Ubuntu 17.10's Laptop Issue Appears To Be Under Control, Fixable

[Spooktra]

Bzzt!
Scientific method tips: Lack of evidence is NOT evidence. If there is no data you just don't know.

Bzzt!
Scientific method tips: Logical reasoning can at most lead to a cool hypothesis. You need to find evidence that proves or disproves your hypothesis to turn it into conclusions.

Canonical's kernel is open source. You can go and see the source, and compare it with upstream. The evidence is out there.

Hilarious. Lack of evidence IS evidence under certain circumstances. If I claim that I spent the day mowing people lawns, you decide to check and can't find a single person that saw me do it, no dirty clothes, no lawn equipment in my possession, I don't have a vehicle to transport any lawn equipment and I don't have a background in lawn work, then you can safely conclude more likely than not I did not spend the day mowing lawns.

As for comparing the kernel with upstream, I can just compare the outcome of Canonical's implementation versus other implementations.

Hate to break this to you guys, but in this case there is ample evidence that Canonical screwed up and is to blame for this fiasco.

[Spooktra]

Technical explanation what the problem seems to be:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...7/comments/330

(Mika Westerberg is in charge of 'intel-spi' at Intel, I guess.)
(Strange specification and/or implementation actually, if a BIOS, which turns read only, cannot perform a reset anymore.)

That technical explanation makes it even worse for Canonical, according to that post the bug was fixed way back in September yet Canonical still hasn't applied the fix instead pulling the ISO's.

Very amateur hour, this is Bush League stuff through and through.

[Spooktra]

Where where you when the Windows 10 Anniversary Update bricked a shit ton of computers? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...-breaking-pcs/

And a simple Google search would tell you that macOS have their own long line of bricked computers due to updates as well.

edit: and of course starshipeleven already beat me to it...

Where was I? Using Linux! I stopped using Windows on my personal computer years ago, after the Win 7 system I was running got hit with a cryptovirus. At work I have no choice but none of my home systems run Windows and I wouldn't consider using a Win 10 cd as a coaster let alone install it on a system I own.

[theriddick]

Pretty sure they say in the terms when installing most Linux distros that if your PC explodes and kills your neighbourhood because of installing Linux, then it isn't their fault.

Which is kinda fair because a bios shouldn't be able to be compromised like this anyway so effectively is a manufacture fault and they should cover motherboard replacements even outside of warranties, such a thing has happened before and I even had a laptop mobo replaced that was way out of warranty due to some HP stuff up.

[jo-erlend]

I just don't know what to think about Linux anymore. Every single disto i have ever tried has had problems or my own stupidity has caused problems, but man oh man "Linux Bricks your computer".

Well, with the Samsung thing, Linux got burned until it was discovered that the same problem existed on Windows. Then everyone accepted it as an honest mistake.

If you're worried, don't use the cutting edge on your production devices. Use software that's withstood the test of time. That's why they're there. If the newest version was always better, wouldn't everyone always use the newest version?

[Spooktra]

Pretty sure they say in the terms when installing most Linux distros that if your PC explodes and kills your neighbourhood because of installing Linux, then it isn't their fault.

I see, so if someone releases a piece of software that wipes out all the data on your hard drive, so long as they tell you it's not their fault then we shouldn't hold them accountable.

Great, from now on I'll be sure to give people a disclaimer prior to doing anything and I'll absolve myself of any culpability.

[SkyWarrior]

Oh BTW, if you did like the Ubuntu user in the article's link and upgraded to 4.14.9 be aware that it breaks nVidia drivers.

http://rglinuxtech.com/?p=2165

http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1712.3/00099.html

Woot! It doesn't get any more "stable" than this, baby! Who knows, if this keeps up, some day an RC1 might actually become a candidate for release.

Wish I read this earlier. Anyways it was an easy fix to revert back to 4.14.

[unixfan2001]

Oh BTW, if you did like the Ubuntu user in the article's link and upgraded to 4.14.9 be aware that it breaks nVidia drivers.

http://rglinuxtech.com/?p=2165

http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1712.3/00099.html

Woot! It doesn't get any more "stable" than this, baby! Who knows, if this keeps up, some day an RC1 might actually become a candidate for release.

17.10 isn't even an LTS release. What the hell are you talking about, InsideNutJob?

[PackRat]

wonder why they use macbooks?

If I was a software engineer making cross-platform apps it only makes sense to use a macbook. The real question is: Why Redhat never bought qt for $125 million?

[aht0]

I am a devout Ubuntu user, consider it the best distro currently available with only Solus, Mageia, GhostBSD and OpenIndiana coming close but Canonical is a company that generated 126 million bucks last year, there is no excuse for the lack of Q&A testing that resulted in this mess, if Apple or Microsoft had this happen to them we would be ready to nail them to the nearest wall; if Linux is ever to become a credible player on the desktop we can't have these things happening in 2017.

Revenue is not everything. Profit-wise, 2017 is first year since 2009 when Canonical has made any actual profits (~3million).
Im glad the problem is looks like fixable, at least for some people.