This is not a rant.
For the last three days, I've been fighting some serious problems with multiple Linux distributions. Not just Kubuntu but also Linux Mint.
NOTE that all of the following tests are using the KDE frontend on a 32 bit system, Dell Latitude D820.
My Kubuntu 14.04.4 LTS OS went "glitchy", failing to boot or giving me only "test stripes" on boot. This began immediately after a daily update from the repository. Sorry I don't have the exact date or what was updated.
So I tried a full reinstall of Kubuntu 14.04.4 LTS from my 2GB USB media. It would not complete the install, locking up at various points during the install sequence.
I downloaded a new copy of Kubuntu 14.04.4 LTS, did a checksum to verify the copy, burned it into my USB media... and it failed again.
I then downloaded 14.04.3 LTS, 14.04.2 LTS, 14.04.1 LTS and STILL got the same failure(s).
Suspecting the media was faulty, I switched to a different USB flash drive (4GB) and went through the above sequence again. No luck, still failed to install.
I went back to my archive distributions on DVD and was able to install Kubuntu 14.04 Alpha 1 but when the install finished and I rebooted to the hard drive, the screens were nearly unreadable. It did run and I could mouse around and get some responses from various windows, but could not get a usable display of the desktop.
I downloaded Kubuntu 16.04 LTS, verified checksums and burned it to the USB drive (both of them), and while 16.04 will install, it does not like my Nvidia video "card" and will only give me the maximum resolution setting. Nouveau video drivers from the 16.04 repository will not install.
Plasma 5 does not play well with this laptop (Dell Latitude D820), which may explain the forgoing litany of troubles. But earlier releases of 14.04 LTS use Plasma 4, which had been working very well.
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Please note that I am able to change hard drives (simple process on my laptop) and run Linux Mint without major glitches, so this leads me to believe my hardware is ok. It also gives me a way to download distributions.
====
SO, to make a long story even longer, I looked for other Linux distributions...
Mageia offers a 3.6GB distro, a fork of Mandriva with KDE. This WORKS on my laptop. Needless to say I am pleased.
So now I am testing Mageia 5 KDE. Aside from some changes in a few tools and a slightly different paradigm on user interfaces, it is very functional. I still need to rebuild my apache/mysql/php development environment with Mageia, but this is going well.
If I had a question, it would be to ask if anyone else has similar troubles? Kubuntu has been my "go-to" OS for years now (starting with 9.04) and I am very comfortable with it. Given my hardware limits and budget, I would will be using Kubuntu, except for the above problems.
Again, this is not a rant, just a report on how I've addressed some problems. It may help others and I'd like to hear from someone running similar older systems.
For the last three days, I've been fighting some serious problems with multiple Linux distributions. Not just Kubuntu but also Linux Mint.
NOTE that all of the following tests are using the KDE frontend on a 32 bit system, Dell Latitude D820.
My Kubuntu 14.04.4 LTS OS went "glitchy", failing to boot or giving me only "test stripes" on boot. This began immediately after a daily update from the repository. Sorry I don't have the exact date or what was updated.
So I tried a full reinstall of Kubuntu 14.04.4 LTS from my 2GB USB media. It would not complete the install, locking up at various points during the install sequence.
I downloaded a new copy of Kubuntu 14.04.4 LTS, did a checksum to verify the copy, burned it into my USB media... and it failed again.
I then downloaded 14.04.3 LTS, 14.04.2 LTS, 14.04.1 LTS and STILL got the same failure(s).
Suspecting the media was faulty, I switched to a different USB flash drive (4GB) and went through the above sequence again. No luck, still failed to install.
I went back to my archive distributions on DVD and was able to install Kubuntu 14.04 Alpha 1 but when the install finished and I rebooted to the hard drive, the screens were nearly unreadable. It did run and I could mouse around and get some responses from various windows, but could not get a usable display of the desktop.
I downloaded Kubuntu 16.04 LTS, verified checksums and burned it to the USB drive (both of them), and while 16.04 will install, it does not like my Nvidia video "card" and will only give me the maximum resolution setting. Nouveau video drivers from the 16.04 repository will not install.
Plasma 5 does not play well with this laptop (Dell Latitude D820), which may explain the forgoing litany of troubles. But earlier releases of 14.04 LTS use Plasma 4, which had been working very well.
====
Please note that I am able to change hard drives (simple process on my laptop) and run Linux Mint without major glitches, so this leads me to believe my hardware is ok. It also gives me a way to download distributions.
====
SO, to make a long story even longer, I looked for other Linux distributions...
Mageia offers a 3.6GB distro, a fork of Mandriva with KDE. This WORKS on my laptop. Needless to say I am pleased.
So now I am testing Mageia 5 KDE. Aside from some changes in a few tools and a slightly different paradigm on user interfaces, it is very functional. I still need to rebuild my apache/mysql/php development environment with Mageia, but this is going well.
If I had a question, it would be to ask if anyone else has similar troubles? Kubuntu has been my "go-to" OS for years now (starting with 9.04) and I am very comfortable with it. Given my hardware limits and budget, I would will be using Kubuntu, except for the above problems.
Again, this is not a rant, just a report on how I've addressed some problems. It may help others and I'd like to hear from someone running similar older systems.
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