I am not impressed of this release in particular an and the state of Ubuntu/Canonical in general.
As I have expressed before on Phoronix the installer regressed heavily after 20.10 STS - I thought it is the new installer - but from the remark to my
bug report (classified the report as "invalid") was clear that it is the old one. So if they are working on a new one and targeted 22.04 LTS, why
did they ruin the current installer?
o Installer (22.04 experience was with Kubuntu beta imgage dating 18.04.2022 ... 3 day before the release date!):
- the partitions are no longer shown entirely - only the first few (21.04 and also 22.04 LTS)
- no longer a line to type to test keyboard setting - but only a layout which doesn't mean anything
- if DisplayPort and HDMI are connected, on the installer is not visible on the Display Port screen (21.04 STS after release)
- the installer crashed when looking an partitions (21.10 STS after release)
- I always used /dev/sda as boot loader device (and he looked for the efi partition there) - since 21.04 STS the installer crashes when using this default.
I was astonished that the partition the new Ubuntu gets freshly installed is ok - both choices cause the same warning, but only the 1st crashes the installer.
And without data or reason, as is given explicitly.
o Documentation:
- a document stating installer for 21.04 and 21.10 showed images of 20.10 or before
- the only installer manual found was for 20.04 LTS
o Snap:
- I have no problem if this is an option - but forcing this crap (not using system libraries, using sandboxing techniques not suitable for increasing security on the desktop but to destroy performance and causing trouble if it should interact with other disto programs - and flatpak is the pretty similar in that respect - just a stupid idea) is not ok.
o Bug Reports:
- My first bug report (12/2012) took time ... but it was addressed (a TeXLive problem concerning English language and A4 paper format).
- All bug reports thereafter caused no real action - and no positive change ... so just a waste of time on my side.
- And the last one for the installer of 22.04 LTS was even labeled "invalid" and I was asked to send in all installer problems separately (would have laughed if this would have been demanded by IBM, HP or Sun).
* Testers are normally paid - and showing this kind of disrespect is not ok. And hinting to volunteers dealing with this bug reports is just crazy - at least concerning an LTS release!
o Quality (package management / PPAs / HW support):
- There had been several releases were the dependencies were wrong (after release - even after xx.04.1 release - causing to select X.org and other
decisive components for deletion - no joke!). And yes, I am installing a lot of packages - but in former times this caused no problem at all.
- They deliberately spoiled their kernel PPA as 5.11.16 (26. May 2021) was the last kernel to be installer under 18.04 LTS or 20.04 LTS - both still maintained,
due to problems with dependencies.
- They use LTS kernel for 20.04 LTS as well as 22.04 LTS - which are really ancient - if you have new HW. I needed 20.04.2 to use my Navi 10 without having
to use Kernel PPA (at least it worked at the beginning ... cough) and Mesa PPA to have a stable and performant system.
I tried to reach out - even Shuttleworth - to switch to a rolling base of kernel and mesa - as from my experience this causes no problem at all (.1 mesa and .3 linux
would be on the safe side - so a real HWE support) - but it seems only IoT and such stuff do matter today - the desktop is a burden and the approach to stop delivering
32 bit libs with 20.04 LTS (and stop gaming support) was not just thinking - it was a test how far one can go with reducing support.
From my point of view the quality of Ubuntu gets similar to Windows ... I am not used that a GNU/Linux system can crash - and the same is true for programs under it.
If Ubuntu works for you - I am happy ... but I will have to look for alternatives at it definitively does not work without enormous additional work for me - and I may be switching to Debian ...
Maybe KDE neon due in several months (after .1 is released) can fix some of those things deliberately broken by Canonical/Ubuntu.
Especially as the KDE neon (rolling KDE stack on 20.04.1+ LTS) was really stable and caused no problems I could spot.
As I have expressed before on Phoronix the installer regressed heavily after 20.10 STS - I thought it is the new installer - but from the remark to my
bug report (classified the report as "invalid") was clear that it is the old one. So if they are working on a new one and targeted 22.04 LTS, why
did they ruin the current installer?
o Installer (22.04 experience was with Kubuntu beta imgage dating 18.04.2022 ... 3 day before the release date!):
- the partitions are no longer shown entirely - only the first few (21.04 and also 22.04 LTS)
- no longer a line to type to test keyboard setting - but only a layout which doesn't mean anything
- if DisplayPort and HDMI are connected, on the installer is not visible on the Display Port screen (21.04 STS after release)
- the installer crashed when looking an partitions (21.10 STS after release)
- I always used /dev/sda as boot loader device (and he looked for the efi partition there) - since 21.04 STS the installer crashes when using this default.
I was astonished that the partition the new Ubuntu gets freshly installed is ok - both choices cause the same warning, but only the 1st crashes the installer.
And without data or reason, as is given explicitly.
o Documentation:
- a document stating installer for 21.04 and 21.10 showed images of 20.10 or before
- the only installer manual found was for 20.04 LTS
o Snap:
- I have no problem if this is an option - but forcing this crap (not using system libraries, using sandboxing techniques not suitable for increasing security on the desktop but to destroy performance and causing trouble if it should interact with other disto programs - and flatpak is the pretty similar in that respect - just a stupid idea) is not ok.
o Bug Reports:
- My first bug report (12/2012) took time ... but it was addressed (a TeXLive problem concerning English language and A4 paper format).
- All bug reports thereafter caused no real action - and no positive change ... so just a waste of time on my side.
- And the last one for the installer of 22.04 LTS was even labeled "invalid" and I was asked to send in all installer problems separately (would have laughed if this would have been demanded by IBM, HP or Sun).
* Testers are normally paid - and showing this kind of disrespect is not ok. And hinting to volunteers dealing with this bug reports is just crazy - at least concerning an LTS release!
o Quality (package management / PPAs / HW support):
- There had been several releases were the dependencies were wrong (after release - even after xx.04.1 release - causing to select X.org and other
decisive components for deletion - no joke!). And yes, I am installing a lot of packages - but in former times this caused no problem at all.
- They deliberately spoiled their kernel PPA as 5.11.16 (26. May 2021) was the last kernel to be installer under 18.04 LTS or 20.04 LTS - both still maintained,
due to problems with dependencies.
- They use LTS kernel for 20.04 LTS as well as 22.04 LTS - which are really ancient - if you have new HW. I needed 20.04.2 to use my Navi 10 without having
to use Kernel PPA (at least it worked at the beginning ... cough) and Mesa PPA to have a stable and performant system.
I tried to reach out - even Shuttleworth - to switch to a rolling base of kernel and mesa - as from my experience this causes no problem at all (.1 mesa and .3 linux
would be on the safe side - so a real HWE support) - but it seems only IoT and such stuff do matter today - the desktop is a burden and the approach to stop delivering
32 bit libs with 20.04 LTS (and stop gaming support) was not just thinking - it was a test how far one can go with reducing support.
From my point of view the quality of Ubuntu gets similar to Windows ... I am not used that a GNU/Linux system can crash - and the same is true for programs under it.
If Ubuntu works for you - I am happy ... but I will have to look for alternatives at it definitively does not work without enormous additional work for me - and I may be switching to Debian ...
Maybe KDE neon due in several months (after .1 is released) can fix some of those things deliberately broken by Canonical/Ubuntu.
Especially as the KDE neon (rolling KDE stack on 20.04.1+ LTS) was really stable and caused no problems I could spot.
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