Kubuntu is not suitable as productive OS and has a major issue.

[Qqmike]

Snowhog: Develop, release, test, report, fix, repeat...those who are not more than the average 'click an icon' PC user; have an unrealistic view that 'Linux' is a 'free alternative' to Windows, and that it should run just like Windows. They are expecting a 'free lunch'.

I'm with you Snowhog, basically, with an exception ...

In my post above, I differentiated between a lower-level user (someone with expertise, like "we" have) and a high-level user (a GUI clicker).

In your analysis, shouldn't you differentiate based on the type/nature of the glitch? "Develop, release, test, report, fix, repeat." Yes, agree, EXCEPT for (at least) one type/nature case: the necessary updates to the OS.

I'm not sure what else we "owe" the casual user, maybe nothing. That's also an open question. It is nice to be able to re-boot, but I'm not sure we even owe that to anyone. But the OS updates should be readily available and it should be understandable how to get them successfully installed at the average-user level. All, of course, IMO .

(Let's not get too far off the topic here, but Windows? Windows sure as hell doen't completely work as expected at the GUI, not even on updates. I know because I maintained my wife's Windows 10 and still do; although now she never uses it because I installed Kubuntu dual-boot on her laptop, and she always goes there instead. I boot into her Windows 10 only to run those d*nd updates, but I'm not sure why, as Win 10 is nothing but a PITA. And btw, Vaira, are you aware that many, if not most, of us were Windows users, and many of us were at the advanced level of Windows use?)

[oldgeek]

Vaira isn't the first user to complain about Discover and won't be the last until these kinds of glitches are fixed. Maybe the developers should just put the update installer somewhere else and leave Discover as a Software Store. It seems to do that job well at least, according to my experience.

[jlittle]

...
I have chosen 18.04 LTS since I want a reliable OS...

It's just occurred to me that a soapbox I've been on (to stretch a metaphor) in the past applies here. The OP won't want to read this, but...

IMO *buntu LTS releases are not more stable than the non-LTS ones initially . They become so with time. For a stable Kubuntu now I would say go for the latest 16.04. Particularly after the OP's experience, I wouldn't recommend 18.04 for stability until 18.04.2, due by February (usually).

When I last expressed this opinion there was disagreement.

Unless there's to be two different 2n.04 releases, a normal and an extra stable one, I can't imagine how it could be otherwise. If you really want stability go for debian stable.

Regards, John Little

[MadMage999]

It's just occurred to me that a soapbox I've been on (to stretch a metaphor) in the past applies here. The OP won't want to read this, but...

IMO *buntu LTS releases are not more stable than the non-LTS ones initially . They become so with time. For a stable Kubuntu now I would say go for the latest 16.04. Particularly after the OP's experience, I wouldn't recommend 18.04 for stability until 18.04.2, due by February (usually).

When I last expressed this opinion there was disagreement.

Unless there's to be two different 2n.04 releases, a normal and an extra stable one, I can't imagine how it could be otherwise. If you really want stability go for debian stable.

Regards, John Little

That's a valuable insight. We're narrowly focused on one application within the ecosystem, albeit one I think gets overlooked a bit too much by people used to using more reliable tools.

The only reason I think it warrants more attention, or at least most relevant of the reasons, is that it's the one wired into the desktop.

It is also perhaps worthy to note that it's not hard to find, or long before one will likely be told that there are better things to use than discover.

[Rod J]

IMO *buntu LTS releases are not more stable than the non-LTS ones initially . They become so with time.

That's a good point actually, and has also been my experience too.

I remember when 16.04.1 LTS arrived I tried it out and it was still way too unstable on my hardware with many Plasma 5 crashes (several an hour), despite it being a .1 LTS release. That's why I stuck with 14.04 way longer than I normally would have.

18.04 has been way more stable overall, although I did have some Plasma 5 crashes for a while there. It's now very stable for me on this hardware.

[Qqmike]

Rod J: That's why I stuck with 14.04 way longer than I normally would have.

Yeah. You and I were running about parallel in being 14.04 hold-outs. My 18.04.1 has been great! Glad I switched. In fact, I didn't give myself a choice: I impulsively wiped that HDD (it had 14.04 and 8 other OSs on it) and simply clicked Install Kubuntu on the live 18.04.1 USB.

[jglen490]

It's amazing that different people have a different experience, and actually results, on the same version of Kubuntu. When I installed 16.04.1 as a clean install (as was recommended) after running 12, I had zero/zip/nada problems - in contrast to others. When I installed 18.04.1 as a clean install (as was recommended) after 16.04, I had zero/zip/nada problems - in contrast to others. What seems to be consistent is (the user first verifies ISO checksums) when clean installs have been recommended, not using a clean install is generally less successful with many users. It's a process, I guess.

[GreyGeek]

Don't forget the title to the OP's original post:

Kubuntu is not suitable as productive OS and has a major issue.

That assertion is completely and totally absurd.
Hundreds of thousands of Ubuntu & Kubuntu users are having no problems being productive with them.

[MadMage999]

Don't forget the title to the OP's original post:

Kubuntu is not suitable as productive OS and has a major issue.

That assertion is completely and totally absurd.
Hundreds of thousands of Ubuntu & Kubuntu users are having no problems being productive with them.

Yeah it is a bit over the top. I try to take the message as a whole based on it's merits and demerits, if you will.

[Vaira]

Hmm just noting that you've started seeing 400 updates, which makes me wonder if you are using the original 18.04.0 iso and not the updated 18.04.1, which will have much of the updates since April rolled in. It was released on July 26

I just did a fresh full install of 18.04.1 and there were 153 updated packages, with only 2 qt qml ones being related to Plasma/Kubuntu.

A full upgrade of Plasma applications, and frameworks is normally around 250+ packages so this makes me think you are using the original release iso.

Hope this can help a bit.

Yes. It was the original release I installed again after the blank screen occurred. My first installation was on June and I did not check for a new ISO, just used the original DVD from June.

It's just occurred to me that a soapbox I've been on (to stretch a metaphor) in the past applies here. The OP won't want to read this, but...

IMO *buntu LTS releases are not more stable than the non-LTS ones initially . They become so with time. For a stable Kubuntu now I would say go for the latest 16.04. Particularly after the OP's experience, I wouldn't recommend 18.04 for stability until 18.04.2, due by February (usually).

When I last expressed this opinion there was disagreement.

Unless there's to be two different 2n.04 releases, a normal and an extra stable one, I can't imagine how it could be otherwise. If you really want stability go for debian stable.

Regards, John Little

So you say we're beta testers until 2nd release?
First release, second release, dot one, dot two, dot three...when is the right time to 'use' a release or to consider a release as stable?
It should be already when getting the final state, shouldn't it?

But you are right. When using a release later on the probability that it still has bugs is less.
This is special. It concerns discover an app that updates the OS. And when googling you can read that discover causes various problems since end of 2016.

You come here complaining that a noob installing Kubuntu for the first time would hit a Discover problem and go away. So, you post a whine and if, by chance, the noob comes here and sees your whine do you think he'll stay or leave?

Did you file a bug report?
https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/Bug_Reporting

BTW, I also installed BIonic on a Samsung EVO 850 SSD but without LUKS. I chose Btrfs on the entire sda1 partition. After I completed my install, my first task was to install muon and uninstall Discover, because it solves a problem that does not exist. I experiment heavily with my system and Btrfs makes rolling back a 3 minute task.

I ran with Neon for almost a year just to play on the leading edge of Plasma (not the bleeding edge). In all that time I never had a single problem that wasn't of my own making. That was true with Kubuntu before I tried Neon and it is true of Bionic, which I installed a couple months ago.

Erm..isn't muon installed already per default?
Well, I did not uninstall discover. It notifies me (only) and then I run apt from terminal...

I posted here because I cannot get why those discover issues last that long time already. I think because of discover kubuntu loses users, better said does not gain those which it would without the issue.

I did not file a bug report..from my experience I did not gather enough info to file an useful report. I have no debug log or any other useful info.
I suspect it was a kernel update together with the nvidia proprietary driver that might have caused the blank screen.

And I think those 44 are enough
https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?bug...oduct=Discover

Yeah it is a bit over the top. I try to take the message as a whole based on it's merits and demerits, if you will.

Maybe...
I should have posted Kubuntu as it is now...

As a single private user of Kubuntu, even when using it as 'productive' OS what really seriously can happen?
We do a clean install and restore our backup data. It's efforts, but we are doing it in our spare time.

But thinking about small workgroups, small companies who want to migrate to a linux distro. Or even schools.
If they would ask me for a statement as admin I would not recommend Kubuntu 18.04 LTS as it is now.

I would recommend Mint.

I think the KDE developers should make the discover issue to top priority.

[MadMage999]

I should have posted Kubuntu as it is now...

As a single private user of Kubuntu, even when using it as 'productive' OS what really seriously can happen?
We do a clean install and restore our backup data. It's efforts, but we are doing it in our spare time.

But thinking about small workgroups, small companies who want to migrate to a linux distro. Or even schools.
If they would ask me for a statement as admin I would not recommend Kubuntu 18.04 LTS as it is now.

I would recommend Mint.

I think the KDE developers should make the discover issue to top priority.

Well these types of organizations have people who know what they're doing to administer their networks. I seriously doubt anyone would hire an admin who can't get past updating software with discover.

[chimak111]

...
I would recommend Mint.
...

To balance things, Just say NO to Mint19

[MadMage999]

Hmm just noting that you've started seeing 400 updates, which makes me wonder if you are using the original 18.04.0 iso and not the updated 18.04.1, which will have much of the updates since April rolled in. It was released on July 26

I just did a fresh full install of 18.04.1 and there were 153 updated packages, with only 2 qt qml ones being related to Plasma/Kubuntu.

A full upgrade of Plasma applications, and frameworks is normally around 250+ packages so this makes me think you are using the original release iso.

Hope this can help a bit.

Yeah I went back and re-read the OP after you posted this and I noticed the same thing:

In the meantime the ISO is that far away from current state that there are more than 400 updates to be installed.

I had kind of skimmed over that part until you mentioned it. So now I'm wondering if any method of updating would have caused the system to choke. Not just discover.

[MadMage999]

To balance things, Just say NO to Mint19

So in both cases someone was trying to update and hosed their system. Slightly different in that one was an upgrade from one version to a newer release, and one was just a somewhat outdated ISO image.

It tends to tear down the assertion that this was discover's fault, doesn't it? And here I can't speak much from experience, so I will rely on those older or at least wiser... How often does an upgrade choke from trying to come too far at one time (whole version numbers for example)?

I'm trying to understand this in terms of say for the sake of comparison... upgrading windows 7 to windows 10 or something. This seems like a big deal to me. I would never trust windows to upgrade from one version to another. Nope! Clean install, thanks.

[Vaira]

Not to forget (I have mentioned that): The blank screen that made me go for a new installation occurred after a common update and a crash of discover 2 weeks ago. (There were only a few updates)

And the 400+ updates worked applying at once without issue using apt commands.

I would expect updates do work within a particular LTS release, even when still using the original ISO.

I also go for a clean installation changing the version number.
I always did clean installations even when going from mint 17 to 17.3.