Better Additional PPAs for Brave Bionic Testing

[NoWorries]

My initial intention as an Australian, while in the UK for family support, was to buy a Dell XPS 15. I consequently found that it did not support the latest version of Kubuntu and I also had to deal with a UK Keyboard and I could not get a VAT refund. I have now got my money back and will start a new search for a Laptop that is Kubuntu compatible when I return to OZ mid-March. So back to square one.

I have now decided to install Bionic on a 64GB USB 3.0 disc connected to my Laptop that I have with me while in the UK. With this approach I have three operating systems to choose from. I have been using this this installation since the 18th January and have made a number of changes which, in my opinion, better Bionic. These changes I will now set out below.

Because the installation of Bionic puts it at the top of the Grub startup menu, which I didn't want, I decided to install grub customizer. This allows me to change the startup menu order. It is installed by:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

With this package I changed the order of the Grub options and the menu names from Ubuntu to Kubuntu. I also added a background graphic. This step took me much longer that I care to mention. The reason for the problem related to that fact I had a jpg image which worked but when I tried other jpg images with different options they all failed. The penny finally dropped when I changed to a png format and I could use the highest resolution image that I could get.

The image that I chose was from a search of Google Images with "Apollo 17 night launch". Apollo 17 was the last moon launch. This image provides a black background where the Grub text needs to be. I also find it symbolic of launching Kubuntu and while not the last it is the latest.

To get this image as background, I found guidance from the ubuntu help site: https://askubuntu.com/questions/5406...een-resolution

I used Gimp to crop the image to the chosen size and saved it as a "png" file. I NO LONGER USE JPG WITH GRUB.

The grub-customizer windows are shown below to illustrate what I did.




Now for packages that I have found to Better Bionic. The first involves getting the latest kernel by adding this ppa,

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:canonical-kernel-team/unstable

The next was to add the ppa so that I could get the latest NVIDIA driver version 390.12.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers

The brave but potentially risky ppa's that I added are only for those who don't mind a large number of updates each day. Also, as I am not using this as a production system, I see no problem in adding these ppa's. So if you are this situation you can be brave but not risky.

[S]sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/staging-kdeapplications[/S]
[S]sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/staging-frameworks[/S]
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/staging-plasma
[S]sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/staging-misc[/S]

While these are development ppa's, While these are pre-release ppa's, I have not had any problems so far. If I do, I will not loose any sleep over it and patiently wait for further updates that fix the system.

My system info at this time is now.



I must say that I am enjoying being able to appreciate all the excellent progress being made by the developers behind Bionic. Considering it is one week before Alpha 2, this is an incredibly stable system at this early stage and it has always worked for all I want to do. I am impressed!!!!

[claydoh]

The brave but potentially risky ppa's that I added are only for those who don't mind a large number of updates each day. Also, as I am not using this as a production system, I see no problem in adding these ppa's. So if you are this situation you can be brave but not risky.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/staging-kdeapplications
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/staging-frameworks
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/staging-plasma
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/staging-misc

While these are development ppa's, I have not had any problems so far. If I do, I will not loose any sleep over it and patiently wait for further updates that fix the system.

A caveat on using the staging ppas:
These are NOT development PPAs. These are redundant and often incomplete, more so on Kubuntu pre-releases.
These exist only for making sure the whole set of packages successfully build before the source code and relevant files are sent over to the build system for the main, official repos (or an official updates ppa if relevant). You don't gain anything from using these other than receiving the updates a little bit earlier. You do get the added downloads that come with rebuilds needed to fix broken or missing dependencies, as well as any problems that may occur from any packages that do not build. You are not getting anything any more bleeding edge than what you get in the standard archives.

[oshunluvr]

You might be better off with KDEneon:

[GreyGeek]

Indeed!
Setting on top of Btrfs!

[NoWorries]

Looks like all the Neon Lovers have invaded this post. So sorry that you are in love with Neon as I am in love with Bionic.

I should point out that while you are ahead by one with KDE Frameworks Version, I am ahead by one in the Linux Version QED.

[GreyGeek]

It's called "Evangelizing"! Sharing the good news!

[SpecialEd]

Looks like all the Neon Lovers have invaded this post. So sorry that you are in love with Neon as I am in love with Bionic.

I should point out that while you are ahead by one with KDE Frameworks Version, I am ahead by one in the Linux Version QED.

Is it a race?

[NoWorries]

Is it a race?

I agree that it is a race which I am sure Bionic will win as it is only at Alpha 1 with Alpha 2 being next week. So Bionic has just got off the starting block whereas Neon is old hat.

[claydoh]

...and once Bionic is out, and Neon is based on that, it will go back to Neon being "ahead" in this non-race.
Heck once Bionic is out, it won't be long before its kernel is added to 16.04's HWE, I imagine.

[oshunluvr]

Not a race or competition at all in my mind - just different hats. With KDEneon you get 16.04 LTS (and soon after 18.04 LTS) stability but still the latest and greatest Plasma 5. With 17.04 upwards you get newer base software than KDEneon but your Plasma upgrades are slower. I see benefits to either path.

I really want the updates and bug fixes to Plasma, but use my computer every day. I literally cannot remember the last time my system "broke" but I sure read and answer a lot of 17.04-17.10 posts here by people whose systems need help. Jus' Sayin'...

[GreyGeek]

No race.
He who runs Linux, regardless of the flavor, is a winner!

[NoWorries]

I am pleased to say that KDE Frameworks Version is now 5.42.0 after a big download. It came from the proposed ppa's, so it will not be long before those with the default ppa will get this update.

[claydoh]

again, be careful with this repo, as it might not be complete sometimes.
These updates actually would go to the main *buntu repo, not a ppa.

I really really really think you'd like the Neon dev-stable, and even the dev-unstable. These would see even more goodies and experiments (in unstable) that you might like

[acheron]

When is the name change to neonforums scheduled for? :P

[NoWorries]

I am pleased to report that everything that I am doing is working very well. I had just under 200 packages installed and as I write another 88 packages are now being downloaded for the KDE Plasma 5.11.95. So all is well with my system.

I tend to use it about 90% of the time without a problem.