Ubuntu Desktop Linux - Hardy Heron

[groo]

I really wanted to like it, and found it's configuration, package installations, etc. all very smoothly integrated compared to other distros I've run in the past (SuSE, OpenSuSE, Red Hat (pre-Fedora), Mandrake/Mandriva.) Unfortunately it's the most unstable excuse for an OS I've ever run. I don't think I managed to run for an hour before it would suddenly lock the mouse out and freeze the entire system, both with the default vga driver and with the NVidia GLX driver.

So I won't be recommending Ubuntu to anyone in the near future. "Mostly" working and slick isn't compensated for by lockups when I'm used to being able to run linux boxen for weeks or months, never mind hours.

[GriM]

i been running ubuntu,kubuntu,and most recently mythbuntu.. and find them VERY stable.. i have it running on one server ,2 frontends, and 2 desktops... not issue one other then some drivers needed to run the wifi on a laptop.... one of the easiest linux distros i have found to instal and configure .... just me two penny's ;) ..


just checked my server logs on my myth backend.. its been up 7 days 15 hours and in that time it has servered both frontends with live feeds and did all the recording and transcoding with a p4 2.5 and a 1/2 gig of memory ... i say thats fairly stable ;) seeing that the last reboot was only cuz of some compiling i was doing and it made me feel better ...lol

[tumbleweed]

I would like to try out a linux distro on my pc, but I have a raid 0 setup and the std. install doesn't do raid I think.

[rev.clone]

i still run an 8 yr old version of redhat on a p2 machine.

[GriM]

just got pressed copies of edubuntu,kubuntu,and ubuntu server in the mail this am :) took a few weeks but hey they are free ..lol...


groo, where you by chance using compu-fusion? myself that was the only issues i came acrouse , my older vid card didnt play well with it so just unistalled it, i dont need the "cube" anyways ....lol

[Coop]

Must admit, I love my Mandriva.. :-)

[groo]

I'm running a brand-new NVidia 8800GT. It's supported by the NVidia drivers as well as a standard VGA frame buffer, so it's not a question of bad hardware. The X display server just goes belly up every hour or so for some strange reason.

Like many of you I've run Linux for years (most recently OpenSuSE), and always found it to be solid as a rock. I'm way disappointed to find Ubuntu isn't stable on my hardware.

The most likely cause of the problem lies rooted in my cheap motherboard. Odds are some hardware on it is using a "close enough" driver and flaking out. Perhaps USB. Perhaps disk. Who knows -- I'm not getting any kernel panics or anything helpful like that, just a complete system lock-up.

If I had another box I could try telnetting or SSH'ing in to see if the box is actually running (just a dead X-server.)

[Hammer]

I liked ubuntu.. but was running it off my windows partions.. so it was slower than if intsalled directly on it own partion.

I too have trouble with a nvidia card and compufizzle

[eleven357]

Yeah man the nvidia linux driver issue. I have heard there have been issues running the newer nvidia cards.

I'm running an ATI x1600 card in my kubuntu 8.04 box with no issues at all.

[groo]

Intrepid Ibex 8.10 64-bit is running fine with NVidia drivers. This time I did a full install to an empty hard-drive, rather than running the "Live" edition installed to a file "system" under NTFS. I'm guessing the NTFS layering drivers aren't all that stable, or else there is just better support for my hardware under the 64-bit version (which would actually surprise me, as 32-bit installs still outnumber 64-bit installs.)

However, it's a real shame that the update downloads are so slow. They're barely running at 50KBps on a 6.5Mbps link.

[blueheavenfan]

Yay, linux fans:cool:
I've been with Ubuntu since Warty Warthog, running Hardy now and since i've installed I have been feeling less motivated than ever to upgrade. It wasn't one of the best releases or the worst by any stretch but I think I am just going to wait till a release comes with some REAL improvements... most likely I will be more impressed if i just upgraded once a year instead of twice.
Yeah download speeds are terrible these days:(

[groo]

And it just locked up on me, same as the previous release did. Maybe it's something to do with the ATI RS300 chipset on the mobo. I did some searching, and all I can find about the RS300 chipset is complaints -- lockups, messed up clocks, video problems (not for me -- I've an NVidia 8800GT), etc.

Guess this box just ain't meant to run Linux.

[groo]

I did some digging, and in order to get Linux kernels to run stably on an RS400 chipset mobo, you need to specify the kernel parameter "pci=nmsi". Unfortunately, when I do so, the USB keyboard and mouse are disabled, and I don't have non-USB versions of those critical devices.

So my box just won't support Linux. Pity.

[groo]

Seeing as I'm on my old trustworthy PIII933, I gave Intrepid Ibex another install, and it's working fine. Now if the update mirrors would only feed files at some sort of sane speed. I can get 170KB/s on my DSL, but only get 25-35 from the Ubuntu mirror. *sigh*

[groo]

P.S.

I had to install Hardy Heron (8.04) because that's the last release that supports the hardware acceleration for my crufty old NVidia GeForce 2 MX440 video card, and I want to be able to play bzflag. :)

344 updates downloading right now. Oh yay. :(

[groo]

Well, with the new box I've got Ubuntu 9.04 installed. After a kernel update was installed, the box seems to have stabilized. Though there are occasionally problems with the nVidia X11/OpenGL drivers coming out of a blank screen saver (damned if I can guess why.)

I'm installing a bunch of software that we use at work, including Asterisk, which is PBX software that we use in our products. Also ERLang, a rather interesting functional language that was developed for the telecommunications industry. And finally mono, because we do cross-platform C# development.

[groo]

Hmmm. I just realized that the instability of Ubuntu may have been due to my flaky "800MHz" DDR2 memory that only runs stably at 667MHz. I hadn't adjusted the memory speed in the BIOS when I'd been running with the older kernel.

[nuevogro]

Glad you finally got an Ubuntu distro working for you. Would the memory test on the install CD have pointed out that the memory was having issues I wonder? I always assume that the memory test is there on the install CD for a reason - like your issue perhaps...

I prefer Redhat variations for servers, Ubuntu variations for desktops.

[groo]

Yeah, memtest86+ failed gloriously at 800MHz, but passed at 667. When I've got a few bucks to spare ($35+shipping), I'll order up some fast memory from ncix.com. The memory I'm looking at is actually overkill for this CPU, as it only has an 800MHz FSB, but I see no point to saving a whopping $5 buying the slower memory -- that way it'll be ready to go for a CPU upgrade. (Got my eyes on one of the 1333MHz FSB Core 2's.)

We use Ubuntu for our servers at work. It's not a "better" distro (I don't believe in distro wars), but it's proven rock solid for our needs.