think i'll go back to 7.10...

[jankushka]

i've waited 3 months before attempting the move to 8.04.
my recent tests (on a fresh install) were promising.
so i installed all the stuff i needed and started using 8.04 in production.
one month later i think i'll go back to 7.10.

i need to be able to switch networks (wired-wireless), reliably.
and for the first time in years i can't reliably do this with 8.04.
i have an intel pro wireless 3945, which has been working flawlessly for the past 2 years.
never had an issue with 7.10.
now...new kernel, new drivers...but apparently no good.

and for the first time...well...the first time ever, i reckon...
i had to reboot my box 'cause it got so painfully slow i couldn't work.
pop up menus would take ages to open up...
applications would take ages to start...
couldn't listen to bbc2 online, 'cause i could't stream more than 11kbps anymore...

with barely nothing open uptime would report a 1min avg load of 1.7...
never seen anything like this with any linux (however old) ever.

less importantly, but still a pain in the arse...
some non kde applications don't conform to the usual l&f anymore.
gparted, skype, and don't know what else...

i've worked with this version for about a month now.
i can put up with almost anything.
but i need to be able to listen to bbc radio.
can't work without it.
so i think i'll go back to my beloved 7.10 (which is obviously simply a grub's entry away).

[klerfayt]

Re: think i'll go back to 7.10...

i had to reboot my box 'cause it got so painfully slow i couldn't work.
pop up menus would take ages to open up...
applications would take ages to start...

did you investigate what caused the slow-down?
I haven't noticed anything unusual in 8.04 desktop environment performance compared to 7.10 myself.

[jankushka]

Re: think i'll go back to 7.10...

i have.
haven't been able to find anything, though.
not that it's systematically slow.
it just got into this funny state a couple of times...

to the list of issues that have arisen...
i forget that my box now sometimes fails to boot.
the boot process starts normally...but ends up in a black screen.
can't see anything.
can't do anything.
i have to switch the box off and on.
after which it normally boots back up alright.

don't know.
i'll keep the installation up to date with patches and everything.
see if it improves.
meanwhile, for serious stuff, i'll go on using 7.10.

cheers

[jankushka]

Re: think i'll go back to 7.10...

seems i found one of the problems.
network-manager.
it wouldn't report any funny cpu or mem usage.
but i disabled it and and the system's load is back alright.
in syslog i noticed some funny activity of the network manager.
simply switching off the wireless didn't help (in 7.10 i only switch it on when i need it).
on the contrary, it was even worse.
so i had tried removing the drivers for the wireless card.
but that didn't help either.
so i disabled the network manager and things seem to be back to normal.
of course switching networks is a bit more complicated now.
but at least i seem to be able to work.

my box still fails to boot sometimes.
and yesterday night even failed to turn off (it got to "killing all processes" and hung there).
never happend with 7.10.

ksynaptics has disappeared from the repos.
so i can't configure/disable the touchpad anymore.
although development has stopped, i guess the old version would still work.
again, not a big issue.
but it adds to the rest.

a mess.

[dibl]

Re: think i'll go back to 7.10...

my box still fails to boot sometimes.
and yesterday night even failed to turn off (it got to "killing all processes" and hung there).

That sounds a bit like some kind of hardware or OS installation glitch. Could the hard drive be wearing out (slowing down)?

[jankushka]

Re: think i'll go back to 7.10...

That sounds a bit like some kind of hardware or OS installation glitch. Could the hard drive be wearing out (slowing down)?

could be.
don't see any i/o errors in my logs, though.
and it would also mean that 7.10 doesn't notice (or doesn't care).
'cause i never have any such troubles with 7.10.
actually, i never have any troubles at all with 7.10.
honest: my 7.10 is rock solid.
with 8.04 i fear a window will pop up any time saying: "we've f....d you: this is windoze!".
it's so bad.

as i said: i've disabled the network-manager and the kde-network-manager.
and i've been working a good two hours now, without troubles.
the avg load is a healthy 0.10.
which is all it should be, as i'm simply writing/compiling code.
so: one down!