Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS Released With Fixes, Newer Hardware Enablement Stack

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS Released With Fixes, Newer Hardware Enablement Stack

After a slight delay, Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS is available today as the newest point release for the current Ubuntu Linux long-term support release...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-20.04.3-LTS

[ehansin]

Quick Ubuntu questions here, and no judgement on whether good or bad, just want to understand (curious minds what to know!!)

I am one of those people that love to do "server style" (console only) installs of various distros in VirtualBox to get a feel for various things. A couple/few years ago I noticed Ubuntu server installs getting a little weird, and the boot process kind of "jumpy". What I think I was noticing was a transition in Ubuntu to a lot of core components moving to "Snaps" vs. the old apt/dpkg style of things. Does this sound right? I think it is, but I just want to confirm what is going on. I assume Debian has not made this transition, but wanted to ask that as well. Thanks!

[perpetually high]

What I think I was noticing was a transition in Ubuntu to a lot of core components moving to "Snaps" vs. the old apt/dpkg style of things. Does this sound right? I think it is, but I just want to confirm what is going on. I assume Debian has not made this transition, but wanted to ask that as well. Thanks!

You're not wrong, they tried to speed up adoption by using snaps for gnome-logs, gnome-system-monitor, etc. It was a bad decision in my opinion as it was premature at the time (slow loadup times, just no incentive to use snap), and it shyed away a lot of users. So one of the first things I do on Ubuntu is uninstall those particular snaps and install the deb pkg equivalent through apt. (sudo snap remove gnome-logs && sudo apt install gnome-logs), for example (edit: just check 20.04.3, and this is no longer the case; snaps are no longer used for gnome-logs, etc. Nice move, Ubuntu. They could've easily doubled down after the improvement of snap through the years, but didn't. Respect the hell out of it. /end edit)

However, once you get passed those Ubuntu quirks, it's a solid OS. There are many things I change though, so it's disingenuous to act like I'm using a vanilla Ubuntu/GNOME setup, but that's the beauty of it too, nothing's stopping people from installing extensions or themes.

1) Alt-tab switch popup delay removal
2) Arc Menu
3) Clipboard Indicator
4) Dash to Panel
5) Panel osd (configure where notifications show up)
6) Sound input & volume chooser (quicker access)
7) Toggle mute on middle click
8) User themes
edit: a couple more extensions I found out recently
9) GNOME Fuzzy App Search
10) WinTile: Windows 10 window tiling for GNOME (don't lose respect for me, this is really cool)
11) Impatience (for changing animation speed, though I don't use it anymore. 1.25 is a good value if you like slower but 1.0 seems to be fine)

Those are all my extensions. Need every single one of them. I'm very happy with Ubuntu. Will likely never switch. Not even to vanilla Debian after thinking about it. Ubuntu *is* Debian, I don't need to front and run Debian just to prove it. I rather slim down Ubuntu then bloat up Debian to my liking.

[moilami]

Nope, Ubuntu is not Debian. It is completely different. Ubuntu tries to profit of Debian. That's the story.

Regarding technical things, Debian actually try to make sure all those thousands packages of software actually work as expected. Ubuntu does not try do that. They try to make sure their selected few desktop software bits work, of the rest they really don't care. Hence if you need some special software chances are it work good in Debian but in Ubuntu whatever can happen.

[V1tol]

I have two good memories about Ubuntu - my first time with it (I think it was 6.06 with GNOME 2) and then switch to Mint and Manjaro/Arch

[Linuxxx]

Nope, Ubuntu is not Debian. It is completely different. Ubuntu tries to profit of Debian. That's the story.

Regarding technical things, Debian actually try to make sure all those thousands packages of software actually work as expected. Ubuntu does not try do that. They try to make sure their selected few desktop software bits work, of the rest they really don't care. Hence if you need some special software chances are it work good in Debian but in Ubuntu whatever can happen.

Textbook example of how to spread baseless FUD...

Congratulations on serving as a role-model, I guess?!

[perpetually high]

Textbook example of how to spread baseless FUD...

Congratulations on serving as a role-model, I guess?!

Seriously, thank you for saving me the time. moilami STFU

edit: I wanna apologize to the arch/KDE crowd I called the black sheep of the Linux community in that thread. I lashed out but it's really people like moilami that I just cannot stand. It's not noble at all and I have zero respect for it.

[ehansin]

I kind of new this could be a "touchy subject" with the question I asked. I don't care about the political stuff, just wanted to clarify technical understandings. I know Debian is its own entity, with Ubuntu (among other distros as well!) being built off of it. More just wanted to understand how some of core components in Ubuntu server/minimal install (i.e. no graphical environment) are now Snap "modules" - and not even judging if good or bad, just curious what is what.

[Siuoq]

What I think I was noticing was a transition in Ubuntu to a lot of core components moving to "Snaps" vs. the old apt/dpkg style of things. Does this sound right? I think it is, but I just want to confirm what is going on.!

I am not sure, I am using Ubuntu 20.04 without any snap at all.

[S.Pam]

It does install its own container stuff, but can be removed easily.