My suggestions:
1) Do not install Compiz. It is still unstable more than one year later, the time and issues involved render the improvements it brings null. You will waste more time tinkering to get it to work than you gain in productivity and enjoyment. In short, Compiz will break your OS. Don't use it.
2.) Do not install updates for 8.10 from Ubuntu unless you want all plasmoid desktop functionality to disappear and revert your desktop to the appearance of 6.10 Gnome. These updates will also break your OS. UPDATE: Only install from console. Do not assume that Adept or Synaptic will 'figure it out'. Problems will ensue. Log out, go to the login screen, click 'Menu' and open a console. Apt-get from there.
3.) When installing any major package, reboot your system to get all the config files in line. Especially when installing NVidia drivers. Just like windows, reboot after any software install. 8.10 is touchy. Do not just install and then use the software.
4.) Do not use ctrl-alt-backspace to reboot x-server unless there is no other choice. This will leave corrupted config files all over the place, and wreck your graphic interface when you reboot.
5.) Kubuntu is still a toy. Maybe if there was a professional support package that had 24-7-365 support available by phone, IM, chat and internet, for a reasonable cost, then Kubuntu would be usable for someone with mission and time criticality.
6.) Do not install 8.10 at work, unless you want the owner to fire you, or unless you plan to spend all of your spare time tinkering with it to get it to work.
I run the network for the small business I work at. The owner wants results, fast. As in within 3 seconds. If you intend for people to use 8.10 in such environments, then it must be more robust. As this is today, it is unsuitable and unstable.
This is the 3rd time I have had similar issues with Linux Distros, on 2 separate boxes.
March 2007
http://www.sabayonlinux.org/forum/se...on+the+desktop
Sabayon is supported mostly by a group that assumes many things, and are not helpful at all. I installed 2 years ago, and didn't enter a password. It took 7 days and over 24 forum posts to draw the information out of them that if you do not enter a pswd, then it auto generates one for you. This default setting renders an installation unusable, forever. They assume much and explain little.
March-Nov 2007
http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?o...9848#msg269848
PCLinuxOS crashed mightily from Beryl. They also have repos set up so that 2 different and conflicting repos can be used to d/l software. Using 2 repos will, once again, render your installation unusable. The time I spent tinkering made the free nature of the software a poor bargain.
Nov 2008
Kubuntu breaks with the plasmoids and Compiz, thus the main reason to use it is made pointless.
In all cases, there were many, a few or some who insisted that the fault was with the operator or the box. I assure you that Xp works fine on my box, with the issues we all know about manageable. All live CD's work just fine. Trouble ALWAYS arises when I install on to HD and then download any packages.
It is better to have a slower system that requires spyware antivirus' running that slows it down, than a secure system that crashes on a weekly basis. Slow and imperfect but almost always running is better than fast and perfect but always breaking down.
Linux is approaching 1.oo% of OS Market share. From this point forward you will encounter more and more people like me who 'just want it to work' and do what it promises. Having software on a repo that always breaks the OS is unacceptable. Having hundred's of videos posted to YouTube that show the flash and promise of Compiz working just fine, and then finding that installing Compiz will destroy your OS in less than a week, is unacceptable.
You guys and gals want to do this, create these OS'. So figure out how to make your product (free or not) comport to the needs wants and demands of your customers.
If I volunteer my time on weekends I am still expected to work, be diligent, and get the job done. Not being paid is no excuse to be incompetent.
In the same way, just because Linux and Kubuntu is 'free' does not excuse it breaking an OS when a routine update, upgrade or software install (from your own approved repos!) renders it unusable,
I look forward to the day when my concerns are met, and I can use Kubuntu with confidence.
That day is not today, however.
P.S.
Since no one has ever - in 18 months - addressed my concerns in a fashion that I consider usable, I will then make up my own checklist for those Linux users who do not have spare time to tinker, are not 'on a mission' to stick it to The Man/MSFT, efc., and want a fast, quick solution that is simple, time-saving, and JUST WORKS.
1) Do not install Compiz. It is still unstable more than one year later, the time and issues involved render the improvements it brings null. You will waste more time tinkering to get it to work than you gain in productivity and enjoyment. In short, Compiz will break your OS. Don't use it.
2.) Do not install updates for 8.10 from Ubuntu unless you want all plasmoid desktop functionality to disappear and revert your desktop to the appearance of 6.10 Gnome. These updates will also break your OS. UPDATE: Only install from console. Do not assume that Adept or Synaptic will 'figure it out'. Problems will ensue. Log out, go to the login screen, click 'Menu' and open a console. Apt-get from there.
3.) When installing any major package, reboot your system to get all the config files in line. Especially when installing NVidia drivers. Just like windows, reboot after any software install. 8.10 is touchy. Do not just install and then use the software.
4.) Do not use ctrl-alt-backspace to reboot x-server unless there is no other choice. This will leave corrupted config files all over the place, and wreck your graphic interface when you reboot.
5.) Kubuntu is still a toy. Maybe if there was a professional support package that had 24-7-365 support available by phone, IM, chat and internet, for a reasonable cost, then Kubuntu would be usable for someone with mission and time criticality.
6.) Do not install 8.10 at work, unless you want the owner to fire you, or unless you plan to spend all of your spare time tinkering with it to get it to work.
I run the network for the small business I work at. The owner wants results, fast. As in within 3 seconds. If you intend for people to use 8.10 in such environments, then it must be more robust. As this is today, it is unsuitable and unstable.
This is the 3rd time I have had similar issues with Linux Distros, on 2 separate boxes.
March 2007
http://www.sabayonlinux.org/forum/se...on+the+desktop
Sabayon is supported mostly by a group that assumes many things, and are not helpful at all. I installed 2 years ago, and didn't enter a password. It took 7 days and over 24 forum posts to draw the information out of them that if you do not enter a pswd, then it auto generates one for you. This default setting renders an installation unusable, forever. They assume much and explain little.
March-Nov 2007
http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?o...9848#msg269848
PCLinuxOS crashed mightily from Beryl. They also have repos set up so that 2 different and conflicting repos can be used to d/l software. Using 2 repos will, once again, render your installation unusable. The time I spent tinkering made the free nature of the software a poor bargain.
Nov 2008
Kubuntu breaks with the plasmoids and Compiz, thus the main reason to use it is made pointless.
In all cases, there were many, a few or some who insisted that the fault was with the operator or the box. I assure you that Xp works fine on my box, with the issues we all know about manageable. All live CD's work just fine. Trouble ALWAYS arises when I install on to HD and then download any packages.
It is better to have a slower system that requires spyware antivirus' running that slows it down, than a secure system that crashes on a weekly basis. Slow and imperfect but almost always running is better than fast and perfect but always breaking down.
Linux is approaching 1.oo% of OS Market share. From this point forward you will encounter more and more people like me who 'just want it to work' and do what it promises. Having software on a repo that always breaks the OS is unacceptable. Having hundred's of videos posted to YouTube that show the flash and promise of Compiz working just fine, and then finding that installing Compiz will destroy your OS in less than a week, is unacceptable.
You guys and gals want to do this, create these OS'. So figure out how to make your product (free or not) comport to the needs wants and demands of your customers.
If I volunteer my time on weekends I am still expected to work, be diligent, and get the job done. Not being paid is no excuse to be incompetent.
In the same way, just because Linux and Kubuntu is 'free' does not excuse it breaking an OS when a routine update, upgrade or software install (from your own approved repos!) renders it unusable,
I look forward to the day when my concerns are met, and I can use Kubuntu with confidence.
That day is not today, however.
P.S.
Since no one has ever - in 18 months - addressed my concerns in a fashion that I consider usable, I will then make up my own checklist for those Linux users who do not have spare time to tinker, are not 'on a mission' to stick it to The Man/MSFT, efc., and want a fast, quick solution that is simple, time-saving, and JUST WORKS.
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