too easy". ;)
THen I took up my love/hate affair with Arch, and came back to Mint 3 years ago because it was "too easy". :lol:

Go figure...
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One thing I would suggest, create a partition as a 50G partition as /. Partition the rest as /Home. IF the system fails, reinstall and use the exact same username and all your 'stuff' comes back to you.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Portreve »

Years ago I owned an iMac G4 (the half-dome with the boom-mounted display) and a friend of mine who's actually a coder and network admin by trade suggested putting Arch on it, since we'd talked about available distros to use to repurpose it.

I mean, it's all fine and well to try and expand one's knowledge, but trying to install Arch when you have zero coding experience is not the way to go about it. There were evidently enough architectural differences between an Apple-produced PPC system and a typucal x86 system that there was just no handholding me over the phone.

Besides, if you're not into that sort of thing, it really is a waste of one's time.

Ultimately, I sold it off, and of course at this point I own an Intel i7-based MacBook Pro, so it's entirely irrelevant anymore.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Arch_Enemy »

Portreve wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:19 pm Years ago I owned an iMac G4 (the half-dome with the boom-mounted display) and a friend of mine who's actually a coder and network admin by trade suggested putting Arch on it, since we'd talked about available distros to use to repurpose it.

I mean, it's all fine and well to try and expand one's knowledge, but trying to install Arch when you have zero coding experience is not the way to go about it. There were evidently enough architectural differences between an Apple-produced PPC system and a typucal x86 system that there was just no handholding me over the phone.

Besides, if you're not into that sort of thing, it really is a waste of one's time.

Ultimately, I sold it off, and of course at this point I own an Intel i7-based MacBook Pro, so it's entirely irrelevant anymore.
LOL! Yeah, I remember those things. I was working Helpdesk for GE and a couple sales offices had those things, and when they asked what I told people when they called in for help my standard response was, "have them buy you something that works." There was one girl in articular that had the Apple from...er..Hades...

BTW, your current avatar looks like the guitar player in my band...
I have travelled 37629424162.9 miles in my lifetime

One thing I would suggest, create a partition as a 50G partition as /. Partition the rest as /Home. IF the system fails, reinstall and use the exact same username and all your 'stuff' comes back to you.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Portreve »

Arch_Enemy wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:08 pmBTW, your current avatar looks like the guitar player in my band...
Lol! I hope your band member isn't this dude. :o :lol:
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by kc1di »

most of the newbies that come from windows and complain about buggy systems today never worked with Linux before ubuntu /Mint were you had to do your own config files for your monitor etc. These Distros have come a long way there will always be bugs in systems, Since most developers do not have the time nor equipment resources to test their code or packages against every possibility that's what pre- release betas are for and the system works pretty good if you ask me. Mint 19 beta on my particular machines has been very stable just a few minor bugs that were fixed in the first round of updates. I think the devs. do a great job in reacting to bug reports.
So many just complain on the forums instead of reporting the bugs. In mint you report them by adding a comment on the blog that's found just below the release announcement for you particular desktop. On ubuntu they handle bugs via their bug reporting system in launchpad which for many is an automated process.
Each distro handles bugs there own way. Bug that come down from upstream must be sent back upstream for fixes and take some time to get resolved.

But all in all Linux Mint is quite good at fixing bugs before final release and my hat is off to the Devs for that.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Arch_Enemy »

Portreve wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 3:46 am
Arch_Enemy wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:08 pmBTW, your current avatar looks like the guitar player in my band...
Lol! I hope your band member isn't this dude. :o :lol:
Well, he is a master, sort of.

I haven't seen the good Doctor for ~6 years now. Until then I had seen every one from the first one in 1963 all the way up to the one who dressed like a clown, and then some from the 2000's, with the exception of the episode called "The War Machine".
I have travelled 37629424162.9 miles in my lifetime

One thing I would suggest, create a partition as a 50G partition as /. Partition the rest as /Home. IF the system fails, reinstall and use the exact same username and all your 'stuff' comes back to you.
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Re: Canonical giving up on Ubuntu desktop.

Post by Arch_Enemy »

kc1di wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 5:51 am most of the newbies that come from windows and complain about buggy systems today never worked with Linux before ubuntu /Mint were you had to do your own config files for your monitor etc. These Distros have come a long way there will always be bugs in systems, Since most developers do not have the time nor equipment resources to test their code or packages against every possibility that's what pre- release betas are for and the system works pretty good if you ask me. Mint 19 beta on my particular machines has been very stable just a few minor bugs that were fixed in the first round of updates. I think the devs. do a great job in reacting to bug reports.
So many just complain on the forums instead of reporting the bugs. In mint you report them by adding a comment on the blog that's found just below the release announcement for you particular desktop. On ubuntu they handle bugs via their bug reporting system in launchpad which for many is an automated process.
Each distro handles bugs there own way. Bug that come down from upstream must be sent back upstream for fixes and take some time to get resolved.

But all in all Linux Mint is quite good at fixing bugs before final release and my hat is off to the Devs for that.
Ye gods and little fishes. I had successfully forgotten those days, when you had a low-key video card and a CRT monitor with wonky refresh rates. Spent many long hours with XRANDR and that old NCURSES based utility that escapes me now.

And hopefully escapes me for the rest of my life! :lol:
I have travelled 37629424162.9 miles in my lifetime

One thing I would suggest, create a partition as a 50G partition as /. Partition the rest as /Home. IF the system fails, reinstall and use the exact same username and all your 'stuff' comes back to you.
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